I've always plucked my own eyebrows, but a few months back, I realized they were looking a little sparse. (Okay, I had accidentally tweezed them into oblivion.) So when I was given a gift certificate to the Warren|Tricomi salon in my Los Angeles neighberhood, I decided to make an appointment for an eyebrow shaping and tinting with Kristie Streicher and see if she could help.
Kristie--who herself looks like she belongs walking the red carpet--has worked with celebrities from Julia Roberts to Molly Sims in her ten years as an eyebrow specialist. Still, I was surprised by just how polished I looked after she tinted, tweezed and trimmed my brows. Now, I'm happy to say my eyebrows are no longer in critical condition. In fact, they're pretty much perfect.
We gave you the step-by-step on the perfect pluck a while back, and now Kristie has been kind enough to exclusively share her list of expert eyebrow-grooming dos and don'ts with the Stylelist crowd.
Do...
Relax!
"I always say 'sisters, not twins' when it come to eyebrows," says Kristie. "Try as we might to get them completely symmetrical, you have two completely different hair patterns and amounts of hair on each side of the face."
Avoid tweezing for at least three weeks before going in for the kill.
"This allows you to see the natural growth pattern and shape of your eyebrows."
Get comfortable.
Choose a cozy, well-lit space. "Get a pair of good tweezers with sharp slanted edges and pull hairs in the direction of growth," Kristie says. "Hold skin taut while you are tweezing." She also suggests numbing the area with childrens teething gel to minimize the ouch factor, or tweezing post-shower, when hairs are easier to pluck.
Stay inside the lines.
When it comes down to it, the shape that will look best will be a cleaned-up version of the one you've already got. "Not sure where your eyebrows should be? Run your finger along your eyebrow bone," Kristie advises. "If you draw an invisible line from the corner of the nose straight up towards the forehead, this is where the eyebrows should start. The arch should fall just outside the pupil and should go all the way across the brow bone."
Try a little dye.
Kristie says that "using vegetable dyes to either lighten or darken the eyebrows is the best way to soften a hard look or add fullness and definition to a lighter, sparse-looking eyebrow." Ask your salon about tints, which usually fade in about a month and don't leave any visible 'roots'.
Fill in the blanks.
"Powder works best on oily skins and pencil on more mature or drier skins," says Kristie. If you're trying to let your eyebrows grow in--as I was for many months--filling in the holes is vital. Kristie recommends choosing a shade or two lighter than your hair color.
Don't...
Go overboard.
"Not only do eyebrows serve as the frame to your eyes and face," Kristie says, "but their main function is to keep irritants out of our eyes." In other words, take it easy. "Brush eyebrows straight up and trim the hairs that stick out too far, one at a time. Then do the same brushing hair down."
Act like you're pulling weeds.
One at a time, people! "After pulling a few hairs, step back and look at the entire face," says Kristie. Which leads us to our next don't...
Get too close.
"If you can't see the hair in a regular mirror then neither can anyone else," Kristie says. Take my word for it: magnified mirrors are dangerous, dangerous tools when it comes to eyebrow plucking. I learned the hard way.
Be afraid to take a little off the top.
"It is an old eyebrow myth that is heard too often to 'never' tweeze from the top," Kristie explains. "Every eyebrow is different, and while some don't need this, it is often required to achieve the perfect shape." Just make sure to save this step for last to prevent making them too thin.
Overextend yourself.
"Eyebrows that are too long and come too far down can make eyes look droopy," says Kristie. "Be sure to feather ends outward, giving the eye a lift."