I Tried Powder Brows for a More Natural

By Sarah Carr

Before my powder brows experience, the last time I let anyone touch my eyebrows was in sixth grade. It was a cold, rainy day, and I sat in a salon chair in a children’s modeling school shaking in my Limited Too jumper while a 16-year-old girl leaned toward me, clicking her tweezers as she examined my 12-year-old eyebrows. Her name was Brandy and her only beauty credential was that she’d won the Miss New England Perfect Teen pageant. Her technique was to pluck mercilessly until my brows formed two slim hills of single-file hairs.

This was not the confidence-boosting experience the school’s brochure or my parents had promised. Hairless, afraid, and a modeling school dropout, I spent the decades that followed trying to undo the damage. Serums and gels didn’t work for me and penciling and powdering never looked natural, so I mostly left my brows to their own devices — until my hair colorist introduced me to a new kind of semipermanent makeup called powder brows.

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Powder brows are the balayage of permanent makeup: a more natural-looking alternative to microblading that enhances the shape and color of your brows for one to three years. Also called ombré brows, this technique uses mineral-based micro pigments instead of tattoo ink, which is used in microblading, to create a shaded, shadowy effect that darkens, shapes, and defines brows on all skin tones.

Like microblading, powder brows are done by a permanent makeup artist (PMUA). And while the handheld tool used during the process isn’t an actual tattoo machine, your PMUA should be certified. “You want to make sure that they have the right credentials: a tattoo license and establishment license,” said Sunny Ferguson, a permanent makeup artist and the owner of GB Aesthetics in Miami.

You could say the two techniques are arch rivals (get it?), since they both amplify the shape and color of brows, but use different tools and techniques to get there. “Microblading creates little cuts to deposit pigment into the skin, creating the appearance of individual hair strokes,” said Marisa Garshick, MD, a board-certified dermatologist at MDCS Dermatology in New York City. “With powder brows, the pigment is deposited more superficially and uses a dot-like application to create a softer appearance of fuller-looking brows, often creating a gradient effect.” The machine used for powder brows scratches the skin to deposit color into only the top layers of skin, so it’s less invasive than the scalpel-like blade used in microblading, plus it offers a PMUA more control over the placement of pigment.

“With microblading, it's really hard to achieve that powder look because you’re stuck doing hair-like strokes,” said Ferguson. “The great thing about powder brows is that it’s versatile. You can draw strokes at the front of the brow, then create an ombré look that fades from light to dark as you move toward the tail of the brow.”

Dr. Garshick and Ferguson recommend powder brows for anyone with oily skin since oil production can cause microblading strokes to fade in a fuzzy, less-than-natural-looking way. “I've experienced this myself,” Ferguson said. “It just does not stay. It fades away. If a client with oilier skin is looking for something longer-lasting then powder brows is a great option.”

Both powder brows and microblading present a certain degree of risk beyond the aesthetic result, including infection if the treatment is not performed in a sterile environment. There's also the potential for an allergic reaction to the pigments, said Dr. Garshick.

Microblading and powder brows cost about the same, depending on location and the PMUA. I live in Los Angeles and paid $800 for my powder brows, which included a touch-up after six weeks. For me, the confidence, convenience, and woke-up-like-this natural color and full-looking shape were worth the investment.

When I met PMUA and brow artist Olga Medetskaia at OR-UH Salon in Beverly Hills for a consultation, the first thing we did was go through a list of contraindications — including pregnancy, if I was on Accutane, or had eczema, hemophilia, or keloid scarring — before getting specific about my brow goals. I’ve always longed for a stronger silhouette, but given that my natural brows are sparse, uneven, and the only naturally blonde hair on my body, I’ve never felt like I could pull off a bold, dark, microbladed look. My brief was essentially to design a set of powder brows that transformed my face but looked perfectly natural. Easy!

My natural arches, pre-powder brows treatment.

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Medetskaia eyed my scrappy brows like a house flipper casing a fixer-upper. She snapped photos, took notes, and asked about my makeup routine (it’s mascara and Boy Brow), while I pointed out shapes and shades I’d saved from her Instagram account. I could see a plan brewing in her eyes.

After listing all the things I was not to do 48 hours before the appointment (caffeine, alcohol, facials, fillers, blood thinners), she promised that I was a good candidate. “You must have the perfect brows in life,” she said serenely. I scoped out her own brows. Impressive. Natural. “Permanent makeup can be beautiful, delicate, and natural,” she said. “This is all about enhancing your natural beauty.” Comforted by Medetskaia’s modus operandi, I bid her farewell and promised not to bail.

A week later I was back at OR-UH, feeling a little nervous, TBH. I’m not afraid of a little discomfort in the name of beauty, but I’ve seen some scary things on TikTok. After being brow-starved for so long, fullness can be intimidating. I was afraid of going too big, but it was too late to go home.

