Doing the deed! Shaping your brows

In order to establish what eyebrow shape will best help balance your features, you need to figure out which features need balancing.

Take a good look at your face and figure out which features stand out such as your eyes, nose, lips or chin. Some features which can be balanced with eyebrows:

Large Eyes

Big eyes are certainly a beauty asset, but they need strong brows to accompany them. If your brows are light and delicate, your eyes can look too large and take over your face. To make your brows appear stronger, deepen the colour or add thickness.

Almond Eyes

The cat-like beauty of the almond eye can be emphasised by the right brow. A round brow will make the eyes look rounder, but an angled brow will draw attention to the upper part of the face and emphasise the lovely shape of the eye. Asian women with almond eyes often have other delicate features and should take care that their brows do not overpower them.

Prominent Nose

If your nose is currently the focus of your face, you can use your eyebrows to divert that attention. For example, flat brows will do nothing to distract from a large nose. But a highly arched brow literally points away from the nose and can add to this effect by making them deeply coloured and thick. This helps balance your face and makes your eyes more prominent.

Pointed Chin or Large Lips

These two features both have the same effect: they draw attention away from the eyes and toward the lower part of the face. Again, balance is the goal and it is easy to accomplish with the right brows. Rounded eyebrows can provide a soft contrast to the pointed chin.

Your Best Brow Strength

To achieve balance in your face you need to pair like with like. There are three things that affect brow strength:

1. Proximity to the eye: The closer the brow is to the eye, the stronger it will appear. You can open up the eye area by tweezing the excess hairs from underneath the brow line.

2. Thickness: The thicker the brow the stronger it will appear.

Some women fail to take this into consideration when grooming their brows. It is easy for a thick brow to look top heavy, especially if you don’t have large eyes to balance it.

3. Colour: The darker the brow, the stronger it will appear.

Making your brows lighter or darker affects the overall balance between your features.

Putting It All Together: Shaping Your Brows

It is always easier to do a good job if you have the right equipment! Some tools you will need:

* A brow brush and comb

* A white pencil

* Eyebrow Pencil

* Eyebrow Powder and Brush

* Tweezers

* Cuticle Scissors

Step 1: The Pencil Trick

a. Take a white pencil and position it in a straight line running from the outside of your nostril up to the inner corner of your eye. This is where your brow should start. Mark a dot with your pencil.

b. Next, angle the pencil so it runs from the outside of your nostril to the outer corner of your eye. Use the pencil to mark where it crosses your brow. This is where your brow should end.

c. Finally, line the pencil up so it runs straight up and down along the outside of your iris. Use the pencil to mark two dots where it crosses the brow.

Step 2: Don’t forget to trim!

Trimming is used on those hairs that are in the right place but are so long that they stick out above or below the outline of your brow, creating an unkempt look.

It is a good idea to trim before you tweeze or wax, since it makes it easier to see the brow line. Brush hairs upwards and then trim with cuticle scissors one hair at a time. Caution: Do not cut hairs down to the top of the brow or they will be too short! You can also brush hairs downwards at the tail of your brow and trim.

Step 3: Connect the dots

Connect dots with your pencil. It would help you even more to draw the shape you want to create around the brow.

Step 4: Ready. Set. Tweeze.

Starting with the bottom of the brow, tweeze one hair at a time. Grip each hair individually as close to the root as possible and pull gently in the direction it grows — don’t yank. Step back after you tweeze a few hairs to check your progress.

Step 5: Move to the top of the brow and start with the hairs that are obviously above the outline you have drawn.

Step 6: Tweeze any stray hairs at the start of the brow.

Step 7: Fill in any gaps with eyebrow powder or a sharp pencil, using small, feathery, hair like strokes.

Crysande H?chst is a professional make-up artist. If you have any beauty questions you can send them to Crysande@gmx.de. Call 646-0666 or 689-1527 to schedule your make-up consultation.