Brow mapping at home marks three points on each brow: where it should start, where it should peak and where it should end. All three come from lines that begin at the side of your nostril, so they follow your own features rather than a template. With a pencil, a mirror and ten minutes you can mark them, check both sides against each other and draw the outline you will shape or fill to.
Mapping decides where the brow goes. The shape between the dots, how high the arch is and how long the tail runs, depends on your face shape, which brow shape for your face shape covers with a table. If you have not measured your face, the Face Shape Calculator takes four numbers.
What you need
- A mirror at eye level in daylight, close enough to see individual hairs.
- A long, thin straight edge: a pencil, a makeup brush handle or a length of thread.
- A white or light concealer pencil for marking dots, and a brow pencil for the outline.
- A spoolie or a clean mascara wand.
Pull your hair back, brush your brows straight up with the spoolie and look straight ahead. Do not raise your brows while you work; relax your forehead and check it in the mirror before each mark.
Mark the three points
1. Start. Hold the straight edge vertically against the side of your nostril, so it runs up past the inner corner of your eye. Mark a small dot where it crosses the brow: the brow begins here.
2. Peak. Keep the bottom of the edge where it was and angle it so it passes through the outer edge of your iris, looking straight ahead. Mark where it crosses the brow. Some brow artists run this line through the center of the pupil instead, which puts the peak slightly further in; try both and keep the one closer to your natural arch.
3. End. Angle the edge from the same point through the outer corner of your eye. Mark where it meets the brow area. This is where the tail should stop.
Repeat on the other side before you draw anything.
Check both sides and adjust
Lay the straight edge horizontally across both start dots. They should sit at about the same height. Then compare the end dots: each tail should finish no lower than its own start, or the brow will look as if it slopes down.
Expect the two sides to differ a little. Brows, eyes and nostrils are rarely perfectly symmetrical, so the dots will be too. Split the difference between the two sides rather than copying one brow onto the other, which tends to make the copied side look drawn on.
Your eye spacing can shift the start dots. If your eyes are close-set, start each brow a hair further out than the line; if they are wide-set, a hair further in. The eye shape chart shows how to check spacing against the width of one eye. With hooded eyes, a slightly lifted tail keeps more of the lid in view.
Map both sides first, draw second. One brow mapped on its own is how uneven brows begin.
Draw the outline
Connect the dots with light strokes of the brow pencil. Draw the lower edge first: a nearly straight line from the start to below the peak, then a gentle slope down to the tail. Draw the upper edge next, following your natural hairline, and taper both edges together into a fine point at the end dot.
The space inside the outline is your brow. Remove only hairs clearly outside it, a few at a time, and step back from the mirror after each side. Where the outline has gaps, fill with short strokes in the direction the hair grows rather than a solid block of color.
What about golden-ratio mapping?
Some brow services map with calipers set to the golden ratio and present the result as the ideal brow. The three-line method does not need it. Its points come from your own nose, iris and eye corner, so the brow it produces is already scaled to your face. No single ratio makes a brow correct, and a brow that fits your features will look right whether or not it matches a number.
Brow color for your hair color
Brows that match your hair exactly can look flat, and brows far darker than your hair look drawn on. One or two shades of difference reads natural. Which direction depends on your hair:
| Hair color | Brow color | Tone |
|---|---|---|
| Light or platinum blonde | One or two shades darker | Taupe for ash blonde, soft golden brown for golden blonde |
| Dark blonde or light brown | Match, or one shade darker | Ash or neutral brown |
| Medium to dark brown | Match, or one shade lighter | The same tone as your hair |
| Black | Dark brown, or a soft black | Cool dark brown |
| Red or copper | Soft auburn or warm brown | Warm, close to the depth of the hair |
| Gray or white | Light taupe or soft gray | Cool and light |
If you recently changed your hair color, map and match the brows to the new color, not the old one. A big change, such as going blonde, is when brows matter most, because they hold the face’s structure once the dark frame is gone.