Browmance

My relationship with my eyebrows has been a tumultuous one at best. I can't remember exactly when it began, but even as a child, I hated my huge eyebrows. I would watch my mom pluck hers and ask that she do mine as well, despite the fact that she never responded favorably to my makeover requests (past curling my hair occasionally).


Then, as a teenager, I remember letting one of my brother's girlfriends do my eyebrows for me. She didn't pluck them; she had some sort of hair removal solution that she pasted on my face until my eyebrows magically dissolved. What was left was a tiny, pencil thin line of hair that rested high above each of my eyes, and I suddenly felt like a new woman. This absolute disregard for shape lasted with me for a long time. Just check out this picture taken while I was in college. I still cringe.

It may have been Anne Hathaway that made me fall in love with thick, shapely brows and strategically placed arches.

Or it could have been my fascination with Frida Kahlo's unibrow. I'm not really sure. But at some point, I made the decision to find out what it is that makes great eyebrows. I did research on how to shape them (not kidding) and tried out some of the techniques. The problem was that my eyebrows are dark and thick in the center and thin and super light-colored as they move outward. I realized for the first time that my eyebrows may be too thin in some places to make the look that I was going for. I was discouraged, but I didn't give up hope.


On a trip to Sally Beauty Supply, I stumbled upon a package of eyebrow stencils. I had never heard of anyone using stencils to shape their eyebrows, and I was, quite frankly, skeptical that my naturally grotesque eyebrows would even fit within the shape of the stencils. However, for $3.99 ($3.88 with a Sally Beauty Club card), it was at least worth a shot.


So here's how it works:


I fill in the shape of the stencil with a white eyeliner pencil, like this one, available at Walgreens. 

with one traced. it's a nice look for me.

Once I've done both eyebrows and made sure that they are mostly aligned, I pluck everything outside of the white shape with my Tweezerman tweezers, which I found on clearance for $3.00 at (you guessed it) Sally's. 

Once I'm confident that I've gotten all of the rogue hairs, I wash off the white pencil with warm water. Voila! 

But we still aren't quite finished. I trim any excessively long hairs with scissors. You have to be incredibly careful here, and the best way that I've found to avoid cutting too much is to hold a comb over the top of your eyebrows before trimming. If you have thin eyebrows, it's best to leave them longer so that you can position the hairs to create the illusion of thickness. For this, I find that clear mascara does the trick. 

Then, because my eyebrows are so light at the outer edges, I fill in the arch with eyeshadow and a brush. 

And, finally, I add a bit of brow highlighter for a lovely finish. For this, you can really use any eyeshadow that's light and has a hint of shimmer. Right now, I'm loving Victoria's Secret's Beauty Rush Luminous Shadow in shades like "too too pink" or "glow nude." They are a bit pricey, but you can get 5 for $20 for a better bargain.

Since my introduction to eyebrow stencils, my brows remain far from perfect. However, I can say that I no longer loathe them the way that I used to. And I vow to never, EVER bring back the skinny eyebrows!


Which celebrity do you think has the best eyebrows? Do you go to the salon to get your eyebrows professionally shaped? What are your favorite tweezers?