BEAUTIFUL BROWS 101

Agyness Deyn Photo: Anthea Simms

Arches de Triomphe

If you’re looking all bright-eyed and bushy-browed, you’ll want to head Benefit’s Brow Bar, stat. The new beauty spot at Holt Renfrew is dedicated entirely to brow shaping, tweaking and waxing and their team of estheticians will transform your caterpillars from Frida to fantastic in minutes. FLARE spoke to arch aficionado Hilary Price, Benefit’s VP of Brow Services, to find out what it takes to get those golden arches.

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Benefit’s Brow Bar in Toronto Benefit’s Brow Bar in Toronto

What does a well-defined brow do for the face?

It emphasizes your eyes, defines your bone structure, makes your cheekbones appear higher, your nose slimmer, and your eyes look lifted. It can literally make you look ten years younger – instantly.

What are the biggest mistakes women make when it comes to their brows?

They usually go too thin. When you try to do it yourself, your brows will never be completely even because your balance and perspective is off. Just like women can’t cut their own hair, most people can’t tweeze their own brows. Waxing is always best. When you tweeze or thread, you’re breaking the hair off at the skin level – which is why when you thread it looks great the first day but then it grows back two days later. With waxing you are actually capturing the entire hair at the root, which means slower, thinner grow back.

How often should your brows be waxed?

Every 3-4 weeks, depending on how often the hair grows. People with thinner or lighter hair can go four to five weeks without even having to think about them.

How does the brow bar differ from the services of an esthetician?

Estheticians just follow the client’s existing brow line but we really do a custom shape for every person. It would be really easy for us to just come in and follow the same line that you have – which is a good line – but why not make it a little bit better and find the best shape for you?

How long does a normal sitting take?

About 15-20 minutes, with a consultation. We check on any pertinent medical information, how their brow products are working for them, and we address any seasonal skin issues they may have.

Benefit’s Hilary Price in action. Benefit’s Hilary Price in action.

How does Benefit come up with the perfect brow?

The Benefit brow is customized for every person but this is the foolproof guide:

– From the side of the nose up through the inner corner of the eye is where your brow should start. Mark it with a brown pencil because if you start your brows out too wide, it can actually make the nose appear wider and the eyes appear further set.
– Determine your arch by looking straight and hold the pencil up from the outer edge of the iris.
– Lastly, keep moving the pencil at an angle against your nostril until it meets the edge of the outer eye. Where the end of the pencil now meets the eyebrow is your eyebrow’s ending point.

What’s the current brow shape trend?

Right now it’s really full, dark and well-arched, almost a return to Brooke Shields brows. But the thing that’s more important than following trends is to look at what’s best for the amount of brow hair you have and your face shape, and then adapt it to the trends from there.

How should girls approach filling in their brows?

To keep the look natural go with a shade that matches the colour of your brow hair not your hair colour. If you try to use a different colour, you see the hairs on top of what was drawn in. Also avoid using just a powder alone as it tends to stick to your skin, not the hair, which looks very unnatural. Use a soft pencil with a powder and move in very short, soft motions, almost as if you are mimicking the look of real hair. Never do a solid line because that’s not natural.

How should women of different ethnicities manage their brows?

Asian brows tend to be straight across and grow down so trimming is a really important part of shaping the brow because you want maximum lift to open up the eyes.

For Hispanic and Middle-Eastern women, it’s incredibly important that they wax the brow because their hair has a tendency to grow back full and in a wider span in between the two brows and past the brow bone.

African women should have their brows professionally groomed because they can be very curly so you want someone who knows how to trim and shape them.

Benefit trains its brow experts to work with every single different kind of woman and we’ve been shaping brows for almost 30 years so we’re pretty good at it!

Benefit Brow Bar is available at Holt Renfrew Bloor Street in Toronto, 50 Bloor St. W., 416-922-2333 Ext. 2599.

Get more expert brow tips in FLARE’s March issue.

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