You're doing them wrong! But don't worry, there's hope.
Your brows frame your face and give it structure, so it's important to keep your tiny arches on point at all times. Worried yours are a little wonky? Cosmopolitan.com asked makeup artist and brow wiz Cyndle Komarovski what makes your arches look off and how to make them pretty, pronto. You're welcome.
1. You're squaring off the front of your brows. Doing this too harshly can immediately make them look drawn on (aka fake). Instead, create shape by using tiny, hair-like strokes, regardless of whether you use a pencil, an angled brush topped with brow powder, or a brow mascara.
2. Your eyebrow's tail is too long. Overextending the tail of your brows can create a droopy effect, drawing your face down. Your eyebrows naturally stop at a place that lifts your face up and out, which is what you want to maintain. To figure out where the tail of your brow needs to end, hold a brow pencil diagonally at your nostril and line it up with the side of your eye. Where the pencil hits your brow bone is where the end of your eyebrow should end (or can be extended to) without it looking unnatural.
3. You're exaggerating your eyebrow's arch. Pointy arches can make you look surprised or angry even when you're not. So, if you weren't born with a high arch but want to create a subtle one, hold a brow pencil against your nostril and line it up diagonally with the center of your eye. That's exactly where any arch should go naturally.
Next, with a spoolie brush, like E.L.F. Cosmetics Essential Eyelash and Brow Wand, work your eyebrow hairs downward. With your brow product of choice (a pencil and a light touch might be your best bet!), ever so slightly alter your brow shape by creating a slight peak at the roots of the hairs at the top of your brows. Finally, brush your brow hairs back up with the spoolie brush so they fall into place and the arch looks natural.
4. You aren't shaping your brows. Unruly brows are one thing (They're actually in right now!), but unshaped brows don't frame your face as well as well-groomed brows could. Don't have time to see a brow expert? Simply follow the shape of your brow (where the most hair is) and tweeze any strays that fall outside of that shape for perfect arches.
5. You have bald brow spots. If you've fallen victim to over-plucking in the past, you're not alone. To conceal sparseness, fill in the spots with brow powder using an angled brush or you can opt for a pencil. Then, groom your brows into place with a brow mascara, like Maybelline New York Eye Studio Brow Drama Sculpting Brow Mascara.
6. You're using too much highlighter. Outlining your brows with a highlighter can put too much of a spotlight on your arches. Instead, opt for a concealer that's one shade lighter than your skin to brighten up your brow area. Try NudeStix Concealer Pencil.
7. You're over-filling your brows. This can make you look like Groucho Marx's twin. The key to making your brows look darker but natural is not getting the formula you're using on your skin. If you have a bald spot you're trying to fill in, that's one thing, but if you're just trying to deepen your brow hair color, your best bet is a brow mascara that you can lightly swipe on for a more dramatic yet believable effect. Try L'Oréal Paris Brow Stylist Plumper Brow Gel Mascara.
8. You're doing a patchy job of filling in your brows. If you feel like you only need to amp your arches up at the beginning of your brow, you still need to brush or apply whichever brow product you're using through to the ends. You can taper the amount off toward the tail so it's not as intense, but if you don't apply it to your entire brow, you'll end up with an uneven look, which no one wants.
