Is it just me, or does it seem as if natural, full, and groomed eyebrows have quickly become the marvel of the beauty world within the past five years? It wasn't long ago that the pencil-thin brows of the '90s were the must-have look. Today, most girls wouldn't be caught dead with anything less than beautifully bold and big brows. Studies show that 50 percent of makeup consumers in 2017 make their eyebrows a priority in their beauty routine, as opposed to the 28 percent in 2015.
It's official, eyebrows are back, and it looks like they're here to stay!
Some people luck-out and are born with naturally dark and shapely brows. I like to call these people the blessed ones. I, however, am not a blessed one, having been born with thin, transparent eyebrows. Without makeup, it looked as if I had no eyebrows at all! What a nightmare, am I right?!
I began to attempt filling in my brows around 6th grade. I started out with a red/brown eyeshadow and basically just smeared the powder on my brows until I resembled Chucky. Let me just say, it was a look.
Eventually I graduated to better products that complimented my color palette, but still struggled with achieving the perfect shape. It was like I had a brand-new, misshapen pair of eyebrows every single day. Your girl needed guidance, I'll say that much.
About a year ago, I'd heard of a new beauty trend that was making waves all over social media. Microblading. Microblading is the process of tattooing small, wispy hairlines on your eyebrows to simulate a naturally full, and perfectly shaped brow. I knew as soon as I saw a video of the process on Instagram that this would be perfect for me! I was spending at least 20 minutes during my morning-routine every single day to fill in my eyebrows, and achieve the perfect shape. Even with all that time spent on them, my brows were never symmetrical and rarely maintained a consistent shape day-to-day.
So, last summer, despite my mother's efforts to urge me against permanently tattooing my face, I decided to take the plunge and go for it! What did I have to lose?
I scheduled my appointment at a local tattoo/piercing studio. The artist I made my appointment with had just recently started microblading, so she was giving a $50 deal to the first 20 people who made appointments. Microblading can cost anywhere from $250-$1000, so there was no way I could pass her deal up. Up until then, I had never gotten any kind of tattoo so I wasn't sure what kind of pain to expect. She had me lay down in her chair and put this strange, head-hugging ruler-type device on my face to measure out the perfect placing for my long-awaited brows. She did an outline of what they'd look like once she was finished and after I approved of the shape, we were off!
She explained to me she'd go through each brow with two passes. The first pass would hurt, but during the process, she would simultaneously be applying lidocaine which acts as a numbing agent, so that by the second pass, I barely felt a thing! I'm not gonna play you, it really does kind of hurt in the beginning. It's sort of like a Maybe it was just me laying anxiously on the table for an hour, but when I could tell she was close to being done, my pain-tolerance sort of gave up on me.
I lived, though! Don't worry! When she was done she handed me a mirror and I was so happy I felt like I could cry tears of happiness. It was definitely weird to get used to actually having visible eyebrows on my face, but I quickly got used to my sleek new addition.
The healing process was quick and painless! The artist had given me a tattoo balm that I applied liberally every day to make sure they healed nicely. I was actually surprised by how by how quickly they healed. The first few weeks after having them done, they definitely fade in color a little bit, but this just makes them look more natural! Personally, I favor a darker brow so I like to touch them up with some brow gel or a light brown brow pencil. I go back to get them touched up about every two to three months, but if I didn't, they'd almost completely fade on their own over the course of 2 years.
If you're someone who spends way too much time on their brows every morning, then you'd absolutely benefit from microblading. Consider how much time and money you're pouring into your eyebrows and make the decision whether or not you're willing to make the investment. All-in-all, my eyebrows are my new favorite facial feature! I would urge anyone interested in it to do their research and decide for themselves!