A BEGINNERS GUIDE TO: Sculpting and Filling in Eyebrows!

I get asked a lot about my eyebrows and how I shape/fill them in, so I figured I would write this post to help some of the people out there who are a little timid when it comes to doing their own brows. Eyebrows are, in my opinion, the most important part of your face. Eyebrows shape a persons face and have the ability to take their makeup looks to a whole new level. Think about the photos online of celebrities without eyebrows and how different they look! There are so many possibilities as to how you can make your eyebrows look. There is the classic bold brow, which is my personal favorite. You also have the ombre brow, the natural brow, and apparently these days its a "thing" to have bleached brows (gross). Don't even get me started on the different shapes you can create! But, since this is a beginners guide we won't even go there. Lets just touch the basics….for now anyway.


TOOLS
Before you get the perfect brow, you need the tools to get you there! Here are some of the basics:

Tweezers
Small Scissors
Spooly- I use one that came in my Crown Brush set, but you can get them from most brush companies, and even some pencils I will talk about have them on the end of the applicator. E.L.F has them for 1$ here.
Angled Brush- I use the eyeliner/eyebrow brush by Mary Kay (10$ here) which I have had for ever, but any angled brush works fine as long as they are slim and the bristles are sturdy. I also use the MAC 266 (20$ here), but E.L.F has a cheaper option ($3 here). I bought my E.L.F brush from Target so you can also check there.

AND/OR

Flat Definer Brush- I bought one of these because I saw a guru on YouTube using it to fill in her brows, and I wanted to try it out. I found that it was just too difficult to work with, but some of you might be interested if you have more of a straight brow. You can get it from MAC ($24 here), or Sigma ($12 here). I use it instead with a concealer to clean up my brows and give them a sharper appearance.


GROOMING

The first step to getting a clean, defined, sexy brow is to clean and shape the brow. Now, I have seen some people who don't pluck or wax their brows at all and still come out with stunning brows. If you don't want to groom your brows, you don't have to! It is possible to cover the unwanted hairs with concealer……but I just think that is too much work and texture. I like clean brows to start out with.

If you aren't sure how to shape your brows there is a neat trick you can use. I drew this diagram because I felt weird making it out of my own face. I do apologize for how low the picture quality is…I am really not good at drawing.

Ok so what you want to do is grab a makeup brush, pencil, etc and lay the tip of the brush at the corner  of your nostril. Line the brush parallel to the nose (pointing straight upwards). This is where your brow should start, so make a little mark with a brow pencil. Then angle outwards until the brush (or whatever you're using) goes through the end of your iris -- as shown in the diagram. This is where the arch should be so make another little mark on the top and bottom. Finally, angle outwards until the brush is at the corner of your eye. This is a good judgment of where your brow should end, so make your final mark. Some people like their brows longer than this mark though - it is all personal preference. The diagram is probably a lot easier to follow than reading my description so just use it as a guide.

Once you have these three points mapped out, go ahead and draw an outline by connecting the points. Then you just pluck the hairs that lay outside your outline! OR! Sometimes you can just see the hairs that are excess around the brow and pluck them without having to use the diagram. This is what I do.

::OPTIONAL::
My brow hairs are really long which can lead to a messy looking brow. Some people embrace this and it looks stunning, but I choose to trim the hairs instead. I do this by grabbing my spooling and brushing the hairs upwards. Then I take my tiny scissors and cut along the top of my brow. This way when you brush through the brows you get a nice, crisp line along the perimeter. It might be hard to understand just by reading, so take a minute and search YouTube for a video tutorial if you need to. It KILLS me that I can't show you a video on here……but I will be able to soon!


PRODUCTS

You are going to need something to fill in the brows so here are your options.

Brow Powders- This is what I would recommend beginners to start out with. It is the easiest way and it works perfectly. You can get brow powders from any brand and they do not have to be strictly for eyebrows. I use eyeshadows to fill in my brows all the time. My two favorites are by NYX ($6 here) and Anastasia Beverly Hills ($23 here). If you already have an eyeshadow that is similar to the color of your brows then save a couple bucks and experiment with that instead.

Brow Pencils- So there are two main types of brow pencils. They can be retractable, or "self sharpening", or not. Meaning you have to sharpen them yourself, and the texture is also slightly different. I tend to learn towards retractable ones because the tip is usually skinnier which makes it really easy to draw in brow hairs. The retractable ones are also a bit softer than the non-retractable, which makes blending the product into the hairs easier. My "holy grail" brow pencil is by Anastasia Beverly Hills and can be found here for $21. Some cheaper alternatives are by NYX ($5 here), Prestige Cosmetics ($5 here), or Rimmel ($4 here).

Gels/Liquids- These two I would recommend more for people who are comfortable with filling in their brows than for beginners. I want to just mention them briefly because they are great products and the more you get comfortable the easier they become to use. My current favorite brow product of them all is the Dipbrow Pomade by Anastasia Beverly Hills. I posted a full review on this product so give that a look if you are interested. You can find it here for $18. Makeup Forever makes a great product called Aqua Brow that you can find here for $20.

Brow Gel- To finish off your brow you are always going to want to apply this product. This will ensure that the brow hairs stay in place all day and keeps the brow looking clean and crisp. My favorite is by Maybelline found here for $6. It is labeled as a clear mascara but it works great as a brow gel. You can also pick up the one by Anastasia Beverly Hills here for $22, which is really good as well, just more expensive.


METHOD

The method for filling in your brows is simple, and you can use it for whichever product you choose to use. I've made a pictorial for you to use as a guide. You can click the image to enlarge it for a better view.

First step is to just comb the hairs into place. Next, draw a line along the bottom of the brow to carve the shape. Don't worry if it gets messy because we can clean it up later (or you can use a cotton bud and clean it up right away). Then, do the same for the top of the brow. Now you can go ahead and fill in the middle part of the brow. I usually do a sort of gradient with my brows by having the front be the lightest and the tail the darkest. Then, take some concealer and a brush and use it to clean the outer edge of the brow. I don't do this every time I fill in my brows, but it gives it a really sharp appearance. Very pretty. Finally, comb through the brow with a bit of gel to seal it in place and VOILA! You are done!



I really hope this post helps some of you out! I know it was a long one but I tried to get in as much information as I could. Please comment below with any questions you have or suggestions for future posts! Also subscribe to my blog on the sidebar to make sure you don't miss out on anything!

xoxo