The brow mistakes you’re probably making, and how to avoid them
How to pluck your way to the fleekiest brows.
Photo: Primped
Brow disasters. They’re basically a rite of passage in your teen years – who HASN’T gone to town on their brows with the tweezers until they looked permanently surprised? Or taken the razor to them because hey, you just learnt to shave your legs and that tool is NIFTY, surely it’ll do the job! Next minute you’re sporting a fetching half-brow look for three months.
But while we’ve all probably grown out of actual disaster territory when it comes to eyebrows, there are sneakier, subtle mistakes we still make – every DAY. We chatted to Brow Artist and Educator Jazz Pampling about what these exactly are. Obviously, how you like to wear your brows is totally up to you. But if you’ve been feeling like something is juuust not quite right about yours, no matter what you seem to do, it might be because you’ve committed one of these brow sins.
Sin #1: You pluck to try and fix a problem
“My number one rule for home grooming of your brows is this. If you put a hole in your brow from plucking, it’s okay,” says Jazz. “Don’t freak out and try to correct it with the tweezers. Don’t put another hole in the other brow.” Basically, if you’ve messed up a brow while cleaning it up just leave it! “Just cover it with a bit of brow pencil and wait for the hair to grow back”
Sin #2: You overdo it
If you’ve ever felt like your end makeup looks too heavy or severe, look at your brows first! You might be over shaping and over colouring them. “Remember a perfect brow is perfect in its imperfections. If you block out the brow with too much makeup and don’t allow some skin to be seen between the hairs, the end result can look too heavy,” says Jazz. Instead, focus on filling the bigger gaps, and leave little ones free to get a natural look.
Sin #3: You tweeze them when they’re naked
Tweezing a brow that hasn’t been shaped is a recipe for a real life nightmare. You’re likely to pluck bits you don’t actually want plucked, and thin out sections you want fuller. “Fill your brows in with a pencil or powder first, then tweeze,” says Jazz. “That way, you can see a clear shape to go by”.
Sin #4: You colour them too dark
Now, this is a controversial one – because it is totally a trend to do dark brows/blonde hair, for example. But if you’re feeling like something isn’t quite right about your brows, it might be that the shade you’re using to fill them in, or the dye colour you’re getting, is too dark for your hair and skin tones. “I think we get caught up in the mirror creating perfection, and next thing we know the brow is immaculate but just way too dark,” says Jazz. “We have to remember to step back and look at our face through the process, and remind ourselves of what we are trying to achieve”.
