Your eyebrow shape could be accentuating your dark circles
The importance of brow mapping, according to an expert
The last two years have produced a wealth of brow trends; from full, straight brows to thin eyebrows reminiscent of the ‘90s. Convenient ‘try before you buy’ TikTok filter trends have been the defining factor for folks bleaching, shaving and laminating their own eyebrows at home.
But as far as the experts are concerned, the best thing you can do for your brows is do away with trends altogether and learn how to shape them correctly.
According to celebrity brow artist Kristie Streicher (AKA the genius responsible for Kaia Gerber, Adele, Sarah Paulson, Busy Philipps, Kathryn Hahn, Kiernan Shipka, and Alana Haim’s impressive arches) everyone looks best with the eyebrows they’re born with.
“Discovering your individual and natural shape as well as where your eyebrows should start, arch, and end is a valuable tool,” she told Mind Body Green.
How to map your eyebrows
“[The parallel lid line] is a line that extends from the beginning or front of the brow and continues across the lid and ends at the tail of the brow,” she explained. “Any hairs that extend past this line should be removed”.
“Start by slowly plucking one or two hairs, then step back for perspective before continuing,” she added.
Streicher explained that the extra hairs at the front of the brow can create a downward shape, which can accentuate dark circles, close out the eye and result in a scowling appearance. To avoid this, she recommends tweezing the stray hairs at the front of the brow to lift the appearance of the face.
“[But] when the tail of the eyebrow is groomed in a downward direction, it can draw the eyes down and give the face a droopy and ageing appearance [too],” Streicher advised.
To style, brush your brow hairs into place using a clean spoolie (“this also gently exfoliates dead skin cells from the area and stimulates growth”), and use a strong hold brow gel to groom and hold the hairs in place.
“I use a brushstroke in an upward direction all the way across the brow, then brush down the hairs with my finger from the arch out,” said Streicher.
Fill in sparse areas by drawing hair-like strokes with a brow pen or you can try to backcomb some tinted brow gel into your arches if they’re very sparse.
Want to leave eyebrow maintenance to the professionals? Book an eyebrow lamination appointment.
Image credit: @kristiestreicher
Briar Clark got her start in the media industry in 2017, as an intern for Marie Claire and InStyle. Since then, her keen interest in fashion and beauty has landed her gigs as a Digital Content Producer and Beauty Editor with titles like Girlfriend, Refinery29, BEAUTYcrew and beautyheaven. She loves the way seemingly innocuous topics like skin care and style have the ability to put a smile on people’s faces or make them think about themselves a little differently. A big believer in self love and experimentation, Briar has made a point of becoming the Australian beauty industry’s unofficial guinea pig for unusual treatments and daring hair trends. When she’s not testing out the latest beauty launches, Briar is big on broadening her horizons, mostly in the form of food but she’s also partial to travelling to new destinations both near and far (and of course, allocating an extra bag to bring their best beauty offerings home with her).
