How to pluck, sculpt and tame those brows to perfection

The year of the brow: how to pluck, sculpt and tame those brows to perfection

From tinting to tattooing, the brow industry is booming. Sheree Mutton speaks to the experts about the latest in perfecting your eyebrows.

Rewind 35 years and it was the supreme arches of hair above Brooke Shields’ green eyes in The Blue Lagoon that sparked a brow revolution.

Today, it is Cara Delevingne. The young model and actress’ natural power brows have captured the attention of the beauty world and after a long hiatus in the 1990s, the fuller brow look is back.

Yet it’s more than just a celebrity trend. Make-up artists and brow experts claim that a fuller, well-shaped brow can change the structure of the face and rewind the clock – some are even calling 2015 the year of the brow!

“A good professional eyebrow shape can enhance your facial features, opening up the eyes and highlighting the angles of your cheekbones and jawline,” says Steve

Supple, brow specialist at Lattouf Hair & Day Spa in Sydney. “It can also take away those shadows that create a tired look and take years off, by giving you that natural facelift.”

The first step is to put down the tweezers and let the eyebrow hairs grow back. The second is to book a brow sculpt appointment with a professional, says celebrity brow specialist Amy Jean Linnehan, of Amy Jean Eye Couture whose clients include Dannii Minogue and Mel B. “Have them demonstrate and explain why a pencil, powder, putty or gel might work best for your type of brow,” she says.

For those who like to manage their own brows, pencils, gels and mascaras can give you a better shape. “Using an ash pencil lightly through the ends of the hairs, filling any gaps with stroke marks to replicate hairs and then softening with a brow brush will also help to fill in anywhere that may have suffered natural shedding or overplucking, and awaiting new growth,” says Steve Supple. “A brown mascara or creamtextured product will also help to give the brow that fuller, thicker look.”

If you’re among the few lucky ones who have been genetically blessed with great brows, maintenance should be easy.

“Check the brows every second day for the new growth and wayward hairs needing to be removed,” says Steve. “Many people can have a tendency to over-pluck and can wait months for some of those hairs to grow back – if at all – so take care not to go too high into the shape that has been created for you.”

Take a look at some of the brow products we love.