All about: brow feathering and microblading for your best brows ever

In case the importance of great eyebrows hasn’t been stressed enough over the past few years, chances are the condition your eyebrows may be adding years to your appearance. I know, I know – not another thing to add to the list! Well thankfully this one can be easily remedied at the hands of a skilled professional.The frenzy over bold brows goes beyond simply liking the way they look as thicker eyebrows are actually an evolutionary sign of youth. As we get older, the natural ageing process thins the hair on our bodies, and consequently, sparse eyebrows are a sign of that less-than-desirable aspect of getting older—just like the thinning of hair on your head. Hair growth becomes sparser and colour starts to fade, which is why many of us are looking to a more permanent solution with microblading, powdering and feathering.
Dame Helen Mirren revealed her biggest beauty secret at 72 is bold brows, confessing to the Daily Mail that she has noticed a huge difference in her confidence after undergoing microblading. “They're very lightly and delicately done – but it means when I get up in the morning and I have no makeup on, at least I have eyebrows,” says the star.
I’ve always had strong brows and - thankfully – never over plucked them even at the height of the late 1990s/early 2000s Great Brow Massacre, but yep, they were starting to look less than their best. I noticed the tails in particular were tapering more than usual, and quite frankly, I just couldn’t be bothered spending ten minutes or more in the morning trying to fill the damn things back in! This is why I turned to the super talented brow pro Liza Pilkington at Love Beauty Studio in Auckland to see what she could do.

As I still have quite a strong shape, at my consultation Liza recommended brow feathering as opposed to more tradition microblading. Feathering is a hair stroke technique that produces full, feather-like brows using nano strokes that appear even, soft and beautifully arched. Like microblading, she uses a fine blade to create tiny incisions. Pigment is then deposited into the incisions, resulting in an incredible natural-looking 'eyebrow hair. Unlike microblading, which typically creates most of the brow for you, Liza uses your existing brow hairs as the "starting base" and simply fills it in as needed.
Whether you need to cover gaps, fully reconstruct, or fill in over plucked brows, Liza will choose the method most suited to you and even use a combo of say, microblading and powdering on some clients. The advanced form of cosmetic tattooing is a way to ensure beautifully symmetric, semi-permanent eyebrows lasting anywhere up to two years, and an annual refresh is recommended.
Although it’s not super-painful, the scraping technique used can be a bit uncomfortable, so Liza applies a topical anaesthetic gel 20 minutes prior to treatment and during treatment according to comfort. I usually have quite a high pain threshold but have to admit it hurt more than expected but hey, the end result is fantastic! There was a little redness visible for an hour or two after initial treatment, but this settled quickly, and as with every cosmetic procedure, there are a few guidelines recommended to protect the new eyebrow in its healing stages.
As for colour, it’s best to stay as close to your natural hair colour as possible, but if you have grey or platinum blonde hair, ask for a deeper shade to offset the starkness of the bright hair and give your face a true frame. If you are going darker with your brows, don’t go too thick, or you risk a too-heavy brow that you’ll be stuck with for quite some time.
Oh and microblading or feathering can restore depth of colour and definition to your brows, but it won’t hide grey hairs, so keep up your brow tinting on a regular basis if they are an issue for you.
I think this is the perfect pre-holiday treatment for better brows even when you’re in and out of the sea or the pool over summer and hey, we could all do with that extra ten minutes in the morning at any time of year.
You can find Liza at Love Beauty Studio in Westmere, Auckland.

Main photo by Ayo Ogunseinde on Unsplash