DIY Part One: Beautiful Brows

Threading, waxing, plucking, trimming, shaping. Exfoliating, moisturising, tanning. Buffing, shining, polishing.

The things we could buy if we saved up our ‘salon money’… According to a survey by the Daily Mail, women spend an average of £653.54 a year on their beauty regime regardless of the state of the economy. It really needn’t be so costly. Which is why I’ve started a “DIY” series to show that most things we pay for at the salons, can be done at home for a fraction of the price. I’ve only been to a beauty salon once, and that was to get my eyebrows shaped. Honestly though, I have never enjoyed my brows as much as when they’ve been shaped by yours truly. Which is why it makes sense to start part one of my “DIY” series with DIY eyebrow shaping. Eyebrow shaping makes a huge difference to your face – you’d be surprised. Here’s how to get the”five minute face lift” at home, for free:

YOU WILL NEED:

Slanted tweezers

Curved cuticle scissors

Eyebrow brush

1. PREPARE:

Try and pluck your brows after a bath or shower. The pores of your skin will be open, making it easier for you to pluck the hairs out. Alternatively, put a warm flannel over your face before starting.

Using an eyeliner, mark out where you want to pluck. The most accurate way of doing this is by making three marks on your face to define where you want your brows to start, arch, and end. Look at this picture of Marilyn Monroe (below). Line A= Where your brows should start. Line B= Where the arch should be. Line C= Where they should end.

To mark this out accurately, find an object with a straight edge – A ruler, an eyebrow brush, your mascara – pretty much anything that is straight will do the trick. Put it against the side of your nose and follow it straight up past the inner corner of your eye. Where the line leads to, at the top near your brow, make a mark with your eyeliner.

Keep the straight edge at the corner of your nose (you will see a pattern emerging here) and slant it so that it goes across the pupil of your eye. Make another mark here. This is where your arch should be.

Finally, keep the edge of your straight line next to your nose (told you) and slant it so that it goes across the outer corner of your eye. Make a mark to show where your brow will end. Repeat on the other brow.

2. PLUCK OFF!

Connect the dots and you have your eyebrow template. Pluck everything in between LINE A of each brow (No one wants a mono-brow).

Tradition tells us that we should not pluck above the brow. The rules are made to be broken. If you have rogue hairs above your brows, pluck them into shape using your template.

Do the same to the bottom. Obviously vary how far you pluck into your eyebrow, depending on how thick or thin you want it to be. The template is there as a guide.

Tip: Pull your skin really taught to make it less painful. If it’s unbearable, use ice cubes. Your skin should get used to it the more you pluck.

3. FINAL STEP (OPTIONAL, BUT EFFECTIVE)

Take your eyebrow brush and brush your brows up. Trim down any hairs that stray over your template.

Brush your brow hairs downwards and again, anything that strays over the template, trim it down to size.

Now your brows should be neat and not get easily ruffled.

Don’t get overzealous with the tweezers because the end result will not be pretty. If you make a mistake, you can fill in the line with an eyebrow pencil, BUT drawing the majority of your eyebrows on will leave you looking permanently surprised so be careful.

Bye bye bushy brows!