How did you figure out the best shape for your brows?
How did you figure out the best shape for your brows? Share!
What I recommend is looking at a ton of photos of various models and celebrities (easiest to find) and see what brow shapes you like the best, and then think about what your natural brows look like. THEN take these ideas to a reputable brow expert and have them give you insight and help shape them initially. I vote professional in this instance, and once you nail down the shape, maintenance can be done at home (or you can go in still!). If you have a fairly full brow and you’re planning to go thinner to gradually go thinner – easier to ensure you get the right thinness you want without going too thin!
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I shave my brows to shape instead of tweezing them, so I just follow my natural brow shape and clean up the browbone area. I admit I’m quite lucky that I have pretty good brows to begin with.
Hm, that’s a good question! I didn’t do anything to my brows for years… I started plucking them in my mid 20’s and then powdering them into a cleaner shape in my late 20’s. I was inspired by the arched brow shape of pin-up style, and since I have thick dark brows naturally, it was easy enough to do! I always trim and shape them myself – I’m pretty hands on and I also do a lot of research.
I don’t have enough of a brow to shape to what I want so I just keep my natural arch, which isn’t too horrible. I just have to pluck a few outlying hairs every once and awhile. I would love thicker brows so I could get more shape out of them! I just use a brow powder and some gel to help frame my face.
I feel the same way! While I have been blessed with less work to do brow-wise than the average girl, I wish I could have the chance to have more than one shape to my brows.
I stopped overplucking them, first of all! Ha. I guess it was just a slow evolution. Occasionally, maybe once a year, I let them grow out–I stop tweezing and trimming–for a month or two, just to let them breathe and see if I can get any new hairs in (they’re annoyingly sparse and I’m too cheap to shell out for growth treatments). So the shape I keep coming back to just must be the best I can make of them. :p
I achieved my brows through a similar process as Christine’s, just in a different order. Probably more than two years ago, I was at South Coast Plaza and was lucky enough to meet Michel, one of the national makeup artists for Laura Mercier. One of my regular local artists for LM was there too and he dragged me over for a makeover/lesson/chat. We got to talking about filling in eyebrows and Michel convinced me to let him redo my entire shape. Just so I was more comfortable, he just more heavily than usual, penciled in the desired shape and told me to tweeze away the hairs that were outside the filled-in areas. While he did a fantastic job, I still wasn’t quite satisfied with how my brows looked after doing so.
So I spent an entire day flipping through magazines and looking online, and then drawing in any brow shapes I liked. I probably went through half of my brow pencil… LOL But I finally found something that just… WORKS. Haha! Something just clicked when you get that perfect brow shape. Unfortunately I couldn’t achieve the desired brow look because some of my hairs simply didn’t grow in certain areas. So now I pretty much just draw any missing areas needed for the desired shape: it’s primarily the upper front areas of the eyebrows. It took a lot of experimenting to achieve a somewhat natural look, since most people say to not overdo the front of the brows. What helped me the most was MakeupByAlli’s HD Eyebrows video. <3 that girl. It primarily involves the graduated intensity that she talks about (though in not as many words). Using concealer around the parts I "draw in," also helps too.
Awesome question for today. I completely agree with you Christie, to get inspiration from celebrities/models and find someone who is similar to you in terms of face shape and brow shape. I did go to several different professionals, in multiple countries and I was never happy with the finished look. They always over waxed/threaded than what I asked for, and the shape was never perfect. My eyebrows were very different over the course of about four years and then I finally gave up and went back to plucking them myself.
I started to get into makeup over a year ago and I found an awesome online tutorial (I’ll try to find it again if anyone is interested) from a MUA who showed the basic relationship/ratio/distance of your eyebrow to your eye, your nose and for the entire face. Once you figure out what shape you want, you fill in/draw the desired eyebrow shape with a much darker color than your eyebrow hairs so its very obvious what hairs to keep, and all hairs that are not in the “filled in” area are to be plucked. I had to clean it off and start all over a couple of times, but its much easier and faster than plucking and not being happy, then having to wait for it to grow back in. It worked very well for me and I am incredibly happy with my current brow shape.
I’m really fortunate that my natural brow shape is perfectly fine and suited to my face, so all I have to do is some cleanup of stray hairs, and a bit right under the arch.
I just follow my natural shape and tweeze strays. Might not be perfect but I think it looks pretty natural.
The shape of the brows has to go with the face. I have quite a round face so I try to avoic round shapes on me and to keep my brows quite full
I have never been to a brow expert, I’ve always plucked the odd/misplaced hair and kept my natural shape…wondering if I should do more.
Are Benefit Brow Bar a good place to go? I have read/heard so many different things about them
It took me forever! I have a very big bold bushy unibrow, and I think I was 14 when I first started seeing an esthetician. She shaped my eyebrows, but in a very teen-appropriate way, so still kind of natural. Then over the years I started reshaping my brows myself while still regularly seeing an esthetician (my brows need daily maintenance or I lose the shape) and with lots of trial and error I now finally figured out a way to shape them and maintain that shape myself.
I say leave it to the professional as well. Problem there: some professionals still adhere to old school thinking on brow shape and where the beginning, arch, and end of your brow should be and these classic measurements are a guideline only and so much depends on the individual, the shape of their nose, forehead, face, etc.. Biggest mistakes: digging too far into the arch –high arches suit only certain face shapes and can make you look permanently surprised–and over-plucking–the 90’s.. oh man! Word of mouth is best from a friend or contact whose brows you admire.
