The Beauty Insider: Behold, Your Brows
By Amy Allman-SemescoTuesday, June 30, 2009
One of my biggest obsessions is my eyebrows -- and the brows of other people I encounter, I might add. Good brows frame your face and make all the difference in how you look. Personally, I have my brows waxed every two weeks for the past 7 years to keep them looking as near perfect as possible.
I must confess, I didn't always have such good brows. Let me take you on a brow journey. In my teens, I had super-bushy, beyond Brooke Shields brows. Nothing really attractive about those. When I got to college, I remember plucking and plucking until I resembled someone who should be part of a street gang, not a UF co-ed. Those overplucked brows stayed with me for a long time, too long in fact. Until one day, a woman giving me a pedicure at a salon, said rather sternly, "You pluck your eyebrows too much!" I was mortified!
After I got over the embarrassment, I became eternally grateful for the enlightenment. I let my brows grow out -- hard as it was -- and while visiting Los Angeles, I paid a visit to a professional brow artist at a fancy well known salon in Beverly Hills. What an amazing experience! When I returned home I found my current brow professional and haven't turned back. That was 7 years ago.
So that is my story and I hope it can help you find your best brows. Here are some tips to help you get gorgeous brows yourself or by finding a professional.
Afraid to do your brows yourself? The best way to find a great brow artist is to find another person with great brows. The way your hair grows will determine the shape that is right for you. Not everyone can have the same arch. Once you find the brow artist, make sure you have a consultation before any waxing, threading or plucking begins. For my clients at Eola Skin Company, I always talk to them about what they want to achieve, how much they want waxed and what can actually be done. I have even told a client, they didn't need to be waxed. I would rather have someone look gorgeous, than resemble my old gangster look.
Moms of teenagers, please take your daughter to a professional to have her brows done. Otherwise, results could be disastrous. Teenage girls should not have super skinny brows or those of a 36 year-old either. I wax my niece's brows just enough so she doesn't have to resemble her auntie as a teenager.
Want to do your brows yourself? There are some great tools on the market that can help you. Try any of the products from Anastasia. Who is Anastasia you might ask? She is famous in Los Angeles for brows to the stars. Her products are available online and also at stores like Sephora, Nordstrom and Ulta. For overplucked brows, or if you are trying to grow brows out, try Anastasia Enhancing Serum $36 available at Sephora and Ulta. This serum has vitamins to nourish and promote brow growth. Definitely worth a try if you find yourself overplucked.
Get the whole kit and caboodle with Anastasia's All About Brow Kit $75 at Sephora. This may seem a little steep, but you get stencils to get the perfect brow shape, tweezers, a highlighter to accentuate your brow bone, brow shadow and brush, and brow gel to keep those brows in place. In my opinion, worth every penny.
Great tweezers are essential to great brows, for in between waxes or doing it yourself. I like Tweezerman Slant Tweezers, around $20 and they come in assorted colors. These are available at Sephora, but you can find Tweezerman products at Target, Walgreens, and other stores.
For those who are all about the do-it-yourself approach, a few other words of wisdom: Your brow should start just at the inner corner of your eye. Take a pencil and hold it close to your nose and make a line from your inner eye corner to your brow. This where your brow should start. If it doesn't meet it, you are overplucked! Let those babies grow! Your arch should be on the outside of your pupil. Again, use a pencil to make a line from the outside of your pupil, straight up and that is where your arch should be.
Hope you behold beautiful brows!
