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My eyebrows were a pair of unruly beasts, and no at-home tweezing could tame them. And unfortunately, my regular brow-maintenance person has raised her prices to a not-so-affordable $50 a pop. So last night, I trekked to Nordstrom to try out the Anastasia Brow Studio in the beauty department. There are many locations nationwide, but I'd never thought of going to one because, well, you're getting your brows done in the middle of a cosmetics department. (I like a little privacy.) Still, the $30 price was much easier to swallow, and there's a reason that Anastasia is known as the brow expert — so why not take a chance, live a little?
First thing's first: Yes, it is a little awkward to have your eyebrows shaped while shoppers mill about. (Someone's sad-looking boyfriend, stranded while his lady shopped, looked very confused by the brow-waxing process.) But after I got over that, it was smooth sailing. My esthetician expertly waxed, plucked, shaped, and highlighted my brows until they looked magazine perfect. I was mildly surprised that she, a pro, used Anastasia's brow stencils to guide her, but they worked so well that I am now going to use them to maintain the arch at home. Score one for Nordstrom.
If you want to see the end result, read more.
There's no "before" shot, but suffice it to say that I sported the eyebrow equivalent of Daniel Higgs's beard.
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Kookai
Bella, have you ever tried getting your eyebrows threaded? That's how I get mine done. It costs me $10 (even $30 seems to be an exorbitant amount of money to pay for your eyebrows, much less $50), and every time I am amazed by how clean and well defined my eyebrows look.
1I was a little shocked at the $30 price too! But I guess brows aren't top of my list of things to splurge on.
2I used to pay $6 dollars to this asian lady. They were so symmetrical. $50 is a lot of money to pay for eyebrows.
3they look really good, I'm in desperate need of a shaping but I got to let them grow in a little more before I do that.
4yeah...$30 is waaay too much for me too!! i pay $8 at my local salon. They look amazing, though, Bella!
And I bet the very reason that she used the stencils was so that you would want to buy them!!
5I get mine threaded (in public!) all the time. Its $10 on a regular day and I get it done at a little kiosk right in the middle of the mall. And a lot of people would stop and stare, but I don't mind. The prices are cheap and as long as they aren't distracting the threader, I'm okay.
6Your brows look great and I need one of those super secret cams! Brow maintenance is such a chore. The other day I looked in the mirror and realized my brows were a MESS! Out of nowhere. It happens so suddenly. I have a whole theory about the weather. I think my eyebrow hair grows faster when it's warm out (or whenever I go to LA). Is that possible?
7My local mall has a store where you get your eyebrows threaded right in the middle of the mall. Embarrassing.
8I prefer the threading. If you can find beauty shops in a Pakistani or Middle Eastern area of town, you can usually get it done for $8.
9$50? $30? Wow, that's a lot of money for eyebrows! But i must agree with everyone, they look really good
I also get mine threaded because the wax always leaves red bumps...the threading is $10, done in 5 mins and never irritates my skin 
10the indian lady i go to charges $4 so its 5 for me with a $1 tip.. i could get a really nice facial at the same place for $30, with an eyebrow threading thrown in free of charge! id never pay that much. but they do look nice!!
11I have never heard of eyebrow threading.. I just watched a video on youtube I am really amazed! I may have to try it!
12$50?!?
13i could never spend that much on eyebrows.
i wonder who would.
i go eyebrow threading too.
it hurts way less than waxing, plus my eyebrows look so much cleaner.
Mmm, I have to agree w/the others; even $30 seems exorbitant to me [though your brows look gorgeous]. I highly suggest finding a little South Asian salon, where you can get your brows perfectly threaded for as little as $5. At such a low cost, you certainly have nothing to lose by trying :]
14it looks great! eyebrow threading is much cheaper but from my experience, it's still hard to find a good person to do it for you.
15Simoneymonie, not yet, but threading is tempting.
I agree that $30 isn't cheap, but I do my own upkeep and get my brows professionally done maybe two or three times a year, so the cost is easier to swallow. It was a bummer when my normal brow guru popped her prices up; some other Sugar girls went to her, too, but now none of us want to spend $50. I can handle $30 twice a year, though.
16I am so sorry to have to correct you Bella, a beauty expert...but, you TWEEZE brows. You PLUCK a chicken. I cannot stand the use of the word "pluck". It is so vulgar and such an onomatopoeia. I think it is gross to use when talking about something on your face.
17I'm sorry. I just hate it. And magazines like Allure (a beauty empire) use the word so casually. They aren't called pluckers. They're called tweezers!
looks great!
18$50 is absolutely insane, and $30 is still outrageous. I used to get my eyebrows threaded in queens,ny for $5 but I'm currently in the midwest where it costs $12- $15 which I thought was overpriced. I have the most unruly eyebrows as well but have become proficient in plucking. However, I highly recommend threading since its far cleaner and precise, but it does take some getting used to.
