Services
From makeovers to personalized skincare consultations
Sign In
Hey everyone! Firstly thanks to @KatieBT @SephoraBIC, Brittany and the Yorkdale store for a really great event. I got there about 10 minutes early but entered from the side door since the store was open and in the middle the space was setup and ready for the event to start. I needed return a faulty product so decided to do that before the event started and ended up meeting Brittany a few minutes after everyone was seated. She was lovely and found me a seat (The reserved seats would have been super cool but also completely my fault for being a few minutes late). It was still an small group of maybe 50 people so really there weren't any bad seats.
There was a lovely host and after a short intro we had the lady of the hour walk onstage. After she spoke we had the opportunity to buy products and get them signed by Anastasia and take a picture with her. There was some serious rush as the Anastasia section so @sp1771 and I decided to browse around the rest of the store, catchup and have some macarons. I love getting to meet other BICer's in person!! We also all had a chance to have our eyebrows done by the ABH artists who had flown in for the week. They were super knowledgable and helped your find the perfect product and shade for your eyebrows and lifestyle. Big Shoutout to John who I ended up chatting with way past close and was so lovely! @sp1771 shared some great photos so I won't repeat them (hers are better anyways!) but share some notes I took.
Firstly the optimal shape of an Eyebrow is based on the Golden Ratio and goes back to 450 BC when the Pantheon was built.
If you use a brow powder, its key to use a waxy product like the Eyebrow Primer (sorry can't tag products atm) so the power adheres and lasts. Only run it over your brows once, as otherwise it will be too waxy. There are two shades where the lighter shade is for the first half of the brow and darker shade for the second half.
- For darker skin tones if a shade looks ashy on your look for something with a red undertone to counteract it and get a warmer look
- When using brow gel, skip the first 1/4 of your brow
- Place a drop of oil in your dip brow overnight if its drying out, nothing water based!
- Clear Gel has a strong hold while the colour ones have a slight sheen to them that give your brows dimension with lighter hold
- If you have blonde hair but really dark brows and want to lighten them slightly, use a much lighter brow gel like a blonde shade and it will create a warmth against your dark brows
- If you have large gaps or are filling colour on your skin more on one side then the other, use a shade lighter then your brows as colour appears darker when its directly on skin without hair around (this sounds counterintuitive but the ABH Artist John (Huge shout out to John for giving me AH-Mazing brows and sharing all his tips and tricks with us) showed it to me and it works. Blend the two shades together with a spoolie
- Continue to blend as you work on your brows so it look cohesive.
Quick Product Breakdown
Brow Wiz - To Outline and define the eyebrow shape
Brow Powder - Fill the shape in
Dip Brow - To use on its own or over powder to create hair like strokes to fill gaps
Brow Definer - Your 3-in-1 product to define and fill your eyebrows for the 30 second eye (CC @KatieBT). Its triangular shaped where the fine point is to create hair like strokes and the larger side to fill. Since this gets 'blunt/rounded' easily to 'sharpen' it you take a piece of paper (not tissue) and hold it at the edge of the table, run the thick part of the brow definer horizontally back and forth a few times and it will have a fine point again.
Oh and the most important tip... DO NOT OVER-PLUCK, it doesn't always grow back!
Oh also only ONE of my brows are done in this because right after we removed it Brittany came by to say Anastasia was leaving so we should get our picture taken 🤦🏽♀️
Hi guys! I had a wonderful time last night with @Aaliaa at the ABH masterclass on brows. It was a very well organized and informative event. The ABH makeup team was also there and a lot of people actually flew in from NYC to be there.
I wanted to take a second and thank @KatieBT for letting us know about this and have BIC community members attend the event. Also, Brittany who was the event manager there was fantastic and totally on top of her game! She knew two BIC members were attending and had reserved seats for us.
