How to create perfect arches

MANILA, Philippines - Bold, natural eyebrows have made a resurgence, befuddling a few who may have been exposed to badly-drawn specimens. Thick brows, when properly crafted, draw due attention to the eyes, balance facial features, and make one look younger. Even the barely-there brow is robust –– no more dragalicious, pencil-thin arches. These days, they are either bleached or lightened to get the look. For the morena beauty, though, it’s best to work with the natural color and growth of the eyebrows, simply enhancing the shape by cleaning out strays and using brow-enhancing makeup.

Japanese makeup brand K-Palette, known for its 1-Day Tattoo eyeliner, which has been consistently rated as one of the top three selling eyeliners with 10 million pieces sold every year, also has eyebrow products that have become cult favorites in Japan, Singapore and the Philippines. K-Palette’s Real Lasting Eyebrow Liner is a water-resistant, smudge-proof liquid liner with translucent ink that helps you avoid over-darkened eyebrows, while the brand’s 2-Way Eyebrow Liner comes with an additional powder tip for a more natural look.

K-Palette’s chief makeup artist and product development leader Noriko Imura recently visited the Philippines and gave us a few useful tips on creating the perfect arch. Noriko has been in the beauty business for 20 years and has done makeup for fashion magazines and fashion shows, as well as trained salon staff. Her specialties: making the eyes appear bigger and making beautiful eyebrows based on skeletal analysis. According to Noriko, here‘s how you create perfect arches using K-Palette’s 2-Way Eyebrow Liner:

1. For a daytime look, trace an invisible line from the corner of your lips to your outer iris, all the way up to your eyebrows –– this is where your arch should be. Then trace another line from the corner of your lips to the outer corner of the eye –– this is where the eyebrows should end. For nighttime, trace a straight line from the sides of the nose to the outer corner of the eyes all the way to the tail of the eyebrows. This is where the eyebrows should end for a more glamorous look. Follow a line from the sides of the nose to the inner corner of the eyes to determine where your eyebrows should begin.

2. Using the brush end of the 2-Way Eyebrow Liner, fill in sparse brows with feathery strokes following the growth of the hair. The product comes in two translucent shades, Chocolate Brown and Honey Brown –– choose one that’s a shade lighter than your natural hair color and blends well with your skin tone. Since K-Palette uses translucent ink, you don’t have to worry about going overboard and making your eyebrows to dark. “Never draw one long line to create the shape of the eyebrow; always use small, light strokes,” says Noriko.

3. Then with the powder tip of the 2-Way Eyebrow Liner, lightly smudge the strokes and further fill in the brows. Whether you’re going for a natural look or a more dramatic one, the idea is to have eyebrows that are defined, but not too solid that they look like stick-ons, or too contoured that they have visible corners and brush strokes.

Cover up imperfections like under eye circles and blemishes with Zero Kuma Cover Concealers, which conceal and treat at the same time.

4. Noriko adds, to complement the look, make your eyes appear bigger by strategically using eyeliner on your lids. Using K-Palette’s Real Lasting Eyeliner 24h, draw short, feathery strokes to fill in the gaps in between eyelash strands just at the top of the iris for a doe-eyed look.

5. For under eye circles, pat on a conservative amount of K-Palette’s Zero Kuma Cover Concealer on areas that need coverage. A concealer and beauty serum in one, Zero Kuma Cover Concealer comes in three types: 01, which has moisturizing properties, 02, which brightens skin tone, and 03, which tones down bluish tones caused by excessive exposure to computers or poor blood circulation.

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K-Palette is exclusively available at Beauty Bar branches in TriNoma, Greenbelt, Shangri-La, Eastwood, Robinsons Galleria, Gateway Mall, Alabang Town Center, Podium, SM Mall of Asia, Robinsons Midtown, Lucky Chinatown, Ayala Center Cebu, and soon in Bonifacio High Street. You may also visit shop.beautybar.com.ph.