We’ve endured quite a lull, haven’t we? I give you my penance – the long-awaited eyebrow-drawing tutorial. This is not about tweezing or otherwise shaping natural brows – that would have been a sham! These are my tips, after all, and my eyebrows are nearly nonexistent. So if it’s natural eyebrow advice you’re after, I recommend heading here. Meanwhile, the rest of us will go over ways to enhance or replace brows with the help of cosmetics. Please don’t mind the hair in the photos below – I’m in the process of growing a mega-mane and it does what it wants.
There are two ground rules to fake eyebrow mastery: 1. drawn-on arches must match your natural arches and 2. the inner edges must be blended instead of squared or rounded off. Obviously, neither of these apply if you’re going for Siouxsie brows, or any other type of hyper-stylized brows. We’re not discussing those today. Today is all about an everyday look, but these tips will help you achieve success in all future eyebrow ventures. First, a few shapes to avoid:
1. unnatural arch too close to the center of the eye 2. eyebrows too blunt and too close together 3. Clown
One thing all these fine folks have in common is a complete lack of natural eyebrows. Now, what if you have no eyebrows, or, like me, have very fine eyebrows – how do you find your natural arch and edge, thus avoiding the above mishaps? Just raise, then scrunch your brow while looking in the mirror. It might help to mark these points with liner when you find them. I have a slight advantage because I have very lightly tattooed brows, so I don’t need to look for my arches. See:
If, on the contrary, you have unruly brows, now is the time to tame them. I use a brush with a spritz of hairspray when needed, but there’s an array of specialty products for this very purpose out there, too. Once the hair is in check it’s time to get down to business.
PRODUCTS
Pencil seems to work fine for many peeps, but I find powder easier to blend and less likely to smear. I use Mac eye shadows and my current shade is “Contrast”. It’s shimmery, but with a solid base, goes on evenly and has hints of both blue and purple, which matches my hair. For a more natural look, your eyebrows should be a couple of shades lighter than your hair, but don’t be afraid to play with color. For instance, platinum-haired peeps are generally told to use light brown, but I would love to see more blonds going for a show queen look with white brows, instead. Occasionally, I trade my varying blues for raspberry or emerald shades. Etc, etc, etc – a whole world of color possibilities awaits.
Certain paint brushes cost a fraction of brand name make-up brushes and last just as long, if not longer. Frankly, I pity da fool who spends twenty bucks on an angled make-up brush.My brushes of choice are Blick Masterstroke Short Handles, but the in the photos below I’m using some other type of Blick angled brush.
L – Mac Contrast eye shadow, top R – Blick angled paint brush, Bottom R – brand name eyebrow brush
APPLICATION
If your shadow is pressed, scrape a little into a tiny powdery mound for maximum brush-loading power. I use my fingernail or a sculpting tool. Like the brave brow ninja that you are, dip your brush in, tap off excess product, and lightly outline your desired shape. Fill in the shape, but do not, I repeat, DO NOT square or round off the inner edges of your brows. This is the technique that separates the men from the boys and the eyebrow connoisseurs from rodeo clowns, or whatever else the case may be.
For a softer, more natural look than shown here, use a lighter shade with a dry brush. For a stylized look like mine, wet your brush before dipping it into the shadow. I apply one brow at a time, but it probably makes more sense to oscillate between both. Surely you’ll find your preferred method after a few rounds.
Clean up and shape with a wet cotton swab, remembering to blend after if you’re after a softer look. You can also use a clean brush, but I prefer the swabs, because I can quickly adjust the shape and thickness by removing small strips of cotton.
Now, use a little sheer powder as an anti-smudging agent over your masterpiece and you’re done! If you have eyebrow questions I didn’t answer, please ask in the comments section. I’ll include them in the post as they arrive.
UPDATE
Readers’ questions, answered!
I worry about the smudge-factor. How difficult is it to keep from ruining your final product?
I find that it’s not that difficult at all, but then I’ve had years of getting used to drawn-on brows. Avoiding touching them becomes reflexive and dabbing translucent powder over them helps seal them quite well. I will say that most, ehm, acts of passion will still smudge them even so. I haven’t tried Benefit’s She Laq yet, perhaps that’d do the trick.
How do you draw them on so evenly?
Knowing where my arches and edges are. Once you find those, it’s all just connect-the-dots.
Is there any special translucent powder you recommend?
Not especially – I use whatever I have on hand. Usually it’s Bare Escentuals Mineral Veil.
