Learning the trick for a perfect pluck

If you are on social media, you may have come across pictures captioned “eyebrows on fleek”. This simply means that the eyebrows have been done well.

But sometimes the fleekiness can be a bit off.

For anyone that is experimenting or into make-up, they will know the importance of having the perfect brow.

From the shape to the colour used to make it look fuller.

East London make-up artist Tina Tshevu recently hosted a “brow wow” tutorial event for all those wanting their eyebrows to be on point.

As the Daily Dispatch journalist at the event, I also got a chance to learn a thing or two about make-up and getting the perfect brow.

A well-known Trevor Noah skit on his It's My Culture show has fun at the way some females choose to do their eyebrows.

When speaking about how angry we are as a nation, Noah says even in places where people shouldn’t be angry, they are.

He said for example tellers at national retail stores are always angry.

“They are so angry and they look angry. They’ve drawn their eyebrows, they have that permanent scowl. I don’t understand that trend in fashion, to be honest.

“Why would you shave your eyebrows off and then draw them back on where they were?” he asked.

Rule No1, never shave off all your eyebrows only to draw them back on again.

Ladies, this does not make sense to anyone. However, you can shape them, either by waxing, threading or tweezing. All you need is a nice shape. When the shape has been achieved, you need to fill them in with colour to make them look fuller, still maintaining the same shape.

You can use a brown eyebrow pencil or a eyebrow kit which consists of a wax pomade in a dark shade and a powder formula in a lighter shade. Most make-up artists recommend that people use brown to fill in their eyebrows, never use a black pencil.

At the make-up tutorial hosted at Oh!Brigado Champagne Bar in East London, women received their own brow kit complete with eyebrow wax and powder, as well as concealer and an eyebrow brush, with a perfect brow picture to guide us.

Extras provided by Tshevu included foundation, sponges for applying foundation, primer and a “spoolie” brush which is used to shape eyebrows.

The event saw a cross-section of women from those who have never worn make-up, such as Olwethu Goso, to those who like to experiment. I’ve also recently started experimenting with make-up and it’s fun to see the transformation.

There was a lot of laughter and frustration at the same time as we struggled to get the perfect brow.

Tshevu used a model to demonstrate what to do and then walked around the room helping people get familiar with the products. She did one brow on each person and left the other for us to finish by ourselves. I am still mastering the art of getting the perfect brow.

Tshevu plans on hosting another tutorial on December 17. To attend the event, book your seat at makeup@nuvoink.co.za