SISTERS, NOT TWINS

When it comes to your eyebrows, look for polish instead of perfection, the Kit,

It drives me crazy that my eyebrows are naturally uneven. I shape them myself — though I’ve gotten them done a few times over the years, I mostly choose to pluck them myself — but I haven’t figured out how to tackle the imbalance. What’s the best way for a DIY groomer like myself to correct it? — Marie, Toronto

Bold eyebrows have been hot for years now, after the pendulum swung back from the anemic and precise brows arches that defined the ’90s. But, as is almost always the case, things have gotten a little carried away: The fluffybrowed ideal ushered in by models like Cara Delevingne was replaced a few years ago by the painted-on-and-perfect look popularized by influencers and dubbed the “Instagram brow.”

I favour thick eyebrows because they look youthful and help frame the face, but the stencilled look of this super popular variation gives me pause; any makeup look that requires streaming a handful of lengthy YouTube tutorial generally does.

The reality? Real faces, even gorgeous ones, aren’t perfectly symmetrical.

“When you obsess over making your eyebrows look exactly the same, you can wind up overplucking them,” says Umbreen Sheikh, founder of Wink Brow Bar and Salon in New York. “Too-thin brows are much worse than ones that are just a tad different. Your eyebrows are supposed to be sisters, not twins.”

Chic French makeup artist Gregoris Pyrpylis went one step further when he got Instagram tastemaker and former magazine editor Eva Chen ready for fashion week in Paris.

“I don’t even think they should be sisters,” he says in Chen’s Stories feed. “They should be cousins!” His reasoning? Perfection looks artificial, which, in his books and mine, and likely yours, is just not good. “When you have something beautiful and strong, we want it to look natural — not cheap.”

So when grooming your brows, avoid the siren call of social media approved perfection and, instead, just seek a bit of polish. Your goal, instead, should be to simply refine the shape of your brows while leaving enough fullness to frame your face.

The first step? Do nothing! (Imagine you could get this advice for every challenge in life: The best way to organize your kitchen junk drawer? Do nothing! Sadly, I’ve tried this approach and it has only resulted in having two kitchen junk drawers.) But actually, before you determine the shape of your brows, most beauty pros agree that you should let them grow in for six weeks or more to scope out their natural shape and gauge what you’re working with.

To kill the time — and the urge to pluck — get a hobby. Pickling? Furniture refinishing? The choice is yours. Once you’re au naturale, you can grab a set of tweezers and pluck out the errant hairs.

To determine the ideal shape, grab a pencil and hold it vertically in the middle of each nostril: that’s about where your brow should start. Then, pivot the pencil so it crosses the edge of your iris — that’s your arch.

Last, find where your brow should end, swing the pencil out to graze the corner of your eye. Carefully tweeze any strays, and when in doubt, resist the urge to pull it out. Though it’s easier to see the individual hairs with a magnifying compact, make sure you’re checking your work frequently in a regular mirror since it’s easy to overpluck when you can’t see the big picture.

“If your brow hairs are ‘wonky,’ you need a game plan for controlling them,” says Umbreen, who suggests trimming only the most unruly hairs. In order to make sure the final look isn’t overdone, brush your brows up toward your temples and then, using your scissors pointed tip-down, snip just the longer hairs. “This gives trimmed brows a natural look, because none of the hairs are exactly the same length,” she explains.

Then, it’s time to fill in any gaps. Pyrpylis recommends reaching for a super precise pencil and, using short strokes, try to mimic the feathery look of hairs. “It needs to be softer,” he says.

And, in the spirit of a gentle touch, he is also adamant that no one should use a black pencil to fill in their brows — “even if you have black hair! Always use a lighter shade!” (He opted for a dark brown shade to add depth to Chen’s brows.)

If you have an extra minute to finish the look, Umbreen suggests a swipe of brightening highlighter. “Drawing a straight line under your brow will help minimize the appearance of strays,” she explains. “This will also lighten and brighten the entire eye area, drawing more attention to the eyes.”

Whatever you do, don’t pull your hair out seeking perfection: Life’s too short to worry about whether one brow is, well, a bit short.