A couple of blog posts ago, I promised you a bad brow story and I thought I’d share it with you today. I was actually going to review the Benefit Gimme Brow after the bad brow story but it turned out to be longer than I thought so I’ll do that tomorrow instead because a bad brow story must be shared ASAP. 😛
I was in Malaysia a month ago before gallivanting to Europe and prior to Beetrice’s wedding, I thought it would be nice to get my brows groomed. I won’t tell you the shop where I had it done but I’ll tell you the brand because I didn’t expect this from them at all. It was Shu Uemura.
Before I talk about the experience, I thought I’d give you a bit of a low-down on my brows. You see, I had my eyebrow embroidery done 4 years ago (big mistake) and the second time I did it, it didn’t turn out well. The shape the beauty therapist gave me was too wide for my eyes but I was stuck with the “embroidery” because it’s still here, 4 years on. You’ll have noticed a faint brown line on my brows in my FOTD posts. It’s not badly drawn brows. It’s eyebrow embroidery that won’t completely fade off even though the therapist promised me it’ll be gone in 2 years.
Anyway, back to the story.
Now I’ve been having my brows waxed and tweezed at Benefit Brow Bars since the beginning of the year so I know how they operate. Alarm bells should have rung when the makeup artist at Shu Uemura didn’t tell me how she wanted to do my brows but just went for them straight away. Prior to the brow shaping, I told her I wanted to keep my brows full à la Cara Delevingne. I don’t think she knew who Cara D was but what the hey, it’s Shu Uemura. Surely they know what they’re doing. I didn’t have my contact lenses on, so I had to remove my glasses during the grooming. I can’t remember the last time I had such a long brow grooming service because it took at least 30 minutes for her to finish.
When I finally saw myself in the mirror, I was horrified. She kept my brows full all right but she shaved off 1/4 of my left brow! She shaved the “tail” off, leaving that brow straight and angled upwards. Bee’s then-fiancé was with me at that time and when he saw my brows, he exclaimed “OMG what did she do to your eyebrows?!”
In hindsight, I should have told her it was awful but I was so horrified at what she had done that I immediately paid and left. For the rest of the holiday, I had to fill in a “tail” because if not, I’d have terribly uneven brows. This was something I never expected from Shu Uemura. I don’t know if it’s an Asian trend for brows to be straight. I hope not because it looks awful.
When I finally came back to Melbourne, I made a quick appointment with my local Benefit Brow Bar, lamented my brow woes to the brow therapist and she did her magic on me. She created a tiny bit of a “tail” and told me tweezers are to stay away from that area until more hair grew back, even if it ends up looking messy. A couple of weeks later, more hair grew back. Thank heavens my brows look almost normal again now. No more perpetually straight brows!
Here are a few lessons I’ve learned when getting my brows done at a new place and if you’re thinking of trying out a new salon/counter to get your brows done, please do bear these in mind:
- I should have asked her what she planned to do with my brows. Was she going to wax/shave/tweeze my brows? In Australia, waxing is common but in Malaysia, shaving is. What sort of arch was she planning to give me? How much hair was she going to remove?
- I should have worn my contact lenses instead of needing to take my glasses off. I was sitting right in front of the mirror but because I’m blind as a bat without my glasses, I couldn’t see what she was doing at all.
- I should have voiced my disappointment and told her that she shouldn’t have removed that much of my brows without consulting with me first instead of keeping quiet and walking away.
Have I lost faith in Shu Uemura’s brow services? Nah. It’s still immensely popular in Melbourne (they’re almost always fully booked out for weeks) and I’ve seen the results from other Shu Uemura brow services in Malaysia. They’re good. I just won’t go back to that store. 🙂
Do you have a bad brow story? Share your woes with us!
Oh, dear .. what a bad experience. I’d love to have my brows shaped, but .. terrified. What if they ‘do it wrong’ .. etc. I just can’t risk it .. lol.
Monica
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I know what you mean. If you’re worried, talk to the brow person prior to getting your brows done. Make sure she shows you exactly what she wants to do with your brows before she even comes near you with a pair of tweezers or a stick of wax. As long as the both of you are very clear as to what is going to happen and how your brows are going to look when she’s done, it’ll be fine.
If you’ve never had your brows shaped before, I don’t recommend going for waxing your first time. Just tell the brow person that you have sensitive skin , cannot do wax and need tweezing instead. When your brows are tweezed or shaved, they’ll grow back. There’s a risk that if the waxing isn’t done well, there’s a chance that hair won’t grow back. At least, this was what my brow lady told me.
