What if you could wake up with perfect eyebrows everyday?
My virgin brows about to get a major make-over.
I’ve always been curious about microblading, the latest procedure that allows you to have the most natural-looking brows ever since I saw my friends do it with fantastic results. It’s not that my brows are insubstantial, in fact, I have an abundance of hair all over the body which can both be a blessing and a curse. I did, however, have thicker brows when I was younger but no thanks to the ’90s trend of pencil thin brows deemed as de rigueur and seeing a popular girl on the first day of school sporting said pencil brows, I sadly rode the bandwagon and decided to pluck the hell out of my beautiful bushy brows to achieve the effect.
Much to my family’s and my horror after I put down the tweezers, I had to live with nonexistent brows for a moment (this was before I discovered the wonders of eyebrow pencils and K-Palette). THANK GOODNESS my Dad’s genes prevailed and my eyebrows grew back albeit not the same; I later found out that as we age, our eyebrows thin out to eventual non-existence. Fast-forward to my 40s and I became a semi-pro in shaping my brows with at least three products whenever I wasn’t too lazy and discover this ground breaking procedure.
When my friend and beauty guru Agoo Bengzon posted her newly done brows by PhiBrow Royal Artist Barbi Chan, I immediately wanted in! Barbi and I go way back, like 2002 back, during my magazine days when she was just starting as make-up artist, and I won’t trust anyone else to do this for me. Prior to the procedure I also haven’t seen her in ages, she was living in Paris for a few years and had just recently relocated back to Manila, right in the same street I lived in.
For a fashion girl who’s lazy to do her face most of the time, microblading is a huge blessing! The first few days were spent examining my reflection as some scabbing occurred but come Christmas day and thereafter, my brows slowly but surely returned to their original state and (albeit darker) color, but with more visible “strands” and required minimal grooming. I loved how I looked decent and made up wearing nothing but the new brows on my face and would find myself adjusting each time I looked in the mirror. I can’t say enough positive things about microblading and I am so happy it was one of the last things I did in the name of beauty last 2018. Now, I can face the new year with confidence and save on brow makeup in the long run!
Curious on how it went down? Scroll down for the blow by blow.
Book your appointments with Barbi by sending her a message on her FB page DivineBeauty by Barbi Chan or her IG @makeupgal.
First, she measured the distance and length of my brows as guide.
Carefully mapping out where the blade will pass.
The blueprint is ready!
Barbi uses micro blades attached to a pen to make tiny incisions in the skin to mimic the hair. Then she covers the entire area with the ink that will then be absorbed by the cuts, creating the illusion of thicker hair. To be honest, it wasn’t really the cuts that hurt but the rubbing of the ink to the cuts to ensure it gets absorbed.
The finished product! Some soreness and red spots but otherwise, stellar results!
Fast forward to one month later, this is how it looked after my eyebrows healed. Super natural-looking, right? No product was used here.
And after retouching, this is how I left Barbi’s studio. The process did hurt a bit since she basically cut over the old scars but the pain was bearable thanks to three layers of topical anesthesia, haha! Nothing you can’t bear in the name of beauty. Would I do it again after a year? Most definitely yes.