PUT THE TWEEZERS DOWN!
We got a little thrown off with the holiday so Katie is bringing you Saurdays at Sephora on Sunday! Hope your 4th was wonderful! Love, Meg
Kate here! I've been there and I know it's hard to do. I've watched countless early 90210 episodes and I know that Kelly and Donna were 'thin by all meanings of the word'. But, my friends, it's 2009 and it's time to make a clean break, get sober, and put the tweezers down! What starts as a "simple" pluck of a single stray transforms into Jackson Pollock random pop art. And our eyebrows are the sufferers for it! Thicker (or thick!) brows have been back for a while and personally, I really don't think they ever go out of style (Hello, Audrey Hepburn!)
I bring you photographic evidence to show you that I learned the hard way--but luckily before it was too late. Above and right you see my senior picture (age 17) in the fall of 2003. Excuse the bad eyeliner and acrylic nails but notice just how thin and uneven and unnatural my eyebrows were! I had a sickness and I didn't know what a real eyebrow should look at. About two years later, while I was working in a small cosmetics boutique in Oxford, Mississippi, the BrowGal on hand gave me an intervention! She told me STOP! Only pluck the ones that are really stray! And never from above the brow! Just fill in with a little powder/pomade/gel if you please! As you can see by July of 2008 I had truly recovered - and before it was too late. It never is good when you have to DRAW on your eyebrows later in life. They never look real!
- Hold a pencil or straight age beside your nose and straight up perpendicular to the inner corner of your eye. Your brow should begin outside of this line and you can pluck any and all unibrow wannabes in between!
- Extend your pencil from the outer corner of your eyes at a 45 degree angle. Your brows should stop inside this line, so you don't want them drawn or grown out to your temples. That's weird!
- If your brow hairs are particularly long, comb them all up with a brow comb or a clean toothbrush sprayed with a little hairspray. Only trim the ones that go above your "horizon" line.
My brows are actually a little bit sparse towards the center so I do fill them in a bit every day. Below are a few of my favorite brow products for you to pick and choose!
Tweezerman Slant Tweezer ($22). I feel like slanted tweezers are much easier to maneuver than a pointed, so it doesn't take so much time.
Anastasia Perfect Brow Pencil ($22). Comes in a wide variety of colors (from ash blonde to brunette to gray). Just pencil in some color in your "bald spots" and use the spoolie brush at the other end to blend, buff, and shape.
Stila Brow Polish ($14). Sort of combines both steps of the pencil mentioned above since the color and the brush are all in one step. It's the 1-2-3 easy method of brow coloring.
Smashbox Brow Tech ($24). These also come in a wide variety of colors in the powder and clear wax duos. Just use a stiff brow brush (they are usually angled and made of squirrel hair). Paint a little bit of powder on first and then finish with wax to hold it in place. Reverse these steps if you're one that has more skin than hair above your eyes!
What are your favorite brow products and tricks?
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Reviews
I was introduced to threading in the Middle East I have felt most comfortable with it. In LA there have been lot more threading studios popping up recently. I love it...as much as you can love your hair being ripped from your face.... but my eyebrows are like a forest, i was thinking that maybe I should uses a lawn-mower.Speaking about eyebrows, is you want to see something funny.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9FG7zQHu8g No it's not me.
Tweezerman is my favorite. I was always taught to only pluck the strays, and that the shape of the brow you are born with is probably the one best suited to you.
Hello Kate,
I use the bare essentials slanted brush for brows, the Anastasia brow powder in strawburn and brow tech wax by smashbox. My brows turned really light w/ age, it almost looks like I have no eye brows!! not attractive. I run my brush across the middle where the 2 colors come together, I tap off the excess color, I use small strokes and start closest to my nose, my advice is to go the way the hair grows using small wispy strokes, after you get the color on, comb your eye brows to get a natural look, then I dip the comb into the brow wax, I comb them up, then I use the hard end of the comb and use 1 long stroke to make the brows go to the side, like the way they grow. I also have a soft eye brow pencil with the brush on 1 end, when I am in a hurry , i pencil it on, again i use small wispy strokes the length of a hair, then I brush them so the color is even and not too dark.I met a client once, she shaved off, or maybe even laserd off, her eyebrows, so the brow spaces on her pronounced brow bone was bald, then, about 2 inches above where the brows would've (should've) been she tattooed on eye brows!! thin little greenish bluish tinted eye brows, "beam me up Scottie, there's Alien life forms here"!
