6 Eyebrow Mistakes Makeup Pros Warn to Avoid at All Costs

If you've ever applied brow product and thought the outcome made you look like you've simply colored the skin beneath your brows instead of filling in the hairs themselves, then this tip will be your savior.

A makeup artist backstage at Rebecca Minkoff said that when brushing on a brow product, make sure you're applying the formula only onto the brow hairs and not onto your skin at all. "While this is such a common sense tip, girls constantly make this mistake all the time, giving them that drawn-on, eyebrow tattoo effect," she explained.

When applying foundation, it's pretty common for the product to smudge a bit onto our hairline or eyebrows. In the past, this issue has been resolved with a little extra blending using our makeup brushes or beautyblender. However, one makeup artist at Alexander Wang recommends cleaning the whole area with Bioderma Sensibio H2O ($7) before continuing your makeup application.

"After you apply your foundation, always clean your brows with a cleansing liquid like Bioderma because it will remove any makeup fall out that might have happened," she explained. "Once your brows are clean, your brow product will go on much smoother without getting clumped onto the excess foundation."

"I can't stress this tip enough: do not groom your eyebrows at all," explains one Maybelline makeup artist for the Nicole Miller show. "Girls don't realize that tweezing, threading, or waxing your eyebrows can cause permanent damage to the follicles — similar to if you damage hair follicles on your head — leaving you with brows that just won't grow back in the future."

While growth serums are always an option for sparse brows, this expert claimed that models tend to simply skip grooming altogether because fuller brows are a sign of youth. And trust us, pencil-thin brows are not a trend we'll see returning any time soon.

We've been spotting tons of clear lip gloss backstage at NYFW this season, but it's not for the reasons you'd think. Instead of swiping the lip gloss on models' pouts, one makeup artist backstage at Rebecca Minkoff swears that applying it to the brows using a spooly brush is the best way to get the most natural look.

"Brushing in a thin layer of clear lip gloss will help control scraggly brow hairs while giving them a glossy look," she explained. "Most of these models already have full brows so they don't need to be filled in, but rather just groomed back."

Oh, and in case you were wondering, the clear gloss she was using on the models backstage was the Maybelline Lip Studio Shine Shot Lip Topcoat in clear ($6).

No, we don't mean go get your eyebrows waxed at a salon with this tip. Instead, we're referring to using an eyebrow wax product to shape them.

Polly Osmond, the lead makeup artist at Christian Siriano for MAC, said she isn't a fan of powders, gels, or pencils when it comes to shaping the eyebrows, but rather prefers to use products featuring a clear, soft wax to shape them.

"Using an eyebrow wax separates the hairs and makes you look like you've got a thicker brow than you actually do, plus it keeps them gorgeously groomed back without appearing unnatural," she explained.

To try it yourself, invest in a wax-based brow product like the MAC Brow Finisher ($17). Simply run the tool along your brows like you would a pencil, and you'll be good to go.

"I like to rub castor oil on my eyebrows and eyelashes every night," explained one makeup artist backstage at Alexander Wang. "It helps to grow the hairs in thicker and stronger, plus it only takes a few months or so to work."

Rather than investing in a pricey eyebrow growth serum, try castor oil to help regrow sparse brows. As a natural oil that easily penetrates the skin to facilitate hair growth, this hack is definitely a worth a try.

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