When I arrived at the store, there was a LONG line up in front of the store. Clearly Anastasia has a lot of fans here! I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to go wait in line or talk to a store associate, so I took my chances and went inside. I asked the first associate I saw in store about the event and that I was attending as part of the BIC community, but she had no idea what I was talking about. However, she directed me to someone else who was in charge of the attendees. When I talked to her, she knew to check for my name on the guest list and I was immediately given a wrist band. Brittany the event manager came up to me then and introduced herself, she was very friendly and she told me she was expecting us. The team was almost done getting ready and would begin shortly and then guests would be seated.
I waited for a few minutes before Brittany came to get me again, and lo and behold, I was seated literally in front of the stage (also, not gonna lie, it was super cool to see a reserved sign on my seat!). There were a number of chairs arranged in a roped off area in the middle of the store, a few cameras were there as well (they were also showing the class on Facebook live), and the ABH and Sephora makeup team stood right outside the roped area. On each chair, there was a rainbow ABH notebook, pen and a face chart.
After everyone was seated, Anastasia came out and did a demo on brows. I took a lot of notes on how to get the perfect brows, so I hope these are handy for you all!
Brow 101:
- When deciding your brow shape...take a selfie! That way you can look at a picture of yourself and figure out where to begin/end your brows. Brows are very important because they shape your face and they're one of the most prominent features if someone glances at your face.
- The beginning of the brow should align in a straight line from your nostril, you can use a brush handle to determine this point and mark it so you know where the brow begins. To determine the natural arch of your brow, you can create a diagonal angle from your nostril to the 'high' point of your brow and make a point here with your pencil. Then, the outer most corner of your eye, diagonal from your nostril is where the brow should end.
- Start with the brow Pro Pencil and apply it under your brows. Then, brush it out with the ABH #7B brush so it blends evenly in your skin. Doing this step allows the brow powder to adhere better to the brow because the pencil has a wax like consistency, whereas creamy pencils will have a consistency like concealer and are prone to running. For under the brow, the colour can match or be a highlight shade but the top of the brow must match the colour of the foundation. If you use a highlighter under your brow, use shimmer first and then cover it with a matte pencil to keep it natural.
- Use a brow powder / brow pencil and mark the beginning of your brow, your arch and where you'd like it to end.
- You can use a stencil to help shape your brow, and you can use it as a guide. For ex. if you have a strong brow bone, you'll need a full arch stencil. The eyebrow doesn't necessarily have to align with the 'start' of a stencil, it can be shorter or longer, the stencil's arch can be moved to help fill the shape. Don't tilt the stencil, rather use it to make a gentle line that can be used as a guide when filling in your brows. You can brush out the excess powder with a spoolie to make it look natural.
- When you start filling the brow, you need two colours: a lighter colour for the base and a darker colour to create strokes of hair.
- To fill in brow gaps, Anastasia recommends using Dipbrow to create strokes of hair (with brush #12 or #14 as they are created super thin and angled to help pick up the product evenly). It dries fairly quickly so apply it and blend it in without waiting too long. When you use Dipbrow, use the top of the case to brush of excess product. Don't keep the Dipbrow jar open as the product can dry quickly and it's best to not expose it unnecessarily to air. It is a waterproof formula, so you can keep it refreshed by adding in a drop of oil (like argan oil or baby oil) to the jar. Do not use eyedrops! Any water based product will not revive the Dipbrow as it is a waterproof product.
- To get your brows filled in quickly (especially on mornings when you're on the go) use the Brow Definer. Do quick strokes, one under the brow and over it to shape it and lightly fill it in using quick movements.
Other tips:
- Don't over tweeze brows because the hair doesn't grow back
- Set your brows with brow gel (either clear or tinted)
- If colours turn ashy on you - fix it by using red/auburn brow gel to cut through the ashy look
- Brow shape can make eyes look bigger so don't be afraid to define your brows
- If you use a brush and lightly rub against the Pro Pencil, you can then apply powder on it and it will adhere better
- If you use Brow Definer and the tip becomes dull, you can sharpen it on a piece of paper by gently rubbing the dull sides to create a sharp line
-Practice, practice, practice! On Sundays stand in front of a mirror and just do your eye brows without worrying how they'll turn out like
Some pictures:
