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Nothing can enhance a woman’s beauty like beautiful brows. Well-defined, well-groomed brows flatter the face—they open up, enlarge and brighten the eyes so that you’ll need less makeup. Says Propaganda makeup artist Marlon Rivera, “Nice brows make you look polished and organize the features on your face instantly. People look at your eyes first, so looking at unkempt brows is like looking at a messy painting.”

Tweeze Easy
Tweezing gives you the best control over the shape compared to waxing and threading. Shaving causes faster hair re-growth and may irritate the skin on that area. Tweezing can hurt at first, but you’ll get immune to the pain in time (numb the are with ice, warm water or toothache drops).

1. Determine the shape you want, but follow the direction of the brow’s natural arch. The higher the arch, the more sophisticated you’ll look. As a guideline, the brow should arch 3/4 of the way outwards and upwards and taper down subtly. The tail of your brows should extend slightly past the outer corners of your eyes. (Imagine a diagonal line from the edge of each nostril extending to the outer corner of each eye. The point where this line intersects the brow is where it should end.) Also, the thinner the brows, the older you’ll look. Don’t overdo it! Look in magazines for face shapes similar to yours and study the brows.

2. With concealer or white pencil, mark the hairs you want to remove. Start plucking hairs above the bridge of your nose in between your brows. Then, pluck hairs that stray below the brow’s natural direction. Asian brows, says Marlon, tend to grow downward at the ends. Instead of overplucking in that area, he says, you can just snip off long brow hairs with tiny scissors. In fact, it’s a good idea to try trimming the hairs before tweezing to see their natural shape.

3. Maintenance is a must. Keep brows neat by plucking weekly. It becomes easier once you establish the right shape. Still wary of attacking virgin brows yourself? Have them tweezed initially by a professional and just maintain their upkeep.

Makeup Wakeup
Polish off the look with:

PENCILS are best for sparse brows. Pick one with the right consistency. Kohl eyeliners are too soft and will look harsh, heavy and messy on brow. Too-hard pencils will have a rigid, pointy effect. And never draw on brows, it looks scary and artificial. Sharpen your pencil and use light, irregular-length strokes to fill in any gaps or spaces to get a realistic look. Choose a color that matches your real brow color. Dark brown looks best on most Asians, but if your brow hairs are really black, for an everyday, no-makeup look, try using a very sharp black eyebrow pencil applied with extremely light, feathery strokes. Use a stiff, angled nylon brush to even out color.

BROW POWDER looks more natural than pencil on thicker brows. Pick browcolor or eyeshadow in dark brown. Use a nylon brush, fill in the gaps with light strokes. To make the color last longer, moisten the brush with water. Comb your brows up with an old toothbrush or a dried-up mascara wand.

MASCARA. For thick brows that don’t need filling in, use clear mascara to brush them upward. This will tame and “set” unruly brows. Or use dark brown mascara (applied very lightly, or it might clump on the hairs) to fill in brows.

HAIRSPRAY/EYELASH GLUE. Apply this to unruly or long, downward-growing ends of your brows to create a temporary arch.

Nasty No-No’s

DILIS BROWS. Round hooks at the start of the brow that trail off narrowly like sperm or bean sprouts.

SQUARE CORNERS. Fierce, Boy George-ish and very ‘80s.

QUESTION MARKS. Too-curved half-moons will make you look perpetually surprised.

MONOBROW. Neglecting to pluck the hairs on the bridge of your noise will make you look like Sesame Street’s Ernie.

ONE LINE. Passé and lola-looking. Overplucking gives you bare spots and ages you.

NO MAINTENANCE. Neglected brow stubble looks dirty, sloppy. Pluck weekly.