Imagine, if you will, that your eyes are a beautiful picture… the windows to your soul, so they say. Now imagine your eyebrows as a frame to that beautiful picture. That’s what a well-shaped brow can do: Enhance and bring out your eyes, just as a frame does for a beautiful painting. Taking the time for a great eyebrow shaping can make all the difference in the world to how your eyes look.

As you may have noticed, eyebrow trends tend to change from thick to thin. I say don’t stress about what’s in with eyebrow trends, but rather focus on what works best for you. Don’t fight Mother Nature! If you have naturally thick brows, then go with it! If your brows are thin, then that’s okay too. What you don’t want is a messy, unkempt brow. You want your brows to be neat and trim; your eyebrows should be natural looking, not over groomed.

So how do you achieve this perfectly shaped eyebrow? Well, you can go to a salon or a licensed aesthetician to get your brows done professionally. Or, if you’re brave or just want to save some money you can do them yourself. Here are a few simple guidelines for those of you who want to try your hand at eyebrow shaping:

1. Eyebrow symmetry.

   Nobody’s brows are perfectly symmetrical so don’t waste your time an energy trying to get them to look exactly the same. Someone once told me your brows should look like sisters, not twins.

2. Find where your brow should start and stop.

   A great way to find out is to hold a long pencil or brush against the side of your nose and where the brush meets the brow is the starting point. You can mark the spot with an eyeliner or brow pencil as a reference for a starting point. To find out where they should end, once again take the pencil or brush and place it against your nose, but this time extend it to the outer corner of the eye. Where the pencil meets the brush is where your brow should end. Again, mark it with a pencil to help as a guide.

3. Find your brow arch.

   Most people have a natural arch to their brow line, but if you need help finding it, once again hold our good friend, Mr. Pencil against your nose. But this time angle the pencil diagonal across the outer half of the iris, where the brow meets the pencil is where your arch should be. Don’t forget to mark the spot with a pencil to help guide you.

4. Start tweezing!

   Now that you know where to stop and start, you’ll need a good pair of tweezers… preferably ones with a sharp, slanted tip to help grab the little hairs. (My favorite one is the Slant Tweezer by Tweezerman) Use the pencil marks as your guide for shaping your eyebrows, and remember to keep the brow thicker on the inner corner, and taper it out to be thinner on the outer corner. Don’t tweeze your eyebrows too much! You can always go back and tweeze some more, but you can’t (as I’m certain we’ve all unfortunately discovered) add more hair on!

Eyebrows are often ignored or overlooked, but they can make a huge impact on your overall look. A well shaped eyebrow is so much more sophisticated and sexy than an unkempt one. So now that you have the know how, go out there and wow ‘em with your beautiful brows!

Image courtesy of Sephora.com.