Bleached, stick-on, sparkly, blue... these are all things that chic people do to their eyebrows in the fashion world that really don’t work IRL. I mean, who bleaches their eyebrows and goes to their mate’s birthday party? Nobody, because the entire gathering would be usurped by people staring at you, asking questions about what you’ve done, and saying things like, ‘Oh, you’ve bleached your eyebrows’.
Thing is, eyebrows are a big deal in 2015 (apparently) so you’re going to have to hop on the trend wagon at some point because it’ll be hard not to. Thankfully, it turns out that you can actually do cool stuff to them without looking like a pretentious arsehole. Christ, last week I learned I could do wetlook hair and now I’ve enjoyed a burgundy eyebrow. What’s next? Velvet ear-hats?
In the meantime, here are some ways you can nail the brow trend without terrifying those who love and care about you.
**Bling your brows **
Difficulty rating: 3/5
Don’t use tweezers. Even though a lot of these kits (I used Bling Brow by Benefit) come with tweezers, it’s actually a lot easier to use your fingers. After all, why did God give you fingers if not for putting diamantes ’pon your forehead?
Whether dotted throughout the hair, spaced evenly above, or two subtle gems highlighting the arch, this is a look you should probably keep for a proper fun night out rather than a wedding. Or going round to your aunt’s house for a scone.
Faux bleach your brows
Difficulty rating 4/5
For those who want to go high fashion without actually applying bleach to their eyebrows, white mascara does a good job – Stargazer do a great one but there are bloody loads knocking about if you have a look online, rather than the tiny Boots down the road.
As in, a much better job for big dark brow ladies like myself than the tutorials telling you to use concealer and powder. I did that and looked like I’d had a tragic accident localised within the brow area, but if you’ve got wispy angelic eyebrows than give it a go.
Anyway, brushing mascara over your eyebrows would be a 1/5 difficult rating – but you’ve got to be exact about what else you put on your face.
Probably go for a quite severe, slicked back up-do (I didn’t because I’ve got a fringe and I’m not slicking it back with gel again because I only just washed my hair this morning and look, I’m just a girl standing in front of a vine asking you to love her) with strong contouring and dark lippie.
If you’ve got big eyes, then go for no eyeliner and loads of mascara. Or if you’ve got little puffy mice eyes like me, keep your liquid eyeliner because you’re a champion and don’t ever let anyone take that away from you.
NB: This will probably freak your mates out.
Dye your brows
Difficulty rating: 1/5
Oh my god, I love this shade of blue. It’s so French Art Student meets Alien, I can’t deal. There are a lot of blue mascaras out there (you can use hair or eyelash mascara – but eyelash tends to have a better pigment. Ooh, I sound so profesh) and I tried a few that didn’t really show up.
The best one, by far, is the Stargazer mascara in, y’know, blue. It’s gorgeous. I don’t dye my eyebrows, I don’t wear blue make-up and I’ve never worn blue mascara before in my life, but I didn’t want to take this off. It’s so strong and luscious and I think if I was a mascara too, I’d like to take it out on a date.
Would I wear it out? I’d probably be too scared unless it was an ultra-hip loft party with poets and I could pair it with my orange tie-dye sweater and pretend I’m a completely different person.
Dye your brows take two: the subtle(r) approach
Difficulty rating: 0/5
Blue not for you? Then opt for something that goes with your natural colouring. Or just try something softer. I love autumnal colours and tend to only wear black, grey and a million shades of berry (do you remember Dave Berry? That’s what he should call his autobiography), so burgundy brows really yanked my chain.
Match with berry lipstick and smoky eyes to put the ‘oh they look good’ in ‘coloured eyebrows’. I’d probably wear this to a party if I was a bit drunk, which is high praise considering I’m talking about going out in public with coloured eyebrows.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.