Medetskaia eased into the appointment by giving my brows a full shape (using tweezers) and tint to boost color and volume. Next came the brow mapping. Using a steady hand and tracing a string to measure and ensure symmetry, she sketched a hot pink outline of what my new shape could look like. There’s more than one way to map a brow, but all three experts I spoke with use tools to support their talents. “I always use a string to create the straightness of the brows,” said Elly Musasa a PMUA and owner of Black Velvet Beauty in Toronto, who also leads powder brow training classes. “Then I use a caliper tool to measure and make sure everything is symmetrical.”

Medetskaia prepped my natural brows before the treatment began.

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If you’re thinking about trying powder brows, ask your PMUA if they use a template. As Ferguson told me, “Brows are sisters, not twins." Since natural brows aren’t identical in shape, your powder brows shouldn’t be either. If your PMUA puts a template on your forehead and starts tracing a generic brow shape, politely run.

After the mapping process was complete, we checked the outline in front of a full-length mirror so I could lean in, back up, and ask questions. Then came the color selection. Powder brow pigments come in a wide variety of tints, which can be combined to get the perfect color for your skin tone. After looking at three pigments, Medetskaia and I decided on the middle shade.

Starting at the tail of the brow, Medetskaia used a handheld machine to shade the outline with teeny dots of color. Once she got started, the process was actually pretty relaxing. I have a couple of tiny tattoos and a decent threshold for pain, so I opted not to use numbing cream, but it’s available to make the process more comfortable. I’d compare the sensation to having your skin lightly scratched with a pin: oddly satisfying for some, worth the numbing cream for others.

I closed my eyes while she gave my brows two passes, or layers, of pigment. Some styles and colors require three passes, but two tends to be a good starting point since it’s easier to add pigment than remove it, said Medetskaia.

My slightly red — but much fuller and more shapely — brows immediately post-powder brows treatment.

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After two hours of buzzing and true crime podcasts, the machine stopped. Medetskaia wiped the excess pigment off my brows and I felt a tinge of nervousness creep back in. We approached the mirror for the big reveal, and… I was obsessed. Even rimmed with redness and raised skin from the intensity of the treatment, I could tell these babies looked goooood. My eyes looked brighter, my crow's-feet seemed shallower, and these brows framed my face and filled up my fivehead in the way nature had always intended.

Start to finish, the appointment took about two and a half hours and I walked out the door with natural-looking brows that reflected the nuances of the originals. Unsurprisingly, on day one powder brows look much darker than they will when they fully heal. Depending on your goals, skin tone, and hair color, this deeper color is either amazing or overwhelming (I wore a hat for a few days while I got used to it). In either case, keep in mind that they will fade 30% to 50% over the next month, and plan to return in six weeks for a touch-up. You can always cancel if you don’t need it.

My eyebrows before powder brows and after my six-week touch-up.

After Medetskaia managed to pull me away from the mirror, we went over the aftercare process. “It can take approximately four to six weeks for the brows to settle,” Dr. Garshick later confirmed. The process breaks down to about five to eight days for healing and 30 days for the color to fully set, once skin cells have completed a cycle of turnover.

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There are two ways to tackle aftercare, but the dry method works best for most skin types. The first rule of the dry method is not to get your brows wet for at least the first five days. To protect the pigment and avoid drawing the color out, protect brows at all costs from water, sun, soap, sweat, and oil.

If your brows feel itchy and dry, or the idea of not cleaning them gives you the icks, there’s the wet method. “In some cases, it may be recommended to apply a thicker healing ointment like Vaseline,” Dr. Garshick said. If you decide on this method, your PMUA can explain how to use healing ointment or balm to protect the pigment.

Sun exposure can lighten your brows, especially when the ink is fresh. “Only after your eyebrows are completely healed can they be exposed to the sun,” Medetskaia said. She recommended applying a layer of at least SPF 30 on your eyebrows when they're exposed to the sun as a continued practice to keep your powder brows looking fresh and vibrant. Should be easy since you're already wearing sunscreen every day, right?

Around day five, my brows started to get flaky. This is the skin’s way of exfoliating and healing. “It's super important not to pick or peel the scab because it will remove pigment,” Ferguson said. Not flicking flakes out of your eyebrows takes an incredible amount of willpower. Visualizing each flake as a $20 bill helps.

Over the course of three weeks, the pigment had darkened a bit, then mellowed to a perfect medium brown. The final result was a powdery, diffused shape that made me look like an expert had just done my brows — all the time.

During the healing process, I’d lost a small patch of pigment, so I returned for a touch-up six weeks after my original appointment. Even if your shape is still tip-top, a touch-up can help make your investment last longer. This round only took about an hour and I was surprised to find I preferred the darker, bolder, post-touch-up look. Turns out I’m a brow girl after all — and I will be returning yearly for upkeep.

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Two months into the AB (after brows) era, work is on the upswing, a relationship on the rocks has regained its footing, and my mom just sent me a nonjudgemental text. It could be eclipse season or lucky girl syndrome, but my money's on the powder brows.

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