If one has been plucking an arch for 30-40 years or so, will the brows grow back at this point? I'd like to let mine grow back au naturel but I don't know if they will. Should I cease and desist with all plucking for a month or so and see what happens? Anyone know of a product that helps brows to grow?
i have the ecotools brow grooming kit. LOVE it. comes with tweezers, magnified mirror, brow brush, scissor and spoolie brush (like a mascara wand).
http://www.youtube.com/ashleya1002
a_banger says,
i have the ecotools brow grooming kit. LOVE it. comes with tweezers, magnified mirror, brow brush, scissor and spoolie brush (like a mascara wand).
i love ecotools!! their brushes are all super soft and great quality and cheap! unfortunately, as ive said before, my local drugstores stink and barely have any brushes to choose from. ive never tried the brow set though, i guess i don't find it necessary..
First of all,you are SO adorable in BOTH pics girl! I see a lil' "Valerie Bertinelli" in your smile,a very good thing IMO!I love how you dare to compare yourself and share with us mere mortals.:)My brows are the bain of my existance: the women in my family basically "have none" unless they are thin,scraggly, or grey...seriously! I have been trying cultivate anything that resembles "normal and/or chic" brows for years to no avail and honestly now they just come in grey and spikey,LOLROF! Oh well...I figure I have great lashes and they counts for something,right?I rely on Lorac's pencil and brow kit in "Auburn" as it's the best I've found for a redhead that doesn't turn ashy or too taupe-y.Then I set with MAC brow set in "Girl Boy",a great shade and hope to hell I don't have to jump in to pull a grandkid out of the pool,LOL! Seriously...I wish I could not pluck but my "strays" look like I'm part Lycan or something,they pop out in the strangest places! Yours are absolutely beautiful and thanks for the great review!!!PS...MEGKEN: I think you are CUTE!!!
I love the tweezerman slant tweezers, I have two of them, and I should really send one in to get sharpened... I have blonde eyebrows, so it's hard to see that I have eyebrows if I don't fill them in. For years I was using a pencil, but it was too harsh and fake looking on me. Finally, a lovely lady at Sephora came to my rescue. She took off the brow pencil and replaced it with Anastasia blonde brow gel. It was awesome, it looked so natural! This past fall, I had my hair dyed a dark chestnut brown, so I had to do my eyebrows everyday, but the blonde brow gel wasn't going to work with the new hair color. Instead of buying another brow gel at 21 bucks, I used Bobbi Brown's mahogany eyeshadow and it looked great.
i just use mascara
tweezerman slant tweezers are the best ever. i have wimpy, blonde eyebrows and about 10 years ago had them tattoo'd to fill them in. luckily the person who did them was awesome and did them in a hairstroke method using 2 shades of light brown - i love them now. i do sometimes have to fill in regardless (especially if i've darkened my hair) and then - and brace yourselves - i use a golf pencil. the plain little wood kind - like what they have at ikea. i read somewhere that tea leoni did that and that it would work for nearly anyone and it does work for me. i've tried threading but that hurt! i like waxing but i'm lazy and most places aren't open at 2am when i usually get around to my beauty stuff. so tweezerman rocks my world.
Hi Katie - very cute photos! Anyway, I almost never pluck because my brows are nearly invisible. I was a blonde baby, and the hair never darkened (on my eyebrows, that is). Lord knows, the hair on my head has been just about every color! Anyway, somewhere along the way, I think my blonde eyebrows went gray. Great, just what I need. It is a weird look when you have invisible brows, so I must address the problem daily. I've been using Anastasia's Brow Express for a couple of years. I mix the two brow colors and use the angled brush to fill in the brows. Then, I touch them up with the brow wax. Fortunately, the 2 colors, brush and wax - plus a goldish highlighter - all come in the package. It looks much more natural than a pencil ever looked on me.