What other paint brushes do you recommend for eye makeup, specifically for blending?
Brushes are better when I do others’ makeup, but, even after being a pro make-up artist, I prefer the crappy drugstore sponge applicators. They hold and blend eye shadows evenly and I really just have a knack for using them.
Do you recommend tattooing the eyebrows on? If so, any ideas where?
Yes! I definitely recommend getting them done by a professional technician as opposed to a tattoo parlor. I found mine online!
I really could use a touch-up, actually. The thing about cosmetic tattooing is that it fades, which is nice if you change your mind and hair color often. I had my brows done when I was a redhead but now that my hair is blue I’ll probably have them freshened up a darker, more neutral hue.
Thanks a lot for the tutorial! I never thought about using eye shadow for my brows -I’ve always used pencils-, but I’m definitely gonna try!
Ahhh, I’ve always wondered how you do it!
As much as I love completely covering myself with the make-ups, sporting drawn-on eyebrows is something I’ve alway shied away from, mostly because I worry about the smudge-factor. How difficult is it to keep from ruining your final product? I gather that you wear these almost all the time, so you must be skilled in some sort of martial arts-like eyebrow-defending practice.
Great tutorial! My brows are similar and naturally very thing and sparse. I’ve been using shadows and powders for about two years now. I discovered by dipping the brush in brow wax before the pigment gives the product an almost creamy texture with goes on wonderfully. Then I set with translucent powder and I’m good to go. I have yet to find a “fun” color to try, so I’ve been sticking with soft blacks or darker grays since my hair is black. But I would like to find a nice deep purple to compliment the purple streak I have in my hair.
Aha! Found the little bastards with the raising and scrunching tip. Brows will no longer be guesstimation. Thank you!
Thank you Zoetica. I love this! I always wondered how you did your brows and assumed that they were completely tattooed on.
I too have sparse brows but I fill in with a (dryish) cream shadow instead of a powder pigment. Thanks for the translucent powder tip! I use this to prime but not to set and finish. Will do from now on.
This is the thing I have been waiting for. It is everything I could’ve imagined. Thank You.
~D]
It’s nice seeing the transformation you undergo while doing your make-up
brilliant!!!
thank you!
my virtually non-existant red-headed eyebrows thank you.
Perfection! Bravo!
Tip: I add a bit of Benefit She Laq to each after painting them on to seal the pigment…the ninja NW rains can ruin a good brow day if you don’t protect them a bit.
Wait, what? I thought you had those tattooed on.
Hm. Well that’s nice, anyhow.
You should keep doing this sort of thing. Make up tutorials are so awful these days. Thanks for making them actually nice to look at.
How do you draw them on so evenly?
Even if you still have full eyebrows, sometimes a little powder and a brush helps even them out.
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your skin is so lovely :)
great tips, and great pix.
You’re the only person, in the whole world that I’ve seen, who consistently makes drawn on lashes look good. No doubt I’ll be linking people to this page for years to come.
Great tutorial! I’m lucky enough to have fairly well-defined brows, so I don’t really need to use any powder or liner for definition. This information would have been amazingly helpful when I used to dye my hair red & pink, though. My dark brown eyebrows always looked “off” with brightly-hued hair, but I never thought to use a coloured shadow with them. I’ll keep this in mind in case the urge to bleach-n-tint overtakes me again. ;)
a wonderful tutorial – i’ve had brow envy of you for ages!
i lost my brows two years ago due to alopecia and i automatically went for powder as i have oily skin and pencil just wouldn’t hold…i heard about benefit’s she lac and figured it was just lipstick sealer and so that’s what i use at a tenth of the price!
i’m interested in trying your idea of blending the inner edges, i never thought of doing that, but then I paint them on so thin…
you’ve given me inspiration, in any case!
secxx
I enjoyed this a lot! You are adorable! I shall show this to my daughter as she has hair the same color as yours and may want to try blue instead of black!
Thank you! I have naturally brunette hair, yet white eyebrows so I’m forced to pencil them in everyday or it looks like I don’t have any. And pencil has been smearing for me. Your advice was so helpful
Is there any special translucent powder you recommend?
what other paint brushes do you recommend for eye makeup, specifically for blending?
