Retro and Thrift: Quick how to: Eyebrows

An eyebrow tutorial is hardly a unique idea for a blog post, but I don't think I have done one until now. A little disclaimer - I am by no means claiming to be an expert or have perfect brows (I have a lot to learn), but just wanted to share with you how I currently do my brows.

1. "FIND YOURSELF" (AND YOUR BROWS)

I think it is so important to find your own shape rather than trying to copy other people's. I've been drawing my brows on (often badly) for the past 5-6 years and they have been many different (sometimes awful) shapes. I feel content at the moment that I have found a shape that suits my face and my style - however that all could change in the future and that's okay!

2. SKETCH

I know you're supposed to fill in your brows but after years of plucking - and embarrassingly shaving at one point - there's not much of them to fill in. I start my brows by lightly sketching out the shape with a brow pencil - here I am using a Rimmel Eyebrow Pencil, which I seem to always go back to. At first this might be tricky and you may be a little heavy handed but after a few goes it will become second nature to you. I follow my "natural" brow shape, which from personal experience is the best way. I cannot express how many bad eyebrows I have had in my life.

2. FILL

I then go ahead and fill them in - again lightly - with the same brow pencil. I use a eyebrow brush/spoolie to blend the pencil as sometimes the waxy texture clogs to the hairs which is not classy. I am loving the LAB2 Beauty Brow and Lash Groomer at the moment.

3. CARVE

I hate that word but everyone seems to use it to describe this step. 'Carving' is basically getting a little bit of concealer and outlining (carving) out your brow shape to clean up any mistakes and give it more definition. I actually prefer to use a little bit of liquid foundation for this step rather than concealer as it doesn't look as cakey. Another tip would be to make sure your brows are well plucked/waxed as the makeup can cling to unwanted hair - although in saying that it can sometimes mask them as well depending on the extent of the fluff! I use a really old Urban Decay eyeshadow brush for this - completely the wrong tool but it works for me as its dense enough to create clean lines.

4. SET

I've seen a lot of people do this step before carving but I recently discovered it works better if you do it afterwards. I use a tiny bit of Urban Decay's Crave on an angled eyebrow brush to blend everything together as well as set the brows. I got this Nanshy Eye Brow and Lip Brush for Christmas and it's perfect for this step

5. Enjoy your brows (it's later than you think)

The most important thing is to enjoy doing your brows, have fun creating new looks and shapes and finding what suits you best - or what you like best! If you're anything like me you'll have so many bad brows before you find a way of doing it. Just look how bad they were when I first started doing them: