How-To (beauty)

1. Brush your brows upward. If the hairs go way past the browline, snip the tips as conservatively as possible.

2. Tweeze from underneath the brows, removing one row of hair from beginning to end. If necessary, pluck another row to open up the arch.

3. Clear away obviously errant hairs that are not part of your browline or hairline.

4. Pluck between your brows—with restraint. "They should begin just above the inner corners of your eyes," says Hollywood brow pro Anastasia. "If you create too big a space between them, it throws off your arch."

5. Draw an imaginary line from the edge of your nostril to the outer corner of your eye: That's where your brow should end. "You don't want it to extend—that drags your eye down," says Ramy Spa founder Ramy Gafni. "On the other hand, if you go too short, you'll look like Mr. Spock."

6. The less you do, the better off you are. "A full, classic arch is always the most flattering," Gafni insists. "Super-skinny or very dramatic is rarely good on anyone."

The best are stick-backed, so you don't have to hold them in place while you try to tweeze.

Position the stencil so it covers as much of your eyebrow as possible.

Fill in the stencil with powdered brow color.

Remove the stencil and pluck the hairs outside the powdered area. Blend the powder through.

1. Pluck between shapings. Once a week is certainly fine, say the experts.

2. "Work in good light," says New York brow guru Eliza Petrescu. "You want to see every last hair."

3. Tweeze after a shower when your skin is soft, so the hairs won't break off at the roots.

4. Pluck in the direction that the hair grows. Use slanted tweezers. Sharp, pointy models are strictly for experts.

5. Take a conservative approach: When in doubt, don't tweeze it.

1. Brush brows upward with a spool-shaped brush, brow comb, or clear mascara wand.

2. If necessary, fill in the arch with a brow powder or pencil, gently stippling the color as if you are drawing individual hairs.

3. Brush through the brows to blend.

4. For a more polished look, finish with a coat of clear or tinted brow gel: "That really sets the color and holds hairs in place," says Petrescu.

5. "To play up the shape, blend a touch of highlighter on your brow bone—from just below the center of the arch to the outer edge," says MAC makeup artist Konstantine Mironychev.

"Accidental gaps are easy to disguise with a pencil," says Mironychev. "The real challenge is when you pluck your brows into a guppy (bulbous on the inside with a scary thread-thin tail). Draw in the missing hairs with a tiny brush and brow powder or pomade, and stay away from the tweezer for three or four weeks." Says Gafni: "Pluck underneath the ball to even the brow out into a straight line."