While beauty trends do change fast and often, it seems that lush eyebrows aren’t going anywhere any time soon. Popularized by celebrities in the early 2010s, rocking thick, bushy brows quickly caught on and a huge influx of clients started seeking feather brows tattoos.
Eyebrow PMU comes in numerous forms and there are many techniques of applying the modern-day brow tattoo. This range of techniques can give different results.
Today, we’re talking about feather brows in particular and we’re presenting 3 techniques available for achieving this look.
What Do Feather Brows Look Like?
Like feathers!
This brow style is recognizable for long brow hairs that go different directions, or are brushed upwards to give an illusion of a thicker brow arch. The whole thing is supposed to look fluffy and laid-back, very natural and organic.
Feather brows don’t necessarily have to be brow tattoos. This look can be achieved with different products, primarily with brow soap, provided your brows are naturally bushy and the hairs are long enough.
But most of us don’t have enough brow hairs to pull off the look, so many people turn to permanent makeup for help.
Image source: Instagram @kristiestreicher
How Does PMU Achieve Feather Brows?
It adds more hairs! Okay, not actual hairs, but rather hair strokes.
Hair stroke brows imply adding tiny little hair-like tattoos into the brow arch, between the natural hairs. They can be placed wherever the brows lack volume, and even on the edges of the arches to modify and thicken their shape.
These techniques can camouflage any sparse or bald patches, or just add even more volume to brows which are already relatively full, but you want to take it a step further.
With feather brows, some strokes are placed outside of the strict arch outline to achieve a fluffy look. A stray hair here and there is added to maximize the natural look. The strokes are made longer and they can look like clusters instead of individual hairs. They also need to be as thin and delicate as possible, like the fibers of a feather.
The end result looks hyper-realistic – so much so the look is often called hyperrealism brows. The natural style makes it a favorite among men who want to enhance their brows.
What Techniques Can Give Me Feather Brows?
In terms of permanent makeup for eyebrows, the 2 hair stroke techniques are microblading and nano brows, but both of these can be combined with a bit of shading to get combo brows, a bit more dramatic version.
Microblading
The most popular permanent brow technique by far!
Microblading is done by creating hair strokes manually. A very thin blade is dragged through the skin, and the incisions are filled with pigments. In the past, the strokes used to be thicker than they are today, as the industry has progressed and developed much thinner blades.
The results of microblading usually last around 18 month, at which point they have to be refreshed if you want to keep your microblading.
Microblading is best suited for normal to dry skin. It can also be done on oily skin, but it will fade away faster and the strokes might blur over time.
For more detailed information on microblading, check out this guide.
Image source: Instagram @delphineeyebrowcouture
Nano Brows
Also a type of hair stroke brows, but done with a PMU machine. The machine has a very thin needle which goes in and out at a high velocity and makes tiny pigment dots. The dots add up to a stroke and mimic real hairs.
The advantage nano brows have over microblading is the fact that they are suitable for oily skin, too, and there’s a very low chance of blurring. They also last longer: up to 2.5 years, due to the nature of application.
The strokes done with a machine are usually thinner, so the final result can be even fluffier, and they can be placed with more precision. The nature of application also makes nano brows more suitable for mature skin than microblading, as machine work is gentler on thin, sensitive skin.
For more detailed information on nano brows, check out this guide.
Image source: Instagram @nanobrows_mahsa
Combo Brows
Shading can be added between strokes created with both a machine and a manual blade. With combo brows, the shading is most opaque at the tails of the brows, while strokes are clearly visible in the first half of the arch.
This is the perfect choice for clients who have very little hairs in the tails, those who like a subtle makeup look, or clients who’ve had a brow tattoo previously which didn’t disappear completely and needs to be covered up with shading.
For more detailed information on combo brows, check out this guide.
Image source: Instagram @_browcandy_uk
Just So You Know, Celebs Love Feather Brows!
If you’re still not convinced feather brows are the trendiest brow style ATM, you might be interested to hear that it’s the no. 1 fav of many celebrities! In the past few years, celebrities like Lorde, Iggy Azelea (and her mother!), Gwyneth Paltrow and Malika have fluffed up their brows with microfethering – and loved it!
For more celebs who’ve had microblading, check out this article.
Cover image source: Freepik
