Why Feathered, Brushed-Up Eyebrows Is the 1 Makeup Trend I Can Guarantee You I'll Never Ditch

I never felt any desire to partake in any eyebrow trends (thankfully not even the skinny brows of the late '90s or the Instagram brows of the 2010s) until one came along that consisted of almost entirely leaving them alone.

I'm talking about the fluffy, feathery, brush-up eyebrows — also known as laminated brows — that have taken up permanent residence on Instagram and TikTok — and also my face. I will go as far as to say that I'm not sure I will ever abandon this trend, and I have ditched plenty in my day. (The pouf of the 2000s still haunts me, as does my personal attempt at balayaging my hair.)

Like I would imagine many other millennials may confess, my reasoning stems partly from the trends of my childhood and early adolescence. I have vivid memories of seeing friends immediately after their wax appointments with teeny-tiny, skinny, pencil-thin brows.

Despite desperately wanting to try every other trend of the early 2000s (i.e. chunky highlights, glitter everything, butterfly clips), skinny brows were not appealing to me at all. I faintly remember being afraid of overdoing it while tweezing and potentially not having any brows left, which is probably why I didn't pick up a pair of tweezers other than to pluck a random hair. To this day, I am thankful for that fear and for the fact that I never had to regrow my eyebrows.

This flashback fear is relevant because with brushed-up, fluffy brows, you don't need to worry too much about disaster striking unless you chose a tinted gel over a clear gel or brow wax product — and even then you can just remove the product and start from scratch. It's such low stakes.

Styling my brows by brushing them up also helps create symmetry and an arch. Both my brows are naturally pretty straight, with one of them having more of a subtle arch than the other. (They're true sisters, not twins.) Brushing them up and separating the little hairs gives them more shape, as well as helps them appear thicker and more alike.

While I've been in the mood to experiment with makeup more than I ever have in years, I still feel most confident with less product on my face. Feathery, fluffy brows are the anchor in a natural, no-makeup makeup look. With them in place, I don't feel the need to apply much more than mascara and some concealer. But, they also look just as good with a full-face of makeup or with colorful and graphic eye makeup.

So while the pouf was short-lived, brushed-up brows might just be forever.