I admit it, I'm guilty of a bit of an eyebrow fixation. Even as I write this I can picture my patient husband shaking his head at me as I tell him that my un-kept eyebrows are making me feel and look like a muppet. Cue a barrage of eyebrow horror stories like the time I was going to a wedding and got a huge burn blister on my eyebrow from too hot wax (gah!) or the time my eyebrow "stylist" created a monster by making my brows so thin & high that I looked frozen in a surprised position for about a month straight...
So in the spirit of sharing my "tricks of the trade" learned from many years of what not to do; I have assembled this handy dandy list of tips for eyebrow domination:
1.Recognize that there is no "universal" eye brow style for everyone.
Determine what your face shape is and then settle on a style that is the right width & shape for your face. I personally am a fan of a nice arch, but some ladies rock the straight brow beautifully. I was reading on a blog that famous eyebrow stylist to the stars, Anastasia, gets tons of clients that come in asking for the Kim Kardashian brow and she has to pleasantly remind them that unless their face shape is the same as hers it simply will not work.
*Thanks Lulu's for this great image
2. Do Invest in a Quality Mirror, Light Source, and Tweezers.
If you can't see what you are doing that could spell out disaster! When you are tweezing you don't want to get too close to the mirror because then you will not be able to see the "whole picture." Once you have the overall shape determined then use a close up mirror to reach and see finer hairs. Also, natural lighting is important because it allows you to see hair that you might miss in dimmed or yellow lighting. OttLite has developed a Makeup Mirror that accomplishes 2 out of 3 of these objectives. The 508 Natural Sunlight allows you to see details crystal clear and the mirror is double sided with both normal and 5x magnification. (hint, hint ;) As far as the tweezers go, my personal preference is a pair of stainless steel Tweezerman, which I got at Target.
3. Keep Your Brows within 1 to 2 shades of your hair color.
The dark eyebrows and blonde hair worked for Madonna in the 80's but these days it is a huge plus to keep your brows looking as natural as possible. This goes for the color of eyebrow pencil or powder you choose as well. The best way I have found to do this is by using short feathering strokes.
4. Trim Your Eyebrows If Needed
One of the easiest mistakes to make is to pluck your eyebrows too much when really the length is what needs to go. Also, I know some of you will disagree with me, but I highly recommend NEVER shaving your eyebrows. It is way too much of a commitment, and they never look real to me and when the hair grows back in it is simply never the same.
5. When Tweezing, Pain Is Not Good
My minimizing pain trick is to hold skin taught with my free hand while tweezing which causes less pain due to less pull on the skin. Many people use cooling creams etc, but for some reason that irritates my skin even more. If you are having your brows professionally groomed be sure to speak up if the wax is too hot or you are in too much pain, believe me it does not make you a baby, and you could be doing yourself a major favor by having them stop whatever they are doing.
Hopefully these tips will come in handy next time you are giving your brows some love. May St. Elizabeth, the eyebrow queen, favor & bless you all!
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Looks good, i went ahead and bookmarked it on Digg.com under "Beauty Blog: Eyebrow Tips". Kudos!
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Carol
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12 years 251 days ago
Thanks for using the time and effort to write something so interesting.
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