Discover your perfect eyebrows with this complete guide, put together with the help of Karen Betts, Britain’s biggest eyebrow guru and some celebrity inspiration
Eyebrows are literally everything and leaving the house without filling them in is simply a no-go. Whether they’re fat, thick, thin, bold, straight, arched or non-existent, eyebrows can drastically change how we look.
We’ve spent years threading, plucking, shaping, waxing, colouring and filling, in fact we’ve probably had so much practice we could do our eyebrows in the dark. But having said that, have you really found your perfect brow?
With the help of Karen Betts, one of the UK’s best permanent cosmetic artists who shapes high-profile brows for a living using semi-permanent make-up, and some celebrity inspiration, we unravel the hottest brow trends and the secret ways to finding your perfect brow.
Step 1: Face shape matters
First things first, before you lay a finger on an eyebrow pencil, look at the basics.
‘Face shape is the first thing everybody should look at, even make up artists that are drawing their own eyebrows on at home’, Betts said.
By simply choosing the right shape, arch and curvature, you are able to knock a few years off your age, as your best features open up, leaving your eyes and face to become more enhanced.
‘If you’ve got a long face, you’d want to widen it so we make the eyebrows wider. If somebody’s got a rounder a face, we don’t want to have wide eyebrows because it will make it look even wider, we want to bring them in closer.
With every face shape we look to create that perfect symmetrical face
‘What we aim to do with face shape is create the ideal face shape, which is oval. So with every face shape we look to create that perfect symmetrical face,’ Betts explains.
With this in mind, we’ve put together the ultimate face shape guide which will help you to figure out your perfect eyebrow match.
The square face
‘A clean, sharp style balances out the hard lines that frame a square,’ says Betts.
Square jawlines, as seen on Natalie Portman, Olivia Wilde and Angelina Jolie, define the angularity of the face, so your brows really need to compliment this. Soft, curved and rounded brows or arched brows are the way to go as they help to define the cheekbones and temple area – just be careful not to go to high with the arches.
The rounded face
‘Avoid accentuating the width of the face by keeping brows slightly shorter – this will give the illusion of a longer shape.’
If your face is round like Kate Upton, Jennifer Lawrence or Selena Gomez, you want to make sure you keep your brows shorter and very angular with a high arch. The angular shape gives shape and length to your face, making a ‘false’ bone structure which isn’t usually present in round faces. The high arch will also frame your face and widen your eyes.
if your face is round like Kate Upton, Jennifer Lawrence or Selena Gomez, you want to make sure you keep your brows shorter and very angular with a high arch
The long face
‘It’s really important to add extended length to the tails of your brows – this will add width to a long face’.
Straight brows with extended length helps soften facial features and add width to your natural face shape. However, make sure that the eyebrow isn’t too long as the eye can then be made to appear droopy – keep the tails just longer than the corner of the eye and stick with styles sported by Sarah Jessica Parker, Alessandra Ambrosio and Liv Tyler.
The oval face
‘Oval faces are well proportioned allowing them to be the perfect shape for any brow shape, but I’d recommend sticking to a classic, bold brow,’ said Betts.
Jessica Alba, Megan Fox and Alexa Chung are all blessed with an oval face and are able to rock any type of brow, whether it be arched, wide, long or short. If like them you have an oval face shape, stick to a bold and beautiful brow to keep your look classic and sophisticated.
Step 2: Getting the look
So, we’ve figured out which eyebrow goes with which face shape. Now it’s time to get the celebrity look.
If you want to keep things looking au natural, where you feel like your eyebrows are, indeed, your own eyebrows, then Betts has a few ideas.
Betts says ‘ombré’ eyebrows are the newest way to achieve a natural effect, because of the use of different colours where it goes from darker to lighter or lighter to darker.
Unlike the ombré hair trend, ombré eyebrows are much more subtle. The colour transition can add depth to thinner eyebrows, or give you a bolder look as the arch can be made to look darker.
You can give ombré brows a go with an eyebrow tint, pencil or, as Betts suggests, with the machine method.
Right: fruitypebblesaesthetics Left: Alin Pescina Makeup
The new microblading
If you’re still after the natural look but wanting it to be more permanent, Betts suggests trying microblading – a new and alternative method for those who are worried about having permanent tattooed eyebrows.
Microblading is one of the more recent revelations for eyebrows, as it’s manual method is more semi-permanent compared to traditional hairstrokes.
‘It looks like a pen, you put different sized cartridge needles in there, and it’s all in the skill of your hand and the free flow of your hand being able to create detailed hairstrokes, says Betts.
‘You lay a pigment on the surface of your skin, leave it to soak in and then it absorbs and takes on the fine strokes from the needles – it channels what you’ve done with the needles.’
The microblade creates stunning, fine, detailed strokes, which is great for a subtle natural look or alternatively, a bolder, more smokey effect, depending on how you like it.
The treatment usually lasts around six to nine months, after that the colour fades, leaving your eyebrows how they originally were – unless, of course, you go back and get more colour added.
‘Because the strokes are finer, that fine detail can exfoliate quicker than shaded or a thicker hair stroked eyebrow, as the fine detail fades quicker,’ Betts said.
If none of these styles or methods tickle your fancy, of course you can always stick to your eyebrow pencils, powders, gels and tints.
And there’s just one more crucial thing that Betts would want us to remember in the guide to getting your perfect celebrity brow – ‘if you have good eyebrows, people don’t even realise you’ve had them done.’
The KB Pro treatment uses both the machine (for softer shading, like the ombré) and microblading (for more detailed strokes). Microblading treatments cost £895 and include full treatments by Karen Betts.
Karen Betts is one of the UK’s leading authorities in permanent make up and medical tattooing, with over 20 years experience.
She also runs the successful Nouveau Beauty Group of companies, which includes the well known HD Brows, Nouveau Lashes and Nouveau Contour brands.
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