Tutorial- How to fill in your brows

Hello Makeup Friends,
This tutorial was specifically requested by blog reader Patty. She wants to know how to fill in her brows and make them look fuller, but natural.
If you do research on the internet, you will notice that each makeup artist has their own technique for this and if you have already learned a way that works for you, then by all means don't change it on my account.
This is just the way that I have learned to do it and after many years and many different faces, I find that this gives the most natural results. WARNING this is a very detailed and long post with lots of information, so grab a cup of coffee or tea and enjoy.

Products Used:

Inglot customized brow palette, a brow/liner brush, and a spooly brush.

See more on this post by clicking "Read More" below!

The key to great brows is having the rights product. I prefer to use powders to fill in the eyebrows, I have found that used correctly, they provide the most natural results. Powders also give you the flexibility of mixing the colors to find the correct shade. 

Although Brow pencils are very popular,  I don't recommend using them to fill in your brows, because they tend to make the brows look too harsh and even if done correctly it tends to be very artificial looking and noticeable. 

No matter the condition of the client's eyebrows, I have never had to resort to using a pencil. Look through my Before and Afters page and you will see examples of eyebrow transformations all done with powder.

My favorite Brow Product is from Inglot, but unfortunately, Inglot is a pro brand that is not available in Florida. Now, since most of my readers are not Pro Makeup Artist, I don't think you will need a product of that caliber. Don't you worry, I have included here some more affordable products to achieve great results at home. I never recommend anything I have not tried, so rest assured that all of these have my seal of approval.

(Click on the names to go to each site)

The NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder is only $6.

The Coastal Scents Brow Tones Palette only $9.95

For those of you willing to spend more money, the Benefit Brow Zings are a great investment and I highly recommend them:

Benefit Brow Zings $30

Now that you have the tools, lets get this started. 
Click on Read More to read tips and step by step instructions.

Color selection:

You always want to use a powder color that is lighter than your brow hair color. 

• Even if you have black hair, you NEVER want to use black on your brows. 
• If you have blonde hair, use a light ash brown with a green undertone. Please no yellows! Natural redheads usually fall under the Blonde category when it comes to brows, they just need to use a color with a hint of orange. I said a HINT, don't go buy an orange eyeshadow and put it on your brows :)
•  Brunettes have it easy, there are lots of browns available and as long as you follow my go lighter rule you will easily find your color.
• Artificial redheads are a little bit trickier, the truth is that no one has naturally bright red eyebrows, so if you color your hair red, then stick to warm browns for your brows with maybe a slight red undertone.
• TIP: You can use any matte eyeshadow as a brow filler.

Application:

Always begin with groomed  and brushed brows. Pluck away any stray hairs.

• Now dip the brow brush on the brow powder color that most resembles your natural brow color making sure you follow the guidelines I wrote above. 
• Remember you can use more than two colors. 
• TIP: Always dip the brush on the lighter color first and then on the darker one. Why? Because the last color you dipped into will be the first color to go on the actual brow. In this case you want the lighter color to go on top of the darker to blend it well, so when dipping you do the opposite. Get it?
• Now start applying the color on the center of the brow using short horizontal strokes following the direction of the hair growth. Do this softly and kind of like if you were drawing little hairs. 
• Continue filling in the rest of the brow following this technique, and don't be afraid to go slightly outside the line in order to shape and arch the brow.

The brow to the right has been started and you can begin to see the difference. 

• When you reach the tail part of your brow, use only the very thin tip of the brush and softly apply the color.
• Now grab the spooly brush and brush your eye brow using short strokes following the hair growth. This will blend in the brow powder with the hairs and give you a more natural look.

All done!

• TIP: If you want your brows to stay in place for a long time, spray the spooly brush with Hair Spray and brush it onto your eyebrows. Trust me, this works better than any brow gel.

For those of you that want a more dramatic look, you can fill in the brows and keep going outside the area where the hairs grow creating any shape you desire, but you might want to reserve this for only special occasions and night time. The key is to blend it all together with the spooly brush and use the application technique I described. 

Here is an example of the same eyebrows, over filled to create a thick, dramatic brow.

Big difference. Super dramatic.

I hope you learned a lot from this tutorial and remember that practice makes perfect so Practice, Practice, Practice until you get it right.

Jaday :)