If anyone has any pointers for helping me to improve my eyebrows, I'm all ears! At the moment, I have to take them off about a million times and start over because the individual brush strokes are either too thick or doesn't want to transfer onto the vinyl at all. So eyebrows are probably the most time-consuming for me.

Oh, and at the moment I'm using nail detail brushes with only a few bristles left, and Genesis paints.

A trick to looking younger – lush and full eyebrows. Someone needs to tell this to the woman who waxed mine last week. with my usual girl on vacation, I entrusted my brows to someone new. Apparently she must have thought I looked young enough. At least that’s what I’m telling myself would be the only reason for plucking and waxing someone to oblivion. Brow-ow.

Known for years at the go-to brow pencil, I gave the ybf Automatic Eyebrow Pencil a try. It claimed to be in a universal taupe shade. the brow pencil is supposed to change color based upon the amount of pressure you apply. I wasn’t sure about that. Could a dark haired beauty rock it as well as a fair maiden? actually, she could. I grabbed my blonde friend, and her lighter brows took to the pencil just as well as my darker ones did. the brow brush on one end of the pencil helps even things out by softening your drawn-on feathers even more.

I should have known something named ybf (your best friend) wouldn’t let me down. Now if only my waxing woman would get back from vacation.

The ybf automatic universal taupe eyebrow pencil (shown above with the bonus behavin’ brow gel) is available for $12 at ybfstacey.com.

I’m in love with swipe and go things. Makeup remover sheets, cleansing sheets, etc. Anything I can pull out, swipe across my face and drop in the trash has got my vote. even Dora the Explorer’s Swiper gets a bad rap, IMHO.

Enter the Facial Radiance Pads from First Aid Beauty (FAB, for short). Guess they would be FRP from FAB. that doesn’t sound as fab though. but trust me, these things are fab.

Just smooth on once or twice a day, and your skin gets the dynamic duo of lactic and glycolic acids to exfoliate and condition. for a little tender TLC, cucumber and Indian gooseberry tone while lemon peel brightens your complexion. FAB’s antioxidant booster of licorice root, feverfew and white tea, is a free radical’s worst nightmare, so your skin has an extra helped in fighting the war against the environment. After using them every morning (although you can use them in the evening too), I felt my skin was smoother to the touch and my pores seem less visible.

I know, all those “acids” sound daunting. but don’t get all sensitive. these aren’t the skin pads of yesterday. Gentle enough to use every day, they have no parabens, fragrances, harsh chemicals and even sensitive skin can use them without hassle. they aren’t anything like those alcohol-laden toner pads we used to use back in the day. the ones that made our skin tight and our eyes sting. good times.

So I’m happy with my new chance to swipe some great skin. but be warned, Swiper. You stand no chance of grabbing any of these.

Facial Radiance Pads are available for $28 at Amazon, Sephora and at firstaidbeauty.com.

I’m always searching for great night creams. since when you start to slumber is the time when your skin gets to work repairing itself, the cream you use should help it out a bit.

Last month, Vichy Laboratories launched its new Rhamnose 5% skin care anti-aging line. Although awkward to read (the word “Rhamnose” conjures up images of someone biffing you in the nose), this ingredient is a one-two punch against aging and wrinkles. A naturally derived plant extract, it’s been proven to stimulate skin rejuvenation from the inside out (that’s right in both your dermis and your epidermis). Which means collagen and elastin production are increased, combating those pesky wrinkles and sagging.

Low and behold, there’s a night cream in the new line—Vichy Liftactiv with Rhamnose 5% Night.

Although it falls pray to one of the biggest issues I have with night creams (why do they all have to smell so flowery?), the texture is rich and creamy without feeling like you just layered your face with another blanket. It immediately hydrates and gives a sense of comfort to your thirsty and tired skin. LiftActiv also features continuous release Vitamin C, clinically proven to boost the production of collagen and elastin fibers. Their studies have shown that combined with the 5% Rhamnose, visible wrinkle reduction is seen in two weeks. if you can wait eight weeks, you’ll see a 20 percent reduction of key issues likeforehead lines and crow’s feet.

Now that’s what I call beauty sleep.

Vichy Liftactiv with Rhamnose 5% Night is available at CVS and Walgreen’s for $49.

Eyes on the prize, they say. Well, there are some mornings where my eyes look like they didn’t even know there was a contest, let alone a prize. Lack of sleep, stressed out schedule, late night…whatever the reason, they sometimes look a little lackluster. Easy enough to solve. Put on a little eye-brightening shadow, and I’m good to go.