Carole
I don't do anything too special to my brows except use my Tweezerman Slant Tweezer in between waxings for the strays. I have been intrigued by threading, but have not been adventurous enough to give it a try *yet* :)
GEM - go for the threading!!! try it... just don't drink caffeine before you go under the string... it's worth it for the show.
I too love the tweezerman slant tweezers! They're fantastic and make plucking your eyebrows just that much easier. I also just use a dark brown matte eyeshadow to fill them in, I find it's much more natural looking than using an eyebrow pencil.
I use to be very heavyhanded with the tweezers, then during my 30's my eyebrows stopped growing, yup...they just up and stopped. Then stylemama told me about Rogaine for Women, apply it onto your eyebrows with a q-tip,I do it every evening after I wash my face. takes a little time so be patient. I've been using the rogaine for about 3 months and I can see a big difference. I still do a little touch-up with my eyebrow pencil but I am soooo glad that my brows are filling in and looking much more natural! For that I have Megs Make-up and Stylemama to thank! thanks...huggs!! Lisa
I've always had problems when it came to grooming my eyebrows, I somehow always seem to over pluck them. So this article was great!
Kim
Great info Kate. A question I can't seem to get answered is if you lose a lot of your hair and brows due a thyroid condition, once fixed will they come back. My hair came back thicker, different color and curly, but my brows are still very sparse, especially from the high point and toward the far corner of the eye. Do you have knowledge on this or a product that can help them grow, maybe Rograine for the brows? Thanks for the info on how to keep our brows looking movie star perfect.
Beste Hilsin
Katie! You are beautiful with fantastic looking brows! This is a great write-up on such an important part of the beauty routine. Sharond, my mom has a thyroid condition and when her thyroid gets out of balance she does have hair (and eyebrow) problems. Once her doctor is able to straighten out her medication, her hair (and brows) go back to normal. I feel very confident that Rogaine for Women would be an excellent solution for you. It helped Idpaige (Yay Lisa!), MANY of my brow-less girlfriend's and myself! Unfortunately, Rogaine doesn't make a treatment specifically for brows. However, my dermatologist told me it is very safe and effective to use Women's Rogaine for brow growth. He told me to never use the men's version and to expect that once I stopped the treatments, I could end up losing all of the new growth. I hardly ever have to use it anymore and haven't lost any growth. It's all about maintenance and taking Katie's advice about not over-tweezing! I also have mild eczema in my brows so I now use the method known as Brow Planing (I've seen it spelled planning too), along with tweezing. It's basically just shaving, the tool looks like a sideways straight razor. The blade is wrapped with fine wires which help dull the blade enough to avoid nicking that sensitive area. Another brow favorite is, Bio-Oil. It is great for your skin. After I fill-in my brows, I take a clean spooly brush and coat it with Bio-Oil. The Bio-Oil makes your brows look bright, clean and polished. It also does a great job of getting rid of any extra brow or face powder that can sometimes coat your brows making them look dull. You can find it any drugstore.
Kate, thanks for the awesome and cute before and after pics. I totally agree that brows are one of the most important things to consider in your makeup/overall look. I have definitely overtweezed my brows (I started out w/terrible bushy brows and a slight unibrow) and went overboard. Now I've embraced brow powder (I love Clinique Brow Shapers in Charcoaled, applied w/the Smashbox brow brush instead of the little Clinique brush), and am attempting to find the natural shape of my brows instead of those little semi circles of my teems!
