I’ve been obsessed with eyebrows since I was in junior high. And I do mean eyebrows in general, not just my own. I mean yours, the guy who held the door for me this morning, and the young woman who rang me up at the Vitamin Shoppe yesterday afternoon.

Brows can do a lot for your face, and then can also do a lot to take away. Just last night I noticed how I looked more “awake” when I cleaned up my eyebrows. I may advocate waxing for other areas, but when it comes to my eyebrows, I am a whiz with tweezers.

A couple of things I notice right away are the over-waxed brow, the over-tweezed brow, and the drawn-on brow. For over-waxers: your brows should not be in a straight line; Over-tweezers: you shouldn’t always look surprised, and your brows should be more than one hair wide; Drawn-ons: In some cases this can’t be helped, but make the extra effort to put your eyebrows where they should grow naturally and not too far above (or sometimes below) the brow bone. Another tip is to avoid looking like you used a Sharpie on your face. Even the darkest-haired girls don’t all have black eyebrows, and drawn-on black can be so harsh. Go for a softer brown tone.

THE ARCH: In any case, brows should follow a slight arch. Anything that looks like an upside-down V or the St. Louis arch is probably not a natural look.

Some general guidelines:

1) Get something straight like a pencil or a ruler and line it up starting at the outside edge of your nostril. Going in a straight line upwards, your brow should start at this point, in line with the outer edge of the nostril. Each inner edge of your brow should match the corresponding outer edge of your nose to reduce the appearance of a unibrow (no one likes a unibrow).
2) Going outward from the middle, the highest part of your arch should match up with the outer edge of your nostril (make sure you are looking straight ahead).
3) The end of your brow should be aligned at about a 45 degree angle, starting from the outer edge or your nostril and crossing the outer corner of your eye.

To make it easier, you can even take an eyeliner or eyebrow pencil and mark the spots. It gets easier each time you do it!

THROUGH THICK AND THIN: While trends change, I find that a too-thin brow can make you look tired, and a too-thick brow can throw off your facial proportions. If you have very thick brows, you may want to try a professional, but tell them that you want to keep the look natural to minimize the risk of ending up with a pencil-thin brow!

FILLING IN THE BLANKS: Some of us have sparse brows, or they are very light. Filling in which pencil can work for some, but I prefer an angled brush with some powder. Lots of companies make brow filling powders, but eyeshadows work just as well. An added bonus? Eyeshadows are available in way more shades! Keep in mind your brows should match your hair and skin tone, but they don’t have to match your hair exactly. I like mine to be just a little darker. Be careful not to go too dark, or you get that “Sharpie marker effect.”

TOOLS OF THE TRADE: In addition to tweezers, there is a huge selection of styling tools out there made specifically for brows. You can brush them up or down, or you can trim them (DO NOT try this if you are shaky or clumsy, you don’t want to cut yourself OR your lashes). Brow wax will hold them in place, but mascara (clear or in a color close to your brows) works just as well.

Want to make them stand out more? Try a highlighting shade of eyeshadow just below the brow across the brow bone. Voila! You’re done. Don’t be surprised if you catch people gazing into your eyes all night long!