From The Straits Times    |

Photo: Anastasia Beverly Hills/Facebook 

Anastasia Soare is a problem solver. Her eponymous brand all began with a Beverly Hills salon in 1997, with a focus on the eyebrows because she wanted to fill a void in the beauty market when she realised that “Back in the ‘90s, no one was paying attention to the eyebrows.” It’s hard to imagine now but back in the pre-Instagram, there were no products made specifically for the arches either.

She didn’t fall into the depths of a wildly successful makeup empire by chance – her training in art school proved to be an the unconventional set of tools she will use to formulate her patented method of brow-shaping: The Golden Ratio, that’s become a popular point of reference.

Photo: Anastasia Beverly Hills/Facebook 

“I remember being in art school when my teacher taught me how to change the emotion of the person I was sketching by simply changing the shape of the eyebrows. I was also introduced to the concept of the golden ratio,” said Anastasia in this sit down interview with us. Using this method, Anastasia is able to factor in the bone structure to sketch out the best shape for every face to achieve perfect symmetry.

Anastasia’s methodology proved to be a hit among customers. As she soon went on to create an empire to perfect features on the face, applying everything she learnt in art school to her makeup.

“When you do portraits, you shade to create dimensions. That’s the (same) reason why people use makeup,” added Anastasia.

Photo: Anastasia Beverly Hills/Facebook 

For the beauty mogul, that was her “a-ha!” moment when she realised that everyone has a different face, hence would use makeup differently.

Now the self-dubbed “fairy godmother of the beauty industry” presides over her own beauty empire and has amassed a huge social media following of 18 million on her brand’s Instagram account, which she manages with her daughter.

In her two-decade-long career, the Romanian CEO has tended to the arches of well-known celebrities like Jennifer Lopez, Oprah Winfrey, Penelope Cruz, and in her own words “all of the Kardashians.”

Anastasia’s passion is infectious. Going forward, she tells us that she doesn’t just want to make incredible products but she also wants to educate her customers.

 

Before and after:

Photo: Anastasia Beverly Hills/Facebook 

“I want women to learn exactly how to do their eyebrows and how to contour. Sharing this knowledge with them can empower them. Women should never be afraid and should do everything they can to be confident, to feel beautiful and conquer the world,” said Anastasia. We couldn’t have said this better ourselves. Read on for beauty pointers from the pro.

 

On always taking a selfie before you contour

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Anastasia Beverly Hills (@anastasiabeverlyhills) on

Anastasia suggested taking a photo of your face before drawing an oval on the photo to identify which parts of the face to contour. Always have three zones in mind when you contour: the hairline to the eyebrow, the eyebrow to the base of the nose and cheek and the base of the nose and cheek to the chin should always be equal. She also recommends using a dark coloured contour product to create the illusion of a deeper crease since Asian eyelids tend to be more flat.

 

On the biggest eyebrow mistake even celebrities make

She adamantly cautions against removing hair that you shouldn’t. If you’ve gone a little too tweezer-happy, Anastasia suggests filling in your brows and creating tiny hair-like strokes with a brow pencil.

 

On avoiding harsh and heavy handed brows

To ensure you do not over-fill your brows, always use feather-like strokes whenever you apply any colour to your brows and blend out  with a spoolie.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Anastasia Beverly Hills (@anastasiabeverlyhills) on

 

On the Anastasia Beverly Hills product you need to try if you’re new to the brand

The eyebrow guru recommends going with the Brow Wiz Eyebrow Pencil to achieve perfect brows and use it along with the Wax Brow Primer that is great for controlling the stray hairs which can be a problem for Asian brows.

 

On the most dramatic eyebrow transformation she has witnessed

“Kim Kardashian used to have really bushy eyebrows. If you look at her pictures from a few years back, her face didn’t change but her eyebrows did,” said Anastasia.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Kim Kardashian West (@kimkardashian) on

On eyebrow stamps

The 60-year-old makeup maestro revealed that she bought an eyebrow stamp when she went to China and tried to use it but it doesn’t work because stamps are for flat surfaces. Instead, Anastasia recommends using a pencil instead of a stamp because you get better control.

 

On eyebrow trends

Anastasia said that you shouldn’t change your natural eyebrow shape and it should always follow the bone structure. That said, you can fill your brows with a light, dark or ombre colour depending on what’s on-trend.

 

Anastasia Beverly Hills (ABH) is now sold at all twelve Sephora stores, Sephora.sg and the Sephora App.

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