Don’t be brow beaten from trying to maintain a perfect pair. It’s easier than you think.
This is not a story about cutting-edge eyebrow trends from the fashion runways. While trends may suggest that we shape our brows into Nike swooshes and broken dashes, timeless brows for every day are a different matter.
Beautiful everyday brows are wearable and eye-catching for all the right reasons. They’re balanced, full, arched just right, and proportionate to your eyes and face.
Left, top to bottom: Shu Uemura eyebrow brush, Shu Uemura eyebrow manicure
Right, top to bottom: Shu Uemura brow:sword, Shu Uemura brow:palette
Brows Now
This is however, not to say that there aren’t general ‘trends’ even for everyday brows. There are modern looks to sport, if you don’t want to look dated.
As the beauty world is still very much riding the K-wave, straight, full K-brows make strong, stunning daily brows. K-brows have a youthful effect on the face, and because they’re robust, they frame your eyes strongly, and ensure you don’t need much, or any eye makeup. Just the brows to have if you don’t like fiddling with eyeliner, shadow, mascara or all three.
If you don’t have naturally thick brows, some commitment to artificially and artfully thicken yours with the right brow makeup is required to create the look. K-brows are more slope-like than arch-like, and as such, are easier to shape and draw than classic brows, even on your first try.
Boy brows were all the rage on the Fall/Winter 2018 runways, it’s true. This fashion-forward look is nevertheless on the list of cool everyday brows because Boy brows appear natural.
Boy brows are quite similar to K-brows – thick, none-too-arched and can take years off your face, but that’s where the similarities end. Boy brows are slightly unkempt and untidy, and are kept in place with upswept lashings of brow gel – that, in fact, precisely what the looks warrants.
And don’t mistake mildly messy boy brows for ungroomed arches peppered with stubble. Clean under-brows are non-negotiable for any style.
Classic brows have been around the longest. They are arched at the two-third points of your eyes from inner to outer lids, and run thick to thinner from the inner to outer eyelids. They should be parallel to the inner eye corners and run just slightly over the outer corners of your eyes. If you hold the handle of an eyeshadow brush at a 120-degree angle from the outer corner of your eye, where the brush meets the outer brow bone is where your brows should end.
Arched brows have always been a mark of sophistication and womanliness, and are extremely popular for these very reasons.
Top to bottom: Shu Uemura brow:sword, Shu Uemura hard formula h9, Shu Uemura Slant Tweezer
Brows How
Daily grooming makes the work lighter. Make brow pruning – plucking, trimming, shaping – part of your skincare routine and you’ll have right ready brows every day. You’ll also need the right tools.
I like Shu Uemura’s slant tweezers, as they are precise without being too sharp – they don’t hurt when I accidentally pinch my skin and they allow me to tweeze even very fine stray hairs at a faster pace too. For trimming and shaping, I like using a pair of small, slightly curved, stainless steel manicure scissors, which you can easily find at pharmacies and toiletries stores.
There is indeed a mind-boggling array of makeup products for the eyebrows, and that can only be a good thing, certainly something for everyone. Soft gel pencils and brow shadow applied with a brow brush work for sparse brows that need filling in with colour and shaping into thicker forms.
Pencil and powder are also easy to handle. Start with less product and add as you please – less for a natural result, more if you like strong, dramatic brows. For pencils, I like Tom Ford Beauty’s Brow Sculptor and Silkygirl’s Hi-Definition Brow Liner. For brow powder shadow sets, I like Chanel’s La Palette Sourcils De Chanel Brow Powder Duo and MAC’s Great Brow All-In-One Brow Kit.
Left to right: Silkygirl Hi Definiton Brow Liner, Chanel La Palette Sourcils De Chanel Brow Powder Duo, Tom Ford Brow Sculptor, MAC’s Great Brow All-In-One Brow Kit
If you have longish brow hairs and don’t want to trim them, sleek them down with brow gel after shaping and colouring. Always comb brow hairs through after applying colour and gel – this helps to distribute the products more evenly and also prevents uneven clumping.
I have not used this, but credible beauty sources say their pick of brow gel is by Glossier. Also, brow colour need not match hair colour. You can be blonde and wear darkly dramatic brows, or have blue-black hair and opt for soft grey- or light brown-coloured brows.
