Bleached eyebrows and blocked eyebrows

Bleached eyebrows without bleach

Today Holly was talking about a very easy technique to create a bleached-eyebrow effect, but without actually bleaching the eyebrows.

It is a really simple but very effective technique that is highly requested in the world of fashion. 

To start with, Holly grabbed a disposable mascara wand and brushed the eyebrows upwards. She than dipped the mascara wand into a slightly warmer peachy toned concealer and brushed it through the brows, making sure not to touch the skin, only the hairs. This helped to counteract the natural colour of the eyebrows. It is very important to start with a warmer colour. If you start with a lighter, more yellow toned concealer, the ashiness/ greyness of the hair will show through. You want to be very light-handed when brushing concealer through the brows, otherwise the whole effect will look a bit messy and smudged. To cover a really dark eyebrow it is best to use a really warm peachy, orangey colour. The darker the hair, the warmer the concealer should be. Shade D32 of the Dermacolor palette is a good choice to counteract the darkness of the hair.

After she applied the warmer colour, she brushed a more yellow toned concealer through the brows to give them a bleached effect. It is best not to use anything warm as the top layer because you want to give the brows a bleached effect, which naturally has a more yellowy undertone. To finish off the look you may use the tinniest amount of translucent powder to set the brows, but normally you don't need to use any powder for a fashion look. And here is the final result:

Blocked Brows:

Holly showed us the 'Pritt Stick' method to block out the eyebrows. She first brushed the model's eyebrows upwards. The aim is to smooth the hairs to the skin as flat as possible. She then pulled up the skin and applied a layer of glue firmly and quickly, because the glue dries relatively quickly. 

She kept applying the glue until the hair was completely flat. Holly used a clear glue stick, but a really good tip is to use a purple glue stick as it will help to counteract the darkness of the brows without even using a concealer. She did not use any powder on top of the glue but you can apply a very thin layer if you wish. I also find it easier not to use powder to set the glue because  you are going to apply cream products on top of it and it might end up being cakey. 

Holly then applied a warm tone concealer to cover the darkness of the skin, than applied a very fine layer of translucent powder to fix it, using a triangle cosmetic sponge. After this she applied another concealer, that was matching the model's skin tone, followed by another fine layer of translucent powder to set the look. Holly then drew on a new eyebrow shape. This method is very useful for drag makeup. And voila! The finished look:

Practical: 

I started the practical session by covering my model with a cape, washing and sanitising my hands and removing my model's makeup. I than prepped her skin. Holly wanted us to do the skin as well, so I started with the skin.

I used MAC's Face and Body in shade N9 on the darker areas of her skin and a mixture of shades N7 and C4 on the lighter areas of her skin, like her cheeks, the centre of her forehead and her nose. I than used a mixture of Dermacolor concealers (shades: D13, D14 and D16) to conceal any blemishes on her skin. I fixed everything with two different shades of setting powders by Ben Nye. Ebony on the darker ares and Chestnut on the centre of the face.

Bleached Brows:

To counteract the colour of her eyebrows I brushed a small amount of Dermacolor D5 concealer through her eyebrows to start with. I than used D3 to give the brows a bleached effect.

I found it quite difficult not to touch the skin with the mascara wand, therefore I had to go back with a cotton bud to clean up around the eyebrows.

And the final result:

Blocked eyebrows:


After I brushed my model's eyebrows upwards, I pulled the skin up and started applying the glue over the brows. However as soon as I applied a firm pressure, the glue started to move the foundation around and created a very messy, smudged look. I decided to take off the glue and the make-up and start again by applying the glue first.


Once the glue was dry I applied some Dermacolor D32 to counteract the natural colour of the hair and applied a very thin layer of translucent powder to fix it. I than applied a mixture of D13, D14 and D16 concealers on top, using a triangle sponge to really blend it into the skin. I fixed everything with another layer of setting powder.

I than drew on a new eyebrow shape.

And the final results:

Conclusion: 

What I learnt at this lesson is to be very light-handed when creating a bleached-eyebrow look. You only want to apply the concealer on the hair without touching the skin, as this will create a messy look.
In regards to the blocked out eyebrows next time I will definitely apply the glue first and do the skin afterwards to avoid smudging. I will also purchase a purple glue stick for my own kit to help colour-correcting the natural hair colour. This will help to apply less product over the eyebrows.