Eyebrow Tutorial, Redux

First of all, thank you everyone who left me comments, tweets, and Facebook messages after my post on Tuesday. I did not expect to receive such an amazing outpouring of support and by the end of the day I was bursting with ideas and inspiration. I was so so happy reading your feedback. I can never thank you enough.

Back to business! I've always regarded eyebrows as the most important feature of the face (compare left and right of above picture). It frames and completes the face. If I had only one minute to do my makeup, I'll choose to only do my eyebrows. The unfortunate thing about my face is I barely have any, so it's up to me to fake one from (almost) scratch.

I actually wrote a brow tutorial ages ago, but have been wanting to update it for the longest time. I couldn't bear to link to it anymore because of how terrible my brows looked in those pictures (bat wings!) and I've learned new tricks through time and constant practice. For those who have not seen it, feel free to head over for a look – the basic idea of where the brows should start, arch, and end is the same, but come back to this post after for the fine-tuning.

Many of you already know this but I suppose it's worth repeating – I embrace the reality that is imperfection so I have a no Photoshop policy on Messy Wands. The only thing I change is color values to make it as close to "true" color as can be. I apologize in advance if the blemishes on my skin are distracting. Alright. On to the good stuff!

Things You Need


1. Draw on Brows

Grab your tool of choice (I use Shu Uemura's Retractable Brow Pencil in Seal Brown) be it pencil or powder and fill in your eyebrows following its natural shape. Remember to shade gently – it's much easier to add color than to take it away.

Tip: I tweeze my eyebrows after filling them in so I know what hairs to pull out.

I used to think this was enough but clearly not. It looks presentable but not refined.

2. The Two-Finger Guide

I am forever indebted to my Shu Uemura brow specialist for giving me this tip. She told me eyebrows should be roughly two fingers apart from each other. As you can see above, my measly brow hair growth is not an adequate guideline, so I place two fingers at the center of my face to gauge and shade the brows closer to each other.

Thing is, I'm just winging it while I draw both sides closer to each other. To make sure it's centered, I align my finger to the center of my nose, measure the distance of both brows against it, and adjust accordingly.

Tip: Brows are not square. Always remember to slightly round out the edges. Unless you're going for a specific look, of course.

3. Make It Look Natural

Not that I'm against dark, bold brows or anything, but to me they don't look natural. Finish up by running a spoolie (I use MAC's) through your lashes and following its natural direction, as demonstrated in the photo above. I also spool the front more because that's where we have the least hair and it should look that way.

Sometimes your spoolie may take away some pigment but that's okay. Just gently fill in the holes with your pencil/powder.

And that's it! It's very easy to manipulate your brow shape. Just add (or remove?) a little below and above the existing hair line and you'll quickly notice the difference. I personally prefer thicker brows because I find it frames the face better.

After three years of struggling, I'm finally happy with how I fill in my brows. I hope this tutorial comes in handy for you!

Also, because I know someone will ask, the nail color is RGB Copper.