The Beauty Diary by Beck Sullivan: How to make your eyebrows look fabulous, even if you have none

Overplucked your brows? Don’t worry. We’ve found the perfect cheap beauty product that makes them look full and natural in just a few seconds.

What’s your beauty resolution for 2019?

Maybe it’s to find an affordable skincare routine that you can easily implement everyday. Maybe it’s about switching to completely natural and organic products. Maybe you want to commit to laser hair removal so you can ditch your razor for good. Or maybe 2019 is the time to finally sort your eyebrows out.

Overplucked brows are a burden carried by so many of us who loved 90s and early noughties glam just a little too much. I don’t care what anybody says about that Rhianna British Vogue cover - tiny eyebrows are not cute.

Take note, Rihanna.

Full, natural brows look beautiful and they’re actually way easier to maintain in the long run than perfectly manicured brows. They look good on everyone and you don’t have to be a slave to monthly salon appointments.

This ideal brow is very different to the “Instagram eyebrow” that has spread like a nasty communicable disease online. Those super thick, very well-defined brows you see all over beauty accounts and on the face of every Glassons employee are on the way out. And thank goodness, because they never should have arrived in the first place.

So, how do we achieve these fabulous natural brows? Here’s a simple step-by-step guide, plus some cheap, easy-to-use eyebrow products to help you look halfway to Cara Delevigne.

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STEP 1: STOP PLUCKING

This is the painful part. Either you’ve overplucked your brows yourself, or some asshole beauty therapist went to town and you had to pretend not to be devastated while you paid her for your new wafer thin brows. It sucks, and it’s happened to all of us.

Take some time for your brows to heal and grow out again.

Four weeks is the minimum amount of time you should take to grow your brows out. Some say a few months is ideal, so you have as many new hairs as possible to work with. A girlfriend of mine didn’t touch her brows for a year before she booked an appointment with the most expensive eyebrow lady in Sydney. It paid off and now her brows are on the mend.

If you’re growing your brows out so you can them go to a salon, make sure you do your research. Ask around, DM randoms on Instagram and look at online reviews.

Don’t be passive during your appointment. Be extremely clear about what you want from your technician. You could even ask to hold up a mirror while they are at work, so you can see exactly what they’re doing. You don’t want all of your hard work undone with one strip of wax.

I love to micromanage my eyebrow people and I honestly don’t care that I come across as a psycho who is crazy about her eyebrows. I am a psycho who is crazy about her eyebrows.

I treat every eyebrow lady like I’m Liam Neeson in Taken. Trust no one. Suspect everyone. They’re all potentially kidnappers … of my eyebrow hairs. And I will NOT let there be a Taken 4. No one needs that to happen.

STEP 2: MAKE YOUR BROWS LOOK NOT CRAZY

So what to do in between appointments, or while you’re waiting for your tiny caterpillar eyebrows to grow?

It’s OK to have some maintenance, but only pluck very stray hairs. If you’re not sure which hairs to pluck, put your index finger over your eyebrow. You’re allowed to pluck all the hairs your finger doesn’t cover.

Not sure about a hair? Leave it. It might look like a rogue now, but in a couple of months it could have spawned a whole new family of strays to join it, creating a beautiful new eyebrow arch.

READ MORE: The Beauty Diary summer skincare guide.

STEP 3: BUY EYEBROW PRODUCTS TO MAKE YOURSELF FEEL BETTER

Buy a packet of those eyebrow spoolies from the supermarket or chemist - they look like the end of a mascara wand, minus the mascara. Keep one everywhere - in your purse, bathroom, car and desk - and use it to brush your eyebrows up.

Even the most unruly or thin brows look better when brushed up. It’s a 5-second face lift.

Most eyebrow products out there create a look that is far too “done” and not natural. Every woman I know wants full, natural brows. They want to look like the opposite of that eyebrow dog meme.

Opposite to this ladies, please. Picture: Supplied

Look, I’ll be honest. Most brow pencils are way too thick. The point of a brow product is to mimic your natural hairs, creating the illusion of fullness. A thick pencil will not do that. Your hairs are not half a centimetre thick, so your pencil should not be that thick.

