If there’s one makeup trend that I’m thankful for yet am apprehensive about, it’s full and defined eyebrows. Gone are the days of awkward, pencil-thin brows; hello bushiness! I’ve experimented with many brow shapes over the last 15 years, so I know thing or two when it comes to my brows, what works and what definitely doesn’t.
And boy, do I know what doesn’t work for me. *cringe at old photos*
When a picture frame frames a picture, so do eyebrows frame the face. Back in the day, makeup artists used to say that brows frame the eyes but not anymore. These days, brows frame the FACE. This is why it’s important to make sure you have a good frame for your face. Does your face look better with a skinny frame? Or would it look better with a thicker frame?
While we hop on the trend of full brows, it’s important that we know what type of full brows suit our face. You’ll see a lot of sharp, very arched and defined brows on Instagram and Pinterest these days, but you may be surprised to find out that while they look great in pictures, that type of brows may not suit your face. I know for a fact that they don’t suit me.
Overly dark eyebrows don’t suit everyone either, even if you have very dark hair. Case in point: when I was in a restaurant in Adelaide a few months ago, a waitress with very dark brows served our table. She was a lovely lady and was very helpful. But I couldn’t stop cringing inwardly at her brows because she looked like she had used a black Sharpie texter on her brows. Not very dark brown, mind you, but black. Her brows were drawn on outside her already naturally-full brows and made her face look very severe. She was a pretty lady with a beautiful smile but her brows made her appear fierce and unapproachable.
On the other hand, I’ve seen women who barely had any makeup on, but just well-drawn brows. Brows that suited that face shape and hair, brows that framed their face so nicely. They didn’t even need eye makeup or lipstick and already they looked well-groomed and ready to conquer the world.
I was 24 with really bad eyebrows 😛
See what I mean by the power of a good brow and how it can make or break your look? I look back at my old photos of poorly tweezed brows (I once had a “bridge brows” – slanted sides and a plateau in the middle) and I shake my head. What the heck was I thinking?
When it comes to your eyebrows, please, for the love of all that is holy, leave them to brow experts. You don’t have to have them waxed or threaded every month but every few months, I’d highly recommend you to get them reshaped by people who see and deal with all types of eyebrows day in and day out. And keep those tweezer-happy fingers away from your brows unless it’s to pluck out a stray hair!
I do agree with good brows, one would look ready to conquer the world. I use the razor to shave the strays everyday and fill my brows in with a pencil after I finish my eye make up. I don’t put on any other face make up and I looked complete. People have commented that I looked better somehow, they couldn’t spot the difference, and my eyes looked bigger. Those are the “good brows” days.
I used to use a razor to shave my stray brow hairs too but after a near-miss accident, I haven’t touched a razor to that area in ages. I avoid brow salons that use razors too (particularly popular in Asian salons).
Right right? That’s why I love well-groomed and presented brows. You don’t even need makeup and people will still think that there’s just something right about the face but they don’t know what. 😛
I love a good manicured brow .. but this escapes me. I have those hairy brows that constantly need grooming and don’t respond well to colored gels. I’ve been thinking of going to have my brows professionally shaped, but too chicken.
Monica.
MonicaP recently posted..Distressed Corporate Outfit
Google the heck out of reviews for good salons and get them professionally shaped, Monica. You’d be wondering what took you so long! 🙂
What about clear gels? Or maybe even Vaseline?
I was waiting to see some past photos! I remember graduating from my Bachelor degree and I had thinner brows than now and I filled them in with black eyeshadow… What??! I used to get them done at the salon but since moving away from them I don’t really want to find someone new. I wax them myself now as I have uneven (height and size) brows and I know how I like them.
Kat recently posted..NotD | OPI Hey Baby
Hahahaha black eyeshadow! Okay to be fair, these days, people are still using dark eyeshadow to fill in the brows and that’s perfectly fine! In fact, MAC offers good eyeshadow shades that can double up as eyebrow powder too.
Thanks for your willingness to post an old bad eyebrow photo! I love how your brows are currently Tine. And I always wear brow mascara but only wear (eyelash) mascara a couple times a week! See where my priorities are ;). Though, I do find mascara to be a bit uncomfortable to wear and a pain to remove.
Mel recently posted..BEST Makeup Products from Aussie “Drugstore” for Beginners
Thanks Mel! I don’t particularly like my brows now to be honest because of that godawful eyebrow embroidery mistake I made many years ago that still wouldn’t fade. Grrrrrrrrrrr. In my blog photos, it always looks as though I’ve gone a bit gung-ho on the eyebrow pencil and over-drawn the lines. Sigh. Never again!
Hahahaha nah, not just you. I’m often too lazy to wear mascara too. You wear it only a couple of times a week? I wear mine only a couple of times a month! My eyelashes are so short and stumpy, it doesn’t make a difference whatsover to have mascara on, especially when I’m also wearing my glasses. It’s better to just amp the look up with a bright lippie. Cheat. 😛