I had my eyebrows first analysed by an eyebrow artist last year. I now realise that it was very late in my life and I only wished it happened sooner. Since this first session with an eyebrow expert, I never step out without grooming, trimming or colouring my brows. I love them and needed a refresh so I visited the Dermatology Institute of Victoria located in South Yarra and met with Alani. She showed me the best way to continue shaping my brows correctly.
It would have been great if someone told me when I was younger NOT TO PLUCK!!! I look at my photos and think ‘What the…. was I thinking walking around with eyebrows like that?’
Young girls (and guys) should not hack at their brows without knowing what they are doing. Most importantly they should learn how to tame and trim the cowlick, which are those funny hairs that grow in different directions located at the start of the brow. Many people pluck these hairs and if you do you can potentially ruin the shape and thickness of your eyebrows for life.
Alani is an eyebrow specialist at the Institute and was Benefit’s first eyebrow specialist in Australia. Trained in San Francisco she has seen thousands of brows throughout her career which spans over eight years as an eyebrow specialist, but 16 years in the beauty industry.
Step 1 – Eyebrow Mapping
Our session started with Alani mapping my brows. While I held a mirror up close to my face she showed me how to shape them. Most of her clients are not sure what the best shape is for their brows. If you are one of these people I strongly suggest you invest time and money seeing someone like Alani learn how to shape and style your own eyebrows.
Alani spends a lot of time educating her clients so they’re not a slave to their eyebrows and walk away feeling confident in doing their brows themselves.
Step 2 – Cleansing the Eyebrows
After we spent some time chatting about the shape of my brows it was time to get them cleaned and prepped for colour. Basically, this was a nice gentle massage. I could have fallen asleep, it was so relaxing.
Step 3 – Tinting
Tinting your eyebrows perks them up by colouring and dyeing those invisible hairs. Alani tailors the colour to suit the client from platinum blonde to black hair including red hair. She explains that the brow should be one to two shades darker than the hair and they last two to four weeks.
I personally would have never considered tinting my eyebrows. But just looking at my ‘before and after’ photo below my eye colour really pops out and I love this look. So I am a fan of tinting and will continue to tint my brows myself.
Step 4 – Waxing
After tinting my brows Alani applied pre-wax oil to soothe and protect the sensitive skin surrounding the eyebrows before she waxed them. She suggests waxing in the middle first and then the top to create the shape. You should then finish by waxing the underneath of the brow to refine the shape. Alani also trimmed my brows where needed.
Step 5 – Fill in the gaps
Now it’s time to fill in the gaps. In my case, I have a stubborn section that will never grow back. So I will fake that section until the day that I die by applying powder and brow gel to ensure my brow hairs cover that spot and stay in place all day.
To fill in the gaps I personally use this brow kit from Smashbox that I bought from Kit Cosmetics. It’s the perfect shade for my dark brows and I appreciate how they have a dark and a light brown colour so I can mix them to obtain the exact shade I need.
If you haven’t seen an eyebrow artist I strongly recommend you treat yourself to a complete eyebrow makeover. Your brows are unique to you so you have to learn to work with what you have. I would love to see your ‘before and after’ photos. Here are mine below 🙂
Check out my other eyebrow posts below:
