Well-groomed eyebrows can either elevate your entire makeup look or let it down. To help you avoid the latter, we've put together 6 common mistakes you might be making when styling your eyebrows — and what to do instead.
Common eyebrow styling mistakes
1. Filling in your eyebrows too heavily
If you're going for a natural-looking finish, it's important not to be too heavy-handed. Doing so has the opposite effect: brows end up looking too sharp, unnatural, and almost drawn on.
They can also overpower the rest of your makeup and become the only thing people notice. Try to use as light a touch as possible, and don't get discouraged if it feels tricky at first. It takes a bit of precision — but practice makes perfect.
2. Choosing the wrong shade for your eyebrows
If you colour your hair, you might assume your eyebrows need to match. They don't, and we'd gently push back on that idea.
Whether you dye your hair red or bleach it platinum blonde, you don't need to style your eyebrows in the exact same shade. A good rule of thumb is that your brow colour should complement your hair colour in a natural way.
A few simple guidelines:
- If you're blonde, choose a brow shade that's roughly one or two shades darker than your hair colour.
- If you have brown hair, go for a shade that's one or two shades lighter.
This helps your brows blend in more naturally and makes your eyes really pop.
3. Doing your eyebrows before your base makeup
Do you fill in your brows as the very first step of your makeup routine? It might feel efficient, but for the best result it's worth doing your base first.
This is because your facial features shift slightly once the rest of your makeup is in place. There's also a risk of making your brows look too sharp or too heavily filled when you haven't yet got a full picture of your overall look.
Try waiting to do your brows until after you've applied your foundation, bronzer, and blush. This way, your brows blend more seamlessly with the rest of your makeup.
4. Forgetting to brush through your eyebrows before styling
You'd brush your hair before styling it, right? The same applies to your eyebrow hairs. Taming any unruly strands first makes it much easier to achieve a polished result.
Brush through your brows in the direction of natural hair growth, then go ahead and fill them in. To keep them in place all day, finish by brushing through with a tinted or clear brow gel — one that both fills in and shapes the brows.
5. Starting to fill in your eyebrows from the wrong end
It can feel natural to start filling in your brows from the inner corner of the eye. But this is worth avoiding if you want the neatest possible result.
Why? Starting from the inner corner tends to make brows look too sharp and less natural. If you begin at the outer arch instead, the result looks much more effortless.
Take a look at your eyebrows when they're unstyled — you'll probably notice that the outer part is naturally darker and the inner portion is lighter. Once you've filled in the middle and outer sections, you can finish with a light hand on the inner part.
6. Tweezing your eyebrows at the wrong time
Hot water in the shower causes hair follicles to open up. If you've plucked your brows just before bathing or showering, this can lead to unwanted hairs coming loose too.
It's better to tweeze your eyebrows after you've showered, precisely because the hairs are easier to remove once the follicles have opened up.
How to style your eyebrows with the Xlash Micro-sculpting Brow Pencil
Why the Xlash Micro-sculpting Brow Pencil gives a natural result
Xlash Micro-sculpting Brow Pencil has a micro-fine tip that makes it easy to create naturally full-looking brows, while also helping to define both your brows and your facial features.
The formula is softly creamy and delivers a long-lasting result that holds throughout the day. The tip is retractable, which makes everyday use simpler — no sharpener needed.
The pencil also has a built-in brush you can use to style your brows both before and after application. The Xlash Micro-sculpting Brow Pencil is easy to adapt too, whether you prefer a sharper brow or a more natural finish.
If you'd like to go further into shaping and styling your brows, have a look at our guide to brow pencils, shadows, and gels for perfect eyebrows. For more inspiration on eyebrow trends and techniques, our article on thicker and fuller eyebrows — the complete guide — is a great next step.
