There isn’t a grooming tip I can give you more important than this one:
Even if you’re not a makeup person, you never leave the house wearing more than Chapstick, and your hair is most comfortable in a pony tail, you must pluck your eyebrows.
This is why:
It’s a jungle and somebody’s gotta tame it.
The cheapest way to do it is at home with some tweezers {and a couple of other basic eyebrow shaping tools I’ll show you how to use}.
The tools are:
1. Tweezers
2. Eyeshadow brushes
3. Trimming scissors
4. Eyebrow tool {comb & brush}
5. Eyeshadow Pot
6. Eyebrow Pencil
You can pull it off with just the tweezers and maybe some trimming scissors, but to really make them sing you need all the tools. Just trust me on this, I’m an eyebrow grooming veteran.
First take the eyebrow comb and comb all the bushy hairs straight up so you can see what needs to be trimmed.
I know the photo looks dramatic but you just want to trim the excess, make them as even as you want across the top. We want to avoid the professor with crazy eyebrows look, so trim them nice and clean.
Next you want to do an outline of where to pluck. You can buy eyebrow stencils at makeup stores, download them off the internet, or you can just wing it. You know me, I’m a wing it kind of gal.
For your first time I have a great tip: use an eyeliner or eyebrow pencil and trace around your eyebrow what you’d like your brow to look like when you’re done.
I know it looks a little bit like revenge of IT but this will help you when you’re in the wilderness of plucking, cursing my name. Do you see how much work I have to do? There is a lot of hair outside the lines.
Start above the eyebrow. There are plenty of grooming professionals who’ll tell you not to pluck above the eyebrow.
I disagree wholeheartedly.
Did you see the top photo of my eyebrow, pre-plucked? There’s a lot of hair above the treeline.
Once you’ve gotten rid of all those ones, head below the eyebrow.
This is where you’re going to end up making your arch. Don’t get too overzealous shaping your arch or you’ll end up looking surprised all the time. Follow the natural curve of your brow bone as you pluck.
Also?
“Brows are meant to be sisters, not twins”
Can’t remember who said it, but it’s true. Please for the love of all that is holy don’t make your eyebrows match, it looks terrible.
When you’ve finished plucking, shape your eyebrows with the brush. This is a great time to check for any missed hairs and to clean up and tidy your brows.
Now, if you have light eyebrows or uh, sparse eyebrows, here’s the part in the show where you fill them in. I’m showing you using an eyebrow pencil which works fine, but I prefer to use brown eyeshadow with a tiny brush & brush stroke it in so it looks mor
e natural.
If you choose to use the pencil, please, please, PLEASE use a brush after you’ve applied pencil to fan it out a little, make it look like a real live person underneath those twin grease pencils.
And then you have, ba pa pa baaa paaa da ta!
This:
Look again. Here’s the before:
And after:
Makes a huge difference right? I did one eye at a time so you could see the change it makes to my eyes.
{Also I ran out of sunlight & had to finish the other one inside}
Left is groomed, right is not.
Aside from using the best pair of scissors your money can buy {Tweezerman}, using natural light to pluck, and doing it right when you get out of the shower, what are your eyebrow plucking tips?
Allison
Hello there! I'm Allison Czarnecki, founder + editor of Petit Elefant, a blog all about style on a budget for every part of your life: style / home / travel / family. I do a lot of how-to beauty + style tutorials, travel posts, easy recipes, home remodel projects, and cool DIY crafts you totally want to try. I'm super happily married (to a hot Polish immigrant) and am the mother of two kids, a daughter and son, all of whom are featured here on the regular. We live in the country but we're a little bit rock + roll. Welcome!
So how long did you have to let your eyebrows grow in to take these splendid photos for us?
My eyebrows always look like that about a week after vacation, when I haven't been bothered to unpack my hygiene kit fully. Then I catch myself in the mirror and scream and find the tweezers that I'd packed on vacation and bring them out again. Otherwise, I keep up on it every day.
Sadly, this is only about two weeks. Which, I know is a lot but I did in fact grow them out for this post. I did it for the good of humanity. Oh the humanity!
you did NOT grow your brows out just for this post!
I have been plucking since age 14, when I had my first photoshoot and the makeup artist hacked them all off. Since then I just pluck everynight and every morning…it's just like 4 or 5…that keeps the shape. I don't have to do all these steps because plucking my eyebrows comes after washing my face and before brushing my teeth. I started trimming with scissors about 4 years ago, and that's probably once a week…
Other tips, brows should not go in past the corners of inner eye, and preferrably should end parallel to outer corner, if not longer. Wow, that's blog dedication to grow your brows out for a post!
In the words of Mr. Rogers, "Please won't you be…my neighbor." I'd be knocking at your door every 5 seconds for wardrobe approval and makeup tips ;)
–Leadia
great tutorial – just wish someone would have taught me this in the high school days, early nineties — thank goodness i discovered it not too long afterwards – guess the eyebrows matched the hairstyles of those days.
Don't forget the rule about taking a pencil and placing it along the side of your nose, where it hits your eyebrow is where it should start. Angle the pencil from your nose to your outer edge of your eye to know where to stop. I was an over-plucker in my former life, now I get compliments on my amazing brows all the time. :)
Wow! I am going to print this and hang it in the bathroom. I get mine waxed, but wait to long in between. Then I do the stragglers only. I am pretty fair, so it doesn't look too horrible, but it's not good.
Kimm,
Great tips! I've been plucking long enough that I forget about the outside boundaries….
Kage,
I SO did. Look at my dedication. Suffering in the name of writing. I actually loved the little spot on your Runway Moms segment where you were plucking your eyebrows. Funny.
