Keep brows sleek with a touch-up

12/6/2001

A nice pair of eyebrows gives structure to a person's entire face. For some women, brows can even become a signature feature - think of model/actress Brooke Shields.

Today's eyebrow shape lies somewhere between the pencil-thin look of the 1970s and the thick, brushed appearance of the 1980s. It's well-defined, arched, strong, and feminine.

But brows often get short shrift in the day-to-day beauty regimen. After all, who has time to inspect that area when so many other elements of the morning routine seem much more important - like bolting down some breakfast and making sure your socks and shoes match?

Given that virtually nobody tweezes every day, or even every week, New York makeup artist Ramy Gafni has a few tips for making sure the eyebrows look polished and sleek:

“The biggest, most common mistake people make on their eyebrows is that they overdo it. They overtweeze, making the brow too thin. The other big mistake is that people do not follow their natural brow line, so the brow becomes misshapen.

“In a perfect world, eyebrows should be professionally shaped every three weeks,” Mr. Gafni says. “In the real world, due to time or financial constraints, women can maintain a professional brow shaping until they lose the line and require a touch-up.” Six weeks is generally the outer limit, he adds.