The Model Eyebrow by Elke von Freudenberg

Top celebrity makeup artist (and a good friend of mine), Elke von Freudenberg, will be the first to tell you that eyebrows can make or break a model’s career. She should know. She’s worked on some of the top models for major modeling agencies in New York and Los Angeles such as Elite, Next, Wilhelmina and Ford, and perfect eyebrows are key, especially when designing a look for a new model.

“The first thing I see in eyebrows gone bad are two things. Eyebrows that look like a straight line and eyebrows that are not balanced in their shape, as in too thick in the front and too thin at the end.” Elke offers her expert techniques to creating the perfect “model eyebrow.”

1. Everyone understands where the eyebrow starts, but not where it ends. Line up a pencil at the end of the nose, towards the corner of the eye. That’s where the line of your eyebrow should end. This is also where your eye shadow should end, as well.

2. Balance to the eyebrows are very important. You want to make sure that they’re not uneven. From where it starts to where it ends, the line of the eyebrow should be horizontal. If you line up a pencil at the beginning and the end of the brow lines up too high, you know you’ve tweezed too much.

3. The Model Eyebrow is a shape that looks great on everyone. From the start of the eyebrow to the arch, the line is straight. From the arch to the end of the eyebrow, the line is softly curved. It’s a classic eyebrow shape that’s always in and looks great on everyone.

4. Avoid creating a straightness in your eyebrows by not tweezing above the eyebrow. By tweezing on top, you tend to flatten the shape, making it very difficult to create a high flowing arch. You get your arch only by tweezing underneath, never on top.

5. If you are getting that pinching ouch when tweezing, do what the pros do. Grab the hair with tweezers and pull the hair with the tips of the tweezer touching the skin as you pull. Pull in the direction that the hair grows, and you’ll find tweezing to be virtually painless. Why? It’s the pulling up of the skin that hurts, not the hair. By keeping the skin flat, you eliminate much of the sting factor.

6. If you find yourself breaking out after tweezing your eyebrows, keep it sanitized. Use witch hazel on a cotton ball before and after you tweeze to avoid those little red bumps.

7. Ideally, the best shape is the natural line that your eyebrow already is. If your eyebrows are extremely thick, a very thin eyebrow will not work for you. If your eyebrows are thin, trying to maintain a thicker eyebrow will be too much work. Just as in hair texture, work with what you have. Softer facial features enhance a thinner, more elegant eyebrow, while a strong bone structure is the perfect face for a thicker, stronger eyebrow.

8. The secret to model eyebrows, is to never completely wax your eyebrow. Models know that eyebrow looks come and go, and if you wax only, you lose the ability to grow in your eyebrows at a later date should you want to change your look. The best technique is to just wax the hairs that are not needed and tweeze to define the shape of the eyebrow.