How to Fill in Eyebrows

Along with any feature on your face, your eyebrows are possibly one of the most defining, and can have a lot of influence on your overall look. For being such an expressive and significant element of someone’s appearance, there are many people who just don’t know how to tame, groom or flatter their brows. If you suffer from brows that are too light or very sparse, you can easily rectify your situation by filling them in! Using some basic makeup techniques, you'll be on your way to ideal eyebrows in no time.

Steps

Prepping Your Eyebrows

Remove stray hairs. Tweeze stray hairs above and below your natural eyebrow, including any hairs in between your two brows. Don’t do precise tweezing right now, just pluck away the prominent stray hairs.^[1]
Trim the excess hair. If any of your eyebrow hairs are longer than the natural shape of your brow, consider brushing those hairs upward using a spoolie (it looks like a clean mascara applicator), and trimming them.^[2] Trim the hairs by placing small eyebrow scissors horizontally above your brow (mimicking as close as possible the shape of your brow), and carefully cutting the hairs that reach beyond the top of your brow line. For very uncooperative eyebrow hairs, consider using a spoolie to also brush the hairs downward, and use the same technique to cut the hairs that extend below your natural eyebrow shape.
- Be very careful to not over trim! It’s very easy to cut your eyebrow hairs too short, so always trim less initially and then trim more if need be.
Underline underneath your brow. Use your brow pencil to underline, and follow the bottom shape of your eyebrow. Start by using soft strokes to underline your brow; you don’t want the line to look too dramatic, and you can always add on more strokes.
- You want the underside of your brow to be clearly defined and sharper looking, while allowing the top part and the rest of your brow to look naturally inexact and free flowing.^[3]
- Don't pick an underlining shade that matches your brow color. Just like the head on your hair, your eyebrow hairs have different pigments and hues. Using a color that matches your brow color exactly might make your brows look too intense. Instead, opt to use a lighter shade for underlining and filling in. For example, if you have dark brown hair, consider using a light brown or dark blonde color.^[4]

Shaping Your Eyebrows

Measure your inner brow. Place your eyebrow brush (or any straight object) vertically on the “ala” of your nose. This is the part where your nostrils begin to flare, right outside of the rounded frontal tip of your nose. You can visualize where the ala is by imagining drawing a clown nose on your nose. The ala would be the part of your nose not painted, directly outside of the red clown nose. Following this point directly up, is where your eyebrow should start.^[5] Any hair extending past that straight object toward the bridge of your nose should be removed.
- Keep in mind that everyone’s face shape is different along with the positioning of their eyes, and width of their nose. Therefore, this method might not work best for everyone. A good rule of thumb is to use your tear ducts (or a tad more inward toward the center of your face) as a general starting point for your eyebrows.^[6]
Mark your starting point. Make a light mark (a dot) with some eyeliner to keep track of the place where your hair should start, removing any hair before that mark (meaning toward the space between your brows).
- It works best to tweeze these hairs for a more accurate removal.
- Be sure not to tweeze past the inside corner of your eye.
- If your skin is irritated and red after tweezing, try using aloe vera gel or cortisone cream to soothe and calm your skin.^[7]
Find the end of your brow. Place your eyebrow brush (or your straight object) on a diagonal starting from the outside corner of your nostril, extending to the outside crease of your eye. You can even extend of as far your brow bone. This is the place where your eyebrow should end.^[8] Any hair extending past that straight object toward the side of your face should be removed.
- Be careful not to tweeze the end hairs that make up the thicker part of your natural brow. Those hairs rarely grow back. Only tweeze the straggler hairs.^[9]
Find your natural arch. Place your eyebrow brush (or straight object) on a diagonal starting from the outside corner of your nostril, to the outside of your iris (the colored part of your eye).^[10] The point where your straight object extends and reaches the top of your eyebrow is where the high point in your arch should be.
- Underneath your brow is where you’ll tweeze away the most hair. However, that doesn’t mean that you will be tweezing lots of hairs; you may find you only need to remove a few here and there.

Filling In Your Eyebrows

Consider your skin tone. Just like how your used a lighter color to underline the bottom of your brow, your skin tone should also influence the color you use to fill in your brows. For example, if you have darker skin tones, try using a color that has a little bit of red tint to it.^[11] It could help with making your brows look more natural. If you have a lighter skin tone but darker hair, try using a light brown shade of brow filler. You can always find the right color for you through trial and error.^[12]
Start filling in your brow using a powder. Touch your brush (a small, angled eyebrow brush is recommended) in the brow powder, tap off some excess powder on the side of the powder container, and start to lightly outline the top and bottom edges of your brow. When filling in, follow in the direction of your hair growth. Stay in the margins of your natural brow shape; you don’t want to over extend, and apply powder past where your brow hair actually is.
- Try starting at your arch, and working your way down on both sides.
- If your arch is too high, it can make your face have an angry look. You might need to lower your arch. The shape should be angular rather than rounded.^[13]
- If necessary, your may hold up a brow stencil as a guide.
Outline the rest of your brow. Moving from the arch, continue outlining to the very edge of your brow with light brush strokes. Without adding more product to the brush, focus on adding powder and creating volume on the outside edge of your brow rather than layering powder in the middle area of your brow. Focusing on the edge of your brow gives your brows a more natural, full look.^[14]
- Remember, you can always add more, but if you start with heavy make-up, it’s harder to take off if you mess up.
Brush out the color. Use a spoolie brush to spread the colored powder and disperse it evenly throughout your brow hairs. This can help make your brow look less harsh and naturally defined. You can continue to add powder and brush it out until you get the intensity and shade you want.
Check your work. Place your brush on a diagonal starting from the ala or outside corner of your nostril, and check the starting point of your eyebrow. Also check the end edge of your eyebrow and your arch point, using the same steps you used to shape your eyebrow in Part 1.
- Use your brush and your eye as a guide to see if your brow is too short and needs to be extended, or too long and needs to be taken off a bit.
Set your brows. Use a clear brow setting formula to keep all your hairs and color in place. Starting in the middle of your brow, brush the middle hairs straight up, and then pull the brush toward the outer section (the tail) of your brow.^[15]
- You can also use a tinted setting gel, but it’s a safer bet to use a clear gel to refrain from adding multiple different colors to your eyebrows.

Video

Tips

Trouble with shaping your brows? Consider paying $5-$15 to have them professionally shaped every few weeks. This is a fail-proof way to get that perfect arch and thickness.
Having a high arch may give you an older look.
If your eyebrows are too light for your face and natural hair color, consider getting them tinted before filling them in. This will give the most natural appearance and the easiest starting point to filling in your eyebrows.

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Sources and Citations

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