Do you lift them to Jesus and then soap them in place? Do you draw on with pencil what you lost to the early 2000s? Or did you get them tattooed on so you never have to do them again?
Brows are an area that I refuse to bow to trends with, unless they specifically work for me and my particular aesthetic.
So, laminated brows? No. Snatched Fox Eye lifted at the outer end slightly vintage brows? Hell yes.
There are so many ways to brow - Pens to draw individual hairs. Powders to outline with and then lightly shade inside. Pomades to create you a solid brow. Gels for definition and hold - It’s definitely a matter of figuring out the look you like and going from there.
Apparently the incoming brow trend is bleached brows....Oooooh boy I will most definitely not be jumping on that bandwagon.
Apparently the incoming brow trend is bleached brows....Oooooh boy I will most definitely not be jumping on that bandwagon.
Things that I’ve discovered make life a lot easier:
A very narrow sharp angled brush. Colourpop makes an excellent one with a spoolie on the other end. She’s so sharp she could cut a b*tch. This sort of brush works well with both powders and a pomade.
If you’re using a brow pomade you want it to be just the right amount of soft. A trick I use to give me more workability with a pomade is to clean my brush with micellar water on a cotton pad first, and then use the wet brush in the pomade. This also means you’re using a clean brush each day, because a brush with old product build up will not give you a precise line.
Some brow pencils are way too soft and less precise - Maybelline Eye Studio Brow Pencil I’m looking at you. I definitely prefer using a powder or pomade with a brush for a sharper line.
Getting the right shape
Follow your natural shape, and generally when I’m working with clients I try to get a straight-ish line from the start of the brow to the angle where it starts to go down, rather than a tadpole shape. This can be hard if you’ve over plucked and you just have to do the best with what you’ve got. Always make the angle of the brow the darkest part, and the start of the brow should be the lightest part. It doesn’t have to be a perfect ombre, you just don’t want to make the start of your eyebrow a defined block. Drawing individual hairs with a brow pen will make a softer start to the brow.
If you’re going for the snatched Fox Eye brow, you want it to go kind of straight out if not a little lifted from the angle of your brow, rather than curving down. This might work for you by brushing your brows up at the outer end, but it won’t work for everyone and if you really love the look you may have to use foundation over your eyebrows and use your brow product to draw a new shape. This is getting to more advanced territory!
What should I use?
Anastasia Beverly Hills is considered the OG of brow products but I’ll admit I’m still to try any of those. I particularly like the Suavecita Brow Pomade (which the Beauty School Dropouts do stock but only have limited product left as they no longer supply wholesale to New Zealand) though the lightest colour is a little dark for me, so for this reason I tend to keep it for photo shoots where I want a darker brow.
Makeup Revolution make a brow pomade that I do like but it’s not as soft as Suavecita. I’ve got some Billion Dollar Brows powder that I have used on clients and it’s good enough but I can’t see much of a difference between that and cheaper brow powders like Essence. The sharp brush that’s damp from micellar water is excellent to use with powder as well.
If you’ve got vivid coloured hair, and you want your brows to match, take a leaf out of Fran’s book and use eyeshadows or matte liquid lipstick in corresponding colours as brow powder or pomade.