My brows are pretty straight, naturally, so I don’t go for much of a shape. Every time I decide to go for a slight arch, I wind up hating it. Basically, Daenerys Targaryen is my brow envy.
I agree that going thinner gradually is the best way. I went WAY too thin in high school. My brows are decently full (not overly) so by grade 12 or 13 I let them grow back in. I left them to come in completely and then only removed the stray hairs below the natural shape and arch. I also use a white eye pencil to line the brow outline so I can see what main hairs I need to remove. That way I can see if the shape is right or not BEFORE I pluck!
I found if you really look, you can see where the most hairs grow, showing you the best shape for your own brows! I barely pluck at all now, just a few that pop up outside my “grooming area” on the brow bone now and then.
Well, I never figured it out with a specific decision. When I was 16 I sported the mega thin eyebrows without a shape, really. Mostly because I was ashamed of my extremely full brows. Fortunately I used a razor to “shape” them at that time so when i realized how I looked it was easy to grow them out again. When they’ve grown out my friend plucked them for me, just removing the excess, and now I just have to maintain that. Sort of. Now I’m 25 and am pretty happy with them!
I just used my natural shape, just cleaned up a little. It’s the least amount of maintenance, rather than trying to force a shape.
Thank you for this question. I was going to ask as I recently when in to my local salon just for a clean-up. She changed the shape entirely (way too thin). I am so upset. I am now in that grow out stage.
I personally prefer a thinner brow, just because I tend to do “heavier” eye looks, and that coupled with fair skin & extremely dark eyes can be too much. However, in the early-90s, when skinny brows were the trend, I did go a bit overboard, and unfortunately, my brows never fully recovered. That’s easily remedied, though, with brow products, and I’ve become adept at it, so it doesn’t add much time to my routine. I also have the added benefit of being able to change the shape if I choose!
The most important thing to keep in mind is the shape of the browbone, and follow the natural curve. While it’s nice to find models/celebrities that have similar face shapes to use as a guide, keep in mind their browbone may not be the same as yours. With the availability of such things as Photoshop, one can use that to try new shapes/looks, print it out, and take it to a professional. The results will be more personalized, and leave little room for “interpretation”, like when you show a stylist a magazine photo for a haircut. Drawing on an actual photo works, as well.
Keep in mind trends change, so don’t get wrapped up in that. If you like a certain look, go with it. No matter the shape, fullness, etc., the most important thing is they look groomed, and work *with* the shape/curve of the browbone.
I use the pencil method. Hold a skinny pencil at the base/side of your nose and go straight up – that’s where to start. Then find the arch by rotating the pencil so it goes straight through the center of your eyeball when looking straight. Then finishing by rotating the pencil and align it to the outer point on your eye – follow the pencil up to find the ending point. Viola! 🙂
I learned how to do brow shapes in Esthetic School. I almost always recommend to go to a professional, but if you can’t afford it, i’d try this.. It doesn’t work for everyone, but I usually get a pen, or something and use it as a guide and..
1- start your brows at the SIDE of the bridge of your nose.
2- you can almost always see where the natural arch is, but if you can’t use the pupil of your eye as a guide.
3- end it at the corner of your eye.
Once you get a good shape, ONLY tweeze the strays! Fuller brows give a younger appearance, thin ones age you.
Here, I must confess to just being lucky. I have naturally good brows – I just have to pluck out the strays from down on my browbone (below the eyebrow) and a couple in between!
I have just started filling them a bit though, very lightly with brown eyeshadow, just to give them a bit more presence.
Luckily, I have nice full brows that aren’t too thick or too thin. I have mine threaded every month and a half to three months. I did learn overtime through trial and error that I prefer them longer and a fairly straight arch that follows my natural arch. I also prefer them only slightly thinner than natural, so they look very natural but just more sleek.
I have naturally sparse brows and scars in my brows. I let my aesthetician basically clean up the strays with wax and that’s it. I don’t have much to work with.
My eyebrows are dark brown, wide apart, arched and skinny. They don’t need much doing to be honest because they’re already shaped. Anything more would be overkill.
I had really thick Irish eyebrows when I was young and when I was 15, my mother took me to a salon to have them shaped. It was painful! I grew up in the era of Brooke Shields and I also observed that my mom’s friends had over plucked and it made them look older so through the years I’ve been careful not to overdo it. I still have really nice brows in my 50’s. My advice is that natural beauty is better than artificial so don’t overdo it with anything, including makeup, hair color, etc. Go with what you’ve got and enhance it but keep it realistic. I do believe that men, in general, or at least men with good taste don’t like artificial looks.
My brows are naturally full and thick (that does sound overborad? lol!), so I struggled with it a bit, going back and forth if I should go thin-thin or just keep it nice and neat and groomed; I decided on the latter.
Just in the last two years, I incorporated that extra step of shaping and filling my brows everyday, and it finally feels and looks right. I did the same that Christine suggests: I went through some pictures and showed a pro when I went in to a salon. And with Lots of practice, now that I have found my *perfect brows (for me, agreed upon by family, friends and strangers alike – never had so many complimented me before then), I tend to just groom them on my own now as I worry they [salon] might remove too much hair.