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Perfecting the Art of Conversuasion

perfect eyebrows

Face of the Day, Galactic-Style

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A short time ago in a theme park far, far away…

Okay, so it’s not *that* far away. (Only a 5-hour direct flight!) I had looked forward to this event for months, and when the time finally came, I was ready to morph into one of the greatest, most sassy droids known to mankind. This past Monday, at Mickey’s Halloween Party at Disneyland, I dressed up as the iconic R2-D2. (Click here for more details on my costume.)

My husband went as himself.
IMG_0739Okay, okay, he didn’t actually go as himself. He dressed up as the ultimate nerd! High-waisted pants and a matching bow tie to boot. (He even has that mouth/ jaw thing going on… it’s quite precious.)

To offset the whole Star Wars-geek thing, I opted for sultry, come-hither makeup using ARTDECO Cosmetics. Identified by its on-trend and fashion-forward designs, ARTDECO has been a cult favourite in Europe for years, and is now available in Canada at select Shoppers Drug Mart stores! Here’s how you can emulate the look, whether you’re trick-or-treating or enjoying date night. …

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Put Your Best Eyebrows Forward

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I have an eyebrow obsession. Some people have good hair days… I have good eyebrow days. 

I tend to be vain about them, too. That’s why I couldn’t resist taking this photo last night – chillin’ in bed with the kiddos, I realized that my eyebrows were quite awesome. So of course I Instagrammed the picture and tagged it #goodeyebrowday.

Eyebrow ObsessionI know, I’m very strange.

Now you may be asking yourself, What’s the secret to perfect eyebrows? Well, there really isn’t a secret at all. You just need to remember three things:

1. Your eyebrow shape has been pre-designed to perfectly frame your eyes and provide expression to your face. Balance and proportion are what the human eye perceives as beautiful, so always work with your natural shape vs. trying to tweeze them into an unnatural arch.

2. If you have gone overboard and tweezed your brows into thin lines (or the dreaded “comma” shape), grow them back. Many women will claim that after over-tweezing, their eyebrows won’t grow back. However, unless you’ve been tweezing for 30+ years, it’s hard to permanently damage the hair follicle.

You just need to be super patient (re-growth can take up to 6 months) and put up with unpolished brows for a season or two. This past winter, I successfully grew back 30% of my brows by leaving them alone.

3. Regardless of your eyebrow state, use a brow pencil or brow powder to define the shape and fill in sparse areas. You’ll need a steady hand, and a lot of practice. (Hint: if you look like Groucho Marx, wipe if off and start again.) You can even purchase handy eyebrow stencils (yes, stencils!) from Sephora, but I don’t prefer them as they force you to create a new shape vs. defining your own.

Here are my tools of the trade:

Tweezerman Tweezer. Positively the finest general use tweezer in the world – top eyebrow artists always recommend the original Slant tweezer for expert brow shaping. The perfectly aligned, hand-filed tips grab every hair, every time with true precision.

CoverGirl Brow & Eyemakers Pencil. Create beautiful brows with this incredibly versatile pencil. It has a soft hue and powdery finish, and offers the perfect amount of coverage when applied with a light, feathery stroke. Best of all, the two-pack of pencils retails for about $5.00!

My very best tip when using an eyebrow pencil is to ensure your brows are darker than your hair colour. The biggest mistake I see is when women use a light or medium brown eyebrow pencil/powder when they have dark brown or blonde hair. Even natural blondes have dark brown brows, people! Stick to midnight brown and you’ll be good to go, regardless of your hair colour.

Do you have questions about shaping or filling eyebrows? I’m here to help! After years of obsessing over my own, I consider myself quite the expert on the subject.