How to Use an Eyebrow Pencil

You asked for it and we’ve delivered! Our easy to follow guide on how to use an eyebrow pencil to fill in your brows.

It’s no secret. We love a great brow at PONi and have a range of products to help you achieve your dreamiest brows! Before we dive into how to use an eyebrow pencil, let’s take a look at the different options you have for filling your brows.

Brow Creme

A pigment-rich option for eyebrow makeup, brow cremes offer a smooth, blendable application for fine hair strokes. They’re known for their smudge-proof staying power.

Eyebrow powder

With eyebrow powder, you can achieve a soft, natural look - it’s a great choice for filling in sparse patches and boosting volume.

You don’t get the precision of a pencil though, so the best brow looks using a powder are usually a combination of pencil and powder.

Eyebrow pencil

A favourite for beginners or if you simply love an easy fuss-free routine, the precise tip makes the control of the pencil and application easier. The lightest flick of the pencil can create beautiful, natural arches.

Tinted eyebrow gel

Tinted brow gels add pigment to your brows with natural looking hair-like strokes and help set them in place.

Clear brow gels are also an option. While they don’t give a pigment payoff to ‘fill in’ brows, a clear brow gel is ideal to set your finished brow makeup in place.

So, why choose an eyebrow pencil?

When it comes to control and speed, eyebrow pencil is a winner.

Pencil lets you quickly fill in your brows with maximum control. Perfect for everyday wear and busy mornings when you should have been out the door…. like 20 minutes ago.

Brow creams are great if you’re a little more experienced with eyebrow makeup or are looking to achieve a bolder, more Insta brow type of look.

We love a brow gel if you already have naturally full brows or don’t need to fill in a lot of sparse patches. Eyebrow pencils are a better choice if you’re working with thin, straggly brows!

Step One: Map Out Your Brows

Mapping your eyebrows will help you know where your brows should start, end, and arch. How to use an eyebrow pencil correctly begins with this super important step!

Here’s how you do it:

Step 1: Where your brows should start

Grab a makeup brush and hold the brush at the angle from the corner of your nose, laying it in a vertical line to the inner corner of your eye. This marks the starting point for your brow.

Step 2: Where your arch should be

Lay the brush in a line from the corner of your nose to the centre of the eye. This is where your arch should be.

Step 3: Where your brows should end

Finally, hold the brush from the corner of your nose in a line to the outer corner of your eye. Here’s the spot your brows should end.

Use an eyebrow pencil to make a gentle mark at these points to guide you as you begin to fill in your brows.

Step Two: Brush Your Brows

Ok, we promise we’ll get to how to draw eyebrows soon (that’s why you’re here, we know!) but brushing your brows first is a simple move that can make a big difference.

Using the spoolie end of a makeup brush - an old, clean mascara wand works nicely too - brush your brows upwards at a diagonal toward your temples.

This quick tip serves a few purposes. It helps your eye area appear more lifted and shows the natural shape of the brow and sparse spots that need to be filled in.

Brushing also gives you a nice guide to follow when creating hairline strokes with your eyebrow pencil, making brows easier to fill in.

Step Three: Start To Fill In Your Brows

We made it to the step you’ve been waiting for, how to use an eyebrow pencil!

Go for a shade slightly lighter than your natural hair colour for a softer look; unless you’re really fair. In that case, it's best to go one to two shades darker with your eyebrows.

Slightly darker brows will frame your face and enhance your eyes more than really light eyebrows.

Starting at the inner corner of your eye, the spot you marked at the brow mapping step, begin to fill in your brows.

Use gentle, small flicking motions in the direction your hair grows naturally to create tiny hair-like strokes. It’s easy to achieve realistic looking hair strokes with an eyebrow pencil, one of the reasons we love them!

Work your way from the inner corner out to the tail of the eyebrow.

Step Four: Brush Out Your Brows Again

Now you’ve applied brow pencil, brushing your brows a second time helps blend and disperse the colour.

Blending the pigment with your brow hairs means there’s less of a contrast between your skin and hair. The result is more natural looking, less angular / theatrical looking eyebrows.

Step Five: Set Your Brows

Don’t underestimate the power of the last step in our how to use an eyebrow pencil cheatsheet - setting your brows.

It’s the final genius step in eyebrow perfection.

Using a clear brow gel, gently sweep it along the hairs. This ensures your brow makeup stays put all day and literally takes less than 30 seconds to do! Minimal effort = big payoff.

Products You’ll Need

Brow Magic

Got your head around how to use an eyebrow pencil but still stressed about finding the right shade? Brow Magic is a universal brow pencil that solves all your colour uncertainties.

Thanks to the ‘magic’ of its taupe undertone, this long-lasting pencil adapts to suit the pigment of different brow colours. This allows it to deliver a colour match to suit all - blonde, brunette, auburn, strawberry blonde, and darker-haired beauties!

Brow Love

An alternative yet equally awesome choice to pencil eyebrows is Brow Love.

This a long-wearing, oval tip brow pencil delivers soft looking brows with 5 shades to suit all hair colours. We describe Brow Love as a ‘soft brow’ pencil because it helps you create a beautiful soft looking brow with all day staying power.

Trying to decide if Brow Love or Brow Magic is the best eyebrow pencil for you? Read The Difference Between Brow Magic and Brow Love to help you choose.

Zebra Gel

This is the clear brow gel you need in your kit!

Zebra Gel is perfect for setting your eyebrow pencil or, if you have naturally thick brows that don’t actually need makeup (um, lucky you!) use the gel to simply set your natural hairs. It’s a great way to pull off a polished look sans makeup.

Feeling more confident on how to apply eyebrow pencil? We hope so! Once you’ve nailed these techniques, natural looking yet polished brows are a breeze.