01: Eyebrow not to Overpluck!

Overplucking eyebrows.  I'm sure many of you, myself included, have committed this foul mistake once upon a time.  

If you were of plucking age in the mid to late nineties, then most likely you maintained pencil-thin brows and have never been able to grow them back the same way.  Areas either have bald spots or a formation of stray hairs and filling in with product is required. 

So now we should know better than to pick up on trends hazardous to our eyebrows.  While last season's runway shows have dabbled with bleached brows and what not, unless you are a model about to strut your stuff on the catwalk for large sums, then just don't go there.  Eyebrows frame the face and every face shape calls for a different brow shape.  Not that everything has to be so by-the-book, but work out something that closely resembles your natural arch.  Besides, thicker brows are back in effect (and hopefully here to stay).

When it comes to products, I feel that it is best when 1 shade lighter is used for brunettes (think dark brown for black hair) and 1 shade darker for those with light hair (hazel or light brown for natural blondes).  Barely there brows and those that just need filling (like mine), need an almost equal amount of product.  It is up to you whether you are more comfortable using pencil, gel, powder or a combination.  Just make sure that your brows are not too far apart, there is a subtle fading out on the inner corners, and that your "tails" are long enough.

208 has been treating my brows well

Personally, I have moods for each type, but more often that not, I use a combination of gel and powder.  Using a clean mascara wand, I brush brows in place then with an angled brush like the MAC 208, I fill them by following the natural arch.  Finally, I take the gel to blend the color of the real hairs with what has been filled in and to keep them in place.

Loooove this stuff

My favorite product at the moment is the Vincent Longo Bi-brow Powder and Pomade pot that I received as a birthday gift.  Without having to bring out your smudger, a q-tip or any other tool aside from your angled brush (if you don't have a 208 then just make sure it is firm but still soft), you can create a very clean looking brow.  

My trusty oriental store angled brow brush

Here is a before and after for a 1940s makeover that I did using the Vincent Longo product:

Before

After

Since Vincent Longo products aren't available here just yet and if you aren't willing to order online then other great alternatives are Brow Manicure by Shu Uemura (mascara-like gel), MAC's Brow Finisher (complete kit), Mary Kay's brow gels and powders (easier on the pockets too), or Maybelline's Brow Definist (pencil w/smudger) & styling gel.

Every beautiful picture deserves a simple and elegant frame.  Let me reiterate that brows serve as the frame for our faces so as much as possible, let us give them a classic appearance.  We may have made boo-boos in the past and have stunted the growth of our brows, but like Calvin Klein said "it takes makeup to look natural".

I do hope this post serves you well and on that note, let us all say it together: "Eyebrow not to Overpluck!"

<3

Makeup by Monique Jaramillo-Seneres 
Email: moniquejseneres@gmail.com
Cell: 0917-804-9947
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