Brows might seem like an afterthought, but don’t underestimate their potential to give you a beauty boost. ‘They frame the windows of the soul,’ Shavata explains. ‘If you visualise a beautiful painting with a really ugly frame, there will be no justice to the painting. You can have a beautiful woman with a really ugly brow. Yes, she’s still beautiful – but you have to really concentrate hard.
And when you actually have your eyebrows beautifully done, the best compliment would be, “What have you done? You look really well! Have you had a facial?” Nobody should actually notice the brow. Nobody actually notices the frame, but it brings the whole painting together.’
Once a woman discovers the secret of Shavata’s brow-shaping magic, there is no going back. ‘I used to do a Vogue editor,’ she remembers, ‘and you don’t tell a Vogue editor that she’s got dodgy eyebrows. I used to wax her legs for her, so after two years of waxing her legs and seeing these dodgy eyebrows, I finally plucked up enough courage to say, “Do you know, you’ve got dodgy eyebrows”. She was furious with me for not telling her! She insisted I do them there and then, and was so impressed she wrote about me in Vogue, to say thank you for transforming her.’
While Shavata admits there are subtle trends in eyebrows, she discourages a woman from blindly emulating celebrities in favour of the tailor-made shape that suits the individual. It’s this expert customisation that yields results like a surgical facelift in a fraction of the time. Shavata or one of her therapists waxes or threads the brows and finishes by sharing grooming instructions until the next visit. ‘Even if you have your eyebrows done once a year, I would have them done by a professional so you get to know what your shape would be, then you maintain it.’
Between visits, she advises, ‘Do your eyebrows every single day. It’s a lot easier for you to pluck one or two hairs out every single day than to pluck out 20 or 30 at the end of the week. While they’re still short, you can see which should stay and which should go. And then at the end of the week after a hot shower sit with a hand mirror in front of a large mirror, so you’ve got a close-up view for taking out all the fine, downy hairs, and then you’ve got an overall view of what you’re trying to create.’
Alternate between the two brows as you groom them. ‘Do a couple of hairs on one eyebrow, go on to do a couple of hairs on the other,’ she says. ‘If you get one great shape and then you try and mimic it on the other side, you will never be able to do it. Eyebrows are sisters, not twins; you can never have two identical eyebrows.’
Brow Essentials
| Shavata Eyebrow Shapers | £12.00 |
| Contains four stencils and an outliner pencil for perfectly shaped brows. Use after a hot shower and keep pencil sharp. | |
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| Mister Mascara Brow Brush and Comb | £4.90 |
| To tame unruly brows, frame the eyes and lend a groomed appearance. | |
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| Shavata Brow Tamer | £13.00 |
| An innovative click pen for setting the brows perfectly. Twist the tube to dispense gel into the brush and draw across each eyebrow. | |
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| Shavata Brow Perfector | £19.50 |
| Mirror compact containing two slanted brushes and three brow colours. Blend to achieve the perfect shade. | |
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| Mister Mascara Slant Tweezers with Mini | £7.20 |
| Sharp and effective with perfect tension, these tweezers with reach even the smallest hairs. | |
Words: Shannon Munroe Denny
Photography: David Lam
Makeup: Chase Aston @ one makeup
Hair: Piero @ terri manducca
Model: Anna Shatal @ storm model agency