Luckily I haven’t gotten to the stage where this is a daily concern…droopy eyelids and brows. but I’m sure as time goes by, it’ll be on my mind (and in my mirror).

Known for relying on the prettiest mother of them all (Mother Nature) for beauty, Wei East has been using the delicate inner lining of the Chinese chestnut for its lifting creams for years. they introduced a new trick this month. they added Black Soy peptides for an uplifting experience in their Chestnut Firming skincare.

Specifically on my gotta-get list is their brand new Refirming Eye Treatment. the soy is a joy, lifting and toning drooping lids and brows, naturally restoring eye area elasticity and smoothing away imperfections.

The cream also boasts seaweed rich in minerals and vitamins to condition and revitalize dull skin; and Chinese Angelica, a true angel in natural plumping and promoting circulation.

I guess I have one thing to say. Droopy eyelids, see you never.

Wei East Chestnut Firming with Black Soy Refirming Eye Treatment is available at weieast.com for $35.

“I moved to London almost ten years ago now. I’m from a really small town called Wolverhampton; it’s near Birmingham right in the middle of England. My approach to beauty has always been experimental, but when I was fifteen I found my look and I have literally stuck to it ever since. Now, I’m twenty-seven years old and I still wear black eyeliner, eyebrow pencil, and some lip gloss, and all that’s happened over the past twelve years is that my products have gotten more and more expensive. We have a brand in the UK called Rimmel, it’s what every teenager starts using—I’ve been using a Rimmel eyebrow pencil since I was fifteen, when my cousin decided to shave my eyebrows as everyone does when they’re a kid when you’re testing stuff out. My mom went mental and she helped me fill in my eyebrows with a pencil and kind of since that day they’ve never grown back. And I really love thick eyebrows—my brow icon would have to be Brooke Shields. If I could have those eyebrows, I would cry.

When I wake up in the morning, I wash my face with Dermatologica Special Cleansing Gel and then I’ll pat it dry. Then, I kind of have a merry-go-round of moisturizers depending on if I’ve been drinking the night before—my skin will be really dry—but the one I’ve been using daily lately is the Kiehl’s oil-free one, the one in the little blue bottle. I brush my teeth while my moisturizer is sinking in, because if I try to put makeup on straight away, it just goes all greasy. I use that Marvis toothpaste in Jasmin. I love it—you can buy it from Liberty. Then I put my makeup. I’ll use MAC Studio Fix Foundation in NW50. Then I’ll do a sweep of black eyeliner with Bobbi Brown’s Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner. Then I’ll put on YSL mascara. Before I had a baby, I never used to wear lip color—I was always just a Vaseline girl, like bare Vaseline on my lips—but then when I had a baby and I didn’t feel so glam, I felt like lipstick was the quickest way to instantly make my face look good. So, I’ve started wearing lipstick. The one that I wear most to spice my face up is MAC’s Ruby Woo, which is a classic red one, or a YSL nude one, Nude Beige. I prefer a nude every day, because I like my lips to be almost the same color as my skin, does that make sense? I like it when it looks quite ‘60s, like when your lips are the same as your skin and just an eyeliner is popping out. I like that. And I love Yves Saint Laurent because of the packaging. I won’t buy a beauty brand if I don’t like the packaging, which is really bad. I love Aesop because I love the branding of it, and I use a lot of Kiehl’s. I kind of want my bathroom to look a certain way, which is white, gold, brown. There’s a photo on Into The Gloss that I just thought, ‘That’s my bathroom inspiration!’ where the girl has all of the Yves Saint Laurent mascaras on the fur—Lisa Marie Fernandez. I love her swimsuits. I love her aesthetic. When I saw that photo, I was like, ‘Yeah! That’s totally what I’m into.’ So, yeah, that’s kind of my face. You know what else I love? A little bit of Vaseline on the eyelids. Sometimes I feel like it makes my makeup move around but if I put it really close to lash line, like one dot, you’re good. I just love that glossy eyelid look. It’s, like, so 2002 or something.

