Blink Eyebrow Bar

At left: My eyebrows, now, after the mastery of Hemini Patel at Blink eyebrow bar in Harvey Nichols was unleashed on them today.

I can't even describe to you how out of control my eyebrows were this morning. I don't think I've let them go that wild for at least a decade. It had been months since my last professional brow job, and I had kept them tidy by plucking in the meantime...but not for the last couple of weeks.

My excuses: I was busy, and I wanted to get them done at Blink, as recommended to me by beauty editor Kathleen Baird-Murray, author of How to Be Beautiful, after my Shavata trauma. I  have had no business in Knightsbridge lately. Then I made an appointment to see my awesome dentist in Sloane Street for today (he didn't even charge me - that's what I'm talkin' about) and knew I'd hit Blink on the way home. Which is what I did. So that's why I let my brows go lately. I know there's really no excuse, which is why this paragraph is so long.

Anyway. As Kathleen said would likely be the case, I was able to walk in and get my brows sorted without a wait. Blink is on the periphery of Harvey Nichols's cosmetics floor, and there's a full bar where you can get a drink in the middle of the Dr Hauschka and Mario Badescu (both lines I am desperate to try, by the way). This also means that you're out in the open, laying back in a chair while you get pruned, but the set-up is such that you don't feel observed or anxious about it.

I was pretty chilled, actually, considering that I was being threaded. When I was threaded at Shavata's, it hurt. A LOT. Hemini must have magic in her wrists, because it wasn't bad at all this time. I kept waiting for tears to well up in my eyes. Didn't happen. And the blissful facial massage she gave me after applying rosewater and cream to my newly sleek brows was gorgeous - similar to an Eve Lom facial, with soothing lymphatic drainage techniques on the forehead.

The total experience of Blink was fantastic; the end results have made me very happy, and the staff are friendly and easy to talk to (or not, if you don't do the chair chat thing). And at £15, you get beautiful results at a steal. (Hemini got extra sweetness points from me when she insisted she didn't want a tip - I only had a fiver, she couldn't open the till because I'd paid with my debit card, and I told her I had to go get change. When I came back ten minutes later, she seemed genuinely pleased.)

Blink also gives you a loyalty card, so after you've had your brows tidied five times, you get a free threading. Hotness. I'll be wearing that thing out - and leaving no more than three weeks between appointments from now on.

Comments

[LotionBarBunny]

Your eyebrows look fantastic! I would say it was worth the wait!

[Hill]

That's a helluva great picture.

[Jackie Danicki]

Thanks, Hillary. I normally wouldn't post a picture where my eyeliner's jacked and I'm not wearing lipstick, but my brows do look great!

[Liz]

I love the saga of your eyebrows! (As I may have mentioned before, as mine are white and I have to pencil them in, so I have an inordinate interest in the unfamiliar-to-me hassles other people have with their brows.)

They look a bit thinner than usual, and it definitely suits you.

[Jackie Danicki]

Hey, thanks, Liz! I am quite brow-obsessed now, to the point where my boyfriend is threatening to shave his off so I'll stop scrutinising them. The more I concentrate on my own, the better off the world is, but I'm dead curious about yours if you ever want to share...

[Doryn]

Shavata BOTCHED mine too, I will try blink! Thanks!

[swottyanh]

I tried Blink at Selfridges...my first ever professional eyebrow job. The threading was fine, quite painless and the results were fine. But I did have to make an appointment which was an hour later, which meant I just wandered selfridges for ages, and I maybe the treatment you get at Harvey Nicks is just much better but they weren't anything special at Selfridges - with the person doing the threading having an argument with the person booking the appointments right there when she finished with me. Not very professional at all!!

[Jo]

I had Threading done at The Powder Lounge brow bar in Debenhams Oxford Street, and I love my new arches now. I had uncontrollable bushy eyebrows before, and then I got them threaded and got a tint to go with it so they look really nicely sleek and defined now. I didn't need an appointment, it was over and done with in about 7 minutes flat.

[Sarah]

Blink are so so good. The Harvey Nichols branch was great. Friendly yet relaxed staff who's threading is second to none. I have fairly bushy eye brows and they made them look wonderful! I was so pleased with the shape. It really opened up my face and everyone was asking what I'd done. I think they thought I'd had botox or something!! I am going to the Fenwicks branch on Bond Street this evening as it's closer. I will write again and let you know if it is as good!

[A Very Unhappy Bloke]

Well, I've been looking for the right place to get my eyebrows sorted out and after reading this thread I decided to go to Blink.

As a man, one's eyebrows are a difficult topic to address. I cannot simply turn round to a fellow gent and ask where to get my (fairly) unruly eyebrows shaped, it just doesn't happen like that in the straight community.

Anyway, I called up Blink in Selfridges yesterday to book an appointment and ask whether they catered for men, to which they answered, "Yes."

Off I went, hopeful that I would emerge with nicely trimmed eyebrows which wouldn't look overly fussed with just neat & tidy.

I asked, again, upon arrival whether they catered to men, and if they were familiar with men's eyebrows (as opposed to women's,) again the answer was yes.

Well, to cut a long story short, after all the pain and the travelling into London, costs, time etc - the results are disastrous.

High, arched curves are not what the threader agreed, and they most definitely do not suit men. There is absolutely no correlation between what she told me she'd do and the end result.

Needless to say, I cannot see myself leaving the house for the next month, unless I'm able to wear my snowboarding sunglasses (which cover my mangled eyebrows entirely) without fear of having to take them off.

I opted not to go for waxing as apparently the results look more obvious than threading - if I'd poured a bucket of wax on my head and used scrunched face towels to pull it off off my face it would look less obvious.

I'm very upset. I'm going to drown my sorrows in a bottle of wine & hope this all goes away soon.

To top it all off, at the bottom of my receipt there's a quote by David Gascoyne:

"Heraldic animals were made through the asphyxia of planets, butterflies burst from their skins and grow long tongues like plants."

What a load of twaddle.

[seema]

oh my god, I was in tears after shavata ruined my brows too!!!! I grew them out especially for her to shape them. when i complained (the first time i've ever complained about anything in my life) she said it was better than looking like spock from star trek!

[Jo]

I still go back to The Powder Lounge in Debenhams in Oxford Street. And they have still given me superb results for my eyebrows. Anyway, this is their site, (i found it easier to read it all first so as to answer my questions), http://www.thepowderlounge.co.uk

I would be devastated if anyone wrecked my brows so I won't trust anyone except the girl at The Powder Lounge with reshaping ever again.