Should I Wax At Home? & 8 Other Brow Questions, Answered By A Pro

What original beauty influencer Anastasia Soare doesn't know about eyebrows isn't really worth knowing. The expert brow artist began her career by shaping, filling in and totally transforming the eyebrows of celebrity clients. Now, she's better known for her Instagram-famous beauty brand, Anastasia Beverly Hills, which features cult products like Brow Wiz and Dipbrow, adored by makeup artists, influencers and beauty editors everywhere.

Right now, it's safe to say a lot of us are having a hard time tending to our brows in lieu of the professionals, with salons closed for the foreseeable future due to coronavirus. So we put nine common brow questions to Anastasia over Zoom, including whether you should wax at home (the answer may surprise you) and exactly how to achieve the best brow shape for your face.

Here are her smartest tips and tricks.

"A tinted or clear brow gel is your brows' best friend during the growing out stage," said Anastasia. "No matter what stage of growth you're in, you’ll instantly feel more polished and put together, as products like these help set the brows. Simply brush the product throughout your brow hairs using short, upward strokes."

Regardless of how tempted you may be or even how savvy you are with strip wax, Anastasia advises giving brow waxing at home a hard pass. "Never wax yourself," she said. "It takes a lot of skill and because you have to keep your eyes open to see what you're doing, the wax could drip and you'll end up taking even more off than you intended."

Instead, use a spoolie brush to comb hairs up and outwards and nip any stray, stubbly hairs with a pair of slanted tweezers. Or use a high coverage concealer to blanket regrowth until you can get them done professionally. Try Tarte Shape Tape Contour Concealer, £20.

"A good trick for tweezing your brows in between appointments is to actually fill in your brows first, and only remove the hairs that fall obviously outside this guideline," said Anastasia. "Always tweeze in the direction of hair growth."

"Trimming brow hairs with small scissors is another great option, and I recommend filling in your brows for this technique, too." To groom, Anastasia advises simply brushing your brow hairs up and cutting only what falls outside the filled-in area. "Then, brush the brow hairs down and repeat," added Anastasia. "Use high quality scissors: sharp and precise, because even a millimetre can be the difference between a perfect trim and a gap. Also opt for slant-tipped tweezers. Other tweezers can make plucking more painful than it needs to be, or break off the hair close to the base."

"Asymmetry isn’t anything to worry about," said Anastasia, "as no one’s face is perfectly symmetrical. But if there’s a very obvious discrepancy, there are a few things you can do about it. Start by really letting your brows grow out. You’ll want as much new growth as possible for your aesthetician to work with in an effort to carve out a new shape. You can also use eyebrow hair length to your advantage, letting the hairs on the lower brow grow out a bit longer than the higher brow and brushing upward before setting with a clear brow gel. Of course, using a brow product could provide a quick fix. I recommend using something like Brow Wiz, £23, or Dipbrow Pomade, £19, to create realistic hairlike strokes that will mimic your natural brow."

"The trick is to create dimension with several different products," said Anastasia. "Try a few to determine your perfect combination. I would begin with Brow Primer, £21, to make sure the product adheres and lasts all day. Choose a powder one shade lighter than your natural brow hair colour as your base, and then use Dipbrow one shade darker to create individual brush strokes. Lastly, set the brow with clear brow gel."

"Choose a product one shade darker than your hair colour," advises Anastasia. "Taupe shades are great for those with cool or ash undertones. I like Blonde, which is more warm and golden."

Unfortunately, there isn't much you can do to speed up the growth process, but you can beef up scant brows easily. "The best thing you can do for over-plucked brows is to give them the time to grow, which may take several months," advised Anastasia. "In the meantime, you can disguise areas of sparseness by creating hairlike strokes with a brow pencil or pomade."

Steady your hand by resting your elbow on your dressing table and fill in brows using swift, short strokes.

Start with a light hand. "Brows should be ombre: lighter at the inner corners than the outer edges," said Anastasia. "To achieve this, apply product first at the arch, work your way to the tails, and with the remainder, lightly go in at the centre. This will avoid the heavy, blocky look at the front."

Anastasia advises following the three steps of the Golden Ratio Shaping Method to tailor brows to your unique bone structure. "Brows should begin directly above the middle of your nostrils and end where the corner of the nostril connects with the outer corner of the eye. The highest point of the arch should connect the middle of the tip of the nose with the middle of the iris."