Eyebrows – From Bare to Bold!

When you buy a beautiful painting, you want to make sure you get the frame just right. Get it wrong and the work of art is lost. What’s this got to do with makeup? Everything. When it comes to makeup, the work of art is your face, the ‘frame’ your eyebrows.

You should never underestimate the authority of the eyebrows over the complete look of your makeup; their colour, thickness and shape hold the key to pulling everything together to achieve a succinct, powerful look.

Up until quite recently, the eyebrow trend has been the manicured, thin, almost surprised look. Think Kylie Minogue, Pamela Anderson, Mariah Carey, Julia Roberts, and the lady who kicked it all off: Greta Garbo…

Greta Garbo with her iconic brows

Julia Roberts

Kylie sporting the 'surprised' look

But it looks like we’ve turned a corner, so you can put your tweezers aside: now it’s all about thick, dark, dramatic brows. Hard-edged and heavily defined, this look is taking hold and if you pick up any celebrity magazine you’ll see it everywhere. Keira Knightly is just one example, demonstrating just how striking the style can be.

Keira Knightly

But despite its recent appearance on our catwalks, the heavy arch isn’t actually a completely new style. Rather, it’s re-emerged from the days of Joan Crawford, Elizabeth Taylor, and Audrey Hepburn.  These stunning actresses sported what was dubbed the ‘Diva Arch’ – a powerful, captivating, and almost handsome look.

Elizabeth Taylor

Audrey Hepburn

Makeup artist Charlotte Tillbury uses the heavy arch on her models, and describes eyebrows as the ‘pillars of the face’, which I think hits the nail on the head. Similarly, fellow makeup artist Diane Kendal uses thick, angular brows to give an edge to a more natural look; if you’re going for soft, subtle shades everywhere else, she says, strong eyebrows will inject that much needed oomph.

But there’s definitely a limit to how far you can go with this. As much as we all love Frida Kahlo, there’s a reason why her unibrow, ‘caterpillar’ look never fully caught on…

Frida Kahlo

Makeup trends are fascinating, and if you look back through history you’ll discover some pretty extreme fashions. Take Queen Elizabeth, who inspired women to not only get rid of their eyebrows altogether, but also pluck their hairlines to accentuate their foreheads. I’m pretty sure this is a fashion that won’t resurface…

All I can say is that I absolutely love the current look, and hope that it sticks around for a while. It’s striking and powerful, authoritative and beautiful. When creating the strong arch, it’s important to follow the natural line of the brow, using a good quality brow pencil and brush to get a good thickness. My favourite it Lingering by MAC; it does exactly what it says on the tin, and the quality of finish is amazing.

And when it comes to choosing colours, if you have dark hair then go for one shade lighter, and if you have light hair, go for one shade darker. Once you’ve found the best shape and thickness for your face, stick to it; eyebrows are a really important factor in your makeup regime.

So take a look at the gorgeous Audrey Hepburn and have a go at recreating her iconic arches. It’ll transform your look…

Bring On The Drama

Okay you lot, it’s time to leave our makeup modesty at the door and reach for the pillar box reds and emerald greens...

You should all know by now that I love the natural look, but there’s definitely a time and a place for getting more dramatic and creative with your makeup…a night out with the girls being one of them!

Now, before I get going with this, I want to lay down the law when it comes to applying heavier, bolder makeup: Don’t ignore your skin tone!

Getting creative with your makeup does NOT give you free reign of the colour spectrum.  And it certainly does not mean you’re allowed to get tangoed (you must remember those adverts?!) If you have beautiful porcelain skin, keep it that way; looking like you’ve just fallen asleep under the sunbed is never nice…

Equally, if you have darker skin, don’t make a grab for the china white foundation. This may all sound obvious, but you’d be surprised what people THINK they can get away with.

However, if you really can't leave the tanned look totally behind then get yourself a bronzer to bring colour to your face; it’s a much more natural way to fake the baked look.

So, now we all know to keep clear of our no-go colours, let’s admire the celebrities and celebrity makeup artists that are known for being more daring with their look. I’m going to start at the bottom of the extreme makeup spectrum, and work up to the King of the bold, striking look (I will not reveal his name yet!)

Let’s start with the lovely - and outrageous! - Kim Kardashian. This lady does dramatic without using bold colours, but still manages to look fiercely vibrant all the same. It’s all down to her strong eyebrows, heavy lashes, and monochrome skin tone.

Check out the vibrancy of those lips!

In particular, her makeup for her five minute wedding was fabulous. And which celebrity makeup artist do we have to thank? The master of flawless skin and sculpted features, Mario Dedivanovic.

The key to the success of Kim’s look is the highlighting and contouring that Mario uses. He tends to use highlights under her eyes going in a slight ‘V’ shape towards the nose, as well as along the centre of the face from the forehead to the chin.

Mario Dedivanovic

I love him for his skill in creating what can only be described as a magazine, airbrushed look; the celebrities he works on have consistently flawless skin tones, and appear more manikin than human! But he manages to pull this off in a natural way, matching the foundations and highlighters he uses perfectly to his models’ natural colour tones.

However, there’s one makeup artist out there who makes Mario Dedivanovic look positively conservative: the 2011 winner of the Professional National Makeup Artist Awards, Lan Nguyen (being a Dubliner myself, I can’t help but point out she’s from my own stomping ground).

Lan Nguyen

Now, apart from anything else, this talented makeup artist should get a round of applause simply for being a woman; it’s surprising how few women makeup artists there are in the world of fame!

Lan’s sharp, avant-garde style and creative use of texture and tone sets her apart from the crowd, and paints a picture of a seriously talented and cutting-edge artist. She has an impressive list of clients, including the Sugababes, Caprice, Liberty X, and Hayley Hasselhoff, all of whom strike bold colours and exaggerated, sculpted features.

Take a peek at her impressive portfolio here:

http://my-management.co.uk/make-up/lan-nguyen/portfolio/

And now for the don of drama and the pinnacle of my hotlist: celebrity makeup artist Andrew Gallimore. When it comes to pushing the boundaries of colour, texture, and style, this man takes gold.

Andrew Gallimore

He has described his work as akin to hanging a canvas in a gallery, and I certainly wouldn’t disagree. All makeup artists ARE artists, but Gallimore takes this to an all new level. His notorious American Lips is a testament to this, and shows off just how talented he is with his use of texture and vibrancy.

The now notorious American Lips

Gallimore also created the same effect for Jessie J, turning her lips into a piece of art work…

Stunning!

But despite his untraditional and controversial techniques and style, he is passionate about maintaining the original beauty of his models. As I have mentioned before, it’s important not to create a mask when applying makeup, and Gallimore upholds this idea beautifully.

Before I sign off, let’s take a look at some of Gallimore’s more outrageous clients, all of whom tick every box in the crazy makeup checklist: Beth Ditto, Marilyn Manson, Dita Von Tesse.

Beth Ditto

Makeup works wonders!

Dita Von Tesse

Need I say more?! See you next time…