19forget the brows - i LOVE your glasses. so cute! i need to get some new frames..
also, i would never dream of spending 30 bucks on my brows. i realized the other day that i haven't TOUCHED my eyebrows - tweezed, trimmed, groomed, waxed, NOTHING - in over two months. i just have been to preoccupied with other things. and surprise surprise, my brows pretty much look fine.
when i do get them done though, i go to a lovely vietnamese woman who waxes them to perfection for seven dollars. i'm half indian, so i have tried threading and i liked it, but i prefer the shape i get with my regular woman and am too afraid of looking like a surprised alien to go to a new woman!
20Benefit has brow bars in Macy's across the country. I think that service is $20. I'd like to see a comparison between the two.
21talk about in public, at the stone's town mall (across from mercy high) they have a threading kiosk right there across from boudin's bakery
what if your brows are over plucked? any fix for that?
22i love your brows! they look awesome! they did a great job!!
kia
23yummy411.blogspot.com
Iagree threading is the way to go. I too get mine done at a kiosk in the mall, where people walk by. I
24don't care, the results are awesome. I also get my upper lip and chin due. I prefer it to waxing because it hurts a lot less and there is no interaction with the wax and any products used on the face which can cause irritation. Plus I pay $10 for my brows, $6 for my upper lip and $5 for my chin.
Your eyebrows do look great! Bella, definitely give threading a try, it actually turns out a lot more shapely and precise than waxing. Plus, it'll be so much cheaper, I pay $6 at an Indian salon and get them done every week and a half sometimes two. It may sting, it may not, I remember I teared the first time. But then after getting them done a few times, you wont feel anything.
25I get my brows threaded for $5. And I've seen people get their brows threaded in the middle of the mall at a kiosk for $7. I totally think anything over $8 is too much for eyebrows.
26I get mine threaded for $2 at a South Asian salon, and they do it in little rooms so it's quite private. $30-$50 is a lot!
27bella, i'm going to make a pitch for threading to you. honestly, i don't really like the shape of your brows that resulted. they look round, like commas. that's a really unnatural shape, and that's what results from waxing, because you can't be very precise. you can wax and then tweeze for a shape, but (a) a lot of salons don't do that, and (b) tweezing causes ingrowns.
natural brows have an arch that occurs about 3/4 the way into your eye (going from nose side out). threading can follow the natural arch shape of your brows, and a good threader can figure out exactly the spot where that is.
it's not a price thing, bella...i don't think the job she did was worth the $7 i pay for threading, let alone $30!
28Going to have to agree with all of the people in support of threading! It's cheap, there is no risk of burns, and I always get good results.
29As long as you're happy with the results (and you look fab!), then it was worth the $$.
30OMG! $50??? That's a mani/pedi right there! I get my brows threaded...costs so much less (anywhere from $4-$11, including tip), less irritation, more precise. I stopped getting brows/upper lip waxed after lady tore off skin on upper lip=yechh and YEOWCH!
31they look so good! but i get mine threaded too and its a lot cheaper...
32$30 isn't too crazy sounding to me. I work at an upscale salon and it costs $25.00 to have your brows done. $50 is definitely steep, but $30 is pretty average for a high end place.
33I pluck my eyebrows, I'm pretty crazy about it! I don't know if I could trust someone else to do it!
34you are so pretty! and so are those brows
35I pay 13 for my eyebrow waxing and I'm always complimented on them. I like to think I have movie star eyebrows. I could never pay 30.
36Wow niiiice! Reminds me mine seriously need to be worked on! (and those glasses are gorgeous)
I desperately looked for threading places in Edinburgh, but couldn't find anything apart from the very expensive Harvey Nichols that keeps getting terrible reviews from all the people I talked to. So I've been doing my own threading since I read Jessiebanana's tutorial - go check it out!!
And Angelina, I agree.
Mine will be fine for months, then all of a sudden I have to
spend a good 2 hours tweezing things right..
37Bella, we finally get to see you!
38I think it is funny that Bella is really a team of people, not one particular girl. I was like... hm, Bella used to look biracial...
I agree... I prefer a less rounded shape.
39i spend close to 30 for mine, but they are literally clear, so I have them tinted as well.. Brow makeup just doesn't work for me very well on it's own. I would love to try threading, but I love my girl too much to trust anyone else.
401. kelsea1102 needs to calm down.
412. I go to the Anastasia salon in Beverly Hills and all the girls there use the stencils. There are 4-5 different stencil shapes depending on your brow structure (mine don't look like Bella's) - they don't use it just to sell you. She's never pushed product on me!
3. I've gone the cheaper route but have never been as satisified as I am there, so I figure pay for what you're happy with!
They look great!! Was it me who did them? Are you in NY?
42As an Anastasia Esthetician I can assure people its not about selling the products, we really do care about the eyebrow shape and we usually do about 20- 30 people a day so we see a lot of brows.
As for threading, its fine for people who have a naturally perfect eyebrow shape just to clean, but really its not the way to go for most and I see so many skinny bad eyebrows as a result.
Eyebrows are too important to mess with, right on your face and all...
I go to Lindsay Klein @ Browtique in Rancho Santa Fe, a girl who was personally trained by Anastasia herself. I'd never let anyone else touch my brows. She is magical!
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