Brow fill or brow hold?

Before choosing a brow product, it helps to name the job you want it to do: keep hair in place, add colour, or fill where hair is sparse. Products overlap, and formulas within one category differ, but the job narrows the choice and makes a heavier result than you wanted less likely.

Hold, colour or fill

• Hold. The hair is there, but it lies flat, curls back or points in different directions, and you'd like it to stay where you brush it.
• Colour. The hair is fair, fine or greying and disappears against the skin, and you'd like it to show more.
• Fill. There are sparse areas, or a tail you'd like to extend, where colour needs to sit on the skin as well as the hair.

You may want one of these or a mix of all three. If you'd like brows that look groomed rather than made up, hold with little or no colour is a sensible place to start.

How brow products differ

• Clear gels and brow soaps are usually made for hold, with little or no colour. Their strength and finish vary. Some feel soft and flexible, some stiff, and some leave a slight sheen.
• Tinted brow gels are often mascara-style: a small brush that coats the hairs with colour and some hold, leaving little colour on the skin beneath. They suit adding colour and making existing hair look more even. They are less suited to drawing where there is no hair.
• Pigment-rich gels and gel-mousses carry more colour, and some are designed to adhere to skin as well as hair, so they can do part of the filling too. More pigment also means the amount you apply matters more.
• Pencils place fine strokes on the skin and are precise in small sparse spots.
• Powders give soft, diffused shading.
• Pomades are dense colour with some grip. Applied with a brush they are precise, and they are easy to overdo.

Some people use one product throughout. Others fill with a pencil or powder and set the hair with a gel on top. Neither is the correct way. It depends on your brows and how defined you want them.

Choosing a colour

Brow colour is partly a matter of preference. Some people want brows that blend in, and others want them to read as a feature. For a result that blends in, compare the colour with your brow hair and the hair on your head in daylight, not with a product photograph. A common starting point is a colour close to your brow hair. Go slightly lighter if your hair is very dark, or slightly deeper if it is very fair. With grey or mixed hair, some people prefer a softer, less warm brown. Treat all of this as a place to start and adjust from there. A colour that is a little light is usually easier to build on than one that is too dark is to tone down.

Keeping the result soft

Your product's own directions come first. Beyond those, a few habits help with most formulas:

• Brush the brows through with a clean spoolie first, so you can see their shape and where they are sparse.
• Start with a small amount and take excess off the applicator before it touches the brow.
• Colour at the inner end, nearest the nose, can look blocky quickly. It often helps to begin further along the brow and bring what is left on the applicator forward.
• Follow the direction the hair grows.
• Add more gradually, letting the product set as its directions describe before you layer.
• A clean spoolie softens edges. With fast-drying formulas, use it before the product sets.

If a brow comes out heavier than you wanted, removing it and starting again with less is often quicker than working over it. Long-wear formulas may need an oil-based or bi-phase remover. Keep it on the brow and away from the eye.

Brows at REGARDE

Brow Fixx, made by NOC, is a fast-drying gel-mousse. The supplier describes it as filling, colouring, shaping and sealing brows, and as adhering to both skin and hair, so it belongs with the pigment-rich formulas above rather than the clear gels. Its listing describes a flocked applicator, with a few seconds between coats. Choose from six supplier-named versions on the product page: 50 Shades, Brown, Dark Chocolate, Black, Midnight Sky and All in One. “50 Shades” is one version name, not a count of shades. If you need help comparing them, ask support@maisonregarde.com before ordering. Brow Fixx ships from Toronto, and delivery estimates are in the shipping policy.

The Brow Duo Brush is an optional tool, not a required companion. Its angled end places colour from a pot, pan or powder, and its spoolie end is for brushing through and softening.

Near the eyes

Brow products are worn close to the eyes. The FDA's eye cosmetic safety guidance covers the basics: wash your hands first, don't share products, skip them during an eye infection or while the skin around the eye is inflamed, and stop using anything that irritates.

Choosing complexion products too? Read how to choose a foundation shade online and check it when it arrives.