Beauty and the Brow: The Look for 2009

By Elke Von Freudenberg
Celebrity Makeup Artist

According to celebrity makeup artist and eyebrow specialist, Elke Von Freudenberg, the strong brow is back. “The look this year is definitely a thicker brow, a stronger, straighter arch and a more styled brow with a defined look done with brow pencils and brow shadow,” she says. “Eyebrows are looking more made up.” Well that’s a relief for us big brow girls. Our advice to defining your eyebrows is find yourself an excellent brow shaper and stick with her or him and only do minimal tweezing at home. Here is Elke’s list of what to not to do when determining the shape that works for you.

The round brow. Also called “the happy eyebrow,” this look borders on an almost 1/2 circle shape. This happens when you over-tweeze to create an arch. Too much tweezing from underneath the eyebrow in the wrong place creates a half circle. The round eyebrow has replaced the “tadpole” eyebrow as the current most seen brow mishap.

The out-of-place arch. Or, in most cases, the arch is too far out. This happens when the arch is created by a pencil lining up to the side of the nose to the outside iris of the eye. What happens is that the eyes actually end up looking cross-eyed (especially in photos) and too close together.

The straight eyebrow. A straight eyebrow is when the arch of the eyebrow either never existed (rare) or too much was taken off the top of the eyebrow, which takes away the arch and creates a straight line to the eyebrow.

The stenciled brow. Using stencils to create your eyebrow shape can lead you down the wrong road. You really can’t do a cookie cutter approach to shaping and drawing on eyebrows. Why? Because everyone’s bone structure and eye shape is different, and your eyebrow shape really has to do with the bone that’s underneath the brow. That determines the eyebrow hairs and shape that are uniquely yours.

Super cut or trimmed eyebrows. The super cut eyebrow looks good for one day and then as it grows in, looks horrible. What happens next? You cut them again only to repeat the vicious cycle. The super cut eyebrows are cut way too short and trimmed the wrong way.

For more expert advice, visit Elke at www.elkevonfreudenberg.com.