Time To Give Your Brows A Little Tender Love & Care

Sage advice from makeup pro, Regina Sneor.  In her third installment, she fills us in (pun intended) on brow neglect and the how-to's for perfectly groomed brows!

Hello ‘Stylisted Followers!

First, I want to thank you all for the kind responses to my previous posts.   I appreciate everyone for reaching out, and I’m so glad my blogs have been helping all of you.  I have also been getting excellent feedback from fellow artists who have agreed with my advice-- this makes me so very happy.

This week, I've been asked by some of my readers to discuss brow grooming.  It’s so funny to me that brow grooming isn’t something that everyone gets done professionally.  When I'm doing an application, the customer usually discredits the brows.  If she has bangs, she doesn’t think anyone sees them.  I also love the logic that one’s brows are too blond to groom or too sparse.  REALLY??  Brows ARE visible…with or without bangs, light or dark hair, sparse or fluffy!

This is what I suggest:

1) Get it done professionally by someone who is respected for good brow work.  I have seen some very badly done brows by “professionals”.  Go to someone that cuts, waxes/tweeze for this process.

2) Make sure you know what it takes to keep them up until the next visit.  You may not always have time to go as often as you need. Invest in a great pair of tweezers.  I personally like Anastasia, Cross, and Bobbi Brown.  (I didn’t know Bobbi had one until about 3 months ago.)

3) Know what products to use to fill them in.  Sometimes, it takes more than just a pencil or a brow shadow.  Anastasia makes some unbelievable products from pencils, to powder color, to tools (yes, you do need a good brow brush), to brow mascara, to stencils!  I’m not a big fan of stencils, but I think it can help those who don’t have much hair to work with.

4) Carefully select the correct product color.  I can’t tell you how many times I see brows that are too red or too dark.  It’s a major distraction from everything else seen on the face.

5) Remember, you are not only coloring the brow hair, you are also coloring the skin where it’s sparse.  Have a professional show you how to do this.  You should brush out color after you apply the product.  It looks more like natural hair.  I start by using a concealer pencil to highlight the outer area of the whole brow.  This way, there is no darkness around the brow and it gives it a nice clean look.  Then, I usually use pencil or brow shadow with a brow brush (Beauty is Life has an awesome brush), brush it out with a dry, clean mascara wand, and finally apply either clear or colored brow mascara.

When I did the Academy Awards Pre-Party a few years back, I wanted to make sure I was able to go to the ever so famous Anastasia Brow Salon.  (I didn’t even check in to the hotel first.  I went straight from the airport to the salon.)  My friend and I had never had our brows done in this salon, and we were obsessed!  It was such a great experience and I left with knowledge and products.  I still use her guidelines to this day.

Remember: A good-looking brow frames the eyes and makes you look less tired.  You will see that you need less eye makeup to pop your eyes.  Good work isn’t cheap and cheap work isn’t good!  Make sure you have a good brow expert to guide you.