The eyebrows: so minute yet so essential in creating a perfectly polished look. A perfect set of eyebrows can create a sense of harmonious beauty to a face, even without makeup. Badly shaped eyebrows, however, can create a few not so pleasant effects: an involuntary "surprised' look, an unfinished messy look to your makeup, and a dimming of the eye area.
Over the years as a brow specialist in the salon, I saw everything from over-plucking disasters to eye brows soooo au natural that there was no beginning or end between the two! If you're looking to achieve a set of perfect brows, fear no more: here are my tips in doing it right!
I can do this myself, thank you very much...
To shape your own brows at home, begin with a clean, exfoliated face. By removing the dead skin layers in the area around the brow bone, all of the hairs are exposed and can easily be removed with no irritation. For best visibility, make sure you are in a bright room with natural lighting. To help reduce the post-tweezing, "omigod I can't believe I did that" over-plucking disasters, use two different mirrors – one hand held magnified type for detail, and one wall mirror or bathroom mirror for an overall perspective during the process.
1- Using an old mascara wand that you've washed clean and a pair of cuticle scissors, brush your brows upward and trim the longer hairs.
2- Using a straight edge like a pencil, line up the edge of your outer nostril with the inner corner of your eye. Where the line runs into your brow is where the start point should be. Make sure to tweeze lightly in this area so that you do not end up with a very "squared" start of brow.
3- Again, using the straight edge of the pencil, line the edge of your outer nostril with the outer edge of your iris. The extension of that line and out further just a touch is where the highest point of the brow should reach.
4- Using a white eyeliner, color the part of the brows that you need to "erase" (read: tweeze) so that you know which hairs to leave and which to remove.
5-Tweeze only a few hairs at a time and step back to refer to that wall mirror for the overall perspective. Continue along, creating the smooth shape you're trying to achieve.
6- Maintain brows by following this process about once every 5-10 days, depending on your rate of hair growth.
Ummm, let's leave this to the experts...
Brow Waxing: The most popular form of professional brow shaping. Utilizing either a soft wax (the kind that needs a piece of muslin cloth placed on it to remove) or a hard wax (the kind that hardens after it's applied and removed whole), the brows are quickly transformed from unruly to so pretty. NOTE: Make sure you haven't used a chemical exfoliant such as Retin-A, benzoyl peroxide, heavy vitamin C exfoliants, or any "acid" peels for at least 2 weeks prior to waxing. Using these ingredients decreases the integrity of the skin and could cause the skin to lift off and scab/scar.
Brow Tweezing: A tweeze-only service is great for people with very sensitive skin or people who are on a prescription or strong exfoliant that thins and sensitizes the outer layers of the skin. This process is a little more time-consuming since hairs are removed individually but is a great option for those who need to stay away from the chemicals.
Threading: An ancient middle-eastern technique of hair removal. Using a piece of cotton thread wrapped around the skilled fingers of a threading specialist, this procedure literally uses a "coiling" action of the thread that twirls through the unwanted hairs and whisks them away. Completely natural, this is great for people using prescription or strong exfoliants, or for those who have sensitive skin.
No matter which approach you take in shaping your brows, it is completely worth it! Just like a picture that is made
"perfect" by the right picture frame, the windows to the soul need a graceful frame of brows to create the perfect enhancement.
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Iris Safar works independently as an image consultant and continues to lead with the latest and greatest in everything beauty. During her reign as Spa and Makeup Director at Cinta Salon in San Francisco, Iris specialized in giving clients the perfect eye brows, fabulous skin, and gorgeous makeup looks. As Print and Fashion Director at Marla Dell Talent Agency, she represented hundreds of models and actors, as well as managed their makeup and beauty regimens. "This is my world: beauty, fashion, skin: It's what I know...It's my thing!"
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