Makeup School: Day 27 - Eyebrow Blocking

I feel the importance of eyebrows are frequently overlooked in makeup. To really appreciate them, try blocking out your brows and going for a walk outside. It's likely people will find there's something weird going on with your face but probably can't quite put their finger on it.

I consider brow blocking part of special effects or theatrical makeup. I mean, it's not every day that you'll need to hide your existing eyebrows and paint over them or draw on fake ones. :P Work with what you've got, yeh?

However, the application process is relatively simple:

1. Dampen a powder puff with water (squeeze out excess water so it's not dripping wet) and press-roll the puff against the brows to flatten the hairs even more. Alternatively, talc can be used instead of water for this step, but talc also has the annoying ability to make sure nothing else sticks to it.Thinly coat a disposable mascara wand in Spirit Gum and apply to brows. The aim of this is to get the brow hairs to lay flat on the skin. There's two ways of doing this: Either brush all the brow hairs against the direction of growth so that they're pointing upwards or brush them in the direction of growth the way they would probably prefer to be. If brows are particularly thick and bushy (ie. guy brows), I suggest brushing them backwards and upwards so they don't stack on each other and you end up with a protruding, caveman browline.
2. Use a spatula to scrape off a small amount of wax and spread over the brows a section at a time. This smoothes the ridges between brow hairs and creates an even surface. The wax should cover the whole spirit-gummed brow with the edges blended into the skin.
3. Use a finger to feel the brows for uneven application or puckering of the skin. To prevent puckering, don't pull skin taunt when applying the wax.
4. Fix the wax with a plastic sealer (Watermelon is particularly good but tends to dry out in the container). The sealer needs to overlap the edges of the wax and skin to grip properly.

It should only take around 5-20mins for a good SPFX mua to do these steps. Remember, this method is only to smooth down the brow surface. It will not hide the brow colour; use makeup or prosthetics for that.

Of course, I'm not going to let you (or your model) walk around with no brows, so here's the removal process:

1. Make sure eyes are completely closed during the whole removal steps
2. Remove sealer with cotton pads soaked in makeup remover.
3. Use a cotton thread to drag against the brows and remove the wax (if you've ever seen people using a piece of string to cut chunks of clay, you'll know what I mean. ^^U). Alternatively, use a spatula to gently scrape off the wax.
4. Soak cotton pads in spirit gum remover and hold against the brows to let the solution start dissolving the gum before wiping off.

Phew! Isn't it good to have your brows back? Plus, you've probably never realised how long your brow hairs are until they're brushed out and stuck down halfway up your forehead. X3

xxEva