Here at Hylda, we’re not interested in anti ageing – we love our age, thank you very much – but we do want to age well. And our eyebrows are key to that. So we want to know how to pluck eyebrows at home – and not mess it up.
Shavata Singh is the eyebrow queen. The woman behind the Shavata Brow Studios and products, she knows everything there is to know about how to create the perfect brow. Whether it’s DIY at home, or in your local salon (we’re counting down to reopening day), Shavata’s tips are key.
Known for her ‘Shavata-arch’, she believes that the perfect brow shape can give you a non-surgical facelift in under 15 minutes. “Eyebrows should silently compliment a face,” says Shavata, who launched her first stand-alone studio in Harrods in 2004. That’s our kind of ageing well.
Here are her best brow tips and her kit of everything you need to pluck your eyebrows at home.
The best tweezers
First, you need good natural daylight and a magnifying mirror. We recommend a 15x strength one, like this one from Amazon. Then sharp tweezers are essential. Choose these Shavata Slanted Tweezers, £25, or ones from Tweezerman.
Pluck a couple of hairs at a time under the brow shape and then look at the ‘bigger picture’ in a normal mirror.
Pluck slowly and simultaneously (don’t ‘finish’ one and then start on the other) and you’re more likely to get them even. With regular checking in a normal mirror as you go, you won’t overpluck.
If you make a mistake don’t try and correct it. Let it grow out until you can go and see a professional.
The best scissors for trimming
Don’t use curved scissors, they’ll give you an uneven finish. Use a small eyebrow comb and brush the hairs up and trim the just the long ones.
Then brush them down and trim the loose hairs. Use tiny little snips rather than a long sweeping motion.
Thicken thin brows
If you’ve been guilty of overplucking or your eyebrows have thinned out over the years, Shavata recommends her Brow and Lash Strengthener. It is a cold pressed, British, organic castor oil, the purest form you can buy.
Even Shavata can’t bring back lost hairs, but this will help. It will strengthen the hair follicle and the root so that hairs grow thicker and stronger.
Sort out grey hairs
First, step away from the tweezers. Don’t pluck them out, just trim them down if you don’t want to see them. For daily temporary coverage, use Shavata Brows Day Long Brow Tint. The ridged applicator is designed so that it will only colour the hairs, not your skin.
Draw in perfect brows
If you’re using a pencil, make sure it’s really sharp. We love this Shavata Defining Pencil in Dusk.
Hold your arch up, and draw in the hairs with light strokes under the shape of your arch for definition. If you need to darken or colour, use a brow shadow. A pencil colours the skin and fills gaps, and the shadow colours the hairs.
Use a slanted brush to apply the shadow and don’t forget less is always more. Finish with a brow tamer to hold the brows in place.
Watch Shavata and Genevieve in conversation on @wearehylda’s IGTV channel, and read more from Genevieve on the best makeup for midlife, here.