Hey. Great post very informative. Being somone who has the horribe disease/bad habit/misfortune, or obsessively pulling out my eyelashes and eyebrows. do you recommend tattooing the eyebrows on? If so any idears where I should wander into?? Thanks so much
I’d like to mention that if anyone here already has full eyebrows, and would like to do this look, *please* shave, rather than tweeze the hairs, in case you change your mind later.
I used to tweeze the outer 2/3 of each brow, and later I decided not to. The hairs now grow in messy and crooked, and require a lot of combing into place.
Still, I’m lucky they grew back at all. Shaving is definitely the way to go; just don’t go out with stubble-brows. Oh, and no, it won’t make the hairs grow back thicker, that’s an old wives’ tale.
Also, @Lacey, I had (have?) trichotillomania as well, but I learned to replace it with other behaviors. First was simply deciding to not use my fingernails to pull. The pads of the fingers pull out less hair. I still have problems with it, occasionally, but not like when I was a kid.
Tattooing might be a good idea for eyebrows, but I don’t know about tattoo eyeliner, or whether it would even look good without at least wearing false lashes.
I have very similar hair colour to Zoetica (blue velvet mixed with deep purple dye) and also use Contrast eyeshadow! I have very dark heavy brows but they have gone finder due to the years of tweezing and shaving.
I like to use MAC’s mixing medium for the face to draw them on with. I put a tiny drop on my hand, stroke the liner brush into eyeshadow, then into the drop of mixing medium. I have had my bottle for about 2 years and it’s still about 85% full. It gives your make-up a wet look which doesnt smudge(it is specifically used for mixing pigments and glitter) and dries bright and sturdy. I use it over Urban Decay’s Primer potion.
Whoops in addition to my precious comment, this is the product: http://www.macpro.com/templates/products/sp.tmpl?CATEGORY_ID=CATEGORY15114&PRODUCT_ID=PROD7797
the face one didn’t work as well as the multi-purpose gel.
And thank you Zoetica, I love your tutorials! You’re a great source of advice :)
Zoetica, this is a great tutorial! Oh, and I have used assorted sealants (SheLaq, Aromaleigh’s “Indelible”, and so on), and they do help keep one’s drawn-on brows intact after “acts of passion”.
I am vindicated! My technique is very similar, right down to the cheaper paint brushes, and I used to think that my “but it just looks so much better” approach to not rounding or squaring off my inner edges was faulty, because it’s not what “all the other girls” did.
Good to finally know that my make-up instincts are trustworthy.
And kudos on a lovely tutorial. I will be sharing.
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oh zoe, you are so awesome in so many ways…
Hey. I’ve been drawing on my eyebrows for about 4 years now and have tried the translucent powder tip. I find that it alters the colour of the pencil/shadow you are using, however. Do you have this problem with the aforementioned shadow you recommended?
Loved your eyebrow tutorial. Question: If rounding or squaring off the inner eyebrow is a no-no, what DO you do? I have to draw my inner eyebrows becuz they do not go far enough toward my eyes. What do you suggest? Help?!
Tattooing on any make-up on is horrible. As you age, your skin moves and shifts, meaning you’ll end up with quite a melted look after a decade or two.
(Aside from that, good tutorial, thanks.)
I love your hair color. Could you possibly tell me the brand / color (even if pro) used? Gorgeous color. Just found your site so if answered already forgive me please.
Thank you! Love your tutorial & idea for brushes.
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I have a question: I have very thick dark eyebrows that grow in very sparse. I’ve tried shaving them off multiple times, but the stubble is quite bad within a day. I notice most people who do this have naturally light eyebrows. If I wax my eyebrows, would they stop growing altogether? Would they grow in thinner and be more manageable? Or should I pluck the hairs that start to grow in? Is there a way to prevent bumps? I also notice that powder seems to disappear off my skin- even if sealed with translucent powder after applying… I don’t have greasy skin.. does liquid liner have a better staying power? Thanks!
Hi! sorry if this is the wrong section or if you answered this somewhere else that I haven’t been able to read yet (just recently found out bout ALLL this). My question has to do with mineral makeup. Now “they” recommend using a “special” brush for applying mineral makeup. Is this absolutely necessary? are there loopholes as mentioned with the eyebrow brushes? thank you!
Thanks , very informative. I´m really bad in “paint my eyebrows.
This makes me REALLY REALLY REALLY want dark blue hair…although I am a bright-flame orange ginger and it’s my favourite hair colour. I wish I had the balls to do a dark colour like blue… maybe i just need to invest in a really great wig. ;)
how did you do your hair?! im in love with the color
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