As a beauty editor, brow maintenance was simple: Shavata at Urban Retreat. The only brow bar I entrusted my Cara-wannabe brows to. It was love at first thread, as Baljit (the master threader) took one look at my pair of scraggly caterpillars and sent me away: ‘they’ve got potential, but I need more to work with’. So I dutifully went about my business for the next four weeks cultivating a monobrow. Then, true to her work she carved out of the fuzz a killer pair of brows. Not too archy, fashionable bushy and the secret? Length. Where I, and apparently most the female race, go wrong with eyebrow maintenance is not elongating our brows. We take too much off the centre (in fear of the aforementioned monobrow) and stop the ends waaaay too short. So, for a good couple of years there I had near perfect brows. Sigh. And then I moved to the country.
To start with I simply had a blunt, heavy fringe cut in to mask the lack of Shavata in my life and my own clear ineptitude with a pair of tweezers. Then I decided to take matters into my own hands. Here’s how:
First up, getting the right kit. This duo from Marks and Spencer’s recently revamped beauty offering are near perfect. I used to rely on Bobbi Brown’s eyebrow pencil in Mahogany but this M&S version is a mere £6 (versus £16 odd) and I think tops it (this pot of gel eyeliner a la Bobbi Brown looks pretty promising, too). The lash gel is from M&S’s Limited Edition beauty range and is a wallet-friendly £5.
So, my top tips for DIY brow maintenance are:
Shape – As the wise-one Baljit said, you need to know what you’re working with. If you can bear it, leave your brows for as long as poss. When do we ever leave our brows untouched for more than a couple of weeks before getting tweezer-happy? I was amazed what difference those extra few weeks made. Patchy sections evened out, those scraggly ends filled out. Invest in a pair of big sunglasses and be patient.
When you are ready (and using ONLY Tweezerman tweezers – trust me), get plucking. Make sure it’s always after a bath (the pores are more open = less ouch factor) and in a well-lit mirror (preferably daylight). Now, you’re looking for a straightish run with a gentle curve. No overexaggerated ‘V’ spiking up in the middle of your forehead. Leave the ends and in the centre take the minimum off to create a squarish end. Don’t panic if some areas are a little sparse to begin with, they will fill out, plus that’s what the liner is for.
A surprising one, but don’t be afraid to trim your eyebrows. YEP. You heard. Use the little brush on the end of your brow pencil and brush your brows vertically up. Anything that pokes wildly above the natural upper line of your brow. Trim it. It’s incredible how much more tamed and fuller they look.
Next, eyebrow colourings. It’s an honest mistake, but don’t try and match your eyebrow pencil to your hair colour. Go one shade darker. Just one. You don’t want it to be noticeable, you just want your eyebrows to be defined and, weirdly, it makes them much more natural.
Filling in: Now, eyebrow pencils are not about colouring in the gaps. It’s about mimicking tiny little hairs to make the brows look even and full. Practice on the back of your hand; teeny, tiny flicks. Remember, no two eyebrows are made equal; look at each one individually to see where they need a little ooomph, checking as you go that they ‘sit together’ rather than match necessarily.
Finally: a slick of brow gel will keep your new brows looking groomed and ‘done’.
Here are mine before and after some TLC:
That’s it! Hope it was useful – feel free to leave me a comment below with any ideas/request for next week’s Sunday Overhaul.
P.s. If you missed last week it’s here – on foolproof, fast, fake tanning.
