Brow Pencils, Gels and Powders

Brows are the one part of a face where the product matters less than the restraint. Four formats cover almost everything people want: a pencil, a powder, a cream pomade and a clear or tinted gel. Which one suits you depends on how much hair you already have and how much you want to add, not on which is newest on the shelf.

Pencil, powder, pomade or gel

A fine pencil draws individual hair strokes and suits sparse patches and a defined front. Powder is softer and the most forgiving, which makes it the best starting point if you have never filled a brow. Cream pomade gives the strongest, longest-lasting definition and is the easiest to overdo. Clear gel does nothing but hold, and on full brows that need no color at all, it is frequently the only product needed.

Shade is where it goes wrong

Most brow products are too warm, and a reddish or orange brow is the giveaway that something has been drawn on. Aim a shade cooler and slightly lighter than your brow hair, not your head hair, since color-treated hair drifts away from the brows. Deeper skin with black hair still rarely wants a true black brow product; a deep cool brown or soft black reads as hair while jet black reads as a line.

Shape follows the brow you have

Find where your brow naturally starts above the inner corner of the eye, where it peaks, and where it thins out, and work with those three points rather than importing a shape from a photograph. Fill the sparse parts and leave the dense parts alone. Brushing the hairs up and trimming only the ones that stick out past the top line does more for shape than any amount of drawing.

Tools that earn their place

A spoolie brush to comb the hair and soften everything you have just drawn. A small angled brush for powder or pomade, since the brush that comes attached to a product is usually too stiff. Small brow scissors, and tweezers with a decent tip for strays under the brow only. Concealer along the bottom edge cleans up an outline, but used heavily it creates the carved look it was meant to hide.

Knowing when to stop

Work in light passes, step back, and stop one pass before you think you are finished, because brows always look lighter in a mirror than in a photograph. Keep the front of the brow softer than the tail, since the front is where the drawn-on look starts. Blend the final result with the spoolie. If the two are not quite identical, that is normal and not worth chasing.