How-to: Soap Brows

Soap brows aren't anything new. I believe it is a method that has been used in the past as well, but it's gotten a bit more popular in the past few years. Many makeup artist that I follow swear by this method and this kind of brows are almost signature for their aesthetic. I have been avoiding them for a long time, but since trying it out and making it adjust to my style, I have grown to really like it.


Here is a short tutorial on how I tend to do my brows with the soap. I like soap method because it allows me to make my brows look bushier, yet still fairly natural. There isn't that block of color shadow behind them that I always had when I filled them in with either powder or brow pencil. 



This is my natural brow hair with no product in them. For this I used lightly yellow colored hard soap which is the most transparent and cheap one that I could find in the store. When choosing soap, definitely choose transparent one, because colored or white ones will leave your brows white and ashy looking. 

You will also need a spoolie. If you don't have one, you can buy those disposable brush wands that many drugstores already carry. I put a piece of my soap into a small candy tin, because it makes it easier to carry around. 

There are brands that do their own soap like products and I've heard that those are better than a regular soap, but I don't own any.



I wet the spoolie under running water and brush it on soap to get it coated with the soap. If you don't have water nearby, hydrating mists or setting sprays will also work. From my experience, the wetter the spoolie is the better. If it's too dry, soap can look chunky and transfer as such onto your brows. 

When my spoolie is coated with soap I brush it through my brows. Result is bottom photo on the left - very unruly and a bit odd brow. It's too bushy for my liking so I tame it down. I brush front of my hair (closer to my inner eye corner) up and then I brush it out and on the side going along the brow to my tail. It still lifts my brow hair up, but doesn't look too unruly. 

I recommend working fast here, because if you let soap dry too much, you won't be able to manipulate your hair and the soap will get white and chunky, if you rub on it when it's already dry. You don't want that. 

You will also need to press those brow hair down with your finger to make them stick to your skin. Obviously, do your brows before applying any face makeup. 



Then I go in with a small tip of brow pencil to draw in individual brow hair where I have either bold spots or my brows are more sparse. Usually that's my tip of the brow and sometimes in the middle as well as a bit in front. Trick is to really try to draw in little by little, hair like strokes to prevent your brow from looking blotchy and too filled in. Soap and thin brow pencil gives you natural look to your brows. You could also use thin brow pen or marker like product (the ones that look like liquid brush eyeliner) those look even more natural. I want to get one of those as well, because it makes even more precise strokes. 


I have very straight brow shape which is not too thin nor is it thick and it's a bit too short for my face shape. With soap brow method my brows look much fluffier, thicker in the sense that it looks like there is more hair and I can also elongate them a bit more as well as add a slight arch. Obviously they look larger in general, because hair brows usually overlay and here you brush them all up which means they look much longer in length. 

But the best part is, you can still see brow hair and not just a single brow line on top of my eyes. For that reason I love this method, although I don't have the time or patience to do it all the time. 


It's very trial and error once you try to play with soap brows and I still have much to learn, but so far I am satisfied with the look that I get. It all depends on the soap, wetness of your spoolie, the way you brush and want to shape them and with what you fill them in. I am open on any suggestions of products, if you already tried some. If not, would you ever try this soap brow?

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