I get my hair done by Alex Brownswell at Bleach London; we share a salon with them. They basically brought out this dip-dye trend that exists now—it wouldn’t be mainstream without Bleach London. My natural hair is kind of like chin-length and then she puts in extensions, some Brazilian hair. The only thing I ever do is use Moroccanoil. So, I’ll wash it with Kiehl’s Amino Acid Shampoo and then I’ll use that cheap Aussie conditioner. I use loads of conditioner on it and then sometimes I’ll use coconut oils or treatments or conditioners from the afro hair shops—there’s so many afro hair shops in the square mile of my house. Every day I just rub a bit of Moroccan oil on it and I brush it. I recently watched Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, have you seen that Russ Meyer film? I was like, ‘The girls in that film look incredible!’ There’s a black girl, a redhead girl, and like a blonde-y brunette and their hair is so big and amazing. So, I did my hair a bit thicker this time. Like, I put more extensions in it and I curled the bottom bit because I wanted it to have that kind of seventies big curl bounce, do you know what I mean? I get a lot of my inspiration from films, to be honest, for almost everything. Like, when I was fourteen and watched that film Jamón Jamón with Penélope Cruz in it, and all summer I just wore espadrilles and a-line dresses. I love a woman in a film for makeup, hair, clothing inspiration.

When I was younger, I always painted my nails myself. I used to watch Clueless and I’d want my nails to match my eye shadow to match my hair accessories, so I remember painting them lilac all the time. And then, when I moved to London and started university at Central Saint Martins, I started getting them done at salons, but they were never like great. I remember seeing this one shot of an entire hand in Vogue, and the nails had a white base with a neon pink tip and a neon green moon—it was incredible. And I ripped it out and put it on my wall. But I was so frustrated with the fact that I could never go to the nail salon and they would just do something out of the box without a fuss. Like, sometimes they just wouldn’t do it, or sometimes they would do it but kind of begrudgingly. So then, when I graduated, I had a really good year of styling. I used to assist Nicola Formichetti, who was the fashion director of Dazed and Confused magazine back then—he was always so successful. And then I started styling my own stuff—I was styling loads for Nike and Levi’s, lots of really good commercial work, so I was earning good money. And then I just had the idea to open a nail salon, because I had another crap nail job. Like, I wanted a Dior-red base with white tip or white half moon and they just wouldn’t do it. I was so angry—when my boyfriend picked me up, I got into the car and slammed the door and said, ‘You know what? I’m just going to open my own nail salon!’ And that was that! And then he actually found the location, which was a couple of doors down from where we lived at the time. And when I look back, I was so naïve…I don’t know what I was thinking. I took the lease on the building, and we had no money left to fit it out by the time I paid the lawyers out for the lease—I was like, ‘Oh, I didn’t think about that bit!’ So, we had to fit it all out ourselves. My boyfriend literally poured the concrete on the floor and I painted all the walls, everything.

I found my staff, then I had a few little private ‘thirty girls come get your nails done’ type things and that went crazy. WAH finally opened July the 31st, 2009, and the party was packed. Like, it spilled out onto the street. And all the convenience stores and the corner stores—like, there’s a fish and chip next to my shop—they stayed open two hours extra because they had so many extra customers spilling in from the party. It was so funny. Then what happened is, the salon is huge—it’s cavernous, when really all I need is four nail desks that take up a quarter of the space. So I met these super cool girls, hairstylists—one of them just came and got her nails done and she said, ‘I really love the salon. I really wanted to open one to be like this.’ And I kind of thought, ‘Oh, lots of people have kind of imitated the idea and tried to copy it,’ so I was really surprised that she came right out and told me that she wanted to do one like it. Like, once we started doing nails, girls just started popping up doing nails that had never been doing nails before. The fact that she outright told me that I was her inspiration for it, and didn’t have any qualms telling me, I said, ‘Well, why don’t you just have it in the back of here to start with if you want.’ So they were like, ‘Yeah, that’d be really cool.’ They’re my closest friends now. They opened Bleach in the back of my store on our first birthday, so they were just born and it was our first birthday. And the flyer we did, I did the flyer, I did a gif where it was Lil’ Kim and Courtney Love crouching down in the same pose, because, to me it was like WAH was like Lil’ Kim and Bleach was like Courtney Love…they’re like two sides of the same ‘90s experimental girl coin.”

Photographed by Rachel Chandler Guinness 

Filling in my brows is the most important makeup routine for me because I have baby fine brown hair, so if I don't use eyebrow makeup I look different. Even if I have already grown my brows it's still not as visible as I want it to appear because it's still sparse. I use eyeshadow on my brows and it works great but recently I have been using pencil more because I can draw fine strokes and make them appear like my natural hair. I always try new stuff to the find the perfect one for me so when I saw this on the counter, I just had to get it. The hard plastic packaging is really clean and pretty, and comes with about 2 inches of product which should last for about 2-3 months depending on how much product you use on every application. 

