How To: Groom & Fill In Eyebrows

I've been asked a few times in the past 'where do you get your eyebrows done?' and questions similar. To be honest I've always done them myself, mainly because I don't like forking out for someone to do something I can do myself. Also, I've seen other people who have had their eyebrows 'professionally' done and they've ended up four inches apart and one hair thick... Obviously there have been times when things have gone horribly wrong with over plucking, or over drawing etc. but I've learnt from my mistakes and found that with some practice, shaping and grooming eyebrows isn't that difficult.

Firstly I'd advise to map out where you want your eyebrow to be. It's best to use the handle of a thin makeup brush to work this out, or a pencil. Your eyebrows should begin above the widest point of the tip of your nose, this should prevent your eyebrows being too close together or far apart.You should then turn the brush so that it is still touching the widest point of the tip of the nose but also touching the outer side of the pupil of your eye when looking straight ahead, this is where the arch goes. The eyebrow should end at where the brush shows when moved to the edge of the eye (shown in the picture below).

I then find it useful to draw on where you want your eyebrow to be, with a sharp dark pencil to clearly define the hairs you need to keep and the ones you want to remove. If you want to grow your eyebrows back or thicken them up then draw over the areas you want, to make sure you don't remove them.

After I have clearly defined what I want to do with my eyebrow I pluck and thread the hairs outside of the lines. When plucking my eyebrows I use tweezerman slanted tweezers as they are sharp and relatively thin so they allow you to be precise with the hairs you're removing. I thread my eyebrows afterwards as it's better at removing the thin, fuzzy hairs you don't see and the tweezers don't pull out as this gives a much cleaner finish. I find using a bright coloured thread makes the job much easier as it makes it easier to see what you're doing. I just taught myself how to do this from watching youtube videos. After plucking and threading I then comb the eyebrows upwards and trim the hairs which look out of place.

After grooming the eyebrows into shape I comb them so they are all going the same way (up and out towards the edges of my face.) I then move on to filling them in, personally I use a brown eyeshadow and a slanted brush from the body shop, as I feel this looks more natural and less harsh than pencils. However, people with very sparse or over plucked eyebrows might want to use a pencil underneath to define the eyebrow better. I then finish the eyebrows off by applying a clear brow gel (a clear mascara would probably work the same.)

A couple of extra tips...

1. Never shape your eyebrows by plucking from the top, it will make you end up with no arch.
2. When drawing on your eyebrows make the inner halves of your eyebrows a bit lighter, with less product. This makes the eyebrows look more natural and more flattering to the face.
3. If in doubt about making your eyebrows thinner don't do it! It can take a long time to grow back brows and sometimes over plucking can leave permanent bald patches.

If you have any questions, or eyebrow-related tips let me know in the comments below!
Thanks,
  Cameron :)