Some of you may have seen that I've been talking about a few changes I've been making to my beauty look lately - today I'm showing you the results of my latest endeavours to change my eyebrows!
Desperate to avoid getting stuck in a beauty rut, back in October I kicked the whole thing off with the very simple task of changing my nail shape, and then before Christmas my teeth got an overhaul with a two-step process of whitening and filing down (not as "ouch" as it sounds).
Finally I've had (been having) eyelash extensions to not only have lovely long lashes but also to look half decent with minimal eye make up or no make up at all (they make a huge difference to preventing me looking like death warmed up in the mornings).
So this is almost the final stage of my "Face MOT" (I should trademark that expression, don't you think?!), and one that I've been meaning to do for ages: Bleaching my eyebrows.
AS MY HAIR'S BEEN BEEN GETTING GRADUALLY LIGHTER OVER THE YEARS I'VE NOT BEEN HAPPY ABOUT THE CONTRAST.
Now before you get all freaked out and think of models with weird no-brows or Kim Kardashian at the Met Gala last year, don't worry - I wasn't intending to go there with any sort of alien-inspired look! Basically, as a natural brunette (with plenty, and I mean plenty, of grey) I have very dark eyebrows. Not at all bushy, just somewhat black.
So as my hair is dyed (shocker!) a light red, sometimes strawberry blonde colour, it's been bothering me for a while that my brows are much, much darker than my hair. When my hair was a deep, rich red a couple of years back they were fine, but as my hair's been been getting gradually lighter over the years I've not been happy about the contrast.
Now I know that thick, dark brows are on trend right now, and I've always been pretty precious about my eyebrows, but for me personally I wanted them to match my hair more. Like the Perpetual Diet we're all on (that is an actual diet, don't you know), for ages - and I mean ages, like about a year! - I kept thinking Yes, I'll bleach my eyebrows this weekend; No, this weekend; No, next weekend... And just never got round to it.
Until finally, on a whim, I did them on Christmas Eve, just as we're having to wrap the last of the Christmas presents, load the car and get to my parents' house for the festive period. Nothing like doing it last minute, or when there are much more pressing priorities, eh? Good job the husband knows me well...
The process
There isn't really much to it, so there was no point in writing a complete tutorial. I actually used to bleach my eyebrows back in the 90s when I was a blonde, so I knew what to do.
Basically all I did was:
I used Boots' own brand (face and body) bleaching cream* for about 12 minutes on my brows, just checking them after every few minutes. You obviously have to be very, very careful as you're using bleach above your eyes, and everyone's skin and eyebrows will be different and you have to find out what's right for you with patch tests and following instructions to the letter.
See below for the before and after...
*Disclaimer: I cannot take any responsibility for anyone using bleaching cream in the same way and having any sort of adverse effects!
The results
My brows came out very, very light - not white-blonde white, more of a light ginger. And guess what - that's my hair colour, so it was a great result!
Basically the difference is intended to be subtle: The "before" above is of my dark eyebrows naked (without any brow pencil or filling in) - when I've added in a little definition it was always hard to make them look light... Any make up at all made them much darker (as the earlier pictures prove).
Now that they're lighter I can add a light brown brow gel (I really like the Illamasqua Precision Brow Gel in 'Awe' at the moment) and they don't get darker, just more defined. They're also a perfect match for my hair colour - in fact, I was absolutely pleased as punch with the results, they couldn't have come out any better.
I now feel as if my hair colour looks natural because it matches my brows - or that I'm no longer deliberately making them much, much darker (a look that I'm not keen on on myself). I love the subtle effect and the colour, and I just so wished I'd done this a lot earlier.
As I said about beauty ruts: It's important to ring the changes - it keeps things fresh and interesting, and as with so many of these sorts of changes, they usually grow out or can be changed.
Next time I'm going to experiment with bleaching them much lighter and using an actual eyebrow tint to get them to a light brown shade: I've read good things about Refectocil Eyelash and Eyebrow Tint (anyone tried it)? I'll report back as and when I get some and use it...!
HAVE YOU EVER BLEACHED YOUR EYEBROWS (OR DO YOU DYE THEM DARKER)? TELL ME IN THE COMMENTS OR TWEET ME @NOTLAMB!
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