You never realize how important eyebrows are until you see a photoshopped picture of someone without them. The truth is, eyebrows add shape and structure to your face and are super important to your overall finished look.

But before we get to talking about filling and shaping brows with makeup, we need to talk about eyebrow maintenance. 

What's the difference between brow tweezing, brow waxing and brow threading?

Eyebrow tweezing is great for quick fixes to already shaped brows, but to shape your entire eyebrow by tweezing could take upwards of an hour and a half per eyebrow. Tweezing your eyebrows is done with tweezers that pull the hairs out one at a time, whereas eyebrow waxing or threading is done by removing many hairs at once.  

Pretty Pro Tip - Keep a pair of tweezers in your car to grab those stray hairs under perfect natural lighting.

Eyebrow waxing is the tried and true way to have a professional get your brows into ship shape. It is done by first applying wax to the skin and then, over top, placing a single strip of paper to be pulled off along with the brow hairs.  Waxing your brows gives you the longest hairless results before you have to get them done again. 

Make sure the professional waxing your brows has a game plan for your brows before she goes straight in with the hot wax to avoid taking ‘too much’ hair and ending up with a club brow.

Pretty Pro Tip - If you have super sensitive skin, request your professional to use hard wax which can be more gentle on skin.

Eyebrow threading, on the other hand, is done a thin thread that is doubled, then twisted. The eyebrow hairs are captured between the two threads and then removed altogether when the tread is twisted. One benefit of threading is that it is better for sensitive skin than waxing. 

After we have our eyebrows cleaned up, we need to figure out what type of product we are going to fill our eyebrows in with.

What's the difference between brow powder, brow pencils, dip brow/pomade?

First, eyebrow powder looks also like an eyeshadow, and some people even choose to use an eyeshadow that matches their brow color, that is in a pressed pan and needs a brush to apply. Brow powder is the most natural-looking way to fill in your brows and probably the fastest, however it is better for filling than shaping. For eyebrow powder, you use an eyebrow brush to apply the product wet or dry.

Our recommendation for an eyebrow powder is Anastasia Beverly Hills’s Brow Powder Duo.

Eyebrow pencils are a great way to create a shape for your eyebrows while also keeping them natural. Due to the nature of a pencil, it lets you draw tiny lines that resemble eyebrow hairs.  The skinnier the brow pencil the better, because it more closely mimics real brow. Also, pencils tend to have a longer wear time due to their waxy consistency.

Our recommendation for an eyebrow pencil is Dollup Beauty’s Skinny-Tip Brow Pencil.

Dipbrow and/or eyebrow pomade are perfect for getting your boldest and sharpest eyebrow.  Dipbrow is a highly pigmented cream inside of a pot that adds a lot of bold color to your brow.    Like filling your eyebrows in with powder, dip brow and eyebrow pomade are also applied with an eyebrow brush.

Our recommendation for a dipbrow and/or eyebrow pomade is Anastasia Beverly Hills’s Dipbrow Pomade.

Next, is the color! 

What color to fill in your brows?

One question that comes up all the time is what is the right color to fill in your brows with. At Pretty Lane, we recommend eyebrow colors that compliment your coloring (warm or cool) and the color of your brow hair, not the hair on your head. 

Black and brown hair

For black and brown hair, we recommend using one to two shades lighter than your hair color. Using one to two shades lighter will ensure that your eyebrows look natural because the oils on your skin can make your brow product look darker.

Our recommendations for black and brown hair are Dollup Beauty’s Skinny-Tip Brow Pencil in Brunette Fox (for neutral brunette and cool brunette hair color) or Sable (for warm brunette hair colors) for brown hair and Dollup Beauty’s Skinny-Tip Brow Pencil in Deep Brunette Darling for black hair. 

Blonde and light brown hair

For blonde or light brown hair, we recommend using one to two shades darker than your brow hair color. Using one to two shades darker will ensure that your brows still look natural while adding some definition to your face.

Our recommendations for blonde and light brown hair are Dollup Beauty’s Skinny-Tip Brow Pencil in Blondeshell for the lightest of blonde hair and Dollup Beauty’s Skinny-Tip Brow Pencil in Brunette Fox for dirty blonde and light brown hair.

*Pretty Pro Tip: For blonde and light brown hair, you could also try using a taupe colored brow product.

Red hair

For red hair, try using a blonde eyebrow product to compliment your red hair. Redheads tend to have lighter eyebrows, so we don’t want to use a darker eyebrow product and make your brows look unnatural. 

Our recommendation for red hair is Dollup Beauty’s Skinny-Tip Brow Pencil in Blondeshell.

Finally, after we have prepped our brows and picked out the product, we have come to the point where we actually fill in our brows!

How to fill in your brows

Step One: Find your arch, your arch should be straight up in line from your iris while looking forward. 

Step Two: Create an upside down ‘v’ for your arch and then outline your desired brow shape.

Step Three: Next, fill in the outer three-quarters of the brow and draw horizontal brow hairs.

Step Four: In the front of the brow, very lightly, draw vertical brow hairs, using a flicking motion.

Step Five: Use your spoolie to blend the brow product evenly throughout your eyebrow.

Do I need brow gel?

Brow gel is by no means necessary, it is used to hold the brow hairs in place throughout the day. Think of it like hair spray for your eyebrows.

Our recommendation for brow gel that keeps your eyebrows slaying all day is Ere Perez’s Aloe Gel Lash & Brow Mascara.