I believe the best and most natural eyebrows products are tinted eyebrow mascaras or gels and powders applied with a very fine brush.

NYX TINTED BROW MASCARA

NYX Brow Mascara. Picture: Supplied

Price: $12.95

Available from: Priceline, ASOS

This is literally a mascara for your eyebrows. It comes in a few different shades of brown, plus a clear version.

Brow mascaras are fantastic because the product magically sticks to your existing eyebrow hairs and makes them look fuller and thicker, but still natural.

Plus, when you brush them upwards the product almost acts like a hairspray, moulding the hair and keeping them in place.

They’re idiot-proof and perfect to use when you’re in a rush.

BENEFIT GIMME BROW

Benefit Gimme Brow. Picture: Supplied

Price: $42

Available from: Sephora, Myer

Benefit prides itself on its eyebrow products and most of them are great. You know how I feel about pencils though - even Benefit’s are way too thick and deposit too much product onto the skin.

This brow mascara has more of a waxy formula than the NYX one and I love the super cute packaging. Just a few upwards swipes and all of a sudden your eyebrows just got thicker.

GLOSSIER BOY BROW

Glossier Boy Brow. Picture: Supplied

Price: $USD16 or $22

A vailable from: Glossier.com

This product isn’t easily available in Australia but I’m including it on this list anyway because I think it’s the best eyebrow product in the world. Huge call, but do a little Google search and you’ll find the internet agrees with me.

Glossier is a New York beauty brand that does not ship to Australia directly, but you can use Australia Post’s ShopMate service to redirect a package from the US.

When this product first launched, it immediately sold out and had a waitlist of 10,000 people. I’m onto my fifth tube.

The reason why it’s so good is that you can be as light or as heavy with your application as you like. You can create very light, natural looking brows or go to town and fill in gaps, even create lines that look like real hairs, all with a tiny brow mascara wand.

The formula is designed to mimic men’s moustache wax so it holds the hairs in place all day.

Honestly, get together with a mate and do a bulk Glossier order so you can split the shipping costs. It’s worth it.

CHARLOTTE TILBURY LEGENDARY BROWS BROW GEL

Price: $39

Available from: Charlotte Tilbury online

Induct me into the Official Charlotte Tilbury Fan Club already. I’m obsessed.

The thing that sets this product apart is the wand - it’s a lot longer and thinner than other brands.

This is great for people with fine brows, because the wand dispenses less product, creating a more natural look.

For $39, this is one of Charlotte’s cheapest products. Australians can only buy her products from the official website and there’s no free shipping unless your shopping cart adds up to $150.

Get out the credit card - Charlotte is worth splurging on.

MATTE BROWN EYESHADOW & A THIN ART BRUSH

Matte Brown Eyeshadow. Picture: Supplied

If you’re going for more of a polished look, the best way to create natural-looking hairs is by dipping a very thin art brush into a matte brown eyeshadow that matches your eyebrow hair colour.

Many brands sell proper brow kits - like Benefit’s Foolproof Brow Powder - but these are usually very expensive and unnecessary.

I buy my brushes from the art and craft shop Eckersley’s, but you can find them at any art supplies shop and they’re usually under $5. They come in lots of different sizes but usually the thinnest and smallest ones are best.

You can buy any cheap brown eyeshadow from the supermarket, chemist or even Sephora’s in-house brand Sephora Collection. I use two plain matte brown Bobbi Brown eyeshadows - one in Saddle and Mahogany - that I also use on by eyelids, so there’s no product duplication.

After VERY gently dipping the brush into the powder, fill in any gaps in your brows, then use one of the aforementioned spoolies to brush the product upwards for a more natural look.

You’ll see you’re able to get a much thinner and more precise line than if you drew your brows in with a thick pencil.

Feel free to set your brows with a clear brow gel or mascara, or spray thick-hold hairspray onto a spoolie and brush through for a firm all-day hold.

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