Do Your Brows Fit Your Face?

By Hannah Morrill

Yes, brows are having a major moment. No, this is not a license for everyone to start rocking caterpillar-thick Delevingne arches. “The shape and size of your eyes play a role, but face shape is hands down the most important factor in determining the ideal angle for your arches,” says brow specialist Jo-Anna Lynn of the Sally Hershberger salons in New York City. Here, her guidelines.

ROUND FACE
Chrissy Teigen
When your face is curvy, brows with high, sharp angles look best. “They provide a vertical counterpoint on the face,” says Lynn. She also adds that a woman with a rounder face can get away with trimming fuzzy or wiry ends with contoured scissors, like Tweezerman Brow Shaping Scissors. “Usually I advise against trimming because that extra heft gives the brow softness, but in this case it’s OK to go precise and severe,” she says.

OVAL FACE
Camilla Belle
“Thick, thin, dark, light…there are no hard and fast rules for oval faces,” says Lynn. Play with angular arches, or severe lines that stretch outward to the temples. “You almost cannot go wrong with an oval shape,” she says. Since she was so kind, we’ll go ahead and offer one helpful guideline. Unless you are Jean Harlow, teensy, skinny arches, or perfect half-moons don’t look cute on anyone—even oval faces.

HEART-SHAPED FACE
Reese Witherspoon
A heart-shaped face sounds so very sweet, but according to Lynn, it’s the trickiest of the bunch. “The focus of the face is already on the eye and forehead area, so any fussing tends to accentuate that effect,” she says. In general, leave things alone. You want a low, straight-ish arch that hugs your brow bone. “Heavy shaping is a major no-no,” she says. “You’re just cleaning up any real wild cards.” And don’t attack sparse zones with a pencil. “In this case, less weight is a good thing,” she says.

LONG FACE
Gisele Bündchen
A long face is gorgeous, and it’s really common. But if you make your brows really flat and heavy, your face can look like a cross. Instead, focus on extending the length of your brows from left to right. “You can get away with a high or a low arch,” says Lynn. “It’s the horizontal element that’s key.” And don’t even think about filling. Here, wispy is wonderful. We swear.

SQUARE FACE
Olivia Palermo
A square face—one that’s about the same width and height, with an angular hairline and chin—is the least common shape. “Here is where you can go thick with a nice, strong arch,” says Lynn. And feel free to darken the brows one shade deeper than is natural; she likes the Tom Ford Brow Sculptor range of colors. “If you don’t have a statement brow, it’s all about the jaw, which isn’t ideal,” she explains.

CLOSE-SET EYES
Jennifer Aniston
A decade ago, we would have told you to trim back the hairs closest to your nose. Not so today. “You do want to draw the attention away from the inner corners of the eyes,” says Lynn. “But we’ve learned altering that area at all just makes it more noticeable.” Instead, focus on a long, wide arch that follows the entire length of your brow bone. (You could even extend it a bit further with a pencil.) “Avoid thin or sharp, which can look like arrows pointing downward,” she says.

WIDE-SET EYES
Amanda Seyfried
Fact: No one wants to draw attention to her nose, no matter how fabulous it is. (As much as we’d like to take credit, that insight is all Lynn’s.) The best way to pull the attention up and away from the center of the face? Keep the brows long, full, and soft—i.e., not trimmed at all—so you get a little weight between them. “Women with wide-set eyes really need to become grooming experts, not plucking experts,” says Lynn, who swears bySmashbox Brow Tech Wax and a clean toothbrush for her smoothing work.

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photos: Getty