I have the Tarte Toolbox and I think it’s a great little kit. More affordable than the Anastasia ones, very compact so you can easily take it with you, and my eyebrows have never looked better – and I did them myself! I never though I could do such a good job

I was wondering how this Brow Bar compared with the Anastasia one at the downtown Nordies. Angie – have you tried that one? I love the idea of dropping in and getting my brows done while shopping!

I almost posted about this in the forum a few days ago! I had my brows done at the Benefit Brow Bar last week! (I live in Los Angeles, CA.)

I have been tweezing them myself for a long time, but I kept walking past the Brow Bar and I thought “Twenty bucks? Why not.” As soon as I sat down I realized “Uh – I know nothing about this woman’s training.” I asked her, and she assured me she was a licensed aestheticism. Of course, that still doesn’t really guarantee anything – I was fully prepared to come out with Picasso eyebrows. But – I was pleased with the result.

I have uneven brows, plus I’m on Retin-A, so they have to pluck – they can’t use wax. But she was very efficient and did a good job. She did try to sell me products, but I declined and she didn’t push it. The only thing I didn’t like was she finished me off by evening my brows with pencil, and it looked good, but I couldn’t really see the true shape she had tweezed until I got home and washed the pencil off. I don’t use pencil myself – maybe I should? But she had done a good job – she made a nice line and everything looked tidy. I will probably go back to her. It’s so convenient and the price is right.

Properly groomed/shaped eyebrows can make a HUGE difference in your appearance. I’ve seen some women look almost unrecognizable after they’ve had their eyebrows done (some look like they’ve had a facelift). I usually get mine threaded at an Indian beauty salon – cheap ($8), painless and perfectly shaped!

Since my eyebrows are thick and dark, I haven’t needed to use the pencil & other fillers. I’ve heard many good things about the Anastasia products, especially the grooming gel although when I tried it out, it didn’t seem to work any better than regular hair gel although the little brush was great!

Good to know, Elisa.

Glad you had a good experience, Tara. Whether you use a pencil, or powder to fill in your brows depends on your brows. I definitely prefer the look of pencil for my brows because it’s more natural. I’m sure that powder for other types of brow shapes and thicknesses is natural looking too (just not for mine).

Shana, your exotic features leave you with beautiful brows that need the occasional shape and nothing else. You lucky fish! If hair gel works just fine, I see no reason why should switch to a pukka brow product. It’s probably all the same stuff anyway.

Julie, I haven’t had my brows done down at the Anastasia counter in Nordstrom yet . I’m pretty good at shaping my own brows and have not needed to seek the service of a beautician. I checked out the Benefits Brow Bar so that I could share my experience. I should check out the Anastasia one as well to compare. Stay tuned.

i am a big beliver in benefit as it is quick, easy, and i don’t need an appt. to get in. they dye my brows and lashes and i have had only the best service. it is also 1 block away, so for me, it’s fab!

I get mine done at a threading kiosk in our local mall. Just $10 (not including tip) and it takes about 10 minutes. It isn’t painless, but I do find it less painful than tweezing. I go as often as I get my haircut (every 6-8 weeks). I went this past saturday so my brows would look good for the YLF get-together….. but nobody probably noticed, since my hair is long right now!

Threading (they actually use a sewing thread) is perfect for those of us who have sparser eyebrows. I never had an issue with my eyebrows – until I hit my 40s. Then they started growing unruly on me, but still relatively sparse. Waxing would probably leave me browless!

Threading gives the control and precision of tweezing, but is faster because they can rip out more hairs at a time instead of going one by one, plus they get all the little fuzzy hairs too.

And they also spend a lot of time cutting my eyebrow hairs down to size…. I don’t know what it is about your 40s…. my eyebrow hairs grow like weeds! Interestingly, my right eyebrow grows faster than my left. I’ve always wondered why that is….

Angie, the eye brow lift pencil sounds great! I may have to check that one out. I do like the effect of a subtle white shadow just under my brow.

My mom used to use the Brow Zings. Her brows are naturally very sparse, but using that vs her usual Maybelline brow powder doesn’t actual make a huge difference. Works well, but it’s expensive compared to a drug store product that works just as well.

Shiny, Maybe some day we can meet at your local mall and get our brows threaded together. I know of no place near me that does it–and I’ve asked a few people, and most of them had never heard of threadding. (I hadn’t heard of it til you mentioned months ago).

I will have to see if my Macy’s has a brow bar, somehow I doubt they will. I tweeze my own but there are always little ones popping up that my tweezers can’t get. Since they are so dark and my skin is fairly light, the untweezable hairs are very noticeable.

I use hair gel when tweezing to give my tweezers a little extra grip. I don’t think I do the greatest job shaping because one eye has a much higher arch than the other and I don’t know how to compensate for it. I could definitely benefit from a trained professional!

Hey now that some of you have seen me in RL, what would you all say my skin tone is?

Threading is very popular here in Germany and I love it. So painless and so quick. I happily turn over my 10 euros every 6 weeks to have it done. Groomed eyebrows make such a difference!

Ooooh, I hope we’ve got a Brow Bar here in Mpls. I’m the only one who has ministered to my brows in YEARS and I could use a hand!

Shiny, Nicole and Risa – I have heard of threading but have never had it done. It looks interesting. I suppose you have to find the method that works best for your brows (waxing, tweezing or threading). Let us know whether you like that brow lifting pencil, Shiny. It works for Lori, the CA friend who suggested the Brow Bar to me in the first place.

Good to know, Val. Again, if a cheaper product works just as well – go for it.

Sal, I thoroughly encourage having your brows attended to professionally at least once. I can’t stress enough how much of a difference it makes to one’s face. It’s radical.

Nicole, I would not describe you as fair skinned. I’d say that you probably turn quite dark if you tan. I’d say you’re sort of a light olive if that makes sense. A medium skin tone. Shiny, Tanya and I are what I’d call fair skinned. I’m so fair, I’m virtually blue.

Nicole, I’m happy to take you to my local threading place anytime. However, I must say your eyebrows are a lovely shape and you do a great job on your own! In fact, I would never have known you did them yourself, without you telling me just now! I am envious of eyebrows that arch like yours do (and Angie’s!).

Mine don’t arch as much as yours, and there’s only so much shaping that can be done with them, because they are so sparse. But threading every 6 weeks over the past year has really helped – as much as is possible. The woman who does mine now gives them a natural shape that I think is appropriate for my face – even if that shape is not enviably arched!

Sal – I agree with Angie that this is one of those things you should at least do once! Whether threading, waxing, etc… my first time was in 2005 – at a dermatology salon recommended by my hairdresser. But, that session (threading) was quite expensive. Howover, the results were quite dramatic. I was able to tweeze and trim on my own for many months afterwards to maintain the shape. I did not go back again because it was too expensive and by appt only.

So I was thrilled when the threading kiosk opened up in the mall!! So much cheaper, and no appt necessary. The only thing is that everyone in the mall can watch you having it done! But who cares; you get over that quickly.

I know this is an old post but just in case someone happens to read this then it was worth writing. I just wanted to say that there are two products from benefit that I wouldn’t do without. The first one is f.y…eye, it’s a eyeshadow base and boy does it work. I’m an RN and my shadow lasts all day and doesn’t crease. The other product I use of theirs is She Laq, i use this over my liner so it doesn’t end up on my upper lids. It looks very fresh after a 12 or 16 hour day. Anyway just a few tidbits for the ladies out there. Take care…Steph