Oprah’s Brow Pro Shares Her Easy Eyebrow Tutorial
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In 1998, Anastasia Soare was in her salon in Beverly Hills when the phone rang. It was a producer from The Oprah Winfrey Show calling to invite her to shape Oprah’s eyebrows live on TV. “I was nervous, but I knew I could do it,” recalls Soare, who thinks of the incredible experience as her Oscars moment. “As I walked on Oprah’s stage, I told myself, You’ve worked with many celebrities. You can do this. Just give her the most beautiful eyebrow shape.”
Soare—now known as the Queen of Brows and celebrating her brand’s 25th anniversary—had worked hard to get to that pinnacle moment. She’d immigrated to Los Angeles from Romania as a 33-year-old mother and began working in a salon as an aesthetician. Soon she was the go-to for celebrities’ waxing needs, from bikini lines to, yes, eyebrows.
During that time, she began to apply the “golden ratio,” which she’d learned from her education in art and architecture, to her clients’ brows. Based on their eye shape and bone structure, she could create the perfect, most flattering brow shape for them. Remember, this was the age of the cookie-cutter skinny brow, so the idea that your brows were critical to your face’s structure and expression was revolutionary. She called it her Golden Ratio Eyebrow Shaping Method and went on to patent it.
Celebrities loved the technique, which led Soare to open her own salon, launch her first Anastasia Beverly Hills products—and appear on Oprah’s show. The national exposure helped shift the way we think about and shape our eyebrows to this day. “Oprah’s show was bigger than life; everyone knows she was the original influencer,” she says.
Watch her shape Oprah’s brows for the first time on The Oprah Winfrey Show and talk about the impact Oprah has had on her incredible career:
How to create your perfect brow shape in 4 easy steps
“If you look back at Oprah’s brows on that episode in 1998, you’ll see that she still has the same thick, beautiful eyebrow shape today,” Soare says. “That’s because that shape is perfect for her face.” These steps—shown in the video below—show you how to find and fill in your ideal brow:
Step 1: Use a pencil as a guide, holding it on your face at three key angles. First, place it vertically on the middle of your nostril; that shows you where your brow should start. Next, angle it from the corner of your nose to the corner of your eye; that shows you where it should end. Last, hold it from the tip of your nose through the middle of your iris; that shows you where the arch of your brow should be. Mark these spots with an eyebrow pencil.
Then, fill in the shape you’ve created using the Brow Wiz eyebrow pencil. "Because you’ll be tempted to apply more pressure at first, start at the arch since that area can handle darker, more defined strokes," Soare says.
Step 2: Fill in sparse areas with the Brow Definer. Using the fine tip of the pencil, detail the front of the brow by creating hairlike strokes. Starting at the bottom of the brow, press the tip down and then flick it up in the direction of hair’s natural growth. Use this technique wherever you have gaps; blend with a spoolie throughout.
Step 3: Make your brow look thicker and more natural using the Brow Pen; this is a marker that mimics hair strokes. “I like to dab it on a Kleenex [to remove some of the pigment], and then draw light, hair-like flicks throughout the brows,” Soare says. Hold the pen perpendicularly to your skin so that you don’t apply it too thickly. Let it dry for a few seconds, and then blend with a spoolie.
Step 4: Put a small amount of Brow Freeze on the included applicator, wipe it back and forth on the back of the cap, then brush through your brow using upward motions to tame and hold brows in place.
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