HOW I FILL IN MY BROWS

If eyes are the windows to the soul, then think of your brows like the curtains on the windows.

Eyebrows are probably one of the most important features on your face. They complete any look, frame your face – it’s actually pretty amazing how powerful two little strips of hair can be! One of the things I get complimented on the most is my brows.

“What do you mean you fill them in? They look so natural!”

“Who does your brows?”

While I love how they look now, they didn’t always look like this. I used to go to the nail salons and get them waxed, and more often than not, they did them way too thin! Like pencil thin. And that’s not a good look for ANYONE.

When I was in hairdressing school, a classmate of mine actually took my tweezers away from me (yes, really!) and said “from now on, don’t touch your brows, don’t let anyone else touch your brows, I’ll do them”. And to this day I thank her for that! Not only did she rescue my severely over-tweezed and over-waxed brows, but she taught me how to properly shape and care for them. So a big shoutout to Danielle P!

Since we graduated in 2006, I’ve been doing my own brows. And because of the damage that not only I, but many nail salons in my area did, I’ve had to fill them in. See, when you damage a hair follicle by over-plucking or over-waxing (and you can tell because it usually will bleed a tad), it typically kills it and the hair never grows back in that spot. I have a lot of spots like that. So below I will share with you how I fill them in so they look the most natural. Let’s get started!

A few things you’ll need:

• a good brow pencil – I use the NYX Micro Brow Pencil in the shade Taupe ($10/ULTA)
• a good brow gel – I swear by Anastasia Beverly Hills Clear Brow Gel ($22/ULTA)
• concealer
• a small, flat definer brush, like the Morphe M432 Flat Definer Brush ($4/morphebrushes.com)

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 Taking my NYX Micro Brow pencil, I use the spoolie side first to brush out my brow hairs, and I always brush them up. You never want to brush downward. Always up, and always in the direction of the hair growth.

 

 Once my brows are brushed out, I take the pencil side and start at the innermost bottom corner of my brow, and draw a line all the way up to the underside of where my brow arches. Then I go from that point, downward to the tail, extending it ever so slightly, because my brows are not even lengths.

 

 Then I start filling in the tail of the brow. This is where you want it to be the darkest. Dark at the outer part, light at the inner part – we’ll get there, don’t you worry!

 

 Moving my pencil in short, hair like strokes, I work up to the TOP of the arch.

 

 From there on in, my brow hairs start to grow downward, so I carefully follow that pattern, filling in along the top line of my brow, and working inward, stopping right about at the edge of the iris (the colored part of your eye).

 

 Now flip back to your spoolie side, and start brushing through the brows again to distribute all the color evenly and brush out any harsh lines. Especially that very first line we made along the bottom – you want to diffuse that with the spoolie so it looks the most natural.

 Brush through to the tail end of your brow, and then bring the spoolie back towards the front (inner corner) and very lightly brush through there. If you have very sparse hair at the inner corner, you can take your brow pencil and make very light, upward strokes to mimic the look of brow hairs, but you don’t want that area too dark or heavy.

 

 Now I go in and set my brows with a clear brow gel, and I love the Anastasia Beverly Hills Clear Brow Gel. Yes, I know it’s pricey – when I got it I managed to get it for 50% off, and let me tell you, my brows don’t move! It’s like super glue on your brows! I have yet to find a drugstore clear brow gel that holds them in place like this one!

 

 Now this step is totally optional, and I don’t do this every single day, but if you got a little messy with the brow pencil, or you’re someone who loves a very sharp, sculpted brow, you can go in with a concealer and a flat definer brush like the Morphe M432, and carve it out and just kind of sharpen the edges. I tend to reserve this step for more dramatic looks, not for every day. Less is more, you don’t need a huge glob of concealer here. Just work around the edges, until you’re comfortable with the result.

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 And that’s it, you’re done! And a little tip if you’re someone like me who grooms their own brows at home, I like to fill in my brows BEFORE I wax them, that way there’s zero chance at overwaxing one more than the other.

 Always remember though (because this used to frustrate me, too) that both brows don’t always look identical. One may have more of an arch than the other, one may be longer at the tail, one may be thicker than the other – brows are sisters, not twins! That’s why we fill them in – to fake it ’til we make it, so to speak!

I hope this helped you guys, and leave me a comment below if you have some favorite brow products that maybe I haven’t discovered yet!

And as always, don’t forget to go follow me on Twitter and Instagram @dlynnesposito, and go like the Affordable Gorgeous page on Facebook!

LOTS OF LOVE!