Eyebrows are everything. It’s no secret that they completely shape your face and have the power to completely change your look depending on which method you use to do them. Every few years, it seems like a new eyebrow trend is taking over. Whether it’s the thinly penciled brow of the 1990s, the thick pomade brow in the early 2010s, or the feather brows of the present – eyebrow trends are pretty impossible to ignore. Especially with the advent of social media, trends have a tendency to take over the internet, which leaves beauty enthusiasts all over the globe wondering how they can get in on the action. Luckily, natural and effortless feather brows are a lot easier to achieve than you might think – even more so with all of the products and tools on the market.
2. How to create feather brows
Before getting into how to create feather brows, it’s important to talk about what exactly feather brows are. Unlike the thinner brow trend of the 1990s, feather brows typically call for a thicker and fuller brow and require no stencils. As you might be able to tell from the name, feather brows refer to the feather-like look of the light and fluffy brow hair when doing this style of brow (1). To achieve feather brows, you will follow your natural brow shape and brush out the hairs to point naturally upwards while still keeping in mind the direction the hair grows. Overall, the hair should look wispy – just like a feather. You don’t need to worry about creating a neat arch with concealer, as the brows are meant to look a little bushy and almost wind-blown (2).
Feather brows have become more popular recently around Instagram and TikTok, as they can really work on brows of all shapes and sizes. Plus, feather brows are versatile and can work with both glam and casual, daily makeup looks.
There are several ways to create feather brows that can appeal to different people. If you like to use clear product gel that keeps your hair in place, or if you like your product to hair color that matches the natural color of your brows to fill in any sparse areas. It’s all about knowing the right tools that would work best for your brow.
There are plenty of brow kits on the market today that offer eyebrow pencils, brow gel, and a brow brush (often called a spoolie) to achieve the feather brows look. This option is good for those with sparser brows who prefer to fill in their brows with some color before going out with makeup on. Instead of buying these products separately, a brow kit is a more cost-effective way to get all the tools you need in one place.
With the brow pencil and spoolie, you will brush and fluff the brow hairs up while creating brush-like strokes with the pencil that mimic real hairs. Think of the way your hand moves when applying mascara – upwards and outwards to create volume. This will help keep your feather brows looking natural. Using both the pencil and spoolie, continue to make feathered strokes upwards to make your brows look wispy. Then, lock the look into place with a brow gel and spoolie to make sure the hair and color don’t move throughout the day.
Most brow gel products on the market today come with a spoolie anyways – just like Glossier’s Boy Brow product. You can either lock the brows into place with a clear brow gel or a tinted brow gel that matches the color of the hair to further darken the brow (1). To make sure the hair still looks feathered, be sure to apply the brow gel using the same upwards and outwards technique used when brushing and fluffing the eyebrows out with a spoolie.
Other than brow gel, you can also set with soap. It’s an easy alternative to gels and pomades, as soap contains a fat you know and love – glycerin – which works to coat the surface of the brow hairs and make sure they don’t move. Soap gives the eyebrows a softened look while keeping the brow hairs in place longer. However, unlike brow gel, soap won’t tint your eyebrows if you want them to look darker. While soap is often used to create feather brows, soap brows have become almost a trend on their own, as they keep the brows looking sleek and almost laminated (3). An often-recommended soap to use is Pears – which is vegan and cruelty-free.
Wanting to take your feather brows to the next level? You can try the semi-permanent option: micro-feathering. This is a trademarked cosmetic technique popularized by Kristie Streicher which involves using a precision blade to create the look of individual hairs – just like microblading (2). The two cosmetic procedures are similar, but micro-feathering uses an even lighter touch to create the natural feathered look of the hairs.
Micro-feathering is also typically recommended for those with thicker brows to fill in sparse areas, whereas microblading can cover a larger amount of area to create fullness (2). With brow sparsity becoming more common, especially as one ages, techniques like micro-feathering are growing in popularity. Coming after the overly-plucked trend of the 90s and the ultra-sculpted trends of the 2010s, making the brows look as natural and full as possible has now become the trendy aesthetic seen all over apps like Instagram and TikTok (4).
Written by Selena Ponton
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