All or Nothing

There are two things going on with eyebrows at the moment; strong definition or bleached out nothingness. It's pretty polarising among makeup artists and I know which camp I'm in. I just love a strong brow; I think it gives the face a beautiful power and it enlarges the eyes so well by making the entire eye space look bigger. In my view there are two types of defined brow; the natural and the unnatural. The shot above shows the unnatural...so called as it is an obvious mis-match for the hair colour but it looks great with the smudgy smokey eye.

This is the natural, strong brow and I think this is my favourite. The brow itself is left at it's true shape and thickness with just the minimal grooming to define the arch. It has been defined with some colour; most probably powder and wax, but very softly...no colour blocking as there is in the first picture. This is a great day to day brow that looks amazing.

I have two favourite products that I use to define brows. The Brow Zing by Benefit is fantastic as it's a complete kit with tweezers, brushes, powder and wax. It comes in a variety of shades so match the colour to your brows or as close as you can get. I've used these kits for years. Apply the colour through the hairs with the slanted brush using light feathery strokes. Concentrate the colour from the arch outwards following the shape of your brows. Don't try to draw in a new shape; it always looks bad. Apply a tiny amount of the wax on top to set the hairs and take care of any of those little hairs that always seem to grow out at a 90 degree angle!

For the darker brow I like to use one of the brow pencils by MAC. They are fantastic for building up density but do take it easy; you are looking for sexy strong eyes not Groucho Marx's sister.

On the other side is Lara Stone. She became famous and got so much more work after she bleached her brows away. Now, I get it, I just don't love it. I think she looks amazing and almost other-worldy but is that what you want?

It's a great high fashion look and as it puts the focus directly on the eyes, it's a good way to showcase interesting eye makeup designs. All you need to copy Lara is a pot of Jolen cream bleach and brush it through the hairs for about five minutes and you'll be whited out...but would you?

Seriously, would you? Which camp are you in?

(first two images via Jennifer Behr and Happenstance)