Tweeze it out

THE spring face is minimalist. Super- clean and super-bare. Almost like a 1990s Calvin Klein ad – stripped back, androgynous, nude.

It’s a tough look to nail, but it does feel fresh and youthful. It’s also very simple, making it ideal ‘day wear’. But beyond the fact that you need beautiful skin to carry it off to perfection, the one essential you’ll find you need are decent eyebrows.

The eyebrow is a curious thing. It can alter your look in a second. Go too thick and you can edge into Colin Farrell territory (which on a lady ain’t so hot); go too thin and it all gets a bit Marlene Dietrich. And this season the brow has a look all of its own: it’s strong, defining and face-framing. Think late-1970s Mariel Hemmingway, or even 1980s Brooke Shields – strong, elemental, directional brows.

First off, you have to make sure that the brow that you’re sporting is the brow that re-ally suits your face. Wear a bad brow and people won’t be able to stop staring at it. I know this because the cashier girl in my local supermarket has a brow that mystifies me. And not in a good way. Any time we inter-act, it is the only thing I notice. So how to get the shape that suits you. Well, first off you should aim to improve on what nature has given you. Honestly, it’s the best way. Of course if nature has slapped a monobrow on your forehead, you won’t be feeling too pleased, but unless you want to go the way of Frieda Kahlo, you can easily tweeze it back to a more socially acceptable growth. The main thing is not to try and give yourself a totally different shape. Tweeze too thin and you’ll regret it. Sometimes those babies never grow back.

If you’re feeling nervous, let a professional sort it out. Professional shaping (ie, plucking) generally works out well, and if your brow hair is slightly thicker, then threading is a great option. And, of course, if the person about to do work on your brows has her own brows in bad shape, then make your excuses and leave. If she can’t do her own, she’s not going to be able to work any magic on yours.

You can, of course, aim to tackle them yourself. To do this, you need to establish your “natural arch” and shape. A good trick to work out where they should start naturally is to hold up a pencil to the side of your face at the edge of your nose. Your brows should line up to the pencil. Twist the pencil out towards your iris, and this is where your “natu-ral arch” should be.

Once you’ve determined the shape, it’s time to get to work: start off with combing your brows through to work out if you’ve any stray hairs, and then tweeze out any hairs that fall below your desired brow shape. Never tweeze from above, always below.

If you feel in need of a bit of a ‘fill in’, then make sure not to go too over the top. This is really where you can make mistakes, aside from the whole plucking debacle. Pencils work quite well, in my opinion, but shadows are definitely a good option also. It’s more a case of finding a formulation that works with your brow and going with that. Don’t overfill: just go for a very light shad-ing-in effect, so it looks as natural as can be.

If you tend to be a bit wayward in the brow department, then fix them with a little vaseline. Or, if you use hairspray, then spray a smidge on to your fingers and apply some that way. It really does work. All day.