fter logging off from work the other
night, I spent a hugely edifying
20 minutes talking to a stranger about
my eyebrows. A new person! Not
discussing the pandemic or my real
life. It is amazing what counts as a highlight
these days, but my chat with Alison was balm
after a stressy day at the blue-light coalface.
Anastasia Soare, aka Anastasia Beverly
Hills, aka billionaire brow guru to the stars,
offers video consultations for those looking to
improve their brow situation. I didn’t speak to
Anastasia herself – she was probably zooming
with Oprah, one of her clients. It was one of
her minions who was also WFH in New York.
My brows have been untouched for a year
and I wanted to find a way to make them look
tidier and more structured without any hair
removal. I don’t think I could trust myself
to tweeze them. I usually leave this to the
professionals. Alison, chatting to me from her
kitchen, tells me there’s no need for plucking.
I can make my messy brows look more
“edited” by filling them in a bit with my brow
powder or pencil and combing through with
a browscara-type product. She demonstrates.
I show her my favourite tools for the job- which happen to include Anastasia Beverly
Hills Brow Powder Duo (£24; cultbeauty.co.uk)
and Duo Brush (£18), and she shows me
what to do with them, step by step. Although
I received an email after our chat, there wasn’t
any sales pressure – so I’d highly recommend
this service for anyone bored and lonely with
unsatisfactory eyebrows (anastasiabeverlyhills.
com). The best strategy for an unplucked but
more organised-looking brow is to make them
look a little more dense in the inner corners
and elongated at the outer ends.
I’m fine with filling in the sparse bits of
my brows, but I have only ever perfected the
overall shape by accident. When I get it wrong
my brows belong on someone else’s face.
It turns out there is a formula. All brow
experts understand it. Vanita Parti, founder
of Blink Brow Bar, explains, “Place a pencil at
the edge of your nose and where it hits your
eyebrow is where they should be. Then swivel
it from your nose to your iris – this is where
the arch should be positioned. Swivel from
your nose to the end of your eye and where
the pencil hits the brow is where they end.”
Anastasia and her operatives call this
hallowed principle the “golden ratio”. It sounds
like a faff and it is. But after a few tries, like all
useful recipes, I could do it without the need
for measuring it all out. On days where I have
little time, I just comb them through with
BBBLondon’s Tinted Brow Gel (£21; bbb-
london.com), which tidies without dispensing
too much colour – a problem with many
similar products. If you don’t want to spend
big money, have a look at Maybelline’s Brow
Ultra Slim Eyebrow Pencil (£7.99; boots.com)
and Brow Fast Sculpt gel (£6.99), which are
great, uncomplicated products for a song. ninstagram.com/lesleyjthomasI’ve found the secret of perfect brows
Turns out there is a clever trick the professionals use. Who knew?
Just spent 20 minutes talking
to a stranger in New York about
my eyebrows. Amazing what
NICK HADDOW counts as a highlight these days
48 The Times MagazineBeauty
Lesley Thomas
What Lesley loves Brow builders
Decorté Brow Styling
Cream, £27
(decortecosmetics.co.uk)Maybelline Brow Ultra Slim
Eyebrow Pencil, £7.99
(boots.com)Trish McEvoy Brow
Perfector Pomade, £29
(harveynichols.com)BBBLondon Tinted
Brow Gel, £21
(bbb-london.com)Anastasia Beverly Hills
Brow Wiz, £23
(cultbeauty.co.uk)Anastasia Beverly Hills
Brow Powder Duo, £24
(cultbeauty.co.uk)A
Sets and
conditionsUltra-fine to fill in
sparse hairsLightly pigmented for
subtle tintingSoft, waxy texture
to tame stray hairsPrecise strokes for
natural-looking browsLong-lasting colour