New Day Your Way

Eyebrow Know-How

Aspire to doing your own brows without over-tweezing or looking uneven? It's easier than it seems with these pointers from Eve Pearl, Emmy award-winning makeup artist.

Step 1: Know Your Brow

In order to shape and pluck successfully, you must understand where your brow borders are and how your natural arch lies.

Shape: The brow should begin directly above the inner corner of your eye. To find the highest point of the arch, hold a pencil vertically in line with the outside edge of the iris. The first three quarters of the brow should sweep up towards your natural peak; the final quarter should curve downwards and taper off at the end.

From the arch to the outer corner of the eye, your brow should fall in a straight or slightly curved line, depending on the look you are trying to achieve.

Length: Hold a pencil from your nostril to the outer edge of your eye. The point where the pencil touches your brow is your perfect brow length.

Step 2: Shape Your Brow

To create the perfect arch, make sure to mark the area accurately. If you have dark brows, using a white pencil, pencil over the area you want to pluck, obscuring it-this will help you see if you like the shape that you intend to keep. If your hair is light, take a dark pencil and darken the area you want to keep instead. If your brows are unruly, use brow gel to help keep them in place. This is very important to the outcome of the plucking exercise.

Step 3: The Tweeze

Make sure you use a magnifying mirror in good light, so that you can see what you're doing. Brush your brows up and out and, using tweezers and holding the skin taut, pluck the hairs in the direction that they grow. Don't pluck too many hairs at once-you run the risk of over-plucking if you do.

Step 4: The Final Fix

Remove any remaining white color or dark pencil left on the brows with moisturizer or makeup remover. Use an astringent to disinfect the plucked area. With a freshly sharpened brow pencil, fill in any sparse areas with quick, light feathery strokes. For a more natural look, use brow powder to give overall definition.

Pearl's last tip (but be very careful if you're trying this at home): you can shave the hairs drawn in white. You don't get any more stubble than you would by plucking, says Pearl, and this way, you don't run the risk of losing your brows from plucking.

Professional makeup artists have been using the razor for years-Pearl has done this for countless celebrities. Apply hair conditioner on your brows when shaping them with a razor-it will soften them, making them easier to shave, as well as conditioning them and laying them flat for better control.

Eve Pearl is a four-time Emmy Award-winning makeup artist, currently the personal makeup artist to Meredith Vieira with NBC's Today show and Who Wants to be a Millionaire.