Eyebrows can be a perfect frame for your face or a much neglected feature so it is worth taking the trouble to get them right.

The first step is to tidy them up with a pair of tweezers. This can be painful but the more you do it the less painful it becomes. A good tip is to numb the area with an ice cube before starting.

Bushy eye-brows tend to overpower your face and eyes and need thinning out. Pluck stragglers from the brow bone and over the bridge of the nose. Try and keep to your natural eyebrow shape as much as possible as this will give the best looking result.

The ideal brow shape starts in line with the inner eye corner, arches gently upward two thirds of the way over the eve at the brow bone peak, then tapers gently just beyond the outer eye corner. Go gently when shaping eyebrows,  thin, high, half-moon eyebrows can give you a permanently startled look. Above all avoid plucking all your eyebrows and penciling in a straight line. This is so not a good look. You should be aiming for a perfect but natural shape.

Give your skin time to calm down and for any redness to fade after plucking. Put a little dab of antiseptic cream on if your skin is sore or if a spot of blood appeared as you plucked. Your eyebrow hairs will be gradually weakened by repeated plucking and the process will become much easier

Apply your foundation and eye make up  next to avoid getting colour or powder in your brows.

Then use an eyebrow brush to neaten up the shape of your brows and get all the hairs going in the same direction.

Once you have a general shape you are happy with fill out thin brows with an eyebrow pencil that matches the colour of your brows or is a tone lighter.  Avoid harsh, dark colours unless you are naturally very dark.   Use fine strokes, feathered to mimic  the natural way the hairs grow. Eyebrow pencils provide a realistic finish and don’t melt or shine as the day wears on.

Your can also fill in patchy brows with brown powder eye shadow,

Use your eyebrow brush again to soften any harsh pencil lines and blend with your natural brows.

For a really long-lasting effect you need to set your eyebrows. A clear mascara is ideal for this or you can use a product like the Hard Candy Brow Pencil and Gel which is an eyebrow pencil at one end with an eyebrow gel at the other.