Beauty Clinic: Restoring brow zing!

Q. My brows are getting quite sparse so I need to give them some shape and definition. They used to be dark, which matched my hair – but that’s gone grey and when I use a dark brow colour it looks a bit dark to me.

 A. ‘You’ve just got to be brave,’ says Oscar-winning make up artist Valli O’Reilly, who’s in the UK working with her longtime client Michelle Pfeiffer on Maleficent 2. ‘That’s what I tell my friends when they come round to my house for a makeover. Brows are the most important feature for creating the architecture of your face and darker really does look better, whatever your colouring.’

Not, she adds hastily, that she advocates ‘beetling black, stencilled-on brows that walk into the room before you. But do go darker rather than lighter.’

Valli suggests colouring in your brows with a product such as Talika Eyebrow Lipocils Ink/£22, which comes in Brown or Deep Brown. At the same time as filling in the colour, this product claims to encourage pigment and regrowth. (There’s a good YouTube tutorial here.)

Alternatively, Valli suggests brushing in colour with a budget brand waterproof mascara in brown or dark brown. Rimmel offers 100% Waterproof Mascara Brown for £5.99 and Collection Lash Surge Mascara Brown/Black 3 is £4.99; find both at superdrug.com.

A colleague recommends Iconic London Sculpt & Boost Eyebrow Cushion/£26.99, a two-shade liquid brow compact, which comes in Fair, Cool Fair, Medium and Deep. It’s smudge-proof and sweat-resistant, with a double ended applicator, and gets rave reviews. (Valli went rushing off to try it when she heard this.)

Beauty Bible testers voted Mii Beautifying Brow Wand/£17.50, the biz for a Gold Award, with Benefit Foolproof Brow Powder and the same brand’s Precisely, My Brow Pencil (both £21.50) gathering up Silver and Gold. See all the comments here.

At Beauty Bible HQ, we love Benefit Gimme Brow+ Volumizing Eyebrow Gel/£21.50. It really does the biz, providing colour (five shades) plus microfibres that stick to existing hairs and your skin for fuller-looking brows.

Finally, a tip from Valli for conditioning brows, which tend to get drier as you age, along with the rest of your skin. ‘Take a clean mascara brush or small toothbrush and stroke on organic castor oil every night. It helps your brows grow too.’