♥ Lipgloss and Spandex: a blog for gals who look good and run fast
Kate, Great review. Love the before and after pictures. I used to have the thickest eyebrows. When I was younger I was always told never ever pluck. I remember looking back at pictures of myself and they were huge....yuck. So of course after seeing the picture of them, I went to have them plucked. Each time I went back, I would have more taken off. But around 1995 I went and saw someone new. Not a good thing to do. I Was sitting in the chair open to the idea of looking different. She thought I should go thin and just started plucking, it seems like forever and then after I thought it's all done,out came the wax! Before you knew it I looked like I had Pamela Anderson's eyebrows. Oh my gosh... was I ever upset. I still remember sitting in the car thinking maybe know one will notice. NOT! The first person I saw said, "What did you do to your beautiful eyebrows?" I wanted to cry. Since then I have had them shaped by threading. The pain is nothing for me. ( especially after having 3 babes). I find they look cleaner. I just recently started growing them back and hoping they will grow. I still will maintain the shape but I think thicker looks better on me. Artcandy
♥Robyn♥
Kate - thanks SO much for addressing this issue. I see ladies ALL the time that have near nothing for eyebrows as they walk in a salon for brow waxing and I think to myself "HOLT!!! NOOOO! DON'T DO IT!!!!" Thin is no longer in. While I imagine it's hard to grown them out, kinda like letting the hair on one's head grown out after it's cut too short, and yes, one might very well look a bit odd and unkept for a bit, but the end result is worth it. LETTEM GROW, LADIES!!! If ya need to pluck and just can't resist the urge . . . consider plucking "down there." Hell, that'll change your mind REAL quick about having the urge to pick up a set of tweezers! And to all the ladies that are waxing their brows and don't need to be, take care of this urge by going in for a bikini wax! LOL! :-)
I tend to have very hairy and thick eyebrows. I have to get them waxed! No choice! That being said I can not stand overkill. I will only see one or two specific people for my brows because I am terrified that someone will go crazy and leave me too thin. I have a wide forehead and I feel that thin brows would look ridiculous paired with that. And they are just unnatural period. I rarely pluck because I am terrified of going overboard. So I generally keep my hands off. And at this point my brows are very dark and thick. I have not yet found a need to use anything other then a brow comb/brush. I love the ECO-TOOLS comb/brush. And I adore Revlon's mini brow comb/brush. It fits perfectly into your purse make-up bag. And I have super sensitive skin that gets very red after waxing. I believe that someone on the site recommended the Korres Yogurt Cooling Gel for that. I tried it last time and it worked! Yeah.I would love to try threading. But small town Ohio hasn't discovered that trend yet. Does it hurt less then waxing?Kate-great write up! And your pics are very cute-even the high school one!
To stylemama and other who use Rogaine. This may be a stupid question, but when you want your brows to grow, or to grow back to their natural unplucked state, where do you apply the Rogaine? Just where you have brows growing now, or to the portion beneath the brow that you've been plucking? Sorry... I'd like to try but don't want to end up looking like a werewolf. About how long does it take to see growth and how do you stand it til it grows in?
I've never tried the Rogaine trick (though I probably should) but I would think that you would apply it wherever you wanted hair to grow. All over your brow area could make it thicker and fuller all over, which could be good too.
I don't really like the shape of my eyebrows. I wish they had a bigger arch. However, once a girl plucked the way to much on the middle and they looked really strange!
For me tweezers are the best tool for plucking my eyebrows. I'm actually becoming addicted to plucking. As soon as I see the slightest bit of regrowth I pluck it right away! I really need to get a pair of Tweezermans because they're great at getting those baby hairs.
To tell the truth I am absolutely terrible at managing my brows. I can't get them even and if I try to pluck I always wind up plucking odd holes. My brows are naturally a little thin and I have a great big cowlick in my right one near the center that I'm just terrified of attempting to groom. So what do I do? I do not even touch the things. I only let qualified professionals groom my brows and stick to a light gel to keep them in place between waxings. I wish there was a threading place around here to go to. When my husband was in Iraq he experienced threading. He said it hurt like hell but it was the neatest looking haircut he ever experienced. Threading is supposed to be easier on the delicate eye-area skin than waxing is.
You could seriously put a before and after picture of me up there too..My eye brows used to be soooo plucked. I used to do it every single morning. I was thoroughly obsessed with plucking.I'm not nearly as bad anymore. I have to be careful though, because old habits die hard and if I'm having a bad day or something I'll totally start to over pluck. I really don't do much to mine these days. I try to pluck only the stray hairs. I don't really fill in my brows much, though I probably should. I use clear mascara on them to tame them, that's about it.
