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In this post, I will go through my favorite way to do my brows. There are so many ways to do them and there is no one right way to do it. Everyone has different shapes/colors/hair types/preferences and what I do will not work for everyone.
Favorite Brow Products and Tools
- Viseart Brow Palette (No longer available but you can use any eyeshadow that you think matches you well.)
- Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Pen
- Elf Eyelash & Brow Wand
- Morphe M160 Angled Brush (Also discontinued. I like this one because I can draw thinner lines with it than my other angled brushes.)
- Mac 231 Flat Shader
- Morphe E36 Pencil Brush
What I Do
1. Start with unpowdered skin. Before I do my brows, I do my foundation but I hold back from applying setting powder around my brows till after I’m done with them. The brow products will adhere better to the skin if I don’t powder first and look more evenly applied.
2. Use the ABH Brow Pen to fill in gaps. I draw hairlike strokes in the front part of my brows where there are gaps in the hair. This product can sometimes come out very pigmented and look hash/unnatural so I let it dry for a few minutes and then brush lightly over what I drew with my spoolie to soften the look.
3. Define outer portion of the brow with brow powder. I’ll take my Morphe M160 and use the deepest powder shade from my Viseart Brow Palette to fill in and deepen the color of my brow arch and slightly extend the tail of my brow. I do this usually from the top side of the brow but I’ll also go in from underneath. Don’t worry about not getting a “perfect” shape. You can clean up what you did with foundation or concealer afterwards.
I like for most of the color to be applied to the outer 1/2 of my brow and to have more of a crisp edge near my arch and the tail of my brow. Wherever I start applying color is where it will look darkest so as soon as I pick up color, I’ll usually first place the brush at the very top edge of my arch because that is where I want it to look the most crisp. I have also done it where I’ll first place the brush in the middle of the brow and work my way to the outer edge. This works too but creates a softer effect on the edge.
As I feel like I’m finishing up with the outer 1/2, I’ll avoid adding too much more color to the brush because I like to keep the front 1/2 lighter and to see more of my skin through the hairs. The brush will still have some residual color on it and I’ll use that to fill in any areas of the front part of my brow that look uneven. If I really don’t have enough color left on the brush, I’ll go ahead and pick up a tiny bit more.
4. Clean up any mistakes. Once I’m done with the brow powder, if there are any areas that I feel like I messed up the shape (applied too much or went outside the lines), I’ll clean it up with foundation or concealer. I prefer using a foundation rather than a concealer because it ends up looking more natural. I don’t want to see the foundation next to my brows, I just want to use it kind of like an eraser.
To clean up, I’ll use my Mac 231 with a tiny bit of foundation. (What you see in the photo is exaggerated for the purpose of making it obvious what I’m doing. I’ll use less than that normally.) If I want to get more of a crisp/straight edge on part of my brow, I’ll use the tip of the brush to paint a straight line of foundation next to the brow to clean up the lines or remove color. If I’m trying to get more of a tapered point at the tail of my brow or I feel that I extended it too far, I’ll wiggle the edge of the brush on both the top and bottom part of the tail to kind of “erase” some of the color I applied earlier.
I’ll sometimes apply foundation underneath the brows to the brow bone using the same brush as well. If I feel like I need to blend out the foundation, it is helpful to have a small pencil brush on hand. I can use my fingers but a pencil brush is a little more precise.
Above, you might notice the patchiness in the brows at the end after cleaning up the top area with foundation. This can happen if I have too much to clean up. This is also how it can look if I apply powder to the brow area before doing them. I exaggerated the clean up example just so I could show you what I do to fix the problem and so it came out worse than normal. I try to avoid having to apply foundation as much as possible. It works best for minor mistakes. If I really mess it up, then I’ll just use some makeup remover or micellar water on a cotton swap to remove all of the brow product and start over.
Why I Do Them This Way
The very outer/top of my brow seems to kind of “dip” and I like to fill in that dip to create a very slightly more curved shape. The length of my brow also seems to be a bit short for the width of my eyes which is why I like to extend them a bit. And one brow is longer than the other LOL. Looking for symmetry.
I like a mostly natural look but I don’t mind having them look a little bold, especially if I’m going for a heavier eye makeup look.