The evolution of the eyebrow

From Ancient Greece, to modern day, the eyebrow has undergone quite a lot of changes. Some of the trends are cyclical, some (hopefully) are one offs. But it’s definitely safe to say that eyebrows are not just a modern day obsession.

In Ancient Greece, the unibrow was king

The 1920s saw the arrival of the pencil thin curved brow

By the 1940s some sense had been recovered thanks to the gorgeous arches of stars like Lauren Bacall

This trend has remained as a staple ever since. However there have been variations. For example the bushy brows of the 1980s

They went super thin again in the 90s.

Which brings us to the defined, albeit slightly over made up, arches of today.

But when done properly, they can look pretty peng.

What’s next for the eyebrow?

Mac Cinderella Collection

Mac is releasing their Cinderella collection to coincide with the movie release in March.

It will consist of:

Two lipsticks. The more pinky nude is Royal Ball and the browner nude is Free as a Butterfly.

Two lipglasses in Happily Ever After and Glass Slipper (almost identical, right?)

One eyeshadow palette:

Two ‘Eye Glosses’ in Lightly Tauped and Pearl Varnish

This is a new type of product, one that I haven’t seen from Mac before. It seems to be one of those sheer ultra glossy cream eyeshadows.

There’s also a line of Fluidline gel liners in two different colours: Little Black Bow and Macrviolet

There are two gorgeous looking powder highlighter in Coupe D’Chic and Mystery Princess

Three pressed pigments (although one is actually glitter!) in Reflects Pearl, Evil Stepmother and Pretty It Up:

The Olive pigment seems a bit incongruous with the rest of the collection but hey, its Mac.

There’s also a mascara and two brushes (boring)

I have to say this is the nicest collection to come out of Mac in a while. The movie doesn’t seem like much to get excited about (Its certainly no ‘Into The Woods’) but at least the makeup is cute. I wonder if any of the normal public will be able to get hold of any of the products before the sell out.

What colour eyebrow pencil should you be using?

In a society obsessed with eyebrows, it can seem like having the perfect brows is the most important thing in the world. Its not. But it can be a nice bonus. If you are blessed with naturally good eyebrows, finding the right eyebrow pencil is as simple as just matching it to your brow colour. But if, like me, your natural brows are almost nonexistent, you have to start with practically a blank canvas.

There are two basic rules for eyebrow colour.

• If you have light hair, select a colour one or two shades darker than your hair colour
• If you have dark hair, select a colour one or two shades lighter than your hair colour

Its that simple.

For example, when I was blonde I used Mac’s eyebrow pencil in Lingering

I went two shades darker than my blonde hair.

And now my hair is mostly brown, I can use the same shade of pencil because it is one shade lighter than my current hair colour!

So that worked out pretty well.

And remember, these are just guidelines. If you want blue eyebrows, have blue eyebrows. Its only eyebrows.

If you want to tint your eyebrows at home, DO NOT use this product

I have an eyebrow deficiency. It makes no sense seeing I have dark hair and dark eyes, but for some reason my eyebrows are completely see through. They’re a weird clear grey colour so I often have to rely on tints and makeup to give myself brows. I have never died my eyebrows at home before but I thought it would save time and money so I bought Eylure’s Pro-Brow Dye Kit.

These were my brows before:

Excuse their state, you can’t use dye on freshly plucked brows so I have grown them out.

These were my brows during the dye:

And then this is after…

Seriously. And I left the dye on for 5 minutes instead of the recommended 2. They are tinted but it is so light and so subtle that it is hardly noticeable. If anything my eyebrows looked better before. Maybe the black tint would have worked better than the brown but I won’t be wasting my money on finding out. In future I’ll just let the professionals work their magic.

See in the new year with some Bling Brows!

The latest trend from Benefit are their ‘Bling Brows’. A set of Swarovski stones and all the kit needed to apply them yourself.

You can decorate your brows any way you want with a choice of coloured stones. You can buy the kit ($25) or get the experts to do apply them in the store for $5.

This look is like extreme highlighter. The ultimate way to get that perfect brow bone shimmer. And great for the party season if you want a look that turns heads. Or just where them in the day, out and about, because why not. You’re fabulous.

Bright Brows

During my fashion week beauty round ups, I briefly mentioned one of the neon brow looks and how to recreate it. But I didn’t go into detail. I keep seeing this look everywhere so I thought I would try it for myself in a variety of different ways that don’t involve any pre bleaching.

For the first method, I just used a lip liner pencil (Mac’s Embrace Me) without any base on the brows:

Obviously I need to get my eyebrows done so ignore the shape, but without any base I thought this worked well. Because its a pencil it was easy to control, however you can still see my hair colour underneath.

The next method I used was applying a base of white pencil, and then going over the brows with a matte eyeshadow:

In terms of covering up my natural brow colour, this worked well. You just need to make sure the eyeshadow you use is pigmented enough to create a more opaque look.

The third method I used was lipstick applied with an eyebrow brush:

This probably worked the least well because despite using a matte lipstick, it still created a very sheer look. When colouring your eyebrows, sheer is the last thing you want.

Finally I used my new Velvetines dupe lip colour, applied with its own wand, and gone over with a Mac lip liner in Currant:

This method was the best for covering my natural eyebrows, but mainly because I used a dark colour. Because the lacquer applies wet and dries matte, it was really good at creating a matte opaque look that lasts all day. It lasts so well in fact that it was hard to take off.

Regardless, this is a fun, albeit bold, look and its a creative take on the eyebrow obsession of the nation.