Brows — my sweet, sweet joy and my sweet, sweet pain.
I’ve reluctantly come to grips with the painful reality that I will very likely never be one of those lucky gals/guys who wakes up in the morning with immaculately lush, gorgeous brows, and I’m OK with that.
Because that’s what makeup is for.
Although, truth be told, I’ll always be jealous of my BFF Jen for being one of those naturally big-browed babes…
Let me tell ya, it’s really annoying, LOL!
Back in the ’90s, when everyone was plucking their brows into oblivion, Jen was constantly bemoaning her beautiful brows, saying that they were too damn full and sooo difficult to tame. 🙂
Yeah, what I wouldn’t have given for that problem. I’m always having to fill in mine (freaking Raul!).
On the positive side, at least I’ll probably never run out of new techniques and brow products to try. There’s an endless supply and lots of room to play.
Last year I was really into filling them in with eyeshadow for a full, kinda in-your-face brow look, and sometimes, let me tell ya, those big brows entered a room before I did, haha!
These days I’m more chill about my brows… I still like them big and full, but a little less blocky and more textured, so that they look more natural and real, if that makes any sense. I want brows that look like they just naturally grew out of my head that way.
There are different ways to get a full, but natural brow look, but here’s mine. I use a brow pencil, brow gel, and follow these three simple steps.
First, you’ll need the following…
- A brow pencil with a skinny tip. I like Brow Wiz by Anastasia Beverley Hills ($21). It has a twist-up pencil on one end and a brow comb on the other.
- A brow comb (if your pencil doesn’t have one; see above)
- A clear brow gel, and my favorite of the moment is unsurprisingly called Clear Brow Gel ($22), also by Anastasia. I like it because it dries to a matte finish and has a very strong hold, so those little brow hairs don’t move a muslce once it sets.
Step 1
Begin by filling in your brows with your brow pencil starting at the inner end using short strokes, light pressure, and moving in the same direction that your brow hairs grow, with the goal being to go with the natural flow.
Step 2
Next, fill in the outer portion of your brows, again using short strokes, but here applying slightly more pressure than you did a moment ago. This way the hairs in inner portion of your brows (the sides closer to your nose) are a little lighter, where the hairs are normally more sparse, and darker in the outer portion, where the hairs normally grow denser.
Step 3
Finally, brush a clear brow gel through your brows, then gently comb through it to break things up. That way your brows don’t look too solid or blocky.
Tada! Full (but still pretty natural-looking) brows.
A few pointers…
- If you find that you seem to apply a lot of pressure when you’re filling in your brows, try holding your pencil parallel to the brow, instead of perpendicular to it, or straight on, like you’re jabbing the point at your brow, and use the side of the brush head more than the tip.
- With your brow gel, try to get it just in the hairs, and not on your skin, basically just because when I get brow gel on my skin, it always breaks up the product too much and leaves me with blank patches.
- But even if you do end up with a few blank patches, don’t worry. Wait for the brow gel to dry, then go back in with your pencil to touch up those areas.
Your friendly neighborhood brow-loving beauty addict,
Karen
Great tips, Karen. I think I need a clear brow gel because my right brow has been kind of unruly.
Awesome tips Karen.. I have fuller brows but I like to fill them up when doing makeup looks.. I have tried brow powder n pigmented gel but have to find a brow pencil now.. I wanna try it technique.:-)
The pointers are bang on… :-*
Happy Friday dear 🙂
Hi Karen,
This is wonderful…thank you! I will take the brow tips to heart. What is the lipstick that you are wearing in these photos? It’s lovely!
Hi Meghan,
It’s Too Faced Melted Strawberry. 🙂
Forgot to ask which lippie are u using here.?? U looking amazing and the highlighter placement making u glow naturally :-*
Thank you, Poo! The lipstick is Too Faced Melted Strawberry.
I know this sounds weird but I like to brush the brow hairs up and then go against the grain of the hairs with the brow productl. Then I brush the brow hairs again and wipe off excess with a q-tip.
Anastasia Brow Wiz is now a Holy Grail for me.