Stylemama - thanks for the suggestion about using bio-oil on the eyebrows. I hadn't thought about that!
Carole
well i was what some ppl called blessed because i never had bushy or umtamed eyebrows, i recently got into waxing them for a little shape but otherwise i just use a brow comb that comes with grooming kits
My absolute favorite tweezers for tending to my brows is Revlon's Slant Tip Perfec Tweeze! Years ago a woman introduced me to them and nothing else has worked as well for me since! They are like a miniature scissors with little grippers to put your fingers into and have a slanted tip. The Revlon website says about them “Comfortable scissor-style handles provide ease of use and superior control. Ideal for people with weak hands or painful joints. Slant tip provides an optimal angle for a wide range of tweezing needs.” I am very careful about only pulling the unruly hairs beneath my brows myself. I try to go at least 3-4 times a year to my favorite esthetician (when I can afford to) to have her professionally wax my brows and then I try to stay within the lines she has shaped for ongoing personal follow-up on my own. My esthetician has dream eyebrows that are the envy of all women – they are full and perfect – I don't think she even has to use a pencil to fill anything in!! She just wakes up and says “Don't hate me because my eyebrow's are beautiful!” She's definitely a walking tribute to perfect brows! Mine require the use of a brow pencil to give them shape, dimension and see-ability! When I was younger (like in 8th grade) I took pencil and drew the ends of my eyebrows UP towards my hairline and I thought I looked so good! OMG!!!!!!!!!! Where were the eyebrow police when I needed them! Two words: Laughing Stock!
Jeanasina!
Plantlady, I think it is best to saturate a q-tip with Rogaine and then apply it slightly above, below and all through the eyebrow. You don't want to go crazy and end up with a hairy forehead but you don't want to be stingy with the solution either. Imagine your perfect brow and apply the solution in and around those areas. Once you start to see new growth, go to a professional brow person and ask them for help in shaping them. This kind of thing takes time and finesse. You might need to go back several times for tiny adjustments to the shape of your brows, in order to get them looking just right. It is so worth it, just be patient, it could take 2-3 months before everything goes back to it's natural state. It IS hard to go through this process but it is so nice to have the right shape and size brow, totally beautifies the face. Hang in there, you can do it. I didn't look to closely at my eyebrows when I was growing mine out. In fact, I forced myself to hardly look in the mirror at all. During that time I looked like total crap! My problem is that I totally lacked the self control required to avoid plucking. Not looking at them was my only defense. Pathetic, I agree, but very effective....
Tweezerman's are my fav too and I even have that tool they make for "rolling" out blackheads. But I'm trying to lay off it because I use it with a heavy hand and end up bruising my skin.I bought Urban Decays brow box a while back but I fell out of habit of using it and gifted it to Samantha. I still use my little red Maybelline eyebrow pencil that last a billion years and costs three bucks. But I've definitely stopped over plucking!
Love, hugs and shoes...Angie
The tweezerman's are the best! I got the mini pair, I just find the smaller size easier to use. My fave brow product is the ELF studio eyebrow compact. It comes with the best and tiniest little brush and a tinted gel and powder. It gives me a real natural look and helps fill in my sparse spots.
One noe to all of you who acked about a product to growth - I had never actually heard of the Rogaine for women before some of you talked about it but I bet it works! Talika Lipocils is a growth serum for eyelashes but I have heard many people use it on their brows with good success. You have to give it 30 days for any good results. Also, Anastasia has a product called NuBrow that's a little serum in a lipgloss tube for stimulating growth!Second, for those with thin brows or if you didn't learn to put down the tweezers before your brows stopped growing...buy the Anastasia brow stencils. I think there are four different shapes in the back...pick the one closest to your 'natural' shape and use a powder and wax combo to draw them on. As long as the powder is close to or the same as your hair color, it will look natural. (the Smashbox brow techs are GREAT for creating eyebrow where there is none)
Katie
yeah i also use the threading technique too! but with my hours being cut i cant afford to be spending even ten bucks to go get it done. it sucks! my eyebrows are a bit bushier than normal right now ugh! but im trying to put off plucking. i might just have to try this!
