How To Shape Your Brows To Flatter Your Face

Which brow shape looks best on me? How do I shape my brows? Can I grow them out naturally? If these are questions you keep on Googling, you’re in the right place! We got in touch with two brow experts, Founder of Brow Jam, Janine Wallace, and Founder of KS&CO and brow expert, Kristie Streicher, to answer all your brow questions (and more). Consider this your all-in-one brow guide for brow shapes, products, and tips.

How to Find the Perfect Brow Shape

The ultimate brow secret? Shape your brows in a way that complements your natural features. Janine and Kristie confirm that the easiest way is first to map out three areas of your brows – the start, arch, and tail. Grab a mirror and a brow pencil, and we’ll help you through it!

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Step 1: To pinpoint where your brows should start, rest a thin makeup brush or pencil next to the ball of your nose so it runs parallel to the bridge of your nose. Point the pencil upward and mark where it meets your brow.

Janine’s pro tip: If you have wide-set eyes, mark a spot “closer to the bridge” to make your eyes look closer. Alternatively, if you have close-set eyes, go “closer to the inner corner of the eye” to make your eyes appear wider.

Step 2: Next, place the pencil on the tip of your nose and point it diagonally toward your eye. Mark wherever it intersects the middle of your iris (the center of your eye) to find your perfect arch mark.

Step 3: To map where your brows should end, angle the pencil diagonally from the outside corner of your nostril to the outer corner of your eye – this is the tail. Don’t overextend this point, as Janine notes that long tails can drag the eye down.

Et voila, your perfect brow shape! But if that’s too complicated, use this brow mapping filter instead. Or find your face shape in the celeb guide below:

How to Shape Your Eyebrows for Your Face Shape

Best Brow Shapes for Round Faces: Go for High-Arched Brows

Face Shape: Facial width and length are roughly the same size
Brow Goals: Lengthen your face

Source: Getty Images

Brow Style: If you want to elongate your face, go for high-arched brows that lift your eye area. Brush your brows upwards, fill in the arch to make it slightly darker, and add a little highlighter to your brow bone to accentuate the arch further.

Best Brow Shapes for Oval-Shaped Faces: Go for Softly-Angled Brows

Face Shape: Forehead is slightly wider than the chin, with high cheekbones
Brow Goal: To help balance your facial features

Source: Getty Images

Brow Style: Oval-shaped hunnies can rock almost any brow shape! A softly-angled brow with a slight arch can help add dimension to your face without disrupting the balance of your natural features.

Best Brow Shapes for Heart-Shaped Faces: Go for Soft, Rounded Brows

Face Shape: Forehead is wider with a sharp chin
Brow Goals: Soften angular areas

Source: Getty Images

Brow Style: If you’re a heart-shaped cutie, soften the more angular areas of your face with a rounded brow shape. Choose low arches unless you have a shorter face; in this case, go high to add depth. Maintain your facial harmony by grooming your brows regularly with our tips here.

Best Brow Shapes for Square-Shaped Faces: Go for Thick, Flat Brows with a Soft Arch

Face Shape: Forehead, jawline, and cheekbones are all the same width
Brow Goals: Draw attention to your eyes and brows

Source: Getty Images

Brow Style: To soften the angles of your face, opt for slightly angled brows that add depth. Veer away from sharp arches or round shapes that throw off your balance, and you’re gucci!

Best Brow Shapes for Diamond-Shaped Faces: Go for Curved Brows

Face Shape: Wide cheeks with a narrower chin and forehead
Brow Goals: Soften and shorten your face

Source: Getty Images

Brow Style: If you want to create the illusion of a smaller face, opt for a curved brow, which lifts your face upwards, making it appear more round. Don’t be afraid to lengthen your brow to balance your jawline too!

Best Brow Shapes for Long-Shaped Faces: Go for Long, Flat Brows

Face Shape: Forehead, cheekbones, and chin are a similar width
Brow Goals: Add width to your face

Source: Getty Images

Brow Style: Janine confirms that flat brows are the best way to balance your features. When drawn horizontally, flat brows add width and make your face appear shorter. When filling in your brows, fade the brow toward the tail end to ensure it still looks natural.

How to Shape Your Brows at Home with Makeup

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Selected a shape? Now it’s time for shaping, but DW, it’s not an impossible task. Kristie reassures us that most brows “require just a few hairs to be tweezed in order to lift, arch, and make it symmetrical.” Still scared? This step-by-step guide has you covered:

Step 1: Outline with Makeup First

Before you pull out the tweezers, use makeup – brow pens and pencils – to first recreate your desired shape. Mapping out your brows with these tools can help avoid unnecessary plucking.

Step 2: Choose Your Eyebrow Color

Kristie clarifies that you should “Choose a tone that matches your eyebrows, not the hair on your head.” Janine warns that this may appear “darker when initially applied [but] it will result in the color expected.” Follow this guide to find what looks best on you:

• Redheads: Warm blondes (veer away from anything with a reddish hue)
• Brunettes: Medium browns
• Blondes: Taupe or soft, ash brown
• Grey or silver foxes: Ash brown or taupe

Step 3: Fill in Sparse Areas

Once you’ve mapped your shape and chosen the color, fill in wherever you notice sparsity with a brow pencil. Most people start by filling in the brow head, but Kristie begins with the tail as it “naturally has less hair than the rest of the brow.”

