The Importance of Eyebrows

by Bec 5:18 PM 3 comments

I get asked a lot what I think is the most important part of the face. I'm sure every makeup artist has a different opinion on this, but personally I think it's eyebrows and that seems to surprise a lot of people.

You see, you can do a fabulous face of makeup but if you neglect your eyebrows, it's left looking unfinished and unpolished.

Eyebrow trends come and go. For example, currently bold brows are all the rage (which is fabulous for those of us who sometimes look a little yeti-esque if we go too long between threading or waxing appointments), but one thing is always consistent - they need to be defined.

Let me clarify, when I say defined I mean groomed and filled in to look nice, not defined so that they are the focus of your face. A mono brow is never a good thing - I'm looking at you Frida Kahlo. Your eyes are the part of your face that really sets you apart from everyone else and the brows play a major part in highlighting that.



 

Never, ever aspire to this.

 



Finding the right balance isn't always easy. You have the people who have taken a little too much hair and have teeny tiny thin brows a la Pamela Anderson. If people can tell that you've had to draw in the brow then it's too much. That said, as I mentioned earlier with brow trends coming and going, had Pamela been around back in the era of the 1920s and '30s, she would have fit right in. With her brows that is, not so much anything else.

Pamela Anderson and Greta Garbo - almost exactly the same. 

Believe it or not, eyebrows have the ability to channel emotion. One bad waxing experience can leave you looking permanently angry, confused or even amused.

So what should you be aiming for?

A great arch. It softens the face and instantly adds femininity. A celeb who has fabulous arches is Rachel Bilson. I love her eyebrows.

Keep them bold, but beautiful. Looking like Bert from Sesame Street is certainly not something to aspire to, but having bold brows can also become a statement. Look at Audrey Hepburn, a style icon who keep those brows bold but they accentuated her eyes and softened her expression, adding to her femininity.

Know how to match your brow colour. Whether you fill the brows in with pencil, powder or gel, it's important you get the colour right. I once used a brow powder that looked like a great match for a dark brunette, however once applied it threw a red undertone which made the brows look ridiculously unnatural. You want avoid doing this.

Lastly, if you want to have amazing brows, pay a professional to do it. And I'm not talking the local hairdresser. That's the work they give their apprentices. Go to a Brow Bar with people who specialise in it. Threading salons are amazing, I love threading. Anyone can slap some wax on your face or pluck some hair with tweezers but very, very few can actually shape the way a pro can. Do yourself a massive favour and do it. Even if it's only to get them professionally shaped. If you can handle the maintenance, that's great but please, PLEASE, get them shaped professionally at least once in your life.

If you're still not convinced what an effect they eyebrows have on these faces, take a look at the following pictures and tell me they don't make you want to curl into the foetal position and cry. And all because they no longer have eyebrows.

You'll notice I haven't actually showed you how to best emphasise your brows, but that's because I thought I would hand you over to special guest blogger later this week, another makeup artist who will give you the tips and tricks you need to know for beautiful brows.

So what I want to know today, when have you had a brow disaster? I've got a good one. When I was a teenager, I went to the local hair salon to have my eyebrows waxed. Clearly because I did not know better, if I ever got a chance to go back and talk to my teenage self, this would be at the top of my list - seriously. The girl had been there for a week and waxed my eyebrows but was a little concerned with how far in they grew in the morning (which I now know was not abnormal, she was just an idiot) so she got a disposable razor and shaved the inside of my left eyebrow. It never grew back properly, grows in the opposite direction to the rest of my eyebrow and is now the bane of my brow existence.