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Hi Vibrant Beauties! Over the Past couple of years, I’ve tried a number of techniques and products that have made a huge improvement in the look of my eyes. I’m pleased to be able to share what I’ve learned with you.

Here’s a photo from 2008. You can see that the left eyebrow looks too thin and scraggly. In comparsion, here’s a photo from 2012 and you can see how that left eyebrow is more full.

So, how did I do it?  With Minoxidil. Have you seen those ads for the solution that grows hair on the head? Well, it works on the eyebrows too.

Not only can you fill in a thin brow, you can even grow eyebrow hair where it’s never existed!

What’s the technique? Take a cotton swab and apply the solution and simply wipe the swab onto the area that you want to fill in. You’ll need to do it consistently, preferably daily, for several weeks before you’ll notice a difference, but with patience, you can thicken a thin brow and even grow brows that you never had.

Where do you purchase Minoxidil and is it expensive? Rogaine is a popular brand name for Minoxidil and it is a little pricey. But you can buy the generic version at Target, Costco, and many drugstores sell their own generic version. You’ll usually find it in the haircare section.

If you look at the photos you might also notice that my brows are uneven in the top picture. One is higher than the other and this throws off the symmetry of the face. It’s fairly common to have one eyebrow that’s higher than the other. If you’d like to even that out a bit, you can use Minoxidil for that purpose.

Here’s how: Pluck a bit off the top of the higher brow and use the Minoxidil to fill in the area underneath. And on the brow that’s lower, apply the Minoxidil above the brow line to build it up higher and more even with the other one. This does take some patience, but if you can stick it out, it’s worth it. You may not be able to get your brows to be perfectly symmetrical, but when they’re a bit more even, your whole face looks better.

And here’s a beauty tip I learned years ago that helps brows look fuller, though less made up, while you wait for them to grow in. If you have a great eyebrow pencil that looks natural, then you don’t need the tip I’m about to share. But if your eyebrow pencil looks too much like makeup and you want a more natural look, try a REGULAR PENCIL. Yes, the #2 kind you write with. Draw it on in the thin areas and depending on your skin tone, it will fill them in lightly and without looking like you’ve added makeup. Use this technique on days when you want to look natural, but with a boost. You can experiment with the kind of strokes you apply. Some people may want to draw light strokes that look like hair. Or you can just gently shade the area to give it fullness. The regular pencil is going to go on very lightly, so it’s not an overpowering or obvious look, but done well, it gives just the right amount of shading to make the brow pop. I know it sounds odd to use a gray toned pencil on brown or black brows, but give it a try and see how it looks.

AND NOW FOR LASHES

Don’t we all want long, thick lashes? They make our eyes pop. That’s why we wear mascara and curl our lashes, right?  With the right stuff, you can grow your lashes long and thick enough that you won’t even need to apply mascara if you don’t want to.

The best thing I’ve used is a solution made by Allergan called LATISSE. You can get it from your dermatologist. It’s very expensive, usually between $100 and $125 for a tiny (really tiny) container that lasts a couple of months. If you’re internet savvy, you can search online and find websites that sell it at a lower price.

Because it is a prescription product with risks, I’d recommend that you see a professional first and become acquainted with how to use it and then purchase it cheaper, once you know what you’re doing.

The product will come with a supply of brushes and you’ll be instructed to use one brush for each eye, each day. You put a drop of the product onto the brush and wipe it onto the lash line. Be careful, because this product can stain your eyelid and the area under your eyes. When I’ve used it, I took a cotton swab and wiped it off my eyelid and under the eye, to prevent the product from sitting on areas of my eye that it didn’t need to be. You want to concentrate it right where the lashes grow out and that’s it. You don’t put it on your lower lashes. You apply it at night and the residue from the application will move down to your lower lashes.

But you want to be careful not to apply so much that it’s dripping, because you will see it stain the area around your eye and that doesn’t look good.

After using this product for several months, I went to some message boards about it and read that once the lashes are established you don’t need to apply it every single day. For maintenance you can do it every other day. This will make the product last longer.

I also found out that Latisse was discovered accidentally when users of a glaucoma medication called LUMIGAN, (also made by Allergan) reported that their lashes were growing longer and thicker. Lumigan is the same formula as Latisse. It’s something called Bimatoprost and it’s the exact same composition, .03%.  It’s also half the price and available online. However, it doesn’t come with the brushes. But if you get started with the Latisse you’ll likely have brushes left over and you can try the Lumigan and see if it works. Some people say it does, some say it doesn’t. I’ve just begun using it and I think it works, but I’m going to give it another month before I make a determination.

If you don’t want to try either of those, but you do want to enhance your brows and lashes, you might try some of the other lash and brow serums on the market. I tried the MARY KAY version. I liked it. It kept my lashes from falling out and kept them nicely conditioned, BUT, it did not give me the super long lashes that I was able to grow with Latisse.

Once you fill in your brows and lashes using the methods I’ve outlined above, you may find that you need much less makeup. A nice brow frames your eye and the long lashes make them pop. Try using an eyelash curler instead of mascara for a naturally beautiful look.

Let me know how it goes.

As always, I wish you good health and great beauty. ~ Toni Ann Johnson

For many more beauty and anti-aging tips, please check out my book VIBRATING YOUTH And for tips on keeping your skin clear please check out my other book, VIBRANT and CLEAR

SOURCE: www.vibratingyouth.com

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