Step 4: Use a Light Hand

Use “short feather strokes” and “a very light hand” while filling in your brows, as Kristie explains that “applying too much pencil or powder … creates unnatural looking brows.” She continues, “Shade just above and just below the brow line [and] go with and against the direction of hair growth to get pigment underneath the hair.”

Step 5: Blend for Perfection 

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Blend, baby, blend! Kristie says the next step is to “Comb your brow with a spoolie brush to remove excess pigment and blend color [or] a brush to blend, in order to create a fuller and thicker looking brow.”

Step 6: Seal for Longer Hold

Don’t forget to “Seal your work! Always finish with a clear gel or tinted brow gel to hold hairs into place,” Kristie reminds.

Top Brow Grooming Tips

Learning how to groom your brows at home is the easiest way to keep your brows in check 24/7. Ahead, find our expert-approved tips:

Brow Grooming Tip #1: Avoid Magnifying Mirrors When Tweezing

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Think about how easy it is to fixate on the tiniest strays with a magnifying mirror? That’s why Kristie recommends tweezing “in natural light using a regular mirror” and stepping away periodically to assess the need to continue.

Brow Grooming Tip #2: Tweeze in the Direction of Hair Growth

Plucking in the direction of hair growth reduces the possibility of ingrown hairs. To properly tweeze, Kristie says to use “one hand to gently hold brow skin taut … grasping hair closest to the root and pulling sharply.”

Kristie’s pro tip: Always tweeze post-shower as “the skin is warm and supple, and the hair comes out a lot easier.”

Brow Grooming Tip #3: Trim, Don’t Cut

Kirstie warns that over-trimming can “remove the most beautiful part of the brow: its natural character,” so she advises only trimming when necessary. For example, when strands grow past the brow line. Even then, she keeps it minimal to avoid creating a ‘crew cut brow,’ which happens when you trim your brows in a straight line, taking away their softness.

How to Grow Your Brows Out Naturally

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If you’ve had a brow mishap, don’t worry too much, as we’ve all been there. With that said, resurrecting brows takes patience. Kristie notes it can take months, depending on your hair growth cycle, so it’s important to halt ALL brow hair removal to let your hair grow.

Similarly, Janine reminds us to be real. “If you have virgin brows that you haven’t over-plucked, had bad waxing … and brows are naturally thin, you can’t grow hairs that weren’t naturally there,” she continues.

Now that our expectations are realistic, here’s how to grow your brows out naturally:

• Exfoliation: Janine recommends exfoliating twice a week with a natural exfoliant to get rid of anything blocking hair growth. Massaging can also stimulate the hair follicles for increased growth too.
• Brow growth serums: Both Janine and Kristie confirm that diligent (read: twice daily) use of brow serums like Grande Cosmetics GrandeBROW Brow Enhancing Serum, $73, and RevitaLash Cosmetics RevitaBrow Advanced Eyebrow Conditioner, $111, boost hair growth – we discuss how here.
• Apply castor oil: Things like “washing our face with products, getting brow tinting done, wearing brow products” can strip our brows of their natural oils, says Janine. To bring shine and thickness back, apply castor oil which helps “nourish and condition the brow hairs and rebalance the pH levels of the hair,” she continues.

Best Products and Tools to Shape Your Brows

Let’s talk equipment! We asked Janine and Kristie about the brow products they recommend to all their clients:

For Filling In Sparse Brows

Source: KS&CO™

Brow Pencils: Janine says filling in sparse areas is much easier with “a soft, powdery pencil that’s user friendly and easy to blend, [and] matches your brow hair,” like our #BOMBBROWS Microshade Brow Pencil, $17. It draws the most realistic, tiny hair-like strokes and comes in eight different shades.

Brow Pens: Kristie loves her KS&CO™ Microfeathering Brow Pen, $42, as it uses a “pointed, flexible tip to create the illusion of natural brow hairs with ease.” We agree!

Source: BrowJam

Brow pomades: Janine says you can also create natural hair strokes with “a good, angled brush and a fluid sheer pomade,” like her double-ended BrowJam Magic Brush, $15, and BrowJam Pomade range, $24. The pigmented pomade is available in seven easy-to-use shades for customizable coverage, and the brush blends effortlessly.

Tools for Fluffy, Feathery Brows

Source: Got2b, KS&CO™

To “set, hold, and style the brows,” Janine loves Got2b’s Glued 4 Brows & Edges 2in1 Gel, $6. She confirms it “has a great hold [and] makes the strands look thicker and not congested.” Kristie’s also obsessed with KS&CO™ Clear Strong-Hold Brow Gel, $32, which “protects brow hair color from fading by helping to block damaging UV rays.”

Tools for Brow Grooming

Source: KS&CO™

PSA: everyone needs a brow grooming kit like the KS&CO™ Essential Eyebrow Grooming Kit, $225. It contains three handmade tools – scissors, tweezers, and a spoolie brush – that deliver precision every single time, even if you’re grooming on the go.

Tools for Brow Care

Source: KS&CO™

Invest in organic oils like KS&CO™ Aforé Oil, $45, that prep your brows for tweezing – psst, you can use it on your face and cuticles too! For post-care, apply a soothing cream like KS&CO™ Aprés Calming Cream, $40, which relieves redness with cooling camphor.

Check out how experts achieve the fluffiest brows here.