Anastasia Beverly Hills Taught Me The Most Important Lesson In Good Brows

It's safe to say that Anastasia Soare knows a thing or two about eyebrows. Founder of Instagram-famous beauty brand Anastasia Beverly Hills, Soare was one of the first women to garner major mainstream success through her brow-shaping expertise, and is the brains behind a number of cult brow products which professional makeup artists, celebrities, and beauty editors alike can't imagine their beauty kits without: Dipbrow, Brow Wiz... you know they're great.

So when I received an invitation to meet the queen of brows herself to celebrate Anastasia Beverly Hills' launch into Selfridges in the UK, I couldn't turn it down — especially because Soares has been with me, figuratively speaking, through my brow journey over the years, from bushy slugs to pencil-thin and everything in between. In a room full of editors and influencers, I was lucky enough to get a seat next to the brow pro herself, which meant I could pick her brain before anyone else had a chance. And to highlight just how brilliant she is, she pushed her fancy lunch to one side and showed me exactly where I've been going wrong with my brows all this time. Here are the insanely clever tips and tricks I learned in just an hour with the master.

If you think about it, a full, natural eyebrow has actual hairs, but then there’s a slight shadow behind that on the skin — that’s why you should use a lighter color first, Soare told me. Try Dipbrow Pomade as a base, in a shade that's a lot lighter than your actual hairs. Then, go in with a darker color, creating strokes of hair to achieve the natural-but-believable 3D brow look with an angled brush. You can use pomade and pencils, but brow powders usually come with two shades for this very reason.

Whether it's pencil, pomade, or shadow, if you apply product and don't groom your brows with a brush as you go, they won't look as great as they could. A brush will not only push the hairs into a more uniform shape, but it also softens any harsh lines, clumps, or intense pigment left behind by the product, making your brows look like — well, hair, not like they've been drawn on.

If you have thick, long brows, you might need to trim them occasionally, Soare told me. But whatever you do, don't go too far, because they could start to grow downwards instead of upwards, which could alter the shape of your brow completely. If you do want to groom them, simply brush them up with a spoolie brush and trim with care and caution using clean nail scissors or the Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Scissors. The angled blade snips unruly hairs without snagging.

If you've made a mistake, simply feather out the product with a brush rather than messing everything up with a wipe or a cotton bud. According to Soare, it'll save time and look far more natural.

Soare mentioned that one eyebrow is always higher than the other because of the muscles in your face — it's rarely to do with how the hairs grow. But instead of trying to fix it by going overboard on product, she recommends embracing the difference. Remember: Think sisters, not twins.

Unfortunately, eyebrows aren’t like the hair on our head, Soare told me. "It’s fun to experiment like Rihanna, but if you start tweezing brow hairs excessively, I can guarantee they won’t grow back," she said. That’s true whether you have a lot of hair, or if you’re fair and have hardly any to begin with, because pulling the hair in this way destroys the hair follicle at the root, leaving it more fragile than before. "Thin eyebrows are purely editorial. I wish I could say, 'Hey, for this season, let’s do thin eyebrows,' but hardly anyone wants them," Soare said. "If you want to go thinner for one reason or another, cover them up with makeup — concealer works a trick."