Mastering the Art of the BROW - An architectural approach

The Brow- A powerful feature that is often neglected. 

At this time, most people should know how to tweeze (not pluck, you pluck a chicken) the eye brow, but most people don't know a few tricks of the trade to get the best ideal brow shape to fit their face shape, eye shape, and thickness. 

Lets start with the Face Shape and how that plays an important role in determining the shape of the brow. 

Long Face Shape: This face shape should really pay attention to high arches and elongated points in the brow as it can make the face appear longer. A flatter brow shape can soften and round out the face and compliments the length of the face. 

Round Face Shape: Your goal here is to make the shape appear less round by making the face appear longer.  You can simply achieve this by arching and slightly thinning the brows (as natural as possible) to remove weight and heaviness. You want your brows to achieve a slight angled look vs rounded and flat. 

Square Face Shape: A square jaw is a strong feature and can be balanced with a strong brow or soften it with curves.  A defined sharp peak at the arch can make the brow appear stronger and is recommended.

Tools of the Trade to create and maintain:

• Slanted Tweezers by Tweezerman   http://www.tweezerman.com/
• Clear Brow Gel - I really like MAC Clear Brow Gel as it stays put and no smell 
• 2 Brow Pencils- 2 Shades lighter than your hair color. Darker to sketch in brow hair, and lighter one to fill in the brows for a natural sculpted look. 
• Beauty Scissors- Use to trim long unruly hair- comb hair up and cut off extra long hairs. 
• Hot water with a cotton face towel- This helps to open the bulb of the hair root, making tweezing easy breezy and pain free. 
• For sensitive skin when tweezing, apply baby Oragel and wait 2 minutes before applying. 
• WhichHazel to disinfect and close the pores after tweezing- Great to preclean your tweezers also. 
• Brow Comb -Spinnel Brush
• White eye liner to sketch out unwanted hair and give you an initial shape to tweeze unwanted hair away. Its your road map with clear visible direction. 

Best Shades

Blond: Use a Taupe Color with a cool undertone, warm undertones may turn red or orange on your face once it oxidizes on your skin.

Brown Hair: Use a warm brown, not cool as it can make your skin look green or sallow. Try 2 shades lighter than your hair color.

Black Hair: Use a combination of cool and warm shades to create balance in color. Usually one color would suffice. DONT do a black shade, its too heave and way too dramatic.

What do I think about stencils- If you go to the trouble of buying or needing a stencil- DONT! Leave the shaping and instruction to a real expert.


The Final Checklist: Dos and Don'ts

Lets begin with the BIG NO NO's and then what can can do!

1. Never tweeze with out a plan, make your ideal shape first with your white pencil. 
2. Never tweeze into the basic eyebrow itself. Tweeze only stray hair. 
3. Avoid eye liners as brow pencils, they contain too much oils. Eye brows already produce oil as it is a hair. 
4. Dont remove more than 1 hair at a time- 
5. Play it safe- sanitize your hands and tools. 

OK, now the Good things!

1. Do plan first before you tweeze, stop and take a look your balance and symmetry of your shape. 
2. Use excellent lighting- Day light is the best. 
3. USe finishing gel before powder to set and forget the shade on your eye brow.

For Pro Makeup Artist in the industry, I really recommend that you read and buy THE EYEBROW BOOK by Author & Artist: Robyn Cosio with Cynthia Robins. Its a beautiful read and takes you from centuries and the HISTORY of the brow. Its a must read! 

love & peace, 

Adrian Villa

the makeup artist 

www.adrianvilla.com 

rate and comment please! ;)