I have tried too many brow products to name them. (Dear Daughter says it’s an obsession. I consider it more of a mild compulsion) —
several different kinds of MAC pencils, MAC gels (the bright bronze one was a bit over the top), clear Anastasia gel, Lancome powder pencil (nice but not natural looking), Dior pencil (awful), Laura Mercier stuff in a pot (dried out)s.
I used to really like MUFE Aqua Brow but that was too much work.
Current favorite is MAC I Texture for my natural look, lower-key makeup and Armani Brow Maestro for a more dramatic look. For each look, though, the Brow Wiz in strawburn takes care of my heads — I’ve been losing my heads for a few years now
Have to confess I did not use anything on my brows till I was well past 40! I have made up for lost time!
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I’ve been embracing a fuller, darker brow lately. I read somewhere that thin, light brows age you and since I barely escaped the 90’s with any brow hairs intact I need a lot of help in that department! Currently I’m loving Dior’s brow pencil but if I’m feeling lazy I reach for my Anastasia powder. The biggest challenge for me is filling in while maintaining a good shape that looks natural.
If I have the time I like to play with my brows: powder, pencil, gel, …
But more days than not, it is just a brow tint and out the door I go!
Love your tips! I am in love with Senna Sketch-A-Brow right now. So fabulous and natural looking. I’ll use either Anastasia Brow Gel in Espresso or Senna Brow Fix X (which holds better) to brush through and give more definition. It also sort of…tousles my brow hairs at the front end, which I really like. Tousled brows. It’s a thing, I swear! Think Cara Delevingne’s perfected out-of-place-but-not-unruly brows 😉
I own a sample of Anastasia Clear Brow Gel and didnt like it at all. It dried down and started to flake after about one hour. Maybe mine had gone wrong?
But that aside, I will dedicate more attention to my brows in 2015. After doing some close up shots I realized that the color I am using is way off, so this will be the first thing to get right.
Mother nature gave me plenty of fullness in the brow department. Which I am now thankful for, but there was a time when I hated it. I need to tweeze daily, ya know…
I like the Anastasia line too, specially the brow powder duo and the clear brow gel. Since I’m extremely pale and naturally blonde, I can look a bit ghostly if my brows are not well defines. To add a little more drama to the situation, although I’m 24 yrs-old, I’ve been through that over-plucking phase too in my early teen years, which is even sadder when I remember how amazingly full they were before! After a few years of growing (with the help of a medicine – kind of latisse but it’s actually an eye drop) they are much better. But I’m left with a nasty flaw I try to cover obsessively.
A tip for ashy blondes or even pale brunettes: Maybelline’s color tattoo eye shadow in tough as taupe is the real deal! It doesn’t come off no matter what. Just be light handed because the stuff is strong
Your brows have been looking perfect lately, I love the natural shape! Mine have been over plucked and now I look silly if I attempt any shaping or filling 🙁
I’ve been a little frustrated with my brows and think I need to add gel to my routine. My brows still grow but just sparsely and not where I’d like them to, so I’ve resigned myself to a life of filling. They’re looking fairly limp by the end of the day, though, so gel might be the answer. Thanks for the tips! Oh, and your face looks flawless – love the blush. 🙂
Great tips! I so need to take better care of my eyebrows!
How you managed to type precise, perfectly accurate instructions on filling in brows is beyond me! OAN- such a cute lippie. I’ve been lusting after trying the Melted Lipsticks from Too Faced. Still kicking myself for not getting the holiday set full of deluxe size lippies. I mean, had I gotten that set, I’d be half-way home with only one or four more tubes to buy! And with a nicer price tag for my money. Bummer
I’ve not tried any clear brow gel in far to long!
Someone told me to throw away my tweezers and get rid of your 15x mirror for at least 6 months. I didn’t want to listen but I’m glad I did because I finally have my brows where I want them to be. They have grown out enough so I could shape them properly. I used to spend so much time on them in the morning but now it takes about 2 minutes.
I use the Anastasia brow wiz to slightly shape them along the top and bottom and then brush the Benefit Gimmee Brow through them to hold them in place. So easy!
Great tips Karen! Love your look here – the big lashes and bright pink lips look stunning on you!
Really great tips! You always have such pretty, natural brows
Karen, thanks for the great tips! I’ve been wanting to try out a more natural look on my brows for a while now, and your tips will help me find that natural look.