We’ve all had our fair share of struggles with eyebrow grooming at some point in our lives. Maybe it was a tweezer-happy period in your teens that resulted in permanently thin eyebrows or the all-too-real battle to tame unruly brows. Even subtle missteps—like drawing them too close together, plucking them too far apart, or not filling them in quite enough—can have a major impact on the look of your face. Eyebrow mapping doesn’t always come naturally, but fortunately there are tools to help you conquer the task!
Enter eyebrow mapping, a genius makeup technique used for shaping your brows to personalized perfection! This simple trick helps you find your ideal brow shape—including where your brows should start, arch, and end in order to ensure symmetry. As IT Cosmetics founder Jamie Kern Lima said so eloquently, “Your eyebrows are the most powerful feature on your face.” Read on to discover how to shape your eyebrows using the brow mapping technique.
How to Shape Your Eyebrows With Eyebrow Mapping
Follow this simple five-step guide on brow mapping to create a flattering shape just right for you. Make sure to grab the following brow products before you begin.
What You Need
- Eyebrow pencil
- Eyebrow brush, spoolie, or comb
- Eyebrow gel (optional)
Step 1: Choose the Right Products
The right brow products can make all the difference. We recommend using an eyebrow pencil, such as Brow Power Universal Eyebrow Pencil, that allows you to create hair-like strokes for a natural, full, flattering brow. Available in four universal shades, it adjusts to your hair color and visibly enhances your brows with ingredients such as biotin, saw palmetto, and antioxidants.
For feathery brows—or to create more dimension at the eyebrow tail—try Brow Power Micro Eyebrow Pencil. It's the same formula as the original Brow Power Pencil, only it has a micro-fine pencil tip that does the work for you to achieve natural-looking definition. (Psst. All IT Cosmetics’ brow power pencils have a spooley on the opposite end!)
A tinted brow gel, like Brow Power Filler Eyebrow Gel, is a versatile product to have on hand, too. With its volumizing effect, it can help fill in sparse brows and achieve thicker-looking brows, and. It can also help tame thick brows and set your brows in place for the day.
Step 2: Create Your “Map”
This step is the core of the eyebrow mapping technique. To start, you’re going to create three points on your eyebrows to indicate where your brows should start, the highest point of your arch, and where your brows should end.
“[Start by] holding your Brow Power pencil from the outer side of the nostril—straight up along the side of the nose—to the top of the brow area and make a [light] mark,” says Kirsten Peterson, Senior Regional Education Manager for IT Cosmetics. “This is where the brow should start.”
While still holding the pencil against the edge of your nose, move it diagonally until one end aligns with the outer edge of your iris (the colorful part of your eye). Make another small mark on what should be the highest part of your arch.
To determine where your eyebrows should end—also known as the “tail”—start at the same place along the nostril. Then, Peterson says, “Move the pencil to just underneath the eye—where you’d start eyeliner in the lower lash line—towards the temple and make a mark.” Resist the urge to go further out as it can create a droopy eye effect.
Pro Tip: If you have thick, fluffy brows it can be difficult to create a defined shape. We recommend trimming your eyebrows before outlining your map.
Step 3: Connect the Dots
Once you’ve got all three dots in place, use your eyebrow pencil to create very faint lines that connect them.
“Draw a light line connecting the mark where your brow should start to the mark at the arch. Do the same to connect the arch mark to the mark where your brow should end,” says Peterson. “At the bottom of the brow, lightly draw parallel lines to those you just made.”
Pro Tip: Remember that your brows are sisters—not twins! If your brows don’t look identical to each other after shaping them, that’s OK!
Step 4: Fill in Your Brows
After brow mapping, it’s time to fill in your eyebrows. Use quick, short strokes to create hair-like lines. Using your Brow Power Universal Eyebrow Pencil, draw upward lines as you move from your starting point to the high point of your arch, then switch to downward strokes as you work from the high point of the arch to the tail. For bold definition and volume, try the Brow PowerFULL Eyebrow Pencil and for extra precision use the Brow Power Micro Eyebrow Pencil.
Pro Tip: The harder you press, the deeper your color! For lighter hair colors—like platinum, blonde, and gray—use light pressure. If you have black, medium, or dark brown eyebrow hair, press a bit more firmly to create a deeper color.
Step 5: Comb & Set
As a final touch, you’ll want to do a bit of eyebrow grooming. For polished-looking brows, lightly brush through them with a comb or spooley (Brow Power features a spooley on the opposite end.) Brow Power Filler also works brilliantly as a finishing step to add more definition and set your brows in place.
Pro Tip: If you make a mistake, don’t worry! You can easily clean up your brows with the right tools. Start by smoothing concealer onto any marks that fall outside of your brows’ borders, then use a concealer makeup brush to buff them away!
Gorgeous eyebrows are one of those makeup trends that will never fall out of style. All you need to get the job done are some quality eyebrow products and the right technique. Now that you know how to shape your eyebrows like an expert, level up your knowledge on how to apply eyeliner or conceal dark under-eye circles.