It’s crazy to think that a couple of decades ago people didn’t really shape their brows and certainly didn’t use pencils or powders to fill them in.
It was a woman by the name of Anastasia Soare who revolutionised the humble brow in the 1990s, creating the burgeoning global beauty category we know today and becoming a billionaire in the process. Yes, billionaire.
The Romanian born businesswoman came up with her unique concept when assessing a common treatment she used to have back home before she migrated to the US.
“I came to The United States, to Los Angeles, in 1990 and I started working as an aesthetician. I realised that in Hollywood, working with the bigger celebrities, nobody paid attention to eyebrows,” Anastasia told Mamamia.
“In Romania before I would have a facial my aesthetician would tweeze my eyebrows. And then I thought, I need to look into this… I started going to the library to study The Golden Ratio and how the human body is in great proportion, so I slowly developed and started to understand for myself how my eyebrows should be shaped according to my bone structure.”
Anastasia is known for creating her now patented Golden Ratio Eyebrow Shaping Method for which she is famous. The idea started back in that library.
“I got deeper and deeper in this and started to develop a technique on how to shape eyebrows according to everybody’s bone structure and natural shape. I started filing for patents and I started shaping eyebrows, and for a year I didn’t even charge for eyebrows because I was practising, and then it became the best kept secret among Hollywood movie stars…getting your eyebrows done by Anastasia.”
While shaping celebrity eyebrows was one thing, Anastasia saw a gap in the market for products that filled in gaps in eyebrows.
“At that time there were not products for eyebrows in the beauty industry, believe it or not, in the beginning of the ‘90s. So I started developing a product line for eyebrows. I used to mix aloe vera with eyeshadow and Vaseline to create this pomade, and this is how the products started,” Anastasia said.
“At that time women didn’t believe that they needed to use powder in their eyebrows. Now it’s the norm, but remember in the ‘90s people thought I was crazy.”
Her product range, Anastasia Beverly Hills, is now available globally and stocked exclusively through Sephora in Australia.
“Once I started developing my technique and was introduced to the Hollywood movie stars, they validated my work. As you know, every person on planet earth wants to know what secrets the movie stars have, because they have access to the best, and so that was a way of spreading the word.”
“Being on Oprah Winfrey in 1997 was like getting an Oscar, and that was the beginning of everything.”
Anastasia’s goal is to put the power in women’s hands by way of easy to use products and step-by-step techniques.
“I want women to be empowered by learning and knowing exactly how to use my products and how to use my makeup. You don't need to go to a makeup artist now, just look and learn on Instagram. Knowledge is power and I love making women feel confident.”
Favourites from the range of brow products include the Brow Wiz pencil, $33, the Brow Dip Pomade, $32, and the Clear Brow Gel, $38.
Not one to rest on her laurels, Anastasia has also created a full range of other makeup SKUs including shadow palettes, lip colours and contour kits.
Tips for getting started.
“For women who are beginners or are intimidated by filling in their brows, they should not start trying to fill in their eyebrows for the first time before they go to work.
"They should take one hour on Saturday or Sunday, whenever they have a day off, and they should watch tutorials and they should start filling in, slowly. We give you all the tips, there’s videos on our Instagram.”
“To be honest with you, everybody can do it. It's about practise. And if you make a mistake, it’s okay, it’s just makeup. You can wash it off and start all over again. There’s nothing to be intimidated by. I think people get scared or anxious because they try it right before they are going out. Instead, take one day with your best friend or your sister or your mother and play with products.”
“All these people who are becoming amazing makeup artists on Instagram, they started from nothing. Go back to 2012, and if they haven't deleted those posts, have a look. They were not as good then as they are now. They are good now because they practise. I didn't know how to do it but I practised. For hours and hours,” Anastasia said.
Common mistakes and what to do instead.
“A common mistake I see women make with their brows is that people tend to over-tweeze. Or, they did it a long time ago.”
“Another mistake is that people put too much pressure on the pencil or on the products. You need to put more colour from the highest part of the brow towards the end, and then lighter colour and pressure at the beginning of the brow,” Anastasia said.
“You just want to lightly shade and you don’t need much pressure. Slowly build up, and if you want more then you keep building. If you press hard from the beginning it is very hard to remove it. It’s best to fill in and then blend for a natural look, because you want natural looking eyebrows. In makeup it’s all about applying and blending, applying and blending. It’s the same with eyebrows.”
How to choose the right eyebrow shape.
Anastasia's method takes the guess work out of brow shape by providing you with stencils to use as a guide.
“A thicker eyebrow is more youthful. A thinner eyebrow is more ageing. The best example I always give is to look at Jean Harlow and Marlene Dietrich in the 1940s - they were 25 years old but if you look at their pictures they look 50. Thin eyebrows completely gives you an older look."
"So when choosing a stencil, select one that is slightly bigger than your natural brow. Because when you fill a stencil the result is a little thinner than the actual stencil size.”
How to choose the right eyebrow colour.
“If you are a very light blonde, your eyebrows should be one shade darker. if you have dark hair, it should be one shade lighter. So it’s kind of the opposite. Because if you have dark hair and you do your eyebrows even darker than that it will be too harsh. If you are blonde and you have super light eyebrows you don’t have a frame to your face,” Anastasia said.
Leigh Campbell travelled to Singapore to interview Anastasia Soare as a guest of Sephora Australia.
Top Comments
hello I am Priyanka from dreamy priyanka. I have very thin eyebrows so I can't even imagine myself going out without doing my eyebrows. But I was doing it in a wrong way. Now I know how to use eyebrow pencil. This is gonna help me a lot.
It's not world-shattering but................I think most of these 'new-style' eyebrows are too heavy and too dark.
I noticed the comments above of course and they do make sense but we're still seeing these alarmingly -drawn eyebrows on female faces both in the street and on TV .