The days of overplucked, string-thin eyebrows are long gone now that we have bushy-browed gals like Cara Delevingne, Emilia Clarke and Lily Collins bringing back the full brow trend to its hairy glory. The beauty industry knows it too, what with the increasing number of brow products in the market to help you achieve your very own set of fluffy brows, from gels to pomades.
Still, despite the variety of brow products available, trying to give yourself Cara Delevingne-esque brows can be tricky, unless you are already blessed with thick, full brows to begin with. Plus, if you had jumped on the extremely thin brow bandwagon of the nineties and are now left with barely-there brows, achieving bushy brows almost seems impossible. And if you do attempt at giving your brows a second life, there is always the risk of committing mistakes like going overboard when filling them out or using the wrong brow shade.
That is why we have rounded up some of the most common mistakes women tend to make when doing their brows. Wondering if you are guilty of at least one of these mistakes? Read on to find out.
Using The Wrong Brow Shade
You might think you need to use a brow product in the exact same shade as your natural brow colour, but this can actually cause your brows to look harsh and less natural. Instead, go for a shade that is one or two times lighter than your brow colour. This will also prevent your brows from looking too stark in case you end up going overboard while filling them in.
And here is a bonus tip: if you have highlights in your hair, do not choose a brow product in a similar shade as your natural hair colour. Match it with your highlighted strands instead for a more natural finish.
Plucking Your Brows Before Showering
If you pluck your stray eyebrow hairs often, you know how painful the tweezing process can be, almost making you question whether all this effort to beautify your brows is worth it in the first place (emphasis on the word “almost”).
Well, while you can’t take away the pain completely, there is an easy way for you to minimise it. Do you know how you are recommended to remove your body hair after a shower? The same goes for removing brow hairs too. All you have to do is pluck your brows after a hot shower or bath rather than before. The steam from the shower will cause your pores to open up, thus making it easier for you to pluck those hairs out. Furthermore, the hot shower will soften the follicles of your hair, which will also help them be plucked out more easily.
Plucking Your Brows Using a Magnifying Mirror
You would think using a magnifying mirror to pluck your brows is a good idea as you will be able to really remove every single strand of hair, down to the tiniest bit. However, looking up close into a magnifying mirror can skew your perspective when you are removing your brow hairs. Thus, you might end up taking off more hair than you should, resulting in weirdly-shaped or wonky brows.
To gain a better perspective of your brows when plucking them, make sure you are about one arm’s length away from the mirror — a normal mirror! — and try to pluck your brows under natural light. When standing at a distance, you will have a clearer view of the shape of your brows, which will allow you to remove the stray hairs more carefully. Meanwhile, natural lighting will enable you to see the stray eyebrow hairs a lot more clearly compared to artificial lighting.
Being Too Heavy-Handed
There is nothing understated about a pair of thick, bushy eyebrows. But, you can still risk going too bold if you are too heavy-handed with your brow product during application. And if you choose the wrong shade of product (see point one), you might end up looking like you have two thick hairy caterpillars framing your face.
Therefore, be careful with your application while filling in your brows. Whatever brow product you use, whether it be pencils or pomades, avoid pressing the product into your brows and creating harsh lines. Instead, lightly apply the product in short, feathery strokes to create a more natural finish. If you are a beginner in the art of brow-filling, opt for a brow pencil or pen as they are easier to control.
Trying to Make Your Brows Identical
You have probably heard the saying, “Eyebrows are sisters, not twins”, right? It is always tempting to satisfy the perfectionist side of you and do your brows until they look exactly like each other. However, besides this being a waste of time, your brows are most likely naturally asymmetrical anywhere. Unless you have a perfectly symmetrical face, your brows will never resemble each other to a T. All you need to do is ensure the shape of both your brows are roughly the same, with each of them starting and ending around the same spot.