A woman’s eyebrows can have a polarizing effect on her face. The two lines of hair above the eyelids can alter one’s face dramatically. For example, Brooke Shields’ thick brows were her signature feature, which made her a hit in the ’80s. Makeover montages in movies always include a tweezing eyebrows scene, it’s that transformative.

Natalie Plain recounts, in her book “The Plain Truth About Brows,” how a photo of her with former President Bill Clinton started her on the path of rehabilitating people’s eyebrows. In the photo, her brows were unkempt and straggly, and she realized how much of an impact eyebrows had on one’s appearance.

This epiphany would eventually lead her to create Billion Dollar Brows, a brand focusing entirely on eyebrows. Their product lineup features tools to help you achieve your best brow ever. In the States, they also have salons where one can go to have their brows shaped and groomed.

According to Natalie, shaping eyebrows is not rocket science, but it does require a little time, knowledge and effort. For all the importance eyebrows have on one’s visage, it is often the last area most women pay attention to, with many still sporting shapeless, messy brows.

The tips detailed in the book are easy to understand and valuable, maybe even life-changing for the unplucked. “Brows allow our faces to maximize their emotional and beauty potential; it is also the simplest and most inexpensive way to change the way you look.”

Here are Natalie’s best tricks to help transform your arches from ruins to architectural marvels.

Avoid ‘cookie-cutter brows’

There is no one-size-fits all brows, and for a time, this was the trend in the beauty industry. One’s best eyebrows is defined by one’s face shape. BDB improves eyebrows based on symmetry relative to a woman’s face shape.

Know your face shape

Brows are essential to add balance to your face shape and features. When fixing your brows based on your face shape, start with a clean face and your hair pulled back away from your

face. Follow these brow tips for your face shape:

Long—Those with elongated faces should go for horizontal brows—this will visually shorten your face, according to the book. Brows on long faces should have understated arches without a sharp, defined slope.

Oval—Oval-shaped faces should maintain brows with moderate arches, with the beginning and end of the brow at the same level.

Round/square—Brows with a higher arch can help elongate your face visually.

Heart—Thicker and bolder brows on a heart-shaped face can actually help soften one’s defined jaw.

Brows are trend-proof

Eyebrows should be resistant to trends. They should always complement your face shape and not follow any fad shapes seen on the catwalk. Similarly, being an eyebrow copycat may not be helpful at all. In the book, this was perfectly illustrated when they did an eyebrow switcheroo between Hollywood celebrities Jessica Alba and Penelope Cruz. Though both women had great eyebrows, their own brows didn’t suit each other’s face shape when they were digitally switched.

Avoid reinvention

The goal to shape your eyebrows properly is to work with what you already have structurally. We’ve encountered some makeup artists who like to shave off a model’s eyebrows to near nothingness, preferring to draw on their desired shape—never, ever allow anyone to do this! Even without product, your eyebrows, though sparse, should still be as complete as possible.

Experience is key

If it’s your first time to have your brows shaped, look for a specialist with experience. That way, they can offer you a personalized approach to brow-shaping.

Color coding

Natalie makes sure to emphasize that no one is born with perfect eyebrows. Even though you’ve achieved your ideal shape, a little help from product is still necessary to help keep thick brows in shape or to fill in sparse areas of the brows.

When adding product to eyebrows, it is always important that the filled-in bits look like they are part of your natural set; just like foundation, eyebrow product should appear invisible.

When choosing an eyebrow product color, one should base it on their hair color. Brunettes should look for a pencil or powder one shade lighter than their natural hair color, while blondes should look for powder or pencil in one shade darker than blonde (to avoid looking washed out and pale).

Know when to tweeze and when to trim

Tweezing is important to achieve the right eyebrow shape, but it’s also important to know how to distinguish when you need to tweeze or when trimming is required. Brows that grow too long require a little trimming in order for brows to maintain great shape; overgrown hair can cause brows to look droopy and unkempt.

Natalie’s tip for trimming: “Brush brows upward and trim just the tips of hairs that extend past the natural brow line; be conservative and remove a little at a time only.”

Billion Dollar Brows is available at Beauty Bar. Visit https://www.beautybar.com.ph.