We all want perfect brows. If you have to be up early in the morning, when you look at all the steps and skills potentially required to get your brows perfect, it can seem pretty daunting—not to mention time-consuming! And when the alternative is catching a few extra zzz’s or even other parts of your morning routine you might enjoy more, convincing yourself that perfect brows are worth the time might not be so easy, no matter how much better you feel like they make your face look.
Enter eyebrow stencils. The easy, breezy way to shape your brows with almost none of the effort or skill required by other tactics. While learning how to use eyebrow stencils may take you a few tries to get it right, with a little bit of practice, we’ll have you doing your brows in no time flat. Who said women couldn’t have it all?
Why Brow Stencils?
We’ve mentioned some of the biggest reasons already: time and simplicity. If you’re somebody who’s always looking to optimize your routine, brow stencils are a great option for you. They’re also a great choice if you find yourself constantly short on time. But there are other reasons to look into using brow stencils, too.
Brow stencils can give you the full, shapely brows you’ve always wanted quickly and easily, which is an ideal alternative if the idea of doing something more long-term like microblading doesn’t appeal to you, but you still want to have perfect brows every day. Even eyebrow tinting may feel like too much of a commitment to some of us (or maybe you’re just worried about the fact that it’s not totally FDA-approved) when trends are constantly shifting and evolving, so having a way to get the look quickly and easily without shelling out potentially hundreds of dollars and locking yourself into one look makes eyebrow stencils really appealing.
Plus, brow stencils are versatile—while we’re going to make recommendations on how to use them, they allow you to pretty much pick your brow shape daily, so if you’re someone who’s tempted to mix it up on a regular basis, the sky’s the limit!
How To Use Eyebrow Stencils
If you’re interested in trying eyebrow stencils out, let’s talk about how they work! While it may take you a little bit of time and practice to get it just right, you can rest assured that eyebrow stencils are about as straightforward and user-friendly as it gets. So if you’re the type of girl who quakes in fear anytime a makeup tutorial suggests a cat-eye, don’t worry; this one’s for you.
Step One: Pick Your Stencil
This is probably the most difficult part of the whole process—so you know it’s going to be easy! You’ll want to find a stencil that roughly matches the natural shape of your eyebrow or the shape you’ve groomed your eyebrow into. If you’re not sure your current brow shape flatters you as best it could, take some time to look into your ideal shape, or speak to a professional. Not only is brow shape key when it comes to things like facial recognition (so if you’re going for a signature look, brows are important!) but your eyebrows also affect so many other things about how attractive, youthful, and balanced your face appears.
Step Two: Align Your Stencil
Next, you’ll want to align the stencil over your natural brow. The easiest way to ensure the placement is correct is to pay close attention to the curve or arch of your brow and that of the stencil—make sure those two points line up, and it’ll be easier to apply your stencil correctly. This is the part that’s most likely to take a little practice to fully nail. But once you’re comfortable with the process, you’ll be able to do it in your sleep. Which is a huge bonus when it comes to your morning routine.
Step Three: Affix Your Stencil
Now that you know where you want your stencil to go, you’ll need to affix the stencil to your brow. While you can hold it with one finger on either end of the stencil as you apply your makeup, it can be a little bit risky, because it’s much more likely to move as you’re working and leave you looking a little confused.
You can get brow stencils that are basically stickers, which makes it easy to affix them to your skin so that they don’t shift around. If your stencils aren’t adhesive, you can use something as simple as household tape or a skin-specific adhesive to the outside of your brow stencil. We recommend doing this on the outer and inner edge of the stencil, where it’s easiest to apply and will have the best hold.
Step Four: Fill Your Stencil In
This is the fun part! Now that you’ve decided on your shape and where you're applying it, you’ll need a brow pencil, powder, pen, or—even better—our TatBrow® Microblade Pen to begin filling in your shape. If you’ve struggled using brow products like these in the past, don’t worry—the stencil will keep you from coloring outside of the lines!
If you’re using a pen or pencil, draw your hairs in the same direction that your natural hairs grow so it all blends together nicely. This will keep your handiwork from looking like a stencil. You'll repeat this step for both brows.
Step Five: Touch Up and Perfect
Now that your brows are basically perfect already, you can remove the stencil and just worry about tidying everything up! Hopefully, your brows look even and full at this stage. There are a few different levels of additional work you can do here.
If you’re basically happy with how your brows look now, all you need is some Ultra Hold Brow Gel swiped across your brows to set your hard work and keep your brows neat and hydrated all day long.
If you think your brows could use a bit more defining, a Micro Precision Pen will be your best friend—just flick on some extra hairs on any section of your brow that looks sparse. If you used powder, you can also use the Micro Precision Pen to add definition so that your brows look more natural.
If you’re happy with the shape but want to go bolder, a swipe of tinted brow gel like our Ultra Defining Brow Gel can help to set the work you’ve already done, while enhancing your natural brow hairs to give you a bolder, more defined look. While it can be tempting to go for a darker color than your natural hair, or even one that matches your natural hair color, we’d recommend aiming a shade or two lighter—this will actually complement your natural coloring better than going darker while still giving you a strong look.
In Conclusion
If you’re looking for a simple and effective way to shape and fill in your brows, learning how to use eyebrow stencils can be totally life-changing. They’re basically magical, especially if you find yourself constantly going back and forth between your brows when you’re doing them freehanded, trying to keep them even.
And even if you’re a brow makeup pro, knowing how to use a brow stencil when you’re in a hurry or even when you just really want to nail your look can be a super useful skill to have in your back pocket!
Shop the Look
While you may need a few things to complete this look, with your eyebrow stencil, it’ll be a cinch to apply!
Sources:
Use Eye Cosmetics Safely | Food and Drug Administration