The shape of your eyebrows can enhance your appearance by enhancing the shape of your face, balancing your features, and framing your eyes. If you have thick, full eyebrows, you may need to pluck them; If you have thin, small eyebrows, you may need to fill them in with a pencil. Whatever the circumstances, here's how to find an eyebrow shape that can beautify any face type.
Step
Method 1 of 2: Determine Your Ideal Eyebrow Shape
Step 1. Determine the final border of your inner eyebrows
Hold something with a straight edge, such as an eyebrow pencil or ruler, vertically in front of your face.
- Line up the object so that it touches the outer edge of your nose and the inside of your eye. This line will define the initial border of your eyebrows.
- Mark the spot with an eyebrow pencil. Repeat for the other eye.
Step 2. Determine the apex of your brow arch
Tilt the straight-edge object so that it is in line with the outer edge of your nose and the outer edge of your iris.
- The important thing to note is that you have to look straight ahead - both your face and your eyes should be looking straight into the mirror.
- The line that intersects your brow is the apex of the arch that you should start at the top of your brow.
- Mark the spot with your eyebrow pencil.
- Repeat for the other eye.
Step 3. Determine the final border of your outer eyebrows
Tilt the straight-edge object further so that it touches the outer edge of your nose and also passes along the outer edge of your eye.
- This is where the final border of your brows will be. Mark this point with your eyebrow pencil.
- Repeat with the other eye.
Step 4. Draw a line along the bottom edge of your eyebrows
This will determine the thickness of the eyebrows.
Follow the natural curve of your eyebrows
Step 5. Pinch the eyebrows that are below the line and beyond the mark you have made
- The thickness of your eyebrows should be between 0.5 to 1 cm.
- Just pluck your eyebrows at the top - you'll want to maintain the natural arch of your brows. Pull out any hair that just goes out of line.
- If you don't like plucking your eyebrows, try shaping your eyebrows without plucking them.
- If your eyebrows are sensitive, use ice to numb the area before you pluck them.
Step 6. Consider your face shape
Certain eyebrows give a better look to certain face shapes.
- To minimize the curvature of a round face, point the outer third of the brow toward the top of the ear.
- If the face is square, aim it towards the middle of the ear. This helps balance the face.
- If the face is long, make the eyebrows straighter, pointing above the ears.
- An oval face already looks balanced, but to enhance this harmony, you can direct the outer third of your eyebrows towards your ear lobes.
Method 2 of 2: Daily Maintenance
Step 1. Trim your eyebrows
You may find your eyebrow hair is already in the ideal shape, but is too long. Use an eyebrow trimmer to make your face cleaner.
- With an eyebrow brush, brush your eyebrows upwards.
- Cut hair that goes beyond your natural hairline.
Step 2. Fill it with thin dots
If your eyebrows are too light (or dark), fill them in with an eyebrow pencil.
- If your brow color is medium, choose a pencil that is two shades darker than your hair. (If your hair is dark, fill it with a color two shades lighter.)
- Hold the skin of your temples tightly, and gently line along the top edge of your eyebrows. Then, line along the bottom edge.
- With light strokes, fill in between the two edges.
-
Remember to blend it with your real eyebrows!
If you don't have an eyebrow pencil, substitute a matte eyeshadow instead
Step 3. Use a clear gel to set it
Brush the hair in the direction it naturally grows and apply gel to set the hair out of place.
- Clear mascara can double as an eyebrow gel.
- It also prevents smudging, if the eyebrows are filled with pencil strokes.
Step 4. Develop a routine
Forming good habits will make your routine shorter, day by day.
- By sticking to a certain contour shape, it will be easier to identify hair that is out of line.
- Consistently pluck the hair that is between the eyebrows and at the edges. This hair grows the fastest and reduces the natural shape of your eyebrows.
Tips
- Line your eyebrows with the inner corner of your eye, not the outer corner of your nose, because if you have wide nostrils, you may end up with very few eyebrows.
- Use concealer around your eyebrows to give the look a clear, defined line.
- Whatever shape you choose, make sure your eyebrows are symmetrical - both horizontally and vertically.
- If the tips of your eyebrows appear above the base of your eyebrows, your face will look fierce and like someone who is almost angry.
- Use a hand mirror to view your eyebrows from the side. If you're plucking or filling, make sure you don't have a "hook" look on the inside of your brow that aligns with your nose line. It will look as if you've made an obvious mistake when you try to lower the initial from the inside of your brow. Not everyone looks at you straight from the front. If you need to fill in your eyebrows, do a "test run" by drawing the shape you want and checking with your mirror often.
- If you have almond-shaped eyes that point up at the outer edges, then naturally you will tend to have eyebrows that are higher on the outside than on the inside. If you're filling or shaping, you can leave the outside higher than the inside - not only to follow the natural line but also to emphasize the shape of this eye type; it can indeed look like a clown if you try to lower the outer tip to match the inner (start) of the eyebrow.
- If your eyebrow area is very sensitive, take some painkillers before plucking it and place something cool on your eyebrow before and after plucking to numb the area.
- A 2007 German study found that people under the age of 30 feel prettier with low, smoothly arched eyebrows, while people over 50 prefer the opposite (high eyebrows with a strong arch).