Breeders Digest,
Utah is lovely. :)
Erin,
I get lazy too, but man does it make a difference!
Jen,
Sadly, they kind of did match the hair: big and bushy. Hope those days don't return with 80's fashion!
Morkthefield,
Blonde is a whole thing I have no experience with {you'd think I'd be studying since I'm practically blonde these days!} but it's good to know there are pencils out there for you blondies.
Kim,
I'm so glad it was helpful! It really does make a huge difference, even those little stragglers.
what a great post. I always know my life is getting a little too busy when I look in the mirror and see scary hairy neglected eyebrows.
Amber Lee,
Thanks! I know, they can be one of the first things to go in my beauty regimen…
thanks for sacrificing your beauty for us. your finished brow looks gorgeous! i am a lazy plucker… i need to do pluck more often. i have never trimmed with scissor though. i will have to try that.
I have very blonde eyebrows–almost white. I hate it. But I found most blonde pencils are really great. It's not really a blonde color, but a very light brown. It looks natural. I haven't thought to comb out the color once I apply it, and I've never used scissors, which I should because some of my eyebrow hairs are super long. Great tips! Thanks so much for sharing!
Well I go for a brow wax every few weeks, it's my little indulgence and the gal that does it always gives mine a great shape. But my little secret is I keep an excellent tweezer in my car. That way when I see a stray, I can deal with it. It's the best lighting. I practically live in my car anyhow, shuttling kids everywhere and find I am often sitting and waiting.
It's also great for those awful times when you see a big ol' hair on your chin or neck. Not that that has every happened to me.
I also love Benefit's Brow Zings for filling in color. The Benefit Speed Brow is what I keep in my purse when I'm being high maintenance.
Um, I realize that I actually sound very high maintenance here, but brows are the only thing I really go all out with. When my brows are a wreck, I feel a wreck.
Wow. I am impressed that you could let your brows grow. It would drive me BONKERS. When I was on my mission I was an avid over plucker. Once while sitting out on my porch with my compact (door open of course so the companion was still within reach), the elders showed up to take us somewhere. One of them told me my eyebrows were too thin and I was coined "mother plucker". I have since learned to do it the proper way. i've never colored my blondies in with a pencil, though. I'll have to try it.
mskaz,
There's nothing high maintenance about keeping up the brows, it's just good grooming. I too keep my best pair of tweezers in the car: best lighting, best close-up mirror. What better way to pass the time in the car pool lane?
Being of South Asian descent, I have to tackle the brows at least once a week, or two caterpillars take over my face.
A lot of relatives use threading which is pretty darn painful, but not as severe as waxing – and the hair doesn't grow back as quickly.
Also, I find if I stretch out the brow with my free hand, I can grab onto those pesky smaller/finer hairs more easily.
Yay for grooming! :)
Luckily (not!) I have wiry black eyebrows that pretty much show me where I need to weed.
I remember going up to Dallas for a concert when I was in college and a drunk older woman (umm, probably younger than I am now… eeek!) kept asking me to tell her where I got my eyebrows done. I had no idea there was anything to do to them. Ah, youth.
Lori,
Over-plucker, I love it. It's true, you have to be really careful over-plucking but I'm super OCD so that's hard for me! Let me know how the pencil goes.
Sania,
I am really dark naturally, so I have to be really vigilant about the facial hair or it can take over my life! I've always wanted to thread and I do wax on a really regular basis.
Naomi,
Isn't it a pleasure being, uh, a little bit swarthy? I have hair in places no one should.
And that's funny about the lady loving your brows. I hardly ever wish for youth again, but I have my days.
Noooo!! You didn't just put your un-plucked eye on your blog?! You are awesome! I love this. How did you let them grow so long for this post? I bet you were dying not having them trimmed.
And I wish you wouldn't pluck the other eye, you should walk around the mall educating people on why they should pluck, then show them your before and after! HA, I love this. Let's go hit up the mall this week!
You've inspired me to post my "bleach mustache" posts! I already have the photos!
I have scary eyebrows. I have to do that almost every morning, plus I get them waxed. Kelly from According to Kelly, keeps telling me that I need to get threading done. Plus, I agree with the sisters and not twins. I have a chickenpox scar on my own eyebrow that makes the hair grow wacky!
Marie,
Oooooh I can't wait to see the post on bleach your mustache. That's a whole other ball of wax. Get it? It only took 2 weeks to grow to that scary level, I'm a hairy girl.
Angry Julie,
On the eyebrow I did pluck you can see a similar scar on my eyebrow, and the hair grows straight out and curly. Wonky.
I usually put a hot damp rag on my eyebrow before plucking- opens the pores so it doesn't hurt so much (I am an eyebrow wimp)
Funny thing, I never plucked until my 3rd set of college roomates tied me down and made me. So happy they did, they also taught me to shave my arms if you haven't you should try.
I might have nightmares for months!!
Oh, no. I work with all Middle Easterners-I need to print this out.
d mahoney…..
please tell me you mean shave your armpits and not your actual arm?
nooooo……
I’ve been a Make Up Artist for about 13 years now…and the one thing I ALWAYS correct people on is the term of “plucking” for eyebrows.
You PLUCK chickens…not eyebrows. Eyebrows you TWEEZE.
LOL…great tutorial though! :)
Goddess Jewelry
THANK YOU.
I am terrified of plucking my eyebrows. I do it as rarely as I can, even though, after a little while I can’t look in the mirror without Zoom-focusing on them.
I feel a little more prepared to tackle them this time around, which is great, seeing as the SO has mentioned it once or twice this week so it’s off to the mirror I go!
(Whilst I think he should either mind his own business or else let me pull hair out of his forehead, and see how eager he is about it, I am interviewing currently, and can kinda see his point.)