Eyebrows 101: 6 Tips to Get the Perfect Brows
Eyebrows are the new focal point for the face. The trend right now in the brow world is "big is beautiful," so we asked expert Damone Roberts, aka "the Eyebrow King," for his best brow advice.
Roberts, who has salons in Los Angeles and New York and has plucked and shaped for A-listers like Beyonce, Gwyneth Paltrow, Madonna and even Robert Downey Jr., said there are common mistakes he sees over and over again.
"There are wrong eyebrows constantly, constantly. Overtweezed. Too dramatic. Not dramatic enough. Not dark enough. Not light enough," Roberts said.
Read Roberts' do's and don'ts below before you reach for the tweezers.
1. Put down the tweezers. Overplucking can really minimize the power of the brow. As you age your eyebrows tend to thin out. So be especially careful as you hit the big 4-0! One idea is to avoid tweezing for three to six months and then go get your brows sculpted. Take a picture of what they look like and try to match the look without overplucking.
2. Be mindful not to tweeze the interior of your eyebrows too much. "Eyebrows that are too far apart - overplucked in the middle - make the bridge of the nose look a little wider and it makes the whole nose look a lot wider," Roberts says. "That also has the effect of making the eyes look smaller and the face rounder."
3. It's OK if the interior parts of the eyebrows are a little feathery, Roberts says. In the past, people wanted that dramatic line like Bette Davis, but now the more natural gradual in interior is in.
4. Symmetry is crucial. You want both brows to look alike. Similar arch, similar start and end points and similar thickness are keys to symmetry.
5. You probably have more hair than you think. Especially if you have lighter coloration for some of your hair. A good gel, plus brow powder can bring the finer, lighter hairs at the end of your brow into prominence.
6. The shape of your face determines the shape of your brows. In an interview Roberts did with Essence magazine he explains it like this: "A rounder face should have a higher arch to add length to facial structure. A square-shaped face should have rounder brows to soften facial features. An oval face can carry an eyebrow that is not too defined and not too round but right in between. Lastly, a heart-shaped face should have a straighter brow to lessen the length of the face."