Breaking Down Beauty: At-Home Brow Grooming

By Sheila Arkee

There is nothing more enjoyable in my life than being at the receiving end of pampering beauty treatments. Going to get my nails done and brows professionally groomed are treats that don’t happen as often as they should with my busy schedule.

So, in order to avoid appearing like a mangy bush animal, I’ve picked up a couple of easy tricks to keep my brows looking presentable. I truly believe that brows frame the face, and that being said, it’s so important to keep them in shape!!!

I always recommend that you visit a brow professional at least once in your life so you can find out what brow shape suits you best. Once you know this, you can certainly maintain your brows on your own, and even take care of your brow grooming on your own.  This is coming from a former brow-norexic, so you know I’m being serious!

The tools you use are very important. Here’s my basic brow grooming arsenal.

1. Spoolie, aka a clean mascara wand. I buy these by the 10- pack at Sally’s Beauty Supply. You can also keep one of your old mascara tubes and clean the wand, but that’s a lot of work! Some makeup companies sell these tools, like this one from GloMinerals. My recommendation? Get the 10-pack of disposable wands – more economica and so much easier to deal with the cleaning process!

2. Brow brush. I LUV Stila’s #18 brow grooming brush. Saves  me so much time with the angled brush at the other end. I use this tool more than any other!

3. Tweezers. I’ve had these Tweezerman slant tweezers for close to a decade, they still rock the house. Here’s a cool bonus – you can send you tweezers to Tweezerman and they’ll sharpen them for you for FREE! I have taken advantage of this several times!

4. Brow scissors. I’m using the Precision Brow Planing Shears by Christi Harris.* These are precision scissors, and you must have sharp scissors when it comes to brows. Dull shears will do you no good!

5.  Brow pencil or powder. It is really up to you what you use to fill in your brows. I use Stila’s brow powder most often, but also love MAC’s brow pencil in Lingering, which is fantastic for literally every one in the universe.

Here are the steps you’ll take to perfect your brows …

Step 1: Use your spoolie or brow brush to brush your brow hairs up.

Step 2: Holding your brows in place with the brow brush, cut the excess away with the precision brush shears. Take your time! No need to rush, especially where this is concerned!

Step 3:  Using your tweezers, carefully remove any excess hair. Stay in the general frame of your brows. For the best insurance, take a photo of your brows after a session with a brow pro to keep as a reference.

Step 4: Fill in brows where needed with brow pencil or shadow. Brush through with a clean spoolie to make sure the products are blended in with your own brows.

Step 5: To keep your brows in place, you can use clear mascara, lip balm, or a dedicated brow product, such as Seal-n-Shine by Christi Harris*.

Step 6 (optional): To give freshly groomed brows a boost, consider using a neutral toned cream product placed right on top of the browbone and under the brow. In these photos I’m using Lift-n-Lite by Christi Harris. *

And, voila, there you have a nicely groomed brow!

*Provided for consideration.