You have seen all the guides on how to shape your eyebrows, aligning the guides with your nose. This is all fine but what happens if you don't have the basic eye shape or the perfect ratio. What happens if you have close set eyes or even far set eyes? Does the same guide apply? Or do you even want to apply them. What happens if you want to change the shape of the brows to elongate them?
Brows will actually create the boundary for the eyeshadows. They create a darkened frame for the eyes. Of course, there is no set rule to shape the brows but with today's beauty standards, it has become part of the norm.
What becomes important when you want to shape your brows is to understand your eyes first. You will probably know if your eyes are pretty much in the basic ratio (one eye length between the eyes) category, close set category, or the far set category. You want your eyebrows to create the illusion of the basic ratio if you do not have it. This is how the shaping and grooming become important.
My guide for brow shaping is slightly different. Let me just state that I am not saying this is the only way or my way is right. I am just giving you a different perspective. After all, we see things differently and much more clearly because our eyes are adapted to HD. Also, growing older means everything falls and the least you can do is create the illusion of lift and dimension with your eyebrows.
Shaping the Brows - The Basic Steps
Here is Aldona (from WorkingBeauty) whose eyebrows have not been filled in. I use her entire face so you can get a better perspective. You can see how I use her eyes as the guides instead of her nose. One reason for this, your eyes create the perfect guidelines already. Two, the eyes are closer to your eyebrows. Three, the closeness also allows for more proportionate tweaks like opening, lifting, and extending your brow style.
Aldona has the basic ratio when it comes to her eyes. The space of one eye between the two. The guides I use are the inner corner or the tear duct and the outer corner, the end of the eyeball.
1 - The tear duct is the starting point of the brow. 2 - This is where the guide differs. This is the outer end of the eyeball. Drawing a line straight up will sit on top of the browbone bulge. This is where the arch will be. It is also where your facial bone structure curves into the side of your face. 3 - From the same point as 2 follow the brow line downward and what will stop your guide is bone indentationof your eye. your own cheekbone; this is where the end of your brow is.
For Close Set Eyes and Far Set Eyes, the guides are essentially the same except for the inner corner.
For Close Set Eyes the eyebrow starting point aligns not with the tear duct but almost where it forms into the main lashline. You want the brows to create the illusion of a wider space for the eyes.
1- The starting point of the brow starts further in than the basic eye ratio eye shape. 2 - The start of the arch or where browbone bulge generally sits. 3- The brow ends at the eye indentation.
Far Set Eyes is the opposite of close set, you are creating the illusion to bring the eyes closer towards the center.
Again, the only difference is the starting point of the brow which for Far Set Eyes sits in between the tear duct and the side of the nose.
1- The beginning of the brow starts right before bone area which creates the side (bridge) of the nose. 2- The arch is where the bone structure begins to turn towards the side of the face. 3 - The brow ends with the little dip within the eye socket.
Here is what the classic eyebrow shape looks like.
Notice how the brows are lengthen and also draw the your attention towards and into the sides of the face, giving the illusion of lift. Your eye area isn't just what people see in the front, the sides are just as important.
Elongating the Eyebrows
Let's say you want something a bit more dramatic yet you want it to look natural or proportionately right. Elongating the eyebrows is the way to go. Not only will it open up the eye area, it will create a bigger boundary for eyeshadows. This in turn will open and make the eyes look bigger.
The starting point will depend on your eye spacing: basic, close set, far set. Take that into consideration and you know where to start. For an example, I will just use the basic spacing.
1- Starting point of brow. 2-The arch starts at the outer end of the eye. This may seem a bit extreme BUT it will depend on how you fill it in as you will see further down. 3- The end of the brow will stop with the help of the cheekbone.
You can see above how the guide differs slightly from the classic eyebrow length.
When you are about to apply eyeshadow, your eyeshadow has to be in proportion with your eyebrows or it will look off. This is where taupe eyeshadow becomes really important. It will create guides for both the brows and your eyes by creating a boundary.
As you see in the pic above, all you need to do with the taupe eyeshadow is to draw a line from the (1) beginning of the brow to the (2) top of what will be the arch. This might result in a straighter looking brow but remember, your bone structure curves. From the point 2, draw a line to what will be the end of your extended brow (3) which is also where your cheekbone and temple meet.
The reason why I emphasize the top of the brow is because you want to draw the tail end of the eyebrow to lift and bring back the eye. By habit, you will most likely draw and fill in the brow from below and this will cause the brow to droop down or close in the eye area. Remember, lifting is a lot better than drooping!!
Here is Aldona with here extended brow look.
Hope this helped some of you. I know this is a bit different from the usual eyebrow guides. Again, I am not claiming this post is the only or right way. I just want you to see a different way to lift and open the eye area. Eyebrows are important and if they don't frame the face or finish the look right, then all will be out of balance.
*Special thanks to Aldona.*
I am Olivia
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