Bleaching your eyebrows is one of the strangest, most unconventional beauty trends that have recently gained popularity. Despite how counterintuitive this trend seems, bleached brows have been making many appearances on models everywhere from prominent style and fashion magazine spreads to professional runways.
Brows are renowned to be one of the most noticeable features of your face; how you style them can make or break the appearance of your look as a whole. Many beauty lovers are horrified by the new bleached brow trend and would never consider destroying their brows in such a way. While permanently bleaching your brows might be a bit extreme, it is possible to try out this daring brow trend without making a long-term commitment. You can join in on the fun of the trendy bold bleached brow look–bleach-free–while keeping your real brows and their natural color completely intact.
1. Prime and Set
Creating temporary bleached brows that look realistic requires many layers of different makeup products. All these layers add up to a significant amount of makeup caked onto one spot of your face. To keep the makeup on your brows from rubbing off or running down your face, it’s important to take the time to prime and set your brows.
Don’t smear a thick layer of primer over your brows to prep them for makeup. Primer doesn’t sink into hair like it penetrates skin. Applying a thick layer of primer to your eyebrows will just cause the primer to sit on top of your brow hairs, making them look greasy and potentially causing your makeup to slide off even faster. Instead, use a spoolie to brush a small amount of liquid or cream primer evenly through your brows.
When you’re done with your makeup look, dust a small amount of translucent powder over your whole face to set your brows and create an even finish. Apply the powder sparingly so that it doesn’t sit noticeably on your brows. Use setting spray to set your look more securely.
2. Layer Concealer
The most effective way to create temporary bleached brows is by applying multiple layers of concealer. Brush a small amount of concealer through your brows to create even layers. Don’t apply too much concealer at once. Instead, apply several separate thin layers to avoid flakes or clumps. Keep adding thin layers of concealer until the intensity of the concealer matches the intensity of your natural brows. Take the time to brush through your brows thoroughly after you apply each layer to disperse the concealer evenly.
Layers of concealer look the most natural on your brows if the concealer has a very thin consistency. Use a very thin cream concealer to create temporary bleached brows. You can make the concealer even thinner and easier to apply evenly by mixing in a few drops of saline solution.
3. Use the Right Colors
To achieve temporary bleached brows that look natural, you should vary the shades of concealer you use as you continue to layer it onto your brows. Start with a concealer that is a shade or two lighter than your skin color. Your standard everyday concealer might work; most women use concealer that is slightly lighter than their skin.
After you initially lighten your brows with a light concealer, use a concealer that adds warm tones to your brows. Peach or pink-toned color-correcting concealers work well to add warmth to your brows and make them blend more naturally into the rest of your skin. Finally, apply a layer or two of yellow-toned concealer to give your brows the realistic yellowed look of bleached hair.
4. Brush it Out
Bleached brows are not supposed to look nonexistent and they also shouldn’t appear slicked back against your skin. Brushing out your brows thoroughly after “bleaching” them with makeup is a very important step in creating a realistic bleached finish that doesn’t look shaved or greasy.
Use a spoolie to brush your brows. Brush them up and out to make them stand out more against your face. Be sure to brush gently so you disperse the product in your brows without pulling it out. Continue brushing through your brows until the hairs return to a normal texture and all flakes or chunks of makeup disappear.
5. Blend More
Blending is the key to making any makeup look appear natural, and bleached brows are no exception. Your lightened brows won’t look natural unless they closely match the rest of your face.
Using a damp makeup sponge, apply a small amount of the concealer you layered onto your brows to the areas around your eyebrows. Blend outward from your eyebrows until there are no clear lines on your brows or face that delineate where your makeup ends.
6. Make a Statement
Bleached brows are certainly a statement all on their own. However, if your bleached brows are the only statement of your look, they will look out of place against the rest of your neutral makeup.
Create one other focal point to your makeup look in addition to your brows. Try a bold bright or dark lip or a smokey eye. Keep the rest of your makeup neutral to create balance in your look and avoid looking clownish.
7. Add Highlighter
Hair, especially the thin hairs in your eyebrows, naturally reflect light. This property is part of what gives hair its natural appearance. Hair retains its reflective properties when it is bleached, but not when it’s covered in makeup. That’s one of the reasons why it can be so difficult to mimic the look of bleached brows using makeup.
Applying layers of concealer to your brows gives the hair a matte finish that looks unnatural. Counteract this matte finish by brushing pearl-toned liquid highlighter or illuminator through your brows to add a subtle glowing sheen to the hairs.
You don’t have to go buy bleach if you want to rock the lightened brow trend that’s currently sweeping the runways. Use the tricks in this post to create your own temporary bleached brow look using nothing more than the makeup products already in your collection.
