As summer’s carefree beauty routines are replaced by fall’s more polished and professional looks, the importance of good eyebrows becomes painfully apparent. To help navigate the (often tricky) path to achieving perfect arches, we tapped Stevi Christine, Celebrity Brow Artist at the Kate Somerville Clinic, to break it down to the need-to-know basics. Read on and prepare to get your best brows ever.
Chapter 1: Why care about eyebrows?
"Eyebrows add shape to your entire face—they accentuate your eyes, create dimension within your bone structure and contour your features naturally. Lately, my clients have been telling me they feel younger, prettier, sexier and edgier after overhauling their brows. It can really do a lot for your confidence level."
Chapter 2: Shaping
"I don’t believe in one basic shape for everyone but as a general rule of thumb I always say: Work with what you were naturally given. The big, thick brow is very "in," but if your hair simply doesn't grow like that, you won't be able to effectively achieve that look. To find where your brow should start, place a pencil vertically next to your nose and follow it up to your brow line. To know where the arch should reach its highest point, position the pencil diagonally from the edge of your nose through the pupil of the eye: wherever it meets the brow should be the peak.
Don't focus too much on getting a dramatic arch. Some women (especially as they get older) think that a highly defined arch will lift their face, but that can actually lead to over-plucking and making the brow too thin. Err on the natural side and accentuate the arch lightly so it still has a nice overall thickness."
Chapter 3: Understanding Texture
"If your hair is fine, be very careful while shaping since one wrong tweeze can do major damage. If you desire a thicker brow, take a Q-tip and swipe on Rogaine's extra-strength formula—it works wonders. Neubrow's enhancing serum is also great.
If your hair is thick, you have a little more leeway with shaping since hairs are more densely packed together. If they tend to get unruly, you can use precision scissors to trim them, but I suggest doing it one by one—it's tedious, but it will give you better results. Brush your brows up, trim, step back from the mirror and then see how they look within the framework of your entire face."
Chapter 4: Maintenance
"I much prefer tweezing—and recommend it especially for beginners—since it's more gentle on the skin and offers more control as far as which hairs you're taking. Since the full brow is in, a lot of people are in the growing stages: Tweezing through this process offers a lot more precision (and prevents the removal of too much hair) for the average client."
Chapter 5: Product Arsenal
"If you're just starting out, I recommend using a powder with an angled brush. I love Laura Mercier's palette because it comes with both light and dark hues so you can mix the two to control the shade. When applying, always start at the arch—the brush tends to pick up a lot of pigment, so you want to deposit it most heavily from the arch to the tail to really accentuate that area (which is inevitably where you need it most). You can use the lighter shade from the front to the arch, and the darker one from arch to tail to create a uniformly defined brow. A double-sided brush—one with both an angled tip and spooly brush—is essential to have in your kit. The spooly end allows you to brush through and soften the application of the powder as needed."
Chatper 7: Tinting
"I'm obsessed with tinting—the color of the brows really adds a lot to the face, and can be as dramatic as you want. For an everyday brow, I recommend going just a shade darker than your natural tone—for example, a light brown for blondes. Tinting also deposits color on the skin between follicles, which further accentuates the shape. The dye usually only lasts about 3-4 weeks, so after your first go you can really play around with different shades knowing that it's not permanent. This will help you find your perfect color."
Chapter 8: Inspo
"Aside from Cara Delevingne whose arches have spawned legions of followers, Jessica Alba and Lea Michele both have great brows. I love that Jessica's used to be super thin, then she grew them out to what they are today—they're a prime example of a natural, full shape."
