As a make-up artist, brows are so important, without them, your creativity with eye shadows and the eye design have no frame. Exactly like your favorite picture, how much better is it when it is framed?
The wrong brow colour or shape can really change the entire facial balance and structure, but why is it one area in make-up that most women avoid? Lack of knowledge? Or maybe you have all seen some scary brows out there with the wrong colour penciled in sharply = FAIL!
After my tips below, you will have the confidence to experience the BROW WOW of makeup!
The first thing to think about is the shape of your brow, is it balanced or maybe over plucked? Either way, there are easy ways to measure to make sure at home you can create an even, balanced shape. If you have not shaped your brows for a long time and they are on the scary, long hair side, it is best to see a brow professional that can look at your face shape and create a look that suits you. For general maintenance of your brows at home, follow these steps to guarantee the perfect shape every time.
Take a look at this chart;
The above shows great measurement points to help you know if your brow is correct to your face structure. The vertical line of D is easily determined by placing an eyeliner or tweezers vertically beside outer side of the nose, lining up to inner start of brow – no hair should be inner from this line.
The diagonal line of F is commonly incorrect, or, hairs just do not grow to the correct point, this is where the trusty eye pencil or powder can come in handy.
Place the eyeliner or tweezers diagonally from outer edge of nose up to outer corner of your eye, the pencil or tweezers should then show where the edge of your brow should finish.
The vertical line of E is important, as the peak of your brow should be there for shape, but not pulling focus.
If it is too short it can make your eyes look close set and if the peak is past your outer Iris, or even worse, past the outer edge of your eye, this can really elongate your eye making them wide set.
“Once again, place eyeliner or tweezers vertically from peak of brow done through the outer areas of your iris to see if everything is balanced.”
MB Pro Tip: Shaping brows can be tricky!
If you discover your brows do not match up to these points, it is worth either growing brows out or trimming back excess as brows frame eye make-up and give a touch of elegance to any makeup.
Now that our brows are shaped, how do we define? Some brows may need a slight tint through them, making your eyes pop, or some may need extending if naturally your brow hair does not grow in certain areas. If you have a scar, this can be corrected by a small amount of colour and if anything at all, at least brush brow hairs to either look fuller or defined.
As a makeup artist, I use different styles of brow products depending on the desired look.
Brow Powders are great for a soft, blurred look through the brow. I normally would use product through the centre of the brow to add volume and to fill in tiny gabs from missing hair, rather than perfectly defining all edges.
With an angled brow brush, this can be a great everyday, quick brow-defining product with out the very glam brow that a pencil can create.
My fave Brow powder is the Benefit Brow Powder – BROWzings! ($55 Benefit Boutique, MYER stores nationally)
I normally use the light powder side through very blonde brows alone as that will be enough of this matte taupe shade to shape, but if I have a very dark brow, I use the cream darker side first to shape, and then soften with the light powder over the top.
A lot of the Red Carpet, Celebrity or Fashion work that I work on requires a more styled brow, therefore nothing beats a good brow pencil.
I am very picky with my pencils, especially in colour.
Too many choose the exact same brow pencil to their hair colour, but in so many cases, your hair does not match your brow in colour – ALWAYS go with your brow colour to look natural and not a drawn on effect
If you match to your hair colour, you may be changing your brow colour, which could be a mistake, looking overdone.
My most used shade for a brow pencil is a soft Brown/Taupe shade, possibly a smokey grey, but I hardly ever use a brown as it can turn reddish and black can overtake the face, pulling an incorrect focus.
The idea is to fill in gaps and slightly define or add density to thinner brows, not to colour them in totally looking artificial, you still want to see individual hairs.
I usually brush brow hairs upwards and then use the pencil slightly deeper at the inner corner, feathering every stroke, so tiny flicks appear that are like little hairs and then moving outwards, continue feathering until you get to the peak.
At the peak, I change angles, so my feathering is more on a downward diagonal rather than upward strokes.
My last step is to lightly draw above brow across top line; this adds density, giving the old Hollywood square brow shape, which is now a big trend.
Once this is done, it is important to comb through your brow upwards and outwards so the brow hairs cover the line drawn, giving a newer shapely brow, but an invisible line with real hairs covering any makeup applied.
My favourite and best brow pencil in my opinion is the shu uemura Hard Formula brow pencil. ($34 Stockist no. 1300 651 991)
Seal Brown is such a universal shade and as the shu uemura Beauty Stylists sharpen each pencil into a sword like point, so every feather stroke is thin like a real brow hair, it gives real perfection.
One last tip is brow mascara!
Just like mascara for your lashes, brows can have tints on brow brushes that can not only comb through your brow hairs to get cleaner lines and hold down strays, these can give them slight amount of colour, separating each hair – Easy!
Some brands sell these separately in different shades…
But I love the ck one color brow pencil + gel duos ($30 exclusively to select Myer stores) as they are a quick and easy result, having an angled wind up pencil to add depth, shape and colour, then at the base of the product, there is a tiny area you unscrew and being so multi-use that ck one color products are, a brow mascara pops out matching the shade of pencil – genius!
Some days just use the brow mascara to give a nice, summer inspired separated tint, comb through, then other occasions, add drama and style with the angled pencil.
MB Pro Tip; If you have taken anything from this post, get the shape right and you shouldn’t need much brow product, sometimes a simple comb through, upwards for density, can be the perfect look – effortless!
