The latest trends, techniques, and insider secrets—revealed.

Shape Up
Flawlessly groomed eyebrows can transform any face. Check out our guide to getting the perfect arches.
By Erika Villani

If eyes are the windows to the soul, then eyebrows are their all-important shades. Arches that are flattering and well-groomed go a long way toward making any woman look sexier, more attractive, even younger. But brows that are too light, too dark, or just plain wrong for a girl’s face shape only detract from her natural beauty. Fortunately, there are a few basic principles to determine your dream shape, as well as several easy methods to help you achieve and maintain it. The best part? With arches this perfect, you’ll be turning heads—and, yes, raising eyebrows.

Face Facts
According to the brow-makeover experts at Eyebrowz.com, your ideal arch depends on your face shape. Just as vertical stripes can make your legs look longer, the direction of your arches can change your face’s appearance. The higher the arch, the longer your face will look, so round faces benefit from high shape, while long faces look best with a more horizontal brow. Likewise, your arches can sharpen or soften key features—a round brow can compliment a sharp jaw or a pointy chin, for example. But no matter what your face shape, you shouldn’t stray too far from your natural arch. Overplucked eyebrows only draw attention to flaws, says makeup artist Karen Alder, who recommends that women focus on refining—not completely reshaping—their brows.

Generally, to determine where your brows should start, you can follow a straight line from the outside corner of your nose to the inside corner of your eye and upward (you can use a pencil as a “straight-edge”). The highest point of the arch should follow a straight line from the outside corner of the nose to the pupil and up, and you can use the same method, following the outside corner of the eye, to gauge where your brow should end. Once you’ve mulled, measured, and figured out which kind of brows you want, it’s only a matter of getting them. Check out these four easy methods.

Say Tweeze
How it works: By far the most popular method of brow shaping, tweezers grasp individual hairs and pull them out by the roots.
Where it’s available: At a professional brow shaper or wherever you have a mirror and a free hand.
What you should know: Since you’re working hair by hair, if you’re picky about your brows, this is the method for you. (If you’re impatient, look elsewhere.) Tweezing is also suitable for women who don’t have a lot of hair to remove and for women with sensitive skin, since it touches the hair and only the hair. But tweezers aren’t entirely risk-free. Whichever way your hair grows, be sure to pull in that direction—pulling in opposite the direction can lead to ingrown hairs. And because you’re spending so much time with your face up against a mirror, you may lose perspective. Remember to step back every few plucks, to make sure you’re not overdoing it.

Wax and Wane
How it works: Waxing involves applying hot wax directly to the hair, covering it strip of cloth or plastic, and then pulling it away, along with the hair.
Where it’s available: Salons, spas, or your very own bathroom.
What you should know: Waxing has plenty of benefits—it’s quick, easy, removes a lot of hair without a lot of work—but it has its drawbacks, too. The utmost caution must be used when using hot wax around the eye area (which is why many women leave this method to the pros). When waxing pulls away hair, it also removes a layer of skin, so post-waxing redness, peeling, and breakouts may occur. To combat redness, take an anti-inflammatory painkiller, like aspirin, about an hour before waxing, then apply cool compresses afterward. And to protect your skin, dust a light coating of baby powder on the surface before applying the wax; this will make it harder for the wax to stick to, and pull, your skin. But baby powder and aspirin can only do so much. If you’re on Accutane, Retin-A, or other medications that make skin sensitive—or if your skin is just sensitive on its own—waxing is probably not for you.

Sugar High
How it works: Sugaring works like waxing—apply sticky stuff, cover with cloth, and pull! But in this case, the sticky stuff is a gel usually made from sugar and lemon juice.
Where it’s available: Anywhere you can wax, you can sugar.
What you should know: Sugaring offers all the benefits of waxing, but because the sugar gel is gentler and more soothing, sugaring has fewer negative side effects. Fans of sugaring report less redness and peeling after sugaring than after waxing, and some say it’s less painful. But still, sugaring isn’t for everybody. It pulls your skin just as much as waxing does, so if you’re on Accutane or Retin-A, you’ll want to skip this method, too.

Thread Bare
How it works: High-quality thread is twisted, held tight, and rolled over skin, catching and removing hairs as it goes.  
Where it’s available: Threading is available at salons, but it is possible to learn the method from a trained professional. Although a new at-home product called Epicare (a device that resembles a metal coil) has simplified threading for at-home use, it's only suitable for the removal of lip and chin hair and should not be used in the eye area.
What you should know: There are virtually no side effects to threading. Minor redness may occur, but according to the threaders at Shobha SoHo in New York City, threading targets the hair without touching the skin, so there are no breakouts or peeling. And Accutane and Retin-A users don’t have to skip this one: Shobha salon owner Shobha Tummala recommends threading for women whose skin is too sensitive for waxing and sugaring.

Photo credit: Jultae

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