I say go for it. Beautifully shaped brows make a huge difference to the face. It’s just hair; it’ll grow back 🙂 Guess what? Two weeks after I had my brows fixed by Benefit, the tail and everything has grown back. It’s now its usual shape again. 🙂
I am dealing with a bad haircut 🙁 Bad layering and length chopped off more than asked for. Alarm bells should have rang when the guy couldn’t find the hair middle parting right..I mean that’s basic !!!
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Oh no! I hate bad haircuts. It’s like dealing with bad hair days EVERY DAY. Try getting it fixed by another hair salon instead?
ouch!!!!!!!!!!!! I KNOW the sucky feeling!!!!
i had my brow done once at shu uemura, i told her to just trim off the stray hair and keep the volume, instead, she took her own initiative and trim trim trim, well, she didnt cut off my tail but my brows were left so thin!!!!!! i hate thin browsss!!! >< i am not one who likes to draw eyebrows so i'd like them in full.
it proved that sometimes getting out from your comfort zone is not a good thing! i usually get my brows threaded as they really, only, just remove the strays, gosh, i can never let anyone with the scissors near my brows again!
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Ugh I hear ya sister. Hate thin brows with a vengeance. Never understood why people with gorgeous thick brows want to shave theirs off to just two thin lines. It’s such a waste (and a slap in the face for those with naturally very sparse and thin brows but want fuller ones).
From now on, I’m happy to just stick with what I know and am comfortable with. Even though it costs a lot more than getting it done back in Malaysia. Sigh.
That was certainly an awful experience, Tine! The problem with services, find is that they are so dependant on the skill of the person executing it. I had one fairly good experience at Shu Uemura and one poor experience. Ditto Benefit. Now, mine are done at my facialist and when they go a bit off, I tweeze stray hairs. Threading is an option but I too found it left me with brows that were too thin.
As for straight brows, you know, I have noticed it as a trend amongst Asian trend followers. I see brows that are thick and almost straight, with little to no arch. It looks good on some faces but not all. Glad you got it fixed 🙂
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yeah I think straight brows are meant to be more youthful looking? Very popular among japanese girls especially =)
Thanks! Yeah, it’s definitely the person, not so much the brand. You can have a really good one and a terrible brow therapists in the same store!
Can’t appreciate thick and straight brows at all. I find it makes the person look oddly fierce 😛
I now only go to Benefit brow bar to get my brows done but the service always differs each and every time. My first time in Singapore was fantastic but the second time wasn’t, and the third time yes alarm bells should have been ringing when she took longer than usual on my brows and she basically nearly waxed them to death but thank goodness I have thick eyebrows that grow quickly. So far it’s been alright in Melbourne, I always just tell them to keep it full with a clean arch. btw have you tried their new brow gel thingymajib?
I’ve not tried the Benefit Brow Bar in the city. It’s always so busy and high traffic area too. Too many distractions. So far, it’s only the one at Chadstone, which I really like. They talk to you and keep you updated each step along the way on how your brows are looking.
As for the brow gel, I’m assuming you meant Gimme Brow? Yes I have, and I’ve reviewed it too! (the post after this one) 🙂
Sorry to hear about your experience Tine. I was thinking of getting my eyebrows done at Shu Uemura but I have to be more alert and clear on what I want the makeup artist to do if I ever go there. I had a good experience at Benefit Brow Bar and I did like how they waxed and tweeze my eye brows. I could maintain the thick shape of my eye brows now due to how this makeup artist had shaped my eye brows earlier.
I had a facial at Kanebo yesterday which also included eye brown trimming. I forgot to tell her not to thin my eye brown as I want them thick and thank God she knew what to do.
Thanks Victoria. I’m glad that 2 weeks after getting my brows fixed at Benefit, my brows are pretty much back to normal now 🙂
Phew! It’s a good thing she knows what you want with your brows!
Oh dear, Tine. Sorry to hear about your bad experience, compounded by the the fact that you’re on vacation and there are weddings to attend as well. Good thing you managed to salvage the damage in the meantime before the hair grows back. That’s true. We usually trust that the person knows what she’s doing…we bite our tongue and keep calm or try to hold our faith together. Only to be disappointed. I don’t go for brow services, usually my facial therapist will help me keep my brows tidy. Ahaha, I am also guilty of not placing much emphasis on my brow. So far, the worse experience I have is haircut. Once for a mere few Ringgit lesser, I went to a new salon and my layered haircut was literally layered like staircase…the length was even and grew longer in a staircase. I was shocked and like you, quickly paid and left. I feared if I went back to get them to fix my haircut, it will be worse. Thank God hair grows!
