I’ve been experimenting for a while now on how to get my eyebrows to look tidy, and hallelujah! Finally I found a method that works every single time. Unfortunately, we weren’t spared from our share of bad brows in the past. Like for example: this atrocity on the left.

Bad Brows vs. Good Brows

What’s going on here? In the before photo, the brows were:

1. unblended,
2. way too dark (especially with the smokey eye), and
3. too angled.

With a few adjustments in Photoshop, you can see how the right brow shape and makeup can balance out the face nicely.  By the way, I don’t know how that photo on the left actually made the cut to a post on the blog.  We must have been on medication of some sort that day.

Brow “Rules”

I write rules in quotes as they really should be taken loosely.  These are what I find work for me, and what I’ve noticed in many makeup photos in the past.  I don’t claim to be a brow expert.

• Pair bold eyes with softer brows, and statement lips with strong brows.
• Brows are the most flattering when they are sharpest at the tail and softest at the head.
• Colours with cool undertones work better than warm shades.  Taupes generally work better than straight up browns.

What You’ll Need

• A brow pencil (MAC Eye Brows in Spiked)
• A brow powder or eyeshadow (MAC Eyeshadow in Coquette or Brun)
• A clean mascara wand
• An angled eyeliner brush
• Q-tips
• Optional: A champagne / light beige eyeshadow (MAC Eyeshadow in Arena)

Shaping Your Brows

As general guidelines — if your brow arch follows this shape — for how to shape your brows (and if you read a lot of beauty blogs, you probably already know these):

1. The head of the brows should start aligned with the inner corner of the eyes or the edge of the nose.
2. The highest part of the arch should be aligned along a diagonal with the middle or edge of your iris.
3. The tail of the brows should end aligned along a diagonal with the outer corners of your eyes.

Makeup Your Brows

Naked eyebrow

Starting at point (2) in the diagram, take your brow pencil to sketch out the shape, working your way to point (3).  Make sure the brows taper off at the tails.

After brow pencil on the tail

Dip an angled eyeliner brush in your brow powder, and starting at point (2) in the diagram, fill in the sparse areas of your brows working inwards to point (1).  This ensures that the most product goes in the top of the arch, and the left over product goes on the head of the brows to avoid that drawn in look.

MAC Coquette and MAC Brun Eyeshadows

After brow powder on the inner half

Brush out your brows with a clean mascara wand to soften the shading.  If you were heavy handed with the makeup, run a dry Q-tip through your brows to take away some of the product.

Optional: Highlight the brow bone with a champagne or light beige eyeshadow to make your brows stand out.  It also conceals any stray hairs that might have been left behind.

MAC Arena Eyeshadow

Aaaand… you’re done!  Go forth and show off your improved brow arches.

Finished eyebrow

Before / After

Once you get the hang of it, the whole process only takes 2 minutes. The results are worth it, too. It makes you look more polished in almost no time at all.

How Do You Do Your Eyebrows?

Swap your best brow tips and tricks in the comments.  I’d love to read them.