How to Shape and Maintain Your Eyebrows

Eyebrow shaping is foremost about determining the best eyebrow for your face shape. Take cues from the natural contours of your brow line, and experiment using an eyebrow stencil.

• Full brows, or natural brows. A natural brow shape embraces the shape of your eyebrows as they are. Full brows can still require maintenance though, as you may need to trim the brows or pluck any stray hairs.
• Arched, or rounded. Naturally arched brows or lightly rounded brows can be flattering for faces with otherwise sharp or angular features.
• Straight. Straight brows can have a very subtle natural arch or none at all. Keeping them brushed gives them a lift.
• Hard-angled or soft-angled. An angled brow can add dimension to a round face; the angle can have more or less of a center peak to achieve different levels of drama and definition.
• Tapered. A tapered brow is concentrated in the first two-thirds of the shape, tapering off as they reach the edge of the eye. Done well, it can look like a combination of other shapes, embracing the fullness of your natural arches with a bit more definition.

1. 1. Plucking. Plucking eyebrows involves tweezing individual hairs to achieve the desired shape. Because it can be time-consuming and risky to pull off evenly, plucking is often reserved for stray hair maintenance over or under the brow shape.
2. 2. Waxing. Eyebrow waxing involves removing hairs at the root by applying a strip of hot wax along the brow line and quickly ripping it off, in the opposite direction of hair growth. Benefits include immediate, efficient results and a long-lasting smooth surface, but downsides include redness and irritation immediately following.
3. 3. Sugaring. While it follows the same concept as waxing, sugaring is usually recommended for more sensitive skin or finer hair. A gel paste of sugar, lemon juice, water, and glycerin is applied, and hair is removed in the same direction as the hair growth—pulling less on the skin and causing less pain in the process.
4. 4. Threading. Threading is an increasingly popular technique that originated in Asia. A thin cotton string is twisted and rolled across parts of the eyebrow, utilizing tension for hyper-precise shaping and removal. Threading follows the same concept as plucking but can address full rows of hair at once.
5. 5. Microblading. Microblading is a low-maintenance, semi-permanent form of eyebrow shaping that uses a super-fine needle to gently draw strokes of realistic-looking hair along the brow line. It uses a medical-grade pigment that lasts about 18 months, but unlike a tattoo, microblading does not penetrate the skin. It’s a popular choice for brows that have fallen victim to over-plucking.
6. 6. Tinting. Eyebrow tinting falls into the same semi-permanent category as microblading, but uses a dye to fill in the shape and color you’re looking for. It usually lasts up to 6 weeks.

1. 1. Always work from your inner brow toward the ends, lightly brushing upward and outward, following the direction of your natural hair growth.
2. 2. Brush a spoolie through your brows to diffuse any harsh lines after filling them in with powder or and eyebrow pencil.
3. 3. If your brows begin looking overly filled or too dark, brush a tiny bit of face powder through them with a spoolie to diffuse the color.
4. 4. Your inner brow should line up with the inner corner of your eye, and the arch should be three-fourths of the way across your eye. When defining the tail end, follow the natural direction of your brow.
5. 5. You can define the shape of your brows further with brow gel or brow wax. Brow gel comes in many different formulas, but it’s mostly meant to darken and shape your brow hairs. Brow wax has a stronger hold and can really mold your brow hairs into the look you want.

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