It was a cold, dreary morning the day I first got my hands on a pair of tweezers. They were my mom’s; I found them in her makeup drawer, next to her diaphragm — and now I’m trying to remember why that last part is relevant. I was 10 years old, I had a friend’s brother’s bar mitzvah coming up and nothing could stand between me and my line dancing. With nary a clue of where to begin, I improvised and plucked half of my left eyebrow off. Oh, and apparently I used to smile like an idiot too.
My mother thought it was hilarious. I found her reaction curious; I was sure I looked fantastic. Nothing could spoil this moment for me — not even my her diaphragm.
The only issue with my new look was: maintenance. And so I did what every other 10-year-old girl was doing at the time and cried to my mom until she let me get my eyebrows waxed. (Oh, no? Just me? Moving on…) I found solace in Rachel, an eyebrow specialist at John Barrett Salon who I followed all over the city — to Butterfly and then to Valery Joseph Salon. What I’m trying to say is: I could have fed a small Ecuadorian village with the money I spent on getting my eyebrows waxed. I kept those babies THIN through prom and my first two years of college. Then, on one fine day while I was home for break, I tripped over that trusty diaphragm and found this: Laura Mercier Brow Powder Duo in Soft Blonde. And my eyebrows instantly went from thin to “thick.” That was over five years ago; and since then, I’ve perfected my brows with a new powder — Urban Decay’s Brow Box.
It’s no secret that the thick brows are what’s up; they’ve been what’s up for some time now. But it’s also easy to forget that bushy brows aren’t the only eyebrow style out there, and especially with Cara Delevingne’s face popping up around every corner. Creeping into editorials and campaigns for this fall are some new and notable eyebrow looks — looks that have been neglected for some time now and that are pretty simple to adopt. Feast your eye(brow)s:
1. Bleached brows.
It’s not until you witness a dark-to-bleached brow transformation that you truly realize how much eyebrows contribute to our appearance. Everyone did a double-take when they saw Miley on the cover of W with bleached eyebrows.
I’ll admit that initially, I thought this was weird. But I’m telling you, everyone is doing it. And it doesn’t look half bad either! It also adds an element of mystique — of alien-like mystery — to your overall appearance that’s been missing from fashion for some time now.
http://instagram.com/p/naZz2bLtrf/?modal=true
When I first thought about how I might bleach my eyebrows (should I so choose), my instinct was: Jolen. Y’know, that facial bleach we all used on our 13-year-old mustaches because we thought blonde meant invisible? Well it’s a good thing I don’t trust my instincts because, turns out, there’s a much easier way to bleach your eyebrows; according to Into The Gloss, all it takes is caking them in a lot of concealer and luminizer.
2. Brushed-out brows.
http://instagram.com/p/rh5iszATuO/?modal=true
So this does have traces of the Cara bushy brow effect, but the difference is that here, no eyebrow powder or pencil is necessary. Simply grow your eyebrows out naturally, maybe with a little help from your new friend, the Anastasia Brow Enhancing Serum. Then brush them out with either an eyebrow comb or an eyebrow gel — the latter of which will keep the brushed-out look in tact.
My favorite eyebrow gel is made by Anastasia too.
3. The straight and angled pencilled-in brow.
Natalie Portman was blessed with this type of brow and, as you’ve probably noticed, her cheekbones are terminally accentuated.
http://instagram.com/p/hFjg9nwcoT/?modal=true
This is no coincidence; it’s the angle of her eyebrows — slightly upwards, ending somewhere around her temples. And as you’ll see below, many are now attempting this look rather starkly by using makeup.
http://instagram.com/p/rXhwk-ATvF/?modal=true
http://instagram.com/p/rXh6EoATvV/?modal=true
Just outline your eyebrows into this shape with an eyebrow pencil — perhaps Chanel’s, if you’re feeling fancy — and fill them in.
4. Eyebrows that are one.
There’s something very youthful and disarming about a modern day unibrow. My only warning: make the unibrow as intentional as possible. That is, don’t just not tend to your eyebrows for months on end because, if you’re anything like me, your eyebrow hairs are not naturally confined to an agreeable shape. Make sure to pluck out any strays that are way off — high up on your forehead or anywhere else weird. Other than that, you’re good to go.
5. The thin, tweezed look.
It was this Ellen von Unwerth’s photo of Kate moss that first piqued my plucking interest.
The brown, drawn-on, pencil-thin brows; her caramel-tinted, opaque lips; the distinct line of black liner framing each eye; and the exaggerated mascara. In the ’90s, thin brows were pervasive. Why is everyone so afraid of them now? 
