How to Shape Eyebrows

We've all seen women who over-pluck their brows. With only a thin line of hair left, and a super high arch, they look as if they are constantly surprised. And we've also seen women whose brows are badly in need of a tweezing, with the kind of brows that nearly grow as one—a unibrow. So, where do you find the happy medium between the two? It all depends upon the proximity of your eyes, your natural brow color, and the density of your brows. Here are some great tips for shaping your eyebrows to achieve a more polished look, and enhancing the loveliness of your eyes:

• Start shaping your brows by finding where they should begin. Place a straight edge (or the thin side of a credit card) vertically in line with your tear duct, making sure that it is straight up and down. This is where your brow should begin.
• Take a look at your eyes and determine if they are wide set (far apart) or close set (close together). If you want to make your eyes appear closer together, leave a few hairs on the outside of the vertical line. To make close-set eyes appear farther apart, tweeze a few more hairs away from the inside of that vertical line. Take care not to over-tweeze, however.
• To find the place where your brow should arch, place the same straight edge on the tip of your nose, and angle it straight over your pupil. Where the straight edge lies is where the peak of your arch should be. Always pluck from underneath the brow, and leave enough hairs to create a continuous brow to the edge.
• To find where your brow should end, place the straight edge on the tip of your nose once more, and then angle it to the outside corner of your eye. Where the straight edge lies is where the brow should end. If you have hairs past that point, then tweeze them away. If you don't have hairs up to that point, use a brow pencil to fill in.

Before tweezing your brows, give them a trim. Using a brow brush or comb, brush them upwards. Any hair that extends up beyond the natural brow line should be cut away. Use a pair of sharp brow or nail scissors to trim your brows. Then, brush them straight down and trim them again. Once you've determined the beginning, arch, and end points for your brows, tweeze one hair at a time from underneath, then step back and look before continuing. If you have blonde brows, you may need to fill in with a brow corrector or pencil.