by Emma Parlons
Is the big brow taking a bow? Where does the wag arch end? And what on earth is the ‘boy brow’? If these questions confuse you as much as they did me, let me take you on my eyebrow educating journey as I discovered how short, long, drawn, dyed, arched and even bejewelled (as was experimented with by Chanel’s creative director Peter Philips at the recent fashion shows) the funny strip of hair above our eyes should be.
Along with boyfriend jeans and grandfather jumpers, the boy brow is very much on trend this season. And it is bold and bushy so wave goodbye to your thin arch and head for the Benito Brow Bar where the Back to Wow three-visit treatment, £75 leaves you tinted, toned and honed – ready to walked the streets with a perfectly groomed brow.
As with most trends, the reality sets in pretty early on that we won’t ‘look good in it’ so for those, like me, who don’t fancy a flashback of my mono-brow of teenage years, you need to reassess the look you are going for.
The truth is that brow-in-the-past accidents are on every street corner and changing your brow shape with the seasons is not really advisable. On the search for remedies for less than perfect brows, I found some eye-raising recently launched products. Most groomed faces prefer threading but tweezing and waxing remain a common approach. Winner of many beauty awards, Nad’s Facial Wand Eyebrow Shaper, £8.99 removes unwanted hairs with its specially-designed precision head, however, do take care whilst waving this wand as its magic powers do not stretch to reversing any hair removal spell. The Browlicious Nourishing Brow Serum, £19 contains a plenitude of active antioxidants, stimulating plant oils and powerful moisturising agents which claim to encourage growth and thickness when applied daily. And finally, no make up bag is ever complete without a trusty pair of tweezers. On the constant attack against those devilish strays, Alida’s Tweezers With Attitude, depicting one of eight cartoon femme fatales, are the closest we will all get to having brows as perfect as Carrie Bradshaw, Jackie Onassis and Victoria Beckham.
They do say it is who you know and not what you know and in the case of beauty, this has never been more true. So, now might be the time to confess who is saved in my brow speed dial. Enter Queen of all brows, Vaishaly. Needing no surname nor additional recommendation, Vaishaly’s clinic (from £35) on Paddington Street is where she transforms brows, along with her precise and talented ladies-in-waiting. With clients such as Elle Macpherson and Nigella Lawson amongst others, her team of threaders take their job very seriously and only allow you to leave with precisely perfect brows. I popped in for my monthly brow tidy and took the opportunity to quiz her regarding current brow trends. She warned me against the boyish brows confirming that,
‘it is really important that you have big eyes to carry this off. If you don’t have big eyes this can really weigh your eyes down and look too heavy making the eyes appear smaller which can be very ageing and make one look very tired.’
However, regarding our old friend, the arched eyebrow, she added
‘this is a look that most people can carry off. The smaller the eyes, the higher the arch should be to really open them up.’
Statement brows, wow brows, overgrown brows, immaculately arch brows. . . Just make a brow decision following your natural shape, fix them in place with Dr Bronner’s Naked Organic Balm, £3.99 and stick to it.
Read more from Emma on her blog Life of Yablon