Beauty Nostalgia: We Compared Our Brow Styles From The 2000s To Now And We've Come Full Arch

Portia

In high school, Portia’s personal style could only be described as ‘unkempt.’ She wore holey clothes, refused to brush her hair, and had no cares in the world. Her nonchalant attitude didn’t stop her from diligently maintaining her eyebrows, though. She got them waxed religiously, just like everyone else in her Connecticut hometown.

“Now I know better,” Portia says. “It takes work to maintain a pencil thin line, but now that I’m older I’m more relaxed about everything.”

And what does having big brow energy mean to her?

“Being comfortable with what you have, and working with it. I get my eyebrows threaded, then let them have their natural shape.”

To enhance Portia’s natural shape, Helen Phillips, the National Artist for Sephora Collection used the Retractable Brow Pencil in Ebony, creating short hair-like strokes, then tamed her brow hairs with the Clear Brow Gel.

Diana

Today, Diana loves her dark eyebrows. But as a kid, she remembers feeling embarrassed.

“As I got older, I truly tried to copy the eyebrow styles I felt were popular, but somewhere along the line I thought less [hair] was better,” Diana explains. “I think that’s a societal pressure when it comes to facial hair and women, though it’s so wrong.”

Today, Diana revels in the fact that her brows are often the first thing people notice about her, something she believes is indicative of the confidence she’s gained over time. “I’m no longer shrinking or trying to make them disappear,” she says. “I want them to be as bold as they can be.”

Diana’s brows are naturally dark, thick and long, so Phillips used the Brow Shaper Pencil in Chocolate Brown to create more definition and a softer look, then the Clear Brow Gel to brush them into shape.

Abby’s always been obsessed with fashion and making certain styles and trends work — especially on a budget. This also applied to her brows. “Ten years ago, super-long, thin eyebrows were in so that’s what they looked like. Now I’m a fan of the natural, less polished look,” she says.

For Abby, having Big Brow Energy means being confident in whatever brow shape you’re blessed with. Afterall, you can dress them up however you’d like.

Without much shape to work with, Phillips had to map out where Abby’s brows would start, end, and where her arch should be, then filled it in using the Brow Shaper Pencil in Granite.

Curious how that works? Read on.

Step 1: Line up the pencil vertically with the outside of your nose & inner corner of your eye to determine where your brow should start.

Step 2: To find your true arch, keep the base of the pencil at your nose and rotate it diagonally to the outside edge of your iris.

Step 3: Continue rotating it diagonally to the outer corner of your eye—that’s where your brow should end.

Paige remembers two things about high school: The first is how carefree she was, only worrying about what to do on the weekends (and how not to get detention). The second is how self conscious she was about her thin eyebrows—something her friends from high school still bring up to this day. Luckily, her feelings about her eyebrows have changed for the better: Now, Paige believes her eyebrows are one of her best features.

She attributes her better brows to her more careful consideration of where she gets her eyebrows waxed, and using the right products to fill in gaps and darken the right areas. A big fan of the fluffy eyebrow trend, Phillips used the Microblade Effect Brow Pen in Universal Deep to maintain the feathery effect she loves.

Her personal brow mantra? “Full, defined brows come with a lot of confidence.”