Common Mistakes People Make When Filling In Their Brows

During the makeup process, many take the time to play up their eyes or lips and leave the brows unattended, but brows are actually one of the most important features to highlight on a face. It's true that brows don't give main-character energy unless you're blessed with thick, eye-catching ones like Brooke Shields or Cara Delevingne. However, after making up countless faces over 15 years, I've learned that filling in eyebrows, no matter how thick they are, is one step people should never skip.

Filling in brows seems simple enough, but it's actually more complicated than it looks. There's the matter of shaping them perfectly and then having to match it on the other side. If you have thin eyebrows, drawing them in is even more difficult, as you want them to look as natural as possible. And then, with the countless products out there, finding the one that's just right for you seems overwhelming. With all these steps to think about, it's no wonder folks often make some mistakes when it comes to their brows. Don't feel discouraged, though — errors like using the wrong shade of eyebrow powder or forgetting to groom your brows before filling in are pretty common. With a couple of tips and tricks, you'll be breezing through your brow routine in no time.

The first step to any makeup process is prep, and before you rush right into filling in your brows, you must take the time to properly groom them. Like the hair on your head, the way your eyebrows grow is uniquely your own. Some people have straight, coarse ones that grow long, while others have slightly wavy brows with a short growth pattern. If yours fall in the latter category, you might not have to trim them regularly, but it's still important to brush them before applying your brow makeup. I like to use a spoolie to work the hairs upward in the front while gradually laying them sideways toward the ends. Use a tweezer to get rid of any strays surrounding your brows, being careful not to overpluck.

Those with longer eyebrows need a bit of trimming, which you can do easily at home with a small pair of grooming scissors and a spoolie. Beginning with the inner corners, brush the hairs upward with the spoolie and hold the hairs in place with it so you can trim them evenly. Using the small scissors, carefully cut right above the spoolie in a vertical line. Now, locate where your brows naturally switch directions and use the spoolie to brush them downward. Clip off any excess hair that falls below the lower edge of your brows. Remember to use a light hand — you can always go back and trim more if necessary.

There are many benefits to eyebrow mapping, as the process is designed to provide a blueprint for your brows before you fill them in. It sounds complicated, but you don't have to be a cartologist to do so, and you can easily shape your eyebrows to perfection at home. While professionals use different materials such as a string and a ruler to make several marks around the brows, all you need is a long, thin makeup brush and your eyebrow pencil or powder of choice.

First, place one end of the brush right above where your nostrils flare out and extend it up toward your brows. Make a slight mark with your brow makeup, as that's where the beginning point should be. Next, shift the brush at an outward angle until it meets the outer edge of your pupil to determine where to create the arch. You can play around with this according to your preference. Some like a very prominent peak and make the distance between the arches wider. Others prefer a more rounded or flat look, so go with whatever you desire. Finally, your brows should end at the outer corners of your eyes. Once you have the three main points mapped out, filling the rest in should be a breeze, and you'll have perfectly symmetrical eyebrows.

When choosing a brow pencil or powder, the first step is getting the color just right. It seems natural to go with one that matches your hair shade, but if you have black or dark-brown tresses, you want to avoid anything too dark, or it'll overpower your face. Instead, opt for a color that's about two steps lighter than your hair. If you have multiple shades on your head due to highlights, always use the darkest color as your reference. The only time I break this rule is when I'm making up someone with a deep skin tone. In this instance, it's perfectly fine to use a black or super-dark-brown pencil to fill in your brows.

Those with blond hair will want to do the opposite. Instead of going lighter, you'll want to draw in your eyebrows a couple of shades darker. Choose a cool shade, such as taupe or mushroom, so that it doesn't read too orange on your skin. And, if you have red hair, you'll need to base your eyebrow color on how subtle or fiery your strands are. For lighter strands like copper or strawberry blond, try an auburn or cinnamon shade, while darker reds can go for mahogany or chestnut browns.

Bold brows are in, but that doesn't mean they have to look like blocks on your forehead. A common makeup mistake I often see folks make is creating eyebrows with hard edges, usually with a pencil. This causes the brows to look overpronounced and unnatural, causing the surrounding features to look overly harsh. If you look at naturally thick eyebrows, you'll see that while the edges are prominent, they taper off into the skin, so when filling in your brows, you'll want to mimic that.

For the most natural finish, I suggest using a brow powder and a stiff angled brush. After you've mapped out your brows, fill them in using small, short strokes. Don't just go over your existing hairs — be sure to lay some color down directly onto the skin underneath them so you get a nice multi-dimensional result. If you're using a pencil, choose one that has a fine tip and mimic brow hair by drawing short strokes in an upward motion at the beginning of the brows. Gradually move the pencil sideways toward the middle and ends. Finally, blend everything with a stiff brush or a spoolie to create the best subtle, soft eyebrows, which happened to be one of the biggest beauty trends of 2024.

Creating the perfect brows is all about mastering symmetry, but not when it comes to overall thickness. When the line is too uniform and is the same width from start to finish, the eyebrows end up looking unnatural. This is more obvious with thin brows, and if you recall, this was the over-plucked trend of the '90s and Y2K period that many sported. If your eyebrows are naturally sparse or haven't recovered from the Kate Moss era, you can make them look fuller, but concentrate on creating the most thickness in the innermost area. Gradually taper them off after the arch and have them end in a slight point.

Thick eyebrows can also appear too uniform if they haven't been shaped. In this case, aside from a few stray hairs, I would leave the inner parts alone and, instead, create a gentle arch around the iris. Some have naturally straight brows so if you'd like more of a shape, you can create one by shading in the topmost part. Additionally, fill in any sparse areas and tame the hairs with some brow gel. Sometimes, I like to comb them in a slightly messy way, as I love it when brows look a bit unruly for that perfectly disheveled supermodel look.