Saturday, March 24, 2012

Day 5- Goodbye Groucho Marxs

OK, So I am INSANELY busy with sick kids and a severely nasty house- so this is going to be a short but VERY important post-a-roo.  Eyebrows!  Your eyebrows define your eyes, think of them like a frame for your windows to your soul.  I know- deep huh?!  If you arent doing anything with your eyebrows- you are missing out on a great opportunity.  If your eye makeup is phenomenal and your eyebrows aren't right- you wont make the impact that you are trying to. 
First off- I would suggest seeking the help of a professional to begin with.  Look for a waxer or threader that specialises in eyebrows.  When you go in- know that the first time should take around 30 minutes to get your eye brows perfectly sculpted.  When you go in- tell them that you want a natural arch shape.  That is going to be following the natural arch of what your eyebrows naturally do.  They should make an arch shape that gently thins out at the ends.  You should not have lines for eyebrows or you run the risk of looking permanently surprised... unless that's what you are going for.  If you have long eyebrows like I do, have them trimmed.  If you have very thin eyebrows- you still should have them shaped professionally.  When you have them shaped- it gives you a stencil of how you can fill them in.  You can have it done professionally once and then maintain them with a sharp angle tweezers for up to six months!  (Just a hint- take your tweezers in your car with you.  I always notice stray crazy brows in the sunlight of the car.  I usually will do it when I am sitting outside my daughter's school waiting for her to be let out.  Just don't tweeze and drive!)  If you choose to maintain them yourself and you have long brows- remember to keep them trimmed- but be judicious with the trimming.  It's better to take your time and trim just a few hairs at a time than to make a long snip and take off a chunk of your brow.  (yeah, I did that when I was 15 and looked like Vanilla Ice)
When chosing a eyebrow product, you want to keep a few things in mind.  Powders are easier to blend and come in a larger rainbow of colors.  They tend to look more natural.  ALWAYS choose a matte powder.  You don't have to choose an eyebrow powder, you can choose a shadow as long as it matches.  Pencils are a great option but you still need to blend them out to look natural and so you will still need a brush.  Pencil is MUCH harder to blend out- but it stays put a lot better.  You NEED asynthetic angle tip brush to do your brows no matter what you choose to use.
When choosing a color, make sure that you stick to your natural color or you can even go a shade or two darker which will define them really well.  That is super important if you have really light blond brows.  There is a "rule" that you should never use black to fill your brows but guess what- mine are black.  No really- naturally black.  So espresso looks ridiculous on me- so choose the color that you feel best suits you and not what the "rules" say.  If you have long, curly or sometimes unruly brows you could benefit from using a clear mascara or brow gel.  Brow gel is great for keeping your brows looking really manicured and will also help powders last longer.  Cover Girl makes a good one for $4!
As far as technique goes- it really depends on the shape of your brows but the way I tend to fill in brows on myself and clients is that I start on the top side of the arch.  Your brush will have the most product in it and you want to start where you want the most focus- so start in the middle.  I then use tiny little brush strokes and work only the top line all the way to the end.  I then do the same exact process only on the bottom line of the brow.  Then with the remaining product left on my brush- I define the parts the closest to the middle of my face and fill in.  Your brows are generally fuller and thicker there so you really don't need a ton of definition.  Again- it depends on your individual shape.  Set it with some brow gel making sure to brush up and out and POOF!  Your done! 
If you choose to use a pencil make sure it is sharpened EVERY TIME you use it to get a razor thin line.  Work your top line first working in light tiny strokes and then do the bottom.  At this point put your pencil away and grab your brush.  You want to go back over your work taking care to blend it in really well and then use the leftover on your brush to do the rest of your brow.
One of the really fun hot trends right now for the super adventurous is to fill in your brows with a damp brush and a VIVID color like purple, blue or green.  It is a super fun look and looks really awesome with an understated eyelid.  Not exactly something that you would wear to work but fun for going out!  I LOVE Sugarpill cosmetics and they make some AWESOME matte vivid colors.  They also have some pictures on their site of the vivid brow- check it out and let me know what you think!

No comments:

Post a Comment