10 Beauty Fails That Lead To Cringe-Worthy Eyebrows (And How To Fix Them)

cringe-worthy eyebrows

Your eyebrows can make or break your look. A beautiful pair of eyebrows characterized by the right shape, thickness, length, and color, is a great way to frame your face and accentuate the beauty of your eyes. A bad pair of brows, on the other hand, can detract rather than complement.

If you feel like your eyebrows are always looking off, whether it looks too thick and dark or it has unrealistic, angry-looking arches, you might be committing one (or more) of these mistakes.

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You’re not following your eyebrow shape.

What works for your favorite celebrity may not work for you – eyebrows aren’t a one-size-fits-all thing.

Fix:

Instead of creating a new brow shape, you should follow your natural shape, which complements your face shape. For example, your brow bone height, forehead length, cheekbone structure, and eye size are factors. If you’re unsure, seek expert eyebrow shaping salons to know your natural brow shape and how to work with what you already have.

You overpluck when eyebrow shaping.

Let’s face it: eyebrows take months to grow back. Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do once you commit the mistake of overplucking them or messing with the natural shape of your brows by accidentally removing what shouldn’t be removed (like your arches).

Fix:

Pluck with a light hand. If the top edge needs to be tamed, get them waxed or threaded by a licensed eyebrow shaping professional. For DIY, stick to the areas underneath the brow.

You try so hard to make them completely identical.

Beauty experts have this mantra: your eyebrows are siblings, but not twins. It’s okay to have slight differences. However, your quest to make them identical may lead to frustration, wasted time, and efforts, or worse, overplucking.

Fix:

Instead of perfectly matching their shapes, follow their shape. If you accidentally go overboard. Let them grow back and seek professional eyebrow shaping experts to ensure they’re of the right length, angle, and thickness.

You place your arch in the wrong spot.

Your archers can make or break your look – overly angled arches make you look pissed off and intimidating, while brows whose arches aren’t angled enough appear flat, and sometimes, sad.

Fix:

When shaping your brows, think about our favorite guideline: placing a pencil, a thin makeup brush, or even a straw vertically on the side of your nose. Use it as a pivot point across the pupil. Angle the brush or pencil, so it cuts through the iris – the place where the tool intersects your brow marks your arch location.

You create a very wide eyebrow gap.

Most women don’t appreciate their unibrow as much as Frida Kahlo does, so they tidy up by plucking too many hairs between the eyebrows. The result? An extremely wide gap that looks unnatural and just plain terrible.

Fix:

Hold a thin makeup brush or pencil vertically and line it up with the edge of your inner tear duct. Hands off any hairs beyond that line toward your eye.

You’re using the wrong color.

Just because your hair is fiery red doesn’t mean your brows need to be too. Eyebrow and hair shades don’t always have to match to look great – you want your brows to complement your face, not override it.

Fix:

The best bet is to pick a shade of brown with a slight tint that goes with your hair color. For example, if you have dark hair, opt for a hue that’s two shades lighter than your natural hair color. Conversely, if you’re blonde, go for several shades darker than your hair.

You don’t address sparse hairs.

Eyebrows with sparse hairs that allow the skin underneath to show may look messy.

Fix:

Invest in a good eyebrow pencil with a shade closest to your natural brow color. Fill them in using short strokes. Never drag the pencil or press it down harshly. Don’t be tempted to use eyebrow stencils, either.

You lay your eyebrow makeup too thick or dark.

If your eyebrows seem unnatural and look like they’re drawn using a sharpie, here are possible reasons: One, you used too much product on your brush. Two, you used a shade that’s too dark. Three, you might’ve lined your brows using a pencil harshly in one go.

Fix:

The general rule is to use your makeup sparingly – this gives you better control. Remember that adding something in is way easier than trying to erase something that’s already been applied. Also, use short, feathery strokes when filling in instead of pressing down.

You’re not blending enough (or not blending at all)

If your eyebrows still look like they’re painted on, you might’ve forgotten one crucial rule in makeup: blending.

Fix:

Use a blending brush or a spoolie brush to comb your brows further after applying filler to soften the lines and keep everything in place. Finish it off with a brow gel to make them last all day.

You do your brows before anything else.

Isn’t it a bummer to spend a lot of time (and expensive makeup) on your brows only to get accidentally covered and smudged by your creams and powders?

Fix:

Eyebrows should be one of the last steps in your routine. Complexion makeup (primer, foundation, concealer, blush) comes in first, then eyebrow makeup. Next, eye makeup (eyeshadow, eyeliner, and mascara) and lip makeup follow.