Summer Trend - Bold Brows!

You have probably already noticed this trend, which has been popular since spring, when leading fashion designers incorporated big, bold eyebrows into their models' looks on the runways.

Personally, I've always liked my brows bold, but this season, I make them extra bold (maybe not quite as bold as in the picture, but still bold!).

What can you do to stay on trend here? Below are the steps I'm following this summer, but experiment to find out what you like and suits you!

1. Tweeze less (and avoid making your brows look thin).
2. With a brow powder, I make my brows slightly thicker.
3. With a brow powder, I make my brows slightly darker.
4. Stay natural and true to your brows, just go one further with your brows, not fifty :) Overdoing your brows is not the same as going bold!

My favourite product for my brows is Make Up Store's Tri Brow Color, which is an amazingly versatile product with three shades of brow powder. You can mix and match to find your perfect shade, and go lighter or darker according to your needs and wishes.

If you would like to read my post on how I do my brows when I really want to make them look good, click here. However, when I'm in a hurry, just brushing the powder into my brows in the usual way works fine as well.

Do you like this trend? How do you like your brows?

Love,
Miss Diorista

P.S. The beautiful picture is from http://krisandmakeup.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/page/4/. It is not mine in any way.

Make Up Store - Tri Brow Color

You've heard me rave about this product so many times, and I always promise to write a review "soon", but today I'm actually going to write it :)

This brow powder is my absolute favourite for filling in my brows, and has been for about two years now. Everything about it is as close to perfection as possible - from the consistency of the powders to the lasting power and the slightly greyish undertone that helps make everything look natural.

I also love the fact that you get three colours. So many brow powders only come with one or two colours, but this allows you to blend your perfect colour. Not to mention that this product is multi-functional - the powders are some of my favourite eyeshadows as well! With the lightest colour on my lid, the middle one in the crease and just a dab of the darkest one in the outer corner... it is great for everyday eye-contouring, especially if your skin is light/fair (the colours might show up ashy on darker complexions). The darkest colour is also good for smudging into your lashlines (upper and lower), instead of liner.

The packaging is your classic Make Up Store packaging, with the big "M" and the imprint. Very classy.

Swatches, from the darkest colour to the left (almost black), to the middle colour (a light brown, greyish colour) to the lightest colour to the right (a beige grey).

Product (65%) - 9/10

Value (10%) - 8/10
Would I repurchase? (15%) - 10/10
Packaging (10%) - 8.5/10 (the lid sometimes comes off, but putting it back on is easy)

Overall - 9/10

Love,
Miss Diorista

Get Pretty Brows!

Our eyebrows are something which really shapes and literally makes our face. Therefore, it is very important not to forget them in your daily beauty routine. It only takes about one or two minutes every morning to dramatically change your whole look by paying a bit of attention to your brows!

1) Tweezing
In order to be able to spend just two minutes on your brows every morning, you need to have them in the correct shape. Now there are many ways to achieve this. You can tweeze yourself, or have it done by a professional. Many women prefer going to a professional at first, and then they keep their brows in shape by themselves. Some go to a salon every now and then, others just for the first time. Personally, I always tweeze my brows myself.

Quick tip: At first, I just tweezed a little bit every night, until my brows had the shape that I wanted. This way, I avoided the pitfall of overplucking, since I had a day in between tweezing session, which I could use to decide where I wanted to tweeze. After this, I just made it a routine to check my brows when I take off my makeup at night. If I see any hairs where I don't want them, I just pluck them, and that's how I keep my brows looking like I want them to look.

2) The upper brow-line

For steps two and three, you are going to need a product similar to the one you see pictured above. I mentioned it in the post about my favourite products of 2010 (read about it here), and it is the Tri Brow Color by Make Up Store. I love this product, because it has all three colours that I need for my brows, and those colours last on my brows all day. So much easier than using three eyeshadows!

All right, now onto the actual step! You can see this in a video on YouTube from MakeupByTiffanyD, but basically, you brush your eyebrows down, dip an angled brush like the one above (love it, by The Body Shop) in the two lighter colours (mix them to get your correct colour - it should be lighter than your true brow colour) and just run it on the upper brow-liner. This gives them fullness. Now brush your eyebrows back into their regular shape.

3) The lower brow-line

Blonde hair: Using the same angled brush, mix the same colours as in step two, and run them across the lower brow-line. You can fill in any gaps, make your brows fuller and create a bit of a tail. Be careful, though, to stay more or less roughly within your natural brow shape, otherwise your brows will look fake. This is why step one is so important.

Brunette hair: Using the same angled brush, mix the two darker colours, but be careful with the darkest one - it is almost black. Run this across your lower brow-line, but focus on areas where you need more fullness - for most people, this is the tail, but if you have any gaps, you want to fill those in too. Take care to stay more or less rougly within your natural brow shape, though, otherwise your brows will look fake. This is why step one is so important.

And you're done! Your brows should look pretty, full and defined. Step one and two are the steps I do each morning. If you wish to, you can add the extra step of using a brow gel to hold your brows in place.

For more definition: If you want even more definition, you can conceal around your brows, using a flat, stiff concealer brush (I love The Body Shop's lip brush for this) and a concealer in the colour of your skin. This makes brows stand out even more.

Did you know? Fuller brows make your face look slimmer, whereas thinner or overtweezed brows tend to make your face look fuller.

Love, Miss Diorista

P.S. First picture is from www.weddingssource.com. The second one is mine.