Best eyebrow shapes for your face

Whether you crave a heavy brow like Kim Kardashian’s or a thinner arch like Charlize Theron’s, the best brow look for you is determined by a variety of factors, including the other features on your face and the look you want. Here are a few basic steps in how to determine the best eyebrow shapes for your face.

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What’s your goal?

Are you aiming for a look that is trendy, dramatic or natural? Are you willing to spend time grooming your brows, or do you want to keep maintenance and products to a minimum? Are you trying to play down the appearance of your face shape or enhance it? (For example, a longer face can be made to look shorter with a flatter brow versus one that is arched). Ask yourself these questions before settling on a brow shape. The more you work with your natural brow, the less maintenance needed.

Look into your eyes

While it can be tempting to mimic the look of a beautiful celeb’s brows, Joy Randall, owner of Flawless Make Up Art in Charlotte, North Carolina, says that choosing the best brow for your face is actually determined by your eye shape. “Your brows should never exceed the innermost or outermost corners of the eye.” To determine where brows should start and stop, take a pencil, and line it up from the end point of your eye. This will provide a guide for where the brow should start (above the tear duct) and stop (at the outer corner of the eye). The arch should come in alignment with the pupil of your eye. Take the same pencil, and hold it upright in a straight line over the pupil. This is where your arch should be.

Determine symmetry

While you clearly don’t want brows that look wildly different from each other, Make-up Designory (MUD) creative director Yvonne Hawker says that since we are not symmetrical creatures, brows can and will be slightly different, depending on your natural shape and hair growth patterns. “I like to call them sisters, not twins. The idea is to shape the brows to be similar when it’s not possible to make them exact.” She advises estimating about one eyeball width between the brows to determine a good proportion of space and symmetry. If hair growth is more sparse on one side or you’ve over-plucked, use a dab of brow-coloured shadow to achieve symmetry.

Create arch and thickness

Makeup artist Heather Adessa says that once you’ve measured your face and eye shape and considered the brows you were blessed with, how thick or thin your brow should be is largely a matter of personal taste and the natural hair growth you have. Sparse eyebrows won’t naturally turn into a thickly arched brow, but to enhance the heft of them, she recommends using a shade of eyebrow shadow or eyeshadow that matches the natural brow hair to make them a bit fuller without looking too dramatic or unnatural.

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