This brow pencil is automatic so no need to sharpen it anymore. Just twist it, turn it, and apply. This is a crayon eyebrow pencil hence blendable, soft, and could easily break so don't twist it up too much. You can create natural looking brows by drawing feather like strokes and brushing it with the spoolie that comes with the product. It's very easy to blend that you can use an angled brush spread it evenly for a smoked out effect. It's also buildable you can add more product for thicker and bolder brows. 

wedge like lead

comes with a soft spoolie

The shade I have is in 04 brown and there are 3 other colors to choose from. The shade is a natural brown and perfect for my liking. It comes with a soft spoolie that doesn't hurt my skin when I use it and I really like it! Staying power is incredible as it can last for more than 9hrs. It's not waterproof but stays on really well even on this extremely hot weather! 

The Face Shop Lovely ME:EX Auto Eyebrow 04 Swatch

I love using this brow crayon pencil but I still prefer using a brows pencil as I have better control.  Hard brown pencil is easier to apply and I have less tendency of over-drawing and depositing too much product. Still this is a good quality product and inexpensive. 

My verdict: 4.5 STARS! I recommend this to anyone who likes using brow pencils to fill their brows. The Face Shop is a great brand and this is a quality must have product. 

Image: © .shock / Fotolia

The shape and form of the eyebrows plays a big part in your whole image. Below you will find a few tips on how to make your eyebrows beautiful and give them a well-maintained look.
Eyebrows add content to the face and help determine its shape. This is why proper cleaning of the eyebrows is so important in adding to your overall beauty.
Tweeze in the evening. This will allow sufficient time for the redness and irritation of the skin to pass. There will be no trace of them in the morning.
The tweezers should be held at an angle and the hairs should be pulled individually in the direction of growth.
Do not remove the hairs above the eyebrows. This way you will help them keep their height and natural look.
Do not pluck more hairs than necessary.
For a better grip, use a short eyebrow pencil. Begin applying it at the inner part and stroke toward the outer part of the eyebrow.
Follow pencil application with a brushing, to give it an even spread.
The best eyebrow shape is considered to be the one ending a little way from the outer corner of the eye and peaking at the outer corner of the iris when looking straight.
And a few more tips:
Before tweezing, clean the eyebrows with an alcohol based lotion. This helps to numb the area and dull the pain of tweezing. An ice cube can be used instead of lotion.
The tweezers should be used at a 45 degrees angle.
If you are applying eyebrow pencil, choose one which is at least two tones lighter than the tone of your hair.

What I Used:

under eyes: Make Up For Ever HD Concealer in 325

eyeliner: The Body Shop Liquid Liner in Black, NARS Eye Pencil in Hollywoodland

eye shadow: MAC Eyeshadow in Pen ‘N Pink, NARS Eyeshadow Duo in Bellissima

eye brows: MAC Eyebrow Pencil in Fling

eye lashes: Lancome Hypnose Drama

cheeks: NARS Blush in Penny Lane

Okay, here is your opportunity to put that Cat Eye to use that  I know you’ve been practicing since I posted my Cat Eye tutorial two weeks ago! In my last post, I demonstrated a smudged eyeliner, so today, as a little “compare and contrast” exercise, you’ll see how a clean, liquid lined eye can totally change the shape of your eye.  I think it pretty incredible how something as simple as eyeliner can completely alter our face.  I urge you to experiment with varying techniques to see how they change your own face.  You’ll probably find one way you think looks best (for me in the winged liner), but don’t get pigeon-holed into only wearing your makeup that way.

I began this look by lining the top lid with liquid liner from The Body Shop.  This is a great liquid liner if you’re a beginner because it’s not waterproof.  That means you can apply it and then shape it easily with a damp Q-Tip.  I made pretty a dramatic, ’60s cat eye here.

Next I applied MAC Pen ‘N Pink (a light matte pink) shadow to the lid from liner to crease.

Then I used the brownish-gray shade from the NARS Bellissima Duo to contour into, and slightly above, the crease of the eye.  You should keep the contour shade around the outer area of the eye, as bringing a dark color toward the inner corners of your eyes can create the illusion that your eyes are closer together.  (I’ll do a post on this phenomenon at a later date.)

Next, I applied the NARS Eye Pencil in Hollywoodland wrapping around inner corners of the eyes.

Then I applied NARS Cream Blush in Penny Lane to the apples of the cheeks with my finger.

Finish the look with mascara.