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The shape of your eyebrows can drastically change the look of your eyes and face. Women's brows are often too bushy, over-plucked, or wrongly shaped, but with the right techniques this can be fixed. Several methods for reshaping your eyebrows are plucking, waxing, trimming, shading, and penciling. When used correctly, these techniques can give you a better shaped eyebrow and a well-proportioned face.

The shape of your brow can be a crucial factor in the shape of your face. A softly curved eyebrow is great for making a square face appear rounder, as well as for emphasizing a heart-shaped face. A brow with a sharply angled arch gives the appearance of a face lift while elongating the face. An angled but slightly softer arch does the same, but in a more subtle way. To have a more professional look, go for a brow that starts higher and than curves down and rises into the arch. This shape flatters all face shapes. To make a long face appear rounder, make your eyebrows horizontal and then curve down past the arch. This is the shape used by Brooke Shields.

There are some basic rules for shaping your eyebrows. First of all, the front of your brow should align with the center of your nostril. The arch should fit in the last third of the eye and the back end should never extend to the temple. To keep from appearing angry, always keep the front of your brow above the back.

To tweeze eyebrow hairs, you must either know what shape you are aiming for or experiment with a pencil. When you have found the right shape, use the pencil to outline it over your eyebrow and only tweeze hairs that are outside this line. It is helpful to have a magnification mirror, but this isn't necessary. Pluck one hair at a time to ensure that you don't over-pluck. Try to only pluck the underside of your eyebrow, as plucking the top will give you an unnatural look. Once you are done tweezing, brush the brows upwards. Any hairs that stay above the brow line need to be trimmed with small scissors.

To fill in the brows, start as if you were tweezing. Outline the shape you would like to fill in and use either a pencil or shadow to to fill in the shape. If using a shadow, choose a color that is close to your natural shade and use a soft wedge or liner brush. Start in the center of the brow, brushing out and then back to the front. A clean toothbrush works to soften the color and brush the brow. If using an eyebrow pencil, make sure you use a smooth, soft pencil to avoid harsh lines. Use a light touch, but if you find that the look is too heavy you can soften it with a Q-tip dipped in makeup remover. Do not apply pencil at the very front of the brow, as this creates an angry look.

With these tips, you can have do-it-yourself eyebrows that look like they were professionally done.

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