Brows 101

I’m sure we all have done things to our brows that we might end up hating. One of my pet peeves as a makeup artist is over-plucked brows. You know, the ones where the brows look like a hook – thick and round near the bridge of the nose and very thin on the tail. Brows play such an important role in makeup since they create a frame for our eyes. If our eyes are the windows to our soul, then the brows are the frames around the window.

So, usually, I get my brows done at Trade Secret. I get them waxed there for only a mere $5, it’s quick and painless and I like that they don’t over do it. I like my brows to look a bit natural and not too thin. Since I’m quite low-maintenance in terms of daily makeup, I don’t usually fill my brows. Thus, I prefer a more natural thicker looking brows so that I don’t have to fill them out every time I leave the house.

Now, $5 is not that expensive, but sometimes I just get so busy that I don’t have time to go to the malls to get my brows done! I know some other places probably charged more, so I like to have an alternative where I can do my own brows.

Fellow makeup junkies, please meet Anastasia of Beverly Hills Beauty Express For Brows and Eyes. This is my go-to products whenever I have to do my own brows or to create a different brow shapes for photoshoots. This product was send to me by Steven from The Confluence (Thanks, Steve!). I actually already have a pack of stencil and my all-time favorite: Anastasia Brow Wiz.

Anyhow, this Beauty Express kit is GENIUS! Everything works as long as you follow the instruction properly. The brow powders are the perfect colour! Even though I have dark hair, it doesn’t mean that I have to use a black shadow. Only those of African descent gets away with using black shadow as brow powder.

So, inside the kit, you receive:

  • A brush
  • 5 brow stencils – Petite, Medium, High, Slim High and Full Arch
  • A wax
  • 2 brow powders
  • A highlighter-shadow duo
  • A mirror and instruction
Anastasia Express Brow Kit
Anastasia Express Brow Kit
Anastasia Express Brow Kit
Anastasia Brow Powder

 

Anastasia Express Brow Kit
Anastasia Angled Brush

 

Anastasia Brow Stencils
Anastasia Brow Stencils

All you have to do is follow the instruction and you’re good to go!

  1. Pick the stencil of your choice. I picked Petite Arch since it fits my brows nicely. I suggest you do the same so that you can find your match! 🙂
  2. Before I do anything, I used a spooly and brush my brow hair upwards and trimmed excess. This is because my brow hair naturally falls downwards and it changes the shape of my brows. So, I always trimmed them first.
  3. Once I trimmed my brows, I applied the wax from the kit using the brush (also from the kit). The wax will help to adhere the brow powders better. I cleaned my brush after I applied the wax.
  4. Next, I placed the stencil according to the instruction. This can be a challenged if it is your first time since the stencil might slide all over the place. Just give it a good grip!
  5. Using the darkest powder, I applied it to my brows following the stencil’s outline. When you remove the stencil, you should be able to see the shape of your new brows!
  6. Now, it’s time to tweeze some brows! I used a pointy tweezer from Tweezerman. The pointy tweezer allows me to pluck individual hair.
  7. I tweezed hairs that are not covered by the brow powder.
    • I plucked the hair slowly – anything above or below the outline gotta go!
    • One mirror right in front of you for detailed work and one mirror (about a meter) away from you. This way you can always check whether you’ve plucked enough hair or you’ve over-plucked
  8. Repeat step 2-7 on the other brows.
Anastasia Express Brow Kit
How-to use Anastasia Brow Stencil

The highlighter-shadow duo from the kit can be used when you applied makeup to highlight your brow bones.

What if you over-plucked?

Don’t worry! Once you realized you’ve over-plucked STOP TWEEZING! No, tweezing some more will not save it, so put down the tweezer down. Do your other brow and be careful not to over-pluck the other brow. Whenever you’re ready to do your brow makeup, take the stencil out again. This time, use a mix of the 2 powders to fill in your overplucked brow(s). Gently fill in your brows, don’t put too much. Use a spooly to brush any excess powder on your brows. Now, if you have big gaps due to the overplucking, take Anastasia Brow Wiz and lightly draw in individual hair. If you completely has very little hair left, you might want to get the Anastasia Brow Pen to draw a more natural individual hair.

This will also work if you have very little or sparse hair due to medical or genetic reasons.

You’ll be surprised at how much your brows’ shape change the way you look! Done correctly and you’ll look a lot more polished! 🙂