Wow, have our eyebrows changed! And they keep changing, so who knows what we might be dealing with six months from now! Not only can our brows look more like sisters than twins, but as one of my YouTuber viewers recently said, they can look like estranged sisters.
It’s a double whammy as we get older because age affects the hair growth cycle which decreases brow density and thickness. And with decreased production of melanin, the pigment responsible for hair color, our brows lose a lot of their color. But we are oh so lucky because there are some game-changing tools and products that can truly transform our brows.
Today I’m going to share with you a menu of different product options so you can find the ones that will work the best for your specific needs.
Eyebrow Tools
Brush-slash-Spoolie
A product that has an angled brush on one side and a spoolie on the other is of absolute necessity. The spoolie looks like a mascara wand, and it does a couple of different important things: first, it helps us to brush our brow hairs up so they look their best, and second, it can be run through our brows after we apply any eyebrow product. The spoolie picks up any excess product which helps our brows look more natural. In the video I’m using an inexpensive drugstore brush and spoolie from Elf.
Eyebrow Stencil
An eyebrow stencil is especially helpful if our eyebrows have lost some of their shape, become very sparse or if we’ve acquired a lot of white and grey brow hairs which make our brows less visible. Stencils can help us create symmetrical, balanced brows that match, avoid shaping mistakes, show us where to stop and start our brows and save us time. Plus, they allow us to have both hands free. That’s definitely not a bad list of pluses!
But I’m not talking about just any stencil, I’m talking about the kind of stencil that fits around our head with an elastic band. In the video I’ll demonstrate how beautifully the elastic band type of stencil works. These stencils come with anywhere from 12 to 40 different brow shapes so it’s very easy to find a shape that’s perfect for your brows.
Makeup Products for Our Brows
Once we have the stencil in place, we can choose the product to fill in our brows which could be a pencil, powder, cream or a combination of these. I personally like to first take a very thin eyebrow pencil, like the Micro Brow Pencil from the drugstore brand NYX, and very lightly draw in my eyebrow shape.
Then I like to fill in with an eyebrow powder. I love the Brow Powder Duos from Anastasia of Beverly Hills because they come with two shades so you can really customize your brow color, but you can certainly multi-task with another makeup product like an eyeshadow as an eyebrow powder as well.
Brow Pencil or Powder
Sometimes it can be challenging to find a brow pencil or brow powder that works on white or grey brow hairs. A taupe shade can often work, but we may need a light or medium grey color. The few grey eyebrow pencils and powders out there can often be too dark for many of us, so I want to mention another product that I’ve recently discovered which is specifically designed for those of us with white, silver and grey brow hairs.
It’s from a company called Eye Embrace. They have eyebrow pencils in seven grey shades and eyebrow powders in four grey shades. And if you’re interested in purchasing any of these products be sure to use this link and enter the word Elise when checking out to get five percent discount.
Mascara for Full Brow Coverage
Since the brown brow powder I’m using in the video doesn’t completely cover up my white and grey brow hairs, I’ll use a product that does cover them – a tinted brow gel: Maybelline Express Brow Fast Sculpt Mascara. Many tinted brow gels don’t do a good job of covering white and grey brow hairs, but this one does.
Be sure to check out Elise’s YouTube channel which specifically focuses on makeup tips, techniques, and product reviews for those of us 50+. Don’t forget to subscribe!
Filling Up Your Brows Quickly
If you don’t want to fill in your brows as precisely as I’m doing in this video and prefer a faster and easier way, another great option is a brow product that has built-in fibers which add fullness. Two of the best products I recommend are Benefit’s Gimme Brow and Elf’s Wow Brow.
The Elf product is far less expensive and comes in four shades. I like to use it just by itself when I’m running out the door to do errands or don’t have the time to fill in my brows using the stencil. In the video I’ll apply Elf’s Wow Brow on my other brow so you can see what it looks like.
Taming Wiry Brow Hairs
Do your eyebrows have a mind of their own and need taming? I can imagine quite a few nods. Sometimes our brow hairs go in different directions or grow downward or get wiry or maybe a combination of these challenges. So that’s when we need to turn to a clear brow gel that’s specifically formulated to keep our brow hairs in place.
Usually, the application of this type of brow product will come after we’ve filled in our brows so it may be the last thing we do during our eyebrow routine. Two of the most outstanding brow-taming products on the market are ABH’s Brow Freeze gel which comes in an applicator that looks like a mascara wand. It’s a long-lasting humidity resistant formula that’s also flexible, quick-drying and non-sticky.
Another very good similar product is Rare Beauty’s Flexible Lifting Gel. In the video I’ll do this finishing step to help my brows look more lifted and polished. Start at the base and work in an upward motion to lift and separate the brow hairs. It can also help to gently press back on the brow hairs.
Creating a Beautifully Polished Brow Look
This last product is one I usually only pull out if I’m going to a special event or want my eyebrows to really look their best. It’s the Highlighting Duo Pencil from Anastasia of Beverly Hills. On one end it has a highlighting color and on the other end it has a matte color, and it comes in a lighter and a darker version.
I have the lighter version called Camille/Sand. It’s designed to highlight and define our features and can be used on other areas of the face besides our eyebrows. It’s a non-waxy creamy formula that glides across the skin for very easy blending. I like to use it above and below my brows for more precise definition.
It also does a great job of camouflaging any stray brow hairs. And, of course, we can always use a concealer for this step as well, but this pencil version is a bit quicker and easier to apply.
We tend to take our eyebrows for granted, but it’s absolutely amazing what an impact our eyebrows have on our appearance. Just take a look at this picture of movie star Ann Hathaway with and without eyebrows! Our eyes are truly the windows to our soul and our brows provide the pathway to those windows, so filling in our brows makes our eyes look more visible and beautiful, lifts our face and makes our eyes look even bigger.
Let’s Have a Conversation:
How have your eyebrows changed after 60? What is your biggest eyebrow challenge at this point in your life? Do you have products that you use that you’d highly recommend? If so, please let us know about them.