How I Get My Brows in Formation

If there is one thing I always pride myself on when it comes to my makeup, it’s how my brows look. I am obsessed with making sure they always look good and that every little hair is in it’s place, a process that can sometimes take up to 30 minutes. I’ve reached a point where I know what I like my brows to look like, and how to make sure they fit my face, and I’ve definitely realized that my brows are not exactly the same and should not look identical. But it hasn’t always been that way for me. Like most trends, the popular way to style your brows has changed. When I was in Elementary and Middle School, having thick brows like I did (thanks dad) was not the cool thing. It was all about the thinly arched brows. There was no Cara Delevingne or Zendaya to show me that having thicker brows was okay. And like most other girls my age, I started shaving off a significant amount of my brows to fit the styles.

Luckily for me, when I stopped tweezing and shaving my eyebrows the beginning of this year, they basically grew back to their previous thickness. And I know that this does not happen for everybody, so if you have thicker brows, be careful with them tweezers. I just maintain my natural shape and remove any hairs outside of that shape. At the same time that the way I was tweezing my brows changed, the way I filled them in and the products I used also changed. This past year, I’ve finally gotten down a consistent routine of how I do my brows, and I’ve found products that I love and use nearly every time I touch my eyebrows. Here is my step-by-step guide on how I maintain and fill in my brows when I’m going to be wearing a full face of makeup.

Products I Use (All cosmetic brands listed below are cruelty-free with the exception of Maybelline because they sell in China where it is required to do animal testing.)

• Tweezerman Brow Shaping Scissors and Brush
• Tweezers (I just use a random pair I have)
• Eyebrow Shaper (these can be found at any Walmart, Target, or drugstore)
• Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow Pomade in Ebony
• Anastasia Beverly Hills Duo Brush #12
• Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Powder Duo in Ebony
• Anastasia Beverly Hills Duo Brush #7
• NYX Sculpt and Highlight Face Duo in  Sand/Chestnut and Honey/Espresso
• e.l.f. concealer brush
• Wet N Wild Large Concealer Brush
• Maybelline Shine Free Loose Powder in Medium
• Wet N Wild Crease Brush
• Anastasia Beverly Hills Tinted Brow Gel in Granite

The first thing I do, especially when it’s been a few weeks since I last touched my brows is trim and shape my brows. I usually only have to do this twice a month since my eyebrow hairs don’t grow super fast.

1. Using the spoolie on the other end of my Anastasia duo brush, I brush my brow hairs up and take my tweezers to remove any little hairs that may be growing on my lid or below the start of my eyebrows.
2. Again with my spoolie I brush my brow hairs down, and using my eyebrow shaper I very carefully shave any hairs above the top shape of my brow and around the tail of my brow. Be very careful with shapers because you can easily cut yourself on the blade or remove too much hair.
3. I then again brush my eyebrow hairs upwards, and with my eyebrow scissors I trim any hair that’s above the line of my eyebrow shape. Make sure when you’re doing this that you don’t trim too much off of your browsor they will be shorter than you intended them to be. I usually don’t have to trim off that much hair.
4. Once I’m done, I brush my brow hairs into the shape I like them. At this point if there are any random hairs throughout my brow that are unruly I pull those out. The picture at the bottom right above is typically how my brows look every day.

The second half of my brow routine is filling them in, which takes significantly longer than shaping them.

1. Using my Anastasia #12 duo brush and my dipbrow pomade in Ebony, I trace the shape of the bottom of my brow starting in the middle and using small strokes. With this dipbrow you really don’t need too much product on your brush. This is one of those products were a little goes a long way.

2. Using some of the product left on my brush I lightly fill in the front end of my brow. I then add some more product to my brush and using small strokes again I trace the shape of the top of my brow. Once I’m done, I use the spoolie and brush through my brow to distribute some of the product and soften the lines so it doesn’t look to harsh and fake. At this stage my brows look like the bottom right picture in the collage above.

3. Using the dipbrow and the same #12 brush, I take a little bit more product on my brush and lightly fill in the rest of my brows from the middle to the tail. It doesn’t have to be perfect because later I use a brow powder. Every few strokes I’ll flip over the brush and use the spoolie to brush through my brows. This helps me to move the product around so there isn’t too much in one area, and it also helps me to see where I may need to add a little bit more of the pomade.

4. Using my Anastasia #7 duo brush and brow powder duo in Ebony, I fill in my whole brow on top of the pomade I used earlier. I like doing this because not only does it set the pomade, it also helps my brows look more natural and isn’t too harsh. The brow powder also really gets in those areas where the pomade may not have. I use the darker side of the powder duo to fill the tail of my brow, I combine the two powder colors to fill in the middle so it’s not too dark or too light, and then I use just the lighter side to lightly fill in the front of my brow a little more. I like doing it this way to that the front of my brow is lighter than the end of my brow. It has a slight gradient effect that isn’t too obvious or unnatural. Throughout this process I’m constantly combing through my brows with a spoolie to distribute product and see where I may need to add more.

The last thing I do after filling in my brows is cleaning them up with concealer and setting them with a powder. I like using concealer to clean my brows because not only does it make the shape even more crisp and precise, any place were I may have overdrawn or made a mistake is easily fixed with concealer.

1.  Above my brow, I use my NYX highlight duo on the Honey side to carefully trace above my brow shape. I use a concealer that’s close to my skin tone so that when I’m done it doesn’t look like my brow is surrounded by a halo of concealer. I then take my e.l.f. concealer brush and drag the product down to where my brow starts, and then drag out across the top and down the tail of my brow to remove any mistakes or overdrawn areas. I’ll then take a larger concealer brush to blend in the product and remove any excess concealer.

2. Underneath my brow I use another NYX highlight duo on the Sand side to underline the bottom of my eyebrow. I like using a concealer a few shades lighter than my skin tone because it gives my brow a natural looking highlight underneath that lifts and accentuates the brow. Using a lighter concealer also helps to hide any tiny little hairs that the tweezers couldn’t get. Using that same smaller concealer brush, I drag down some of the product, and then very carefully bring some of that concealer up to underline the bottom of my brow. I try to make sure that that line is straight and follows my brow shape.  I’ll then take that larger concealer brush and blend in the remaining concealer into my skin so it’s seamless and you can’t see where the concealer starts or ends. As you can see in the far right picture, my brow looks different because I fixed and concealed the areas where I had gotten a little excited and made my brow too thick with the brow pomade.

3. Using my Maybelline loose powder in Medium and a fluffy eyeshadow brush, I’ll set the concealer underneath my brow. I do this so that the concealer doesn’t move around, and it helps when I start to apply eyshadows. I don’t really set above my brow because I’ll be placing foundation there later.

4. And last but not least, I set my brows in place with an Anastasia tinted brow gel. Guys, this brow gel is AMAZING. My brows do not move all day, and I like that this brow gel adds a hint of color that makes my brow hairs pop and gives it a more natural look.

And there is the finished product! Now like I stated previously I definitely do not do this every single day. This is strictly when I’m wearing a full face of makeup, or practicing different looks. I am finally very confident and in love with my natural brows, so I don’t feel like they need to be filled in all the time. And if you like yours filled in all the time that’s okay too! There are no rules to when, where or how you should wear your makeup. Also, I realize some of the products I use are more on the pricey side, so if you don’t want to spend loads of money, NYX and Maybelline both have good products that I like. E.l.f also has a brow duo that I used to use all the time when I first started playing around with my brows. Don’t forget eyebrows are sisters and not twins, your eyebrows don’t need to look exactly the same. As long as they are similar and fit your face, you’ll be slaying all day!