We asked a professional where we’re going wrong with our eyebrows

Everyone is OBSESSED with eyebrows.

We are filling them in, plucking them, waxing them, and spending more time on our eyebrows than we do on our coursework. I feel like I should be more knowledgeable on them but if I’m honest, I’m a complete beginner at eyebrows – so I asked an expert where people commonly go wrong.

Saffron Gresty is an Oldham-based beauty therapist. She told me some of the common mistakes that people make when doing their eyebrows:

This is Saffron, who clearly knows what she’s doing with her eyebrows

Shape

Up until I came started university I honestly thought that eyebrow shape didn’t make the slightest bit of difference (unless you were that guy from Busted who had two genuine slugs living above his eyes).

I was wrong.

Saffron said: “A little mistake that people can make is when they shape their eyebrows wrong. The shape of your eyebrow defines your face, and having the wrong shape can look odd.”

Darkness

We’ve all seen at least one person who over colours their brows to the point that it looks like they’ve used a couple of layers of black paint. Saffron said that using too much filler can make them look really unnatural.

“The best way is to brush your eyebrows and then use a powder for a more natural look,” she said.

Saffron added: “Maybe just use a pencil for a faint out line under and just above the eyebrow to just adjust your shape if you don’t actually have any hairs there. Or have them tinted so you don’t have to fill them in at all.”

Length

If you make your eyebrows too short they make your nose look too big (which is personally my biggest problem, cheers for those genetics mum. But if you make them too long they dominate your face and make your eyes look weird.

It’s a difficult balance, but it can be helped by using your make-up brush or pencil to line up where the brow should end.  Put it against the side of your nose and tilt it away from your nose until the other end is next to the corner of your eye. This is where your eyebrow should end.

Non-existant eyebrows

If you suffer from having brows that are pretty much invisible, there are DIY eyebrow dying kits that you can get.

But  if the thought of applying dye to your face makes you as queezy, Saffron says a good solution would be to get them professionally tinted. This lasts six to eight weeks, which means that you have nearly two months without having to worry about those pesky brows.

Over plucking

We’ve all been there, you got a new set of tweezers and got too pluck-happy. Now you’re left with a thin wiggly line above your eyes and you look permanently confused. The only solution is to drop the tweezers and step away from the mirror. You need to let them grow out otherwise you’ll be plucking away for the rest of your life.

In the mean time, a good old brow pencil should cover your over plucking sins.

Starting your arch too soon

This gives you a kind of evil queen look. You’ll have to constantly assure those around you that you’re not fuming – it’s just your brows.

The best way to disguise this is to fill the gap in, and find the best point for your arch by angling the pencil across the bridge of your nose across your pupil.