I’ve spent £1,400 on my eyebrows in my 60s – it’s completely refreshed my face
Recently I was in New York with a friend who lives downtown. As we walked down West 20th street, a residential area not known for snazzy stores or hipster restaurants, my friend pointed out a small doorway: “That is Azi Sacks’s Brow Studio. Her waiting list is off the chart.” For me, that was “challenge received”. I put my nose through the door of her tiny studio and my friend who knows her did some first-class begging until I scored an appointment. I came out with some nicely tinted and well-shaped brows for which I paid a somewhat eye-watering $300.
But good brows are an art, a science and even at these elevated prices, cheaper than a facelift – and sometimes just as effective. As a former make-up artist, I remember being taught that they were the “windows to the face” and it’s true: get the brows right and everything else falls into place.
Originally from Washington DC (where she tended to the brows of top politicos and their offspring before moving to NYC), Azi is one of new crop of superstar brow technicians who are elevating the humble brow shape to the acclaim usually reserved for the A-list aesthetic practitioners who offer injectables and tweakments – with price tags to match. Sacks offers a “natural” brow, her skill is in the precise shaping and tinting that she offers. She is friendly and authoritative, “Don’t laminate your brows, it will damage the hairs, don’t use eyebrow pencils, the wax is bad for the hairs,” she advises. “Powder is far more effective.” While I was there she was working her magic on a woman who had driven up to NYC from Washington with a tiny baby and her mother in tow. All for a half an hour with Sacks. That is devotion.
In London, things are just as elevated. Suzanne Martin, a former make-up artist turned semi-permanent eyebrow specialist whose bespoke “Couture Brows” I swear by, is based at the swanky Lanesborough Hotel Club and Spa where she creates her elegant bespoke arches.
She doesn’t use tint although she recommends it after her treatment. Rather, her approach is more clinical: an appointment takes up to two hours, and Martin likes to see her clients twice in the first month. “Skin is so individual and accepts the pigment differently. I like to make sure the pigment gets absorbed properly in two sessions.” (After that she only needs to refresh the shape around every eight months as the pigment will fade).
After numbing the brow she draws a perfect template, creating the shape of the eyebrow with a make-up pencil. Then with a fine needle she creates very fine hair strokes just under the epidermis. Not as deep as a tattoo and much less heavy handed than microblading can often appear. As I am in my 60s and the skin on my eyelids heads south, Martin has raised my brows which opens up my eyes and refreshes my face. Her prices are akin to tweakments, and just as expert: the first two sessions cost £1400 and subsequent visits are £800.
In many ways, LA is the home of great brows. When Romanian-born Anastasia Soare founded Anastasia Beverly Hills, in 1997, she was the first “brow technician” who built her reputation on her celebrity clientele – Oprah Winfrey, Jennifer Lopez, Kendall Jenner, all the Kardashians – and her subsequent business, the first devoted exclusively to brow products is worth hundreds of millions of dollars today.
These days, brow guru Kristie Streicher’s salon STRIIIKE is the hottest brow studio in town. Known for her ‘feathered brow’ technique, Streicher is a former make-up artist whose excellent KS&Co products I have become addicted to. I don’t leave the house without using her microfeathering brow pen, £34, which comes in three shades, – think eyeliner brush but finer – and the Clear Stronghold Brow gel, £26. All her products include a growth serum which helps create the impression of thicker hairs.
Streicher, whose A-list clients include Gwyneth Paltrow, Adele, Lorde, Sarah Paulson, Julia Roberts and Rachel Weisz has the kind of brows I long for: big and bold, with a natural elegance. She heads up a team of dedicated brow shapers. “I like brows to look as natural as possible,” she says emphatically. “I believe in minimal plucking. I try and educate people that if they are tweezing or waxing their brows they are actually damaging the follicle.”
Interestingly, Streicher recommends shaving or cutting the hairs rather than plucking or waxing, then where necessary using her trademark microblading feathering technique to fill any gaps. It’s a “less is more” approach; she has also just launched a groundbreaking Pigment Removal Service, designed to remove any unwanted blotches which can spread and look messy, which will come as a relief to the first generation of microblade guinea pigs like myself who went to inexperienced beauticians and came out with Groucho Marx brows that took forever to fade.
And if the thought of the waiting list has your brow more furrowed than finessed? You can book an excellent online tutorial at STRIIKE and there are some great at-home options too, including Chanel’s La Palette Sourcils brow powder, £44, and Jones Road Brow Pencil, £22 (they’ve just added a grey shade which is an excellent addition – why don’t more people do them?) or Beauty Pie Arch-Ology Clear Sculpting Gel, £10 and Maybelline’s Tattoo Brow 36Hr Brow Gel, £12.99. So if you can’t be bothered to wait and reach the top of those waiting lists, there are a host of ways you can become your own brow expert.
Get the look at home
La Palette Sourcils, £44, Chanel
Brow Pencil, £22, Jones Road
Arch-Ology Clear Sculpting Gel, £10, Beauty Pie
Tattoo Brow 36 Hour Gel, £12.99, Maybelline
