Good Pluck: In an expert’s hands, eyebrows can become a work of art

Thursday, Nov. 4, 2004 | 8:07 a.m.

Kara Ebstein is on her back in the Amp salon at the Palms. Leaning over her is brow expert Cassandra Carillo, who was trained by Hollywood eyebrow guru Anastasia Soare, and is launching a career she never imagined.

"I wanted to be a forensic scientist or a marine biologist," Carillo said.

But Carillo had another calling, one that put her in a beauty salon in New Mexico where she shifted from hair to makeup to waxing before Colleen Maloof, chairwoman of Maloof Companies, plucked her from the salon and brought her to Amp to do eyebrows.

"I just fell in love with it," the 23-year-old Carillo said. "I canUt see doing anything else."

Basing a career on two patches of hair designed to keep sweat from your eyes might not be as outlandish as it might have seemed a decade ago.

Home plucking and general waxing are being replaced by "brow studios." Training by Soare, a noted leader in the brow artist movement, can bring in the clients.

And in an uncertain world, there are certainties to consider: Eyebrows plucked too thin can add years to your face. Thicker eyebrows make you look younger. An arch in the center of the eyebrow will make you look too surprised. Eyebrows close together can narrow your nose.

"How thin do you go, how thick, what's the optimum arch, there is more training behind it than people are aware," said Bonnie Bonadeo, director of education for the Professional Beauty Association, a nonprofit trade organization representing the professional beauty industry in North America.

"Schools are popping up everywhere. There's lots of great people in the industry. I'm always looking for the upcoming star in hair removal."

The 45-year-old Soare (pronounced SWO-ray), rose to stardom after studying architecture and technical design in Romania. Originally from Constanta, Romania, Soare, who turned her attention toward cosmetology, moved to the United States in 1990, where she worked at a small salon before she eventually settled into a room at Juan Juan salon at Beverly Hills, Calif., doing facials and body waxing.

As part of the facial, Soare was shaping eyebrows. Clients soon realized that their clean, youthful look had more to do with the eyebrows than the facial, said Soare's daughter Claudia, director of operations for Anastasia's salons.

"Across the street was Saks and Niemans, where workers at the makeup counter noticed the eyebrows and started referring their makeup clients to Anastasia," Soare said. "Then she got publicists sent to her. She got beauty editors sent to her. In 1994 she was written about in Vogue."

Growing industry

In 1997 Soare opened salons in Beverly Hills and La Jolla, Calif., offering facials, waxing and makeup, referring to her eyebrow shaping as an instant face-lift. She opened her first brow studio in Nordstrom in Beverly Hills in 2000, continues to train new brow stylists and is the noted celebrity eyebrow stylist.

Alicia Jacobs, entertainment reporter for KVBC News 3, flies to Los Angeles every six weeks to have her eyebrows done by Soare.

"I was not happy with mine and I didn't know why," Jacobs said. "I thought I was doing the right thing having a professional do my brows. But most estheticians do them too thin.

"She just has this amazing eye. The second you're in her chair, she just knows what's right for your face. I saw the light. One way or another, I will be in her chair."

With her own line of makeup and brow products, Soare is not only the only noted brow artist in the country. Other shapers referred to as "gurus" in beauty magazines include Eliza Petrescu of Avon Salon and Spa in New York City, Damone Roberts of Beverly Hills and Ramy Gafni of Ramyspa in New York City. Prices usually range between $30 and $55.

"There's competition everywhere," Claudia Soare said. "There's 4,000 salons in Beverly Hills alone and they all do eyebrow shaping. It's virtually everywhere. I'm waiting to see it at a carwash soon."

Anastasia-trained brow shapers are at Nordstrom stores around the country. In the next month Nordstrom at the Fashion Show mall will be also be partnered with Anastasia Brow Studio.

"Eventually, I want to have a studio in every state," Claudia Soare said. "The reason I haven't is because the training takes so long.

"You can train someone, but that doesn't mean they're going to be an expert eyebrow shaper. It's an art form. You have to know how to paint, how to draw. You have to look at the person's facial structure, the bone structure, the way their face is shaped. The way their eyebrow grows. You have to take all of these things into consideration."

Getting plucky

Carillo, who has done makeup for Nikki Hilton and eyebrows for Tara Reid and Anna Nicole Smith, says you have to pay attention to the client's entire face. And though thicker eyebrows have been a noted trend in 2004, Carillo says it's more about what's best for the client.

Unfortunately, she said, "Too many women are overtweezing."

"A lot of women here in Vegas go for the whole Pamela Anderson look," Carillo said. "They take off their brow. I say, 'No, don't do that.' "

Any brow, she said, can be styled. She works on brows that grow "against the grain," (think cowlick), radically (think curly) or too thin.

"Just one little thing can make a difference," Carillo said. "The whole thing is about trying to find a perfect brow for that client -- trying to get the arch in its right spot. That's everybody's goal. Everybody wants a high arch."

From the chair beneath her, Ebstein, a beauty supply representative, proclaims, "There's no one like her. I call on about 120 salons. Nobody does it like Cassandra."

Referring to other estheticians, Ebstein added, "Usually all they do is put the wax on, take it off. She goes through afterward, shapes them. It's very important to have nice shaped eyebrows. They frame your face. You'd be surprised how much it changes your look."

In Robyn Cosio's book "The Eyebrow" (published in 2000), the bi-coastal makeup artist looks at eyebrow fashion through history dating to ancient Egypt, as well as celebrity styles.

"Since before recorded time, the eyebrow has played a role in the decoration of a face," Cosio writes.

But beauty experts say that more focus in the salons is turning to specialized areas. Many are zeroing in on eyebrow shaping.

"It was a service that seemed so simple in the salon that was available, but never promoted," Bonadeo said. "It's truly what sets the face. There's always that fun question, 'If you were stranded on a desert island, what two things would you want for makeup?' I would want my eyebrow pencil and lip gloss."

Bonadeo isn't alone.

According to the National Accrediting Commission of Cosmetology Arts and Sciences, enrollment in esthetics, which includes facials and waxing, has more than doubled since 1998, compared to a 23 percent increase in basic cosmetology.

"Women have always been plucking and waxing, but they didn't know how to balance it properly," Claudia Soare said. "A thicker eyebrow is more youthful. It brings attention to the eyes. It's a softer look. If you take out way too much space between your eyebrows you make the nose look bigger. When you get older, after your 40s, if you have really thick, long eyebrows, you have to take the ends in a little bit, make the eyebrow up, less droopy.

"The right eyebrow can change your look entirely."

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