Eyebrows define and frame your face, drawing attention to the greatest asset on your face: your eyes. Eyebrows also help maintain facial symmetry and convey emotion. Well-done eyebrows can give you that bright-eyed, groomed look while unkempt eyebrows can pull down your whole look.
So what shouldn’t you do?
1. Gap too wide
A uni-brow is dreaded by many women who have thick brows, and understandably so. After all, uni-brows are often shown in movies to convey nerdiness and general unattractiveness. The fear of the uni-brow might drive women too far in the other direction -- plucking too many hairs from between their eyebrows to create an unnaturally wide gap.
If you have thick eyebrows which are too close together, you can tidy up the shaggy ends by plucking some hairs. However, do so with limits in mind. To get a natural look, keep the inner ends of your eyebrows parallel to your tear ducts.
2. Wrong colour
Getting your eyebrow colour right can’t be over-emphasised. Nothing is as disconcerting as eyebrows which look unnaturally coloured-which explains why it has never caught on as a trend. The rule of thumb for filling in your eyebrows is to go for a hue that’s two shades lighter than your natural eyebrow colour. This will help define your eyebrows without overwhelming the rest of your facial features.
3. Aiming to make them identical
No one wants to have mismatched eyebrows. However, in obsessing about making your eyebrows too identical, you might end up over-plucking them. Instead of trying to make your eyebrows identical twins, aim to make them sisters. It’s OK to have eyebrows that are slightly different.
4. Over-plucking
It doesn’t make sense to pluck your eyebrows too thin and sparse only to resort to eye-pencil to fill them in. Eyebrows take a long time to grow, and sometimes they don’t even grow back at all. Be careful and go easy when plucking your eyebrows. If you are getting them plucked in a salon, ask them to also do the same. If this advice is too late, avoid plucking your eyebrows for a while -- maybe a few weeks -- to allow them to grow back.
5. Wrong shape
Getting the right eyebrow shape to complement the natural shape of your face is important. Just like haircuts, eyebrows are not a one-size fits all. Shaping your eyebrows to suit your face can not only emphasise your eyes and make you look younger, it can also let you get away with wearing less makeup.
For a square face, softly rounded eyebrows which soften your look are advisable. If you have a rounded face, go for angular eyebrows to give the face more definition. For those with heart-shaped faces, avoid thick eyebrows and go for a medium-thick, well-groomed brow to balance out your smaller chin and jawline. For long faces, extend the tails of your eyebrows to make your face look shorter. However, don’t stretch it out too far -- unless you want your eyes to look droopy.
6. Misplaced arch
Misplaced arch on your eyebrows can make you look perpetually, surprised, or cartoonish funny. On the other hand, not having any arch at all will give you flat eyebrows which do your face no favours. How can you find a happy medium? To find your perfect arch, use the side of your nose as a pivot point across the iris. You can place an eye pencil or brush diagonally from the side of your nose to your eyebrow to find this spot. However, if your eyebrows have a natural arch you should obey it.
