When it comes to personal grooming, eyebrows are often overlooked, yet they are a defining feature.
“They frame the face, bringing balance and harmony to all the other features,” says Mary Dang, a brow and makeup artist who founded Eye Love Beauty Bar, which has locations in Toronto and Ottawa. “When shaped well, they can visually lift the eyes, contour the cheekbones and give the entire face a polished and refreshed look.”
How a person chooses to shape them often reflects changing tastes and beauty standards. “Eyebrows, generally speaking, are perceived as more feminine if they are thinner and appear further away from the eyes,” says Ann Oh, a freelance writer and makeup artist based in Minneapolis, Minn., who shares her obsession with beauty history on YouTube and Instagram (@minsooky). She cites women in eighth-century Japan who removed their eyebrows and painted artificial ones higher up on the forehead, and ladies of the Italian Renaissance who plucked brows into thin lines.
Oh isn’t surprised to see a current pop-culture resurgence of thinner brows happening in lockstep with the popularity of weight-loss drug Ozempic. “The skinny brow of today feels very Y2K, an era which had ephedrine in every weight-loss pill imaginable,” Oh says. “If we go further back, this same pattern can also be found in the 1920s with the rise of flapper fashion. Women were plucking their eyebrows while going to great lengths to shrink their bodies to create the ideal silhouette.”
Dang, however, prefers a fluffy, natural brow for all, and believes enhancing what’s inherently on your face is the most complimentary, giving kudos to actors Zendaya and Henry Cavill for the best brows in Hollywood. “For men, I lean toward a fuller, natural look that maintains masculinity, while for women, I often focus on softening and enhancing the natural arch for a flattering balance.”
She recommends working with your natural arch shape – using slanted tweezers for precise and gentle hair removal – rather than trying to make an entirely new one. “Overplucking can lead to unevenness and gaps that are difficult to fix. Use good lighting and a magnifying mirror to help you see even the smallest hairs.”
Trimming hairs with small scissors is also a quick solution to manage bushy brows. “Only snip the longest hairs and comb the brows up frequently to check the shape as you go,” Dang says.
For further arch support, she suggests a swipe of clear or tinted brow gel. “This is my must-have for taming and setting brows. It’s perfect for a natural, groomed look and holds hairs in place all day.”
And if sparse areas are a concern, try a brow pencil. “It will create precise strokes that mimic natural hairs. It’s versatile and user-friendly.”
To enhance eyebrows with a soft diffused effect, choose a brow powder. “It’s easy to blend and gives a more natural finish compared to pomades,” Dang says.
Six buys to try
An essential tool for all brows, a hand-filed slant-tip tweezer offers precision, glides along skin and grabs hair firmly for removal.
Tweezerman Classic Slant Tweezer.
A swipe of lightweight and non-sticky clear gel brings brow hairs into formation with 24-hour hold.
Maybelline New York Superlock Brow Glue.
This microfine pencil with a 0.8-millimetre tip can create the look of individual hairs and sets to a waterproof, smudge-proof finish.
Benefit Cosmetics Precisely, My Brow Detailer.
Best applied with an angled brush, lightweight powder in a pair of tones helps build natural-looking brows. Use your hair colour as a guide to select the right shade match.
Anastasia Beverly Hills Ombre Effect Long Wearing Brow Powder Duo.
Formulated to help sparse brows look fuller, this peptide-infused treatment showed 90 per cent more clinically measured brow density after 12 weeks of twice daily use, according to brand claims.
Olaplex Browbond Building Serum.
Available in eight shades, this gel formula coats each brow hair for added definition, volume and tint in one step, eliminating a need to layer products.
Milk Makeup Kush High Roll Defining Tubing Eyebrow Gel.