QUEZON City, Philippines (January 19) – Draw an arc under and above. Shade the spaces and brush. This is how you shape the most important feature of your face. Your eyebrows.
Eyebrows protects our eyes by preventing sweat and dust from reaching it. Imagine if we do not have eyebrows. Scientist predicted that we could have very thick lashes or the human skull could continue to thrust forward so it would form a ledge above our eyes so sweat and rain could just drop. In the field of aesthetics, make-up artist and cosmetic surgeons appreciated the influence of eyebrows on beauty (eg Cosio and Robins 2000). Eyebrows have social significance for emotions and face recognition. This was proven in a study conducted by University of Lethbridge in Canada. In the study, they showed 25 images of celebrity without eyes and another set of images without eyebrows. The result showed 56 percent of the participants correctly identified the celebrity without eyes while 46 percent were identified without eyebrows.
Is it just now that eyebrows matter most or it always was?
In Ancient Egypt, they believe that wearing make-up possesses supernatural powers so they make their eyebrows dark, arched and elongated by putting carbon and black oxide substance on it. In Ancient Greek, during 800 BC to 146 AD, uni-brows were considered as a beauty trait and not something that should be plucked. While with Romans, in 735 BC to 476 AD, uni-brows were a sign of intelligence.
Fashion was influenced by icons. In 1066-1485, medieval women highlighted their domed forehead by plucking most of their eyebrows. Most women dye their brows to reddish tone like Queen Elizabeth. It was 1920 when commercially made products for brows were available and hit the town. This adds to the curvature of the brows of Hollywood actresses – adding more drama to their faces in 1930.
It was in 1940 when people started to appreciate thick brows and high arches then, 1950’s, with the influence of actresses like Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor and Audrey Hepburn, eyebrows had to be arched. This trended until 1990 when people saw Drew Barrymore and Pamela Anderson’s overly plucked brows that the barely-there eyebrows trended again. Bold brow was back today but it will only be a matter of time when tweezers and wax will be in high demand again.
What about the Mona Lisa? What makes her beautiful and extraordinary without eyebrows? In the field of art, Leonardo Da Vinci created a human illusion. Da Vinci painted Mona Lisa in such way that the eyes were that center of viewer’s attention while the lips are the periphery. So when the viewer looked into Lisa’s smile, it is as if she was smiling but when the viewer try to look at her lips, the smile fades making not just the smile but the painting deceiving and mysterious.
Whether it’s plucked, shaved or waxed, penciled or not, dark or barely-there. It’s up to you because that is how you want people to see you.
References:
www.marieclaire.com/beauty/makeup/a9381/eyebrows-through-the-years/
http://www.harpersbazaar.com/beauty/makeup/a11934/eyebrows-are-most-important-facial-feature/
http://www.spring.org.uk/2005/04/importance-of-eyebrows-in-face.php
http://www.harpersbazaar.com/beauty/makeup/a11934/eyebrows-are-most-important-facial-feature/
health.howstuffworks.com/human-body/system/eye/question520.htm
(written by Karen Llacuna, edited by Jay Paul Carlos, additional research by Lovely Ann Cruz)