Holy pluck: Skinny brows are back
I can’t believe my eyes. Not only have we resurfaced dELiA’s silhouettes from the ‘90s, with crop tops and bootleg flares running rampant, but the trend decided to pluck us head to toe and mess with our brows — again.
Trendy Gen-Z models and celebs like Bella Hadid, Doja Cat, Gabbriette Bechtel, and so many more blast their Instas with teeny-tiny brows in the forms of barely-there peaks, colorful, artistic lines, and perfectly penciled arches — just like we did. But this time ‘round (and here’s where we taught them something?), zoomers achieve the look with means far less permanent than tweezing, opting instead to shave, bleach, conceal, and even glue (à la our drag sisters) to get the iconic look.
Does this mean we should abandon our decades of regrowth and exfoliate our microblading to resurrect the phantom brow we so tirelessly adorned? I’ll pull you back with my black velvet choker (now available at retailers everywhere!) to say, “Oh, hell no.”
For the most part, a fuller brow suits (ahem) women our age because it adds a stronger structure to frame our faces. Perfect example? Gwen Stefani. See how her brows transform (with) her face over the years:
The best way to wear the “new” skinny brow is to play, not commit. Since many of us already have an ideal canvas, grab an eyebrow pencil that’s a shade lighter than your hair color — or darker if you’re light blonde/grey or white — and have at it.
While you can use powders or gels with brushes to achieve the look, affordable pencils (like my fave from e.l.f.) are easy to maneuver and cost less than your latte. Just remember the ol’ makeup artist adage: eyebrows are sisters, not twins — and don’t worry about symmetrical perfection.
Like any other beauty trend, brows will (literally) come and go, so I say, play away. Along with your Gen-X sisters, I’ll continue to support your efforts through thick and thin.
This article was originally published here on The Midst Substack. Don’t miss the rest of our BeWell newsletter about: Saying “yes!” to resolutions • a surprising overnight eye cream • how to revamp skin care in your 40s.
