The thin ’90s brow is back—but you don’t need tweezers to get it

In the ’90s, super-skinny eyebrows were everything. Makeup artist Kevyn Aucoin spearheaded the trend by plucking away the brows of supermodels like Kate Moss, Cindy Crawford, and Naomi Campbell. And soon enough, pretty much everyone in Hollywood and beyond had a pair of tweezers in hand to master the high-fashion look themselves.

Over the past couple of decades, people have slowly traded in those pencil-thin arches for big, bushy brows—something that’s pretty tricky to attain the natural way after years of over-plucking. But now, thanks to the release of the new documentary Larger Than Life: The Kevyn AucoinStory, which dives deep into his journey to becoming a worldwide phenomenon, Vogue predicts his bold (yet thin) vision might make a comeback. This time around, though, don’t sabotage your natural hair-growth patterns by plucking with abandon. Instead, just fake it. “You can give a nod to the ’90s skinny brow that Kevyn masterfully made so covetable without committing to the trend,” celebrity makeup artist Suzy Gerstein tells me. And there are a couple ways to do it.

“You can give a nod to the ’90s skinny brow that Kevyn masterfully made so covetable without committing to the trend.” —Suzy Gerstein, celebrity makeup artist

First, Gerstein recommends choosing a lighter-toned pomade than your hair color. “I would normally wear brunette shades of brow grooming products, but lately I’ve been wearing an ashy taupe shade. This sort of optically draws brows back into the background,” she says. A clean product that’ll do the trick? Plume Nourish and Define Brow Pomade. “Ironically, I came across it when I was searching for lash and brow regrowth serum.”

Aside from going lighter with your brow products, you can also use a full-coverage concealer on the brows—but it’s not the best choice unless you’re in front of a camera lens. “It’s an old makeup-artist trick for toning down bushy brows, but it generally looks fake and patchy IRL,” Gerstein says. Instead, try a more natural-looking method: “I suggest highlighting under the brows with a luminizer—like the multEYEtasker from RMS—to give a clean effect. They come in pencil-form for precision. Just sketch the pencil underneath your brows—and even over baby-fine hairs you’re not ready to commit to tweezing yet—for a nice eye-framing flash of dewiness,” she says.

See? Getting a pair of trendy power brows doesn’t have to be a permanent decision. And when you’re ready to have the bushiness back, no problem: All it takes is some makeup remover—not years and years of pleading to the eyebrow gods for forgiveness.

Here’s how to achieve Rihanna’s fierce “hair-sprayed” eyebrows for less than $4. Or, try these five tricks to naturally gorgeous brows.