<3 Samantha
I have a pair of tweezerman tweezers. They work so well. If only I had enough eyebrows to pluck... Mine are blonde and sparse so I draw them on with my fav brow product ever - Benefit Brow-zings! It's a colored wax and powder duo that stays put all day. Forget the brush and tweezers that come with it though.
I had a Sephorista use the Anastacia pencil on me and it seemed to work pretty well. My mom loved it on me, saying it was better than the Benefit, but I don't know... I'd have to try it for a longer period than one day.
The Smashbox duos did not impress me. I had the kind with the duo of two different shades of powder. They didn't stay and turned kinda ashy. But it looks like BrowTech is different.
My eyebrow horror story: I went to get the brows colored and waxed - to make a long story short: the tint looked pretty good, but the wax - she completely messed up! They were pencil thin, comma-shaped squiggles above my eyes. Horrid.
Maybe I should go get them dyed again to have something visible up there when I'm feelin too lazy to draw on brows.
Congratulations Katie on going 5 and 1/2 years without overplucking!
tweezerman is my friend! I also use a brow razor for the little fine hair that is a pain to tweeze.
www.nanisnails.blogspot.com
I've been threading my own brows for nearly 5 months now.
http://vrodriguez.mymarkstore.com/
i have very thick eyebrows naturally and plucked them into a horrible shape as a teen. then i paid 25 bucks for a horrible waxing that made them look even worse. now i grew them out and get threading every month or so. i would suggest not plucking yourself and finding a good specialist (get recommendations first), as someone in the salon can mess your brows just as bad as you can :)
Lucky me! I've never actually had this problem (probably because I'm still young). I'm lazy though, so I'm more likely to go off into the opposite end and end up with crazy wild brows :( I should get into a habit with plucking.
In any case, before and after I still love how polished your brows look! You can be my new inspiration ^_^
xoxo
E.L.F. also has a great powder/wax combo similar to the smashbox one for $1. I have been using it for 6 months and I love it!
I'm lucky enough to have thick and full eyebrows, I need to groom them quite often so they don't get out of shape. Sometimes when I play with my makeup I put mascara on my brows and it makes them look really striking! I'd definitely like to try a tinted brow gel, but other than that, brow products don't interest me much.
Thank you Stylemama. Your plan sounds reasonable. I will have to stay away from my magnifying mirror for awhile, and not put on my reading glasses when looking at my face. That way I won't see how gross the brows are looking. My big fear is that once they have grown for a while, I will want to shape them myself and be back to square one. I live in the middle of nowhere with no big city for 100 miles. Although there are salons within 30 miles of me, I don't know how to find a brow person I could trust. Any ideas, other than stopping nicely browed women and asking ;)
I use powder and a brush to fill in my brows. To me, my brows look more natural and the application is easier.
Great eyebrow review! I will have to stop into Sephora and check it out, although I just found 'the perfect eyebrow' lady featured in the Washingtonian magazine this month and after a quick Metro-riding trip to The District I am happy to say I REALLY do have the perfect eyebrows.
I'm missing the last 1/3s of my brows. It's AWFUL! The hair just has never filled in there, should I try a brow serum?-Allya (http://paintedtips.blogspot.com/)
What a great review! I think we've all been guilty of attacking our brows and not taking a step back to realise how far we've actually gone!Bigger, great shaped brows look fantastic on most women. They frame your face! I think people under-estimate how important a good brow can be :)
I was blessed with naturally arched brows, but they are very light. I fill my brows in every now n then, then I apply concealer around the brow for a nice clean& fresh look. This works perfectly for me. I look fresh out of the make-up corner and ready to hit the streets. Try it out and let me know how it works out for you guys.xoTiera
fabuloushoodchick.blogspot.com
Thanks for this review!