I went in today to get my eyebrows professionally fixed at the only Ulta/beauty store within a close enough range... It's in Pocatello... An hour away... Yeah... Living in Potatoland (aka Idaho/aka Rexburg, ID/aka The state with more cows than there are people...)
Anyways!
Since I was... maybe 15 or so, I had gotten my eyebrows waxed at one of those hole-in-the wall nail salons for about $5. They turned out ok... I didn't care how they turned out. I wasn't that picky. Then I went through a period where I didn't really care about my eyebrows and semi-fixed them myself, with awful results. Here is my problem...
Incoming awkward looking stare...
With this in mind, I got in to threading my eye brows in October of 2012 and kept getting them threaded until about April of 2014 because on two occasions the women that threaded my eye brows over threaded my left eyebrow, wanting to even it out with the right, but the right one is super imperfect!!!!!!
Then I happened to walk into the new Ulta located in the city of South Gate, California. They had just opened up that center and the Ulta, and I figured I would go in to give it a look and then lo' and behold, I saw this!!!!!
Note: This is not an actual picture of the Benefit Brow Bar in the Ulta in South Gate, but they all pretty much look the same, or at least all of the ones I have been to.
THE BENEFIT COSMETICS BROW BAR!!!! >_< ***angelic choir***
I saw one of the attendants work on a customer's brows and figured I would ask how much their services were, and if I might possibly get my eyebrows fixed. She said she had an appointment after her current client, but if she didn't show up, she would be glad to help me. I was in luck, because the next client didn't show up. A sweet doll by the name of Ilse (pronounced something like "eel-se," with a Spanish accent) helped me save my brows! She, along with all other Benefit brow bar girls, have been professionally trained on the art and magic of the brow... Yes I am being dramatic, but Benefit Cosmetics is one of the most prestigious cosmetic companies in the world. Heck, they even published a book about eye brows titled Raising Eyebrows: Your Personal Guide to Fabulous Brows by Cameron Tuttle. It's a fun read that takes you through the history of eyebrows (yes, you read that right) and the importance of your eyebrows in the scheme of your face.
Let's put it this way, if your brows are not fixed and fabulous, the rest of your makeup will fall short of looking fabulous too. When your eyebrows are nice and neat, the rest of your face can look much more put together, it frames your face better, and I swear it makes you look about 10 pounds lighter!
Now back to the importance of the Benefit Brow Bar. These women are seriously trained to fix your brows to your specific face specifications. They start by using brow powder to lightly draw out the beginning of your brow, your arch and the end point of your brow. Then they "connect the dots" to create your perfect brow shape. Then you are waxed outside these lines. A bit of tweezing is done to get the little buggers that didn't get caught with the waxing. They also trim your eyebrows. They use Benefit products to also relax your skin, since it just went through a ton of irritation. Lastly, they fill in your brows with powder and a brow pencil to make them reach PERFECTION!
They suggest products to keep normal maintenance, like filling them in on your own. I only own one Benefit product for my brows and that is the Benefit "Gimme Brow." It's a simple tinted gel that helps you start fixing your brows by filling them in a little and pretty much keeps them in place while you work on your brows. The rest of the brow products I own are by Anastasia Beverly Hills.
I use Anastasia "Brow Wiz" thin pencil, "Brow Powder Duo," the Clear Gel, the "Brow Duality" pencil to define my brow bone after I finish filling them in, and I'm currently practicing with the Dip Brow Pomade. It's pretty much a waterproof tinted wax that fills in your brows and seals them tight. It's one of their newer products and still need some practice with it. I am using the shade Medium Brown, but I sometimes bring in the Soft Brown shade, depending on where I need a bit more definition. You can find these products on the Anastasia.net website, Sephora, Ulta and Nordstrom. The advantage of using Anastasia products is there color range. They have 10 different colored brow powders, 9 brow pencil colors, and 8 different colored brow pomades. And the stuff works great!!!!
I know, I keep digressing... Now, getting your eye brows professionally waxed costs $20. I know! A lot more than my old days of getting them waxed at the $5 place, but you leave with will groomed brows that lasts you about 3 weeks, or at least that's around the time I need to go back to tame these bad boys. They offer other serves as well such a brow tinting, facial waxing, and lash application.
The main point of this point is to explain the importance of getting your brows groomed by those who were really trained in the art of the brows. My current brow girl is Breanne. Make sure to search online to see if your local Ulta, and even certain Macy's, offer the Benefit Brow Bar services.
I also wanted to share with you my haul from this Ulta trip, because I can never resists coming out of that store without something!
I got a "clamp less" 1 inch curling iron by Hot Tools, a NYX cream blush in Boho Chic, an Urban Decay lip liner in Ozone (clear colored), Big Sexy Hair: What a Tease Back Comb in a Bottle and the new OPI Coca-Cola mini nail polish collection (also available in regular sizes, but wanted to try all of them).
Well, that is it for this post. Thank you for reading this loooong, practically scatter brained, post on the magic of eyebrows.
-Jess
No comments:
Post a Comment