How to Shape Your Eyebrows

How you shape and make up your eyebrows can make a world of difference to your face. Eyebrows can bring out the best in your eyes and help to balance all your features. To make the most of your eyebrows, they must be groomed to look sleekly natural-never scraggly or stark. Practice will help you find the eyebrow shape that is most flattering for your face.

Shaping it

Eyebrow should begin directly above inner corner of eye. To find where it should end, angle an eyebrow pencil from nostril across outer corner of eye. Brow ends where pencil intersects it. Eyebrow should begin and end on same horizontal. High point of arch is directly above outer edge of iris when looking straight ahead. To determine whether arch should peak or curve, draw an imaginary line upward from inner corner, along under edge of eyebrow and across the brow to upper edge. Make a dot. Repeat from outer corner, if dots coincide, arch should point, if not, round it.

Tweezing It

Cleanse eyebrow area with a cotton pad that has been moistened with atringent or skin freshener. If tweezing is painful, numb area first with ice wrapped in a washcloth. Choose the type of tweezers that are easiest for you to work with. Before plucking, brush brows up, then into shape with eyebrow brush. Following shape you have marked off, pluck hairs that go beyond outer boundary and between brows on bridge of nose. Pluck all strays under the natural eyebrow line-always in direction hairs grow. Brows should start thickly at inner corner, tapering toward ends.

Shading It


Since eyebrows are seldom identical in shape, decide which one is best and then shape the other to match it. First, brush eyebrow up. Then with a pencil or brush, fill in areas along bottom edge, using delicate hairlike strokes to complete natural looking arch. Next, brush brow down and fill in areas on top of brow. Shade only areas of brow that need emphasis. After shading, brush brow into shape and extend end of line if necessary. Never use black on eyebrows. Let hair color be your guide. For blondes, light brown shading, brunettes, medium brown, black hair, dark brown.

BY SARA NOEL