The 1990s and early aughts were a fun time for a fashion — and a terrible for brows. From coast to coast, women took a tweezer to their brows and kept taking it until there was hardly any brow left. Whether you consider yourself a victim and survivor of those brow days or have more recently experimented with thin brows and then immediately regretted it, you may have noticed something: very thin brows can look aging on the face.
While it’s true that trends have moved away from overly thick and dark brows (the kinds of brows we lived for in the 2010s) we aren’t in a place where most are clamoring for the over-plucked style, which can keep your face from looking symmetrical. Experts recommend avoiding these “harsh” eyebrow mistakes because they can “age” you and look “Unnatural.”
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1. Using a Too-Dark Eyebrow Pencil
Even if your brows are brown or dark brown, avoid using a too-dark eyebrow pencil to fill in areas of sparseness. A dark formulation can appear extremely harsh when contrasted with your skin and this will also highlight fine lines and wrinkles around the eyes. Celebrity makeup artist Margina Dennis recommends using a taupe pencil, which works well on most people, and setting brows in place with a lightly tinted brow gel.
2. Free Drawing a Brow Shape
Unless you’re really great at grooming brows, trying to draw on an eyebrow shape that is flattering using nothing more than your pencil is going to be a challenge that may end in disaster. Dennis recommends using a "brow stencil in the brow shape you like and take a light colored pencil or concealer on a liner brush and draw the outline of the brow shape." Try to be logical with the stencil you choose, though. Unless you have strong features and enough brow to begin with, a Brooke Shields brow stencil may be too dramatic to appear natural.
3. Over-Plucking
The last tip is a simple one: put down the tweezer. Okay, you can pick it up on occasion to tackle stray hairs and maintain a clean brow line, but if you find yourself tempted to create an entirely new brow shape with your tweezer, you may go too far and give yourself an unflattering set of too-thin brows.