The thing about filling in colour on brows is that you control the shape and colour intensity. Go slow, stroke by stroke, and fill in the gaps. Comb through, and if you like them more intense, just add more colour. The beauty of brow makeup is that it doesn’t matter what your natural brow shape is. As long as they’re groomed, almost any shape and form can be created.
4 easy to learn brow styles to match your style by international chief make-up artist Yuji Asano, courtesy of Shu Uemura.
Semi-Permanent Brows
Thanks to more artisanal methods such as micro-blading or embroidery, eyebrow tattooing now offers more natural and modern results.
Micro-blading is a tattooing technique, except it is done by hand using a small handheld tool made up of several tiny needles, which is used to add permanent pigment to the skin. The result of micro-blading differs from standard eyebrow tattooing and is more natural because each pigmented stroke is as fine as eyebrow hair, and inked in a way that makes it blend in with existing eyebrow hair. The older eyebrow tattoo method cannot achieve such fine, natural results, as it is wrought by a machine and a needle that produces thicker, less natural-looking strokes.
In micro-blading or embroidery, pigment is deposited into the upper region of the dermis, so it fades faster than in the traditional tattooing technique, in which pigments are deposited deeper into the dermis. As such, a therapist trained in micro-blading is not necessarily trained in traditional eyebrow tattooing, and vice versa.
Besides embroidery, micro-blading is also sometimes called feather touch and hair-like strokes. Beauty houses that offer micro-blading are now also touting 3D, 4D, 6D and 7D effects. The more Ds apparently, the more natural the results, as the strokes mimic your real brow hairs in a more authentic way.
No Pain, No Gain
Micro-blading hurts, even with anaesthetic cream. It’s also time-consuming and labour-intensive on the part of the therapist. Each session takes around 2 to 3 hours, and touch-ups are required every 4 to 6 months. You’ll also need to take good care of the affected area with special products right after the session, for about a week to 10 days.
Micro-blading costs between $350 to $800 depending on where you have it done, but the results can be stunning, and they can make life much easier, even when you swim or sweat it out at the gym.
Pain-free and painterly every morning, or painful but (somewhat) permanent, either way, perfect brows can be yours.
Suggestions on where to go:
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[tab1]Shu Uemura 3D Brow Styling
As a leader in eyebrow make-up and an expert when it comes to Asian eyes, shu:ATELIER defines natural eyebrows for a fresh direction in beautiful eyebrow make-up. The natural eyebrow is three dimensional; both natural volume and shadow are created by each brow hair. With Shu Uemura, you can give your eyebrows shape and define them, and they have the power to express.
Step 1: Shade the area to recreate a natural shadow on skin, as if created by natural hair. Use brow:ink to blend color on skin between and under brow hairs to create a 3D appearance.
Step 2: Draw individual brow hair to define brows; precisely draw brow hairs one by one to shape and fill gaps between each hair. Use the hard formula eyebrow pencil to create a natural shape by literally drawing individual brow hairs one by one.
Step 3: Choose a color to match your hair color. Use eyebrow manicure to enhance the natural look by coloring brow hair directly with a unique double-sided brush.
Book a 30 mins 3D brow & eye styling session with Shu Uemura’s Signature Service, which includes:
- An analysis of facial contour and bone structure
- Brow shaping (trimming and plucking) using Shu Uemura’s professional brow tools
- Brow styling through shading, defining and coloring to perfect desired brow style
Per session: $15 (members), $18 (non-members)
Package of 4 sessions: $45 (members), $54 (non-members)
Click here to book an appointment.
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Micro-blading costs between $350 to $800 depending on where you have it done, but the results can be stunning, and they can make life much easier, even when you swim or sweat it out at the gym.
Where:
Browhaus at Mandarin Gallery
333A Orchard Road, #03-37 Mandarin Gallery, Singapore 238897
T: (65) 6235 3402
Nouri Face and Body Concepts at Lavender Street
114 Lavender Street,, CT Hub 2 , #02-63, 338729
T: (65) 6294 8106
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Related links:
Batting for Beginners: Lash Extensions 101