Well, I just used a lot of the eyebrow pencil that I bought from, oh guess what, Shu Uemura! 😛
Oooh bad haircuts are the worst. It takes so long to grow back and when it’s a shitty one, it’s like having bad hair days every day. >.<
Sorry to hear of your bad experience, but I always had a good one with Shu, maybe it’s cuz I always go back to the same lady for my brows. Ever since she left Shu, I’ve never been able to find someone I could trust my brows with.
So now it’s unruly brow time… all the time! LOL
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That goes to show that it’s the person, not so much the brand, that matters. I told my hairstylist that I’ll go wherever he goes. Literally. 😛
Sorry to hear that and thanks for sharing! I never have the guts to do the eye brow embroidery. I only tweezed my eye brow. I do want to shape my brow but never make my first step. Tine, do you have any recommendation?
Hi Michelle, I don’t recommend eye brow embroidery unless you have very very sparse and thin brows. I would still recommend Shu Uemura or other popular brands to get your first brow shaping done (despite what I experienced). What I suggest you do is to
1) Tell them it’s your first time getting your brows shaped.
2) Tell them if you have sensitive skin, if you prefer to have your brows shaved or just tweezed. In Malaysia, it’s common practice for brow therapists to shave the brows but if you prefer not to, please tell them you only want tweezing done. Some salons might charge you more for that because it takes more time. I know that in Australia, if you request for tweezing only and no waxing, you have to pay extra.
3) This is important: TALK to the person doing your brows and get that person to talk to you first on how she’s going to shape your brows. Don’t worry about coming on too strong; it’s your first time after all and you want to know what’s being done for you. If you don’t want your brows too thin, too thick, too arched, etc, you have to let her know. And make sure she gets it. If possible, hold a hand mirror to you and see what she’s doing.
Good luck!
Hi was this in Melbourne or Malaysia? Was planning to get my brows done in Bourke st but if it happened in Melbourne I am staying away. I see Lisa in msia to get my brows done, she is amazing!
This was in Malaysia. I’ve not had any issues getting my brows done in Australia, thank goodness. 🙂
Having part of your eyebrows shaved sounds terrifying! I’m sorry you had such a bad experience – I’m scared of getting my brows looked at (never have) but with the advice you gave above, I might work up the courage to give it a go 😉
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Yeah, it freaked me out when I saw myself in the mirror. Hello where’s the rest of my brow?? Thank goodness, a month later, it’s all back to normal. Phew! 🙂
You’ve never had your brows done? You have such great brows!
Oh my god thank you! Yep, all DIY since I was 15, using advice a friend’s mum gave me: she was a beautician and I guess she must have known what she was talking about 🙂
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Oooh lucky you! 😀
Oh my gosh Tine, I would have cried, then refused to pay for a shonky job then cried again. I didn’t know Shu Uemura did brows. The Benefit brow bar always do such a fab job. I watch them all the time, even as they’re waxing my brows, yet I never get the same results when I DIY. I’m convinced they’ve got a magical touch haha.
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You know what the shitty thing is? That shonky job was done a few days before my cousin’s wedding where I’m supposed to be the maid of honour. I don’t know why I didn’t complain. I just paid and left. In hindsight, I should have given the brow person a piece of my mind. Sigh. Coulda woulda shoulda.
Shu Uemura has a brow bar in Melbourne CBD. I tried to get an appointment with them once and they were booked out solid for months! Apparently they aren’t cheap either so I stick with Benefit instead. I go to the one at Chadstone and they do a great job even though I go to different brow ladies each appointment.
Don’t DIY your brows! As in, no wax. Just tweeze. Leave the rest to the experts. That’s one sore lesson I learned from being too trigger-happy with the tweezers and created one big hole in my brows 😛
Oh no 🙁 Thank goodness for brow makeup. I’ll check if Shu Uemura in Sydney does brows (hopefully they do). The long waiting list makes it seem so exclusive hehe. I’d love to know girls how the Benefit girls create perfect brows every single time =)
🙁 I got really cocky and thought I could DIY, Last week I even snipped and trimmed my brow hairs too…didn’t end well. Now I’m left with shonky/dorky brows that I need to fill in and shape for like 10 minutes before I leave. Next time I will leave it to the experts…
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Oh no! I feel your pain! That’s why I’ve stopped trimming my own brows, only tweezing stray hairs that grow away from the brows. If they get too long and unruly, just use a brow gel. The one from Australis and Essence are good cheapies. 🙂