Don't Make This Common Mistake With Your Eyebrow Liner

When it comes to eyebrows, the beauty industry is constantly coming up with new ways to change them — either in shape, color, or density. If you're looking to freshen up your look, the brows are a great place to start as a few small tweaks can really alter your entire appearance. Why not try bleached eyebrows (with concealer for a temporary look), or go for a straight-across brow shape? Whatever you decide, eyebrows can be one of the best parts of your makeup routine where you can experiment to your heart's content.

For special occasions, you might want to go for a bolder brow, but on other days, you might want to just keep it simple and fill in any sparse areas. Regardless of the look you are going for, when you find yourself reaching for the eyebrow liner, you want to make sure you don't make the common mistake of overdoing it. There is such a concept as too much of a good thing, and no matter how much you love your Anastasia Beverly Hills eyebrow pomade, you don't want your eyebrows to be so filled in that they look like they were drawn on with a Sharpie. Don't worry, though. There are a few tricks to make sure your eyebrows are always perfectly on point.

Someone who obviously knows their way around eyebrows is Ariel Tejada, Kylie Jenner's makeup artist. While he has plenty of tricks up his sleeve, the one to remember when it comes to your brows is don't overdo it. As Tejada explained to Glamour, "The overall objective is to fill in the sparse areas, not to fill in your entire brow." This is, of course, the most common eyebrow liner mistake people make according to the makeup artist. "I'll comb through the brows and wherever I see a little gap I'll just fill, but I won't fill in the entire eyebrow because that's when you get a more drawn-in effect," he explained.

So there isn't anything wrong with filling your eyebrows in — we all need a little extra volume sometimes. But you don't want to fully outline your brows and then fill it in like a coloring book. It's all about small strokes of your pencil or brush to mimic the tiny, natural hairs of your brow. Try taking a page from Tejada's book and fill in any sparseness starting at the arch, and continue to the ends of the brows, remembering to maintain a soft hand as you make your way back to the front.

In addition to making sure not to overfill the eyebrow, Ariel Tejada also utilizes different shades of foundation to enhance the finished brow. As seen in a YouTube tutorial, he takes a flat concealer brush and uses a lighter-colored foundation to outline the bottom bridge of the brow. He then blends the product down onto the eyelid with his finger. By using your finger, he explains, the warmth of your skin will help to blend the product, and by blending down to the lid, this also serves to prime the area for any eyeshadow you might use as well. Tejada then takes another foundation in a slightly darker shade and outlines the top of the brow, creating a clean, sharp look. 

While you don't necessarily have to buy two different colored foundations just for your eyebrows, using whatever concealer or foundation you do already have to clean up your brows in this manner can really help to enhance your look and make your brow shape truly stand out.