Michigan Avenue - Niche Media - Michigan Avenue magazine is a luxury lifestyle magazine centered around Chicago’s finest people, events, fashion, health & beauty, fine dining & more!
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/78288
PHOTOGRAPHY BY THINKSTOCK (MODEL); BEN RAHN/A-FRAME INC. (BOUTIQUE) YOU, EVEN BETTER "The current trend is for a fuller but clean brow." For local brow guru Mireille Hamon (who counts Oprah among her clients), a tendency to be overzealous when plucking is the biggest problem she encounters. "About 80 percent of my clients have eyebrows that are too thin," she says, "so after they first come in, we spend the next six months trying to grow their brows back and shape them." Hamon points out that although the trend now is for thick brows, they should not be left quite as natural as they were six months ago. "They are a little bit more polished [now], so we actually trim them," she says, adding that there is also a movement "to dye brows a little bit darker, so they really pop." But whose eyebrows are we aspiring to? "In Chicago, women are inspired by the standout shapes of celebrities like Megan Fox and Kim Kardashian," says Evans, who has seen a leap in clients name-checking strong-browed famous faces. Evans uses Benefit's trademark "brow- mapping" technique to wax or tweeze an arch take a brow THE CITY'S FIRST-EVER "BROW CRAWL." BY VISHAKA ROBINSON H IF YOU'VE YET TO MASTER 2012'S NEW BOLDER, FULLER BROWS, HELP IS AT HAND COURTESY OF aving notched up more than a million brow-shaping services since its first boutique opened in 1976, Benefit has become the go-to pro- vider when it comes to the task of tweezing and waxing America's brows into arched perfection. "We now do more than 100,000 brows a year in Chicago," says star aesthe- tician Lauren Evans, who works out of Benefit's Southport boutique. "They have definitely become a key beauty accessory. The current trend is for a fuller, but clean brow—artfully manicured and very elegant." Spurred by our current brow fixation, Benefit's very own Maggie and Annie Ford Danielson (daughters to Jean Ford and nieces to Jane Ford) decided to host the city's first ever "perk-up brow crawl" on September 13, a day of brow-centric events, including cupcake giveaways, raffles, and experts giving one-on-one advice, across three Chicago stores. "We will be hitting our three fan-favorite boutiques in the city and showing how to instantly perk up your look," says Annie. "Patrons should come loaded with beauty questions and brow issues. Maybe you have bushy brows, or your brows are too thin or sparse. We can help you tame them or teach you how to fake a fuller look." (Annie says brows thin out as time passes, so lush brows are a great shortcut to a more youthful appearance.) 100 MICHIGANAVEMAG.COM SAVE THE DATE Benefit's Maggie and Annie Ford Danielson will be taking their brow crawl to three Chicago boutiques on September 13. Call ahead to book an individual consultation. 12-2 PM Southport Boutique, 3450 N. Southport, 773-248-5800 4-6 PM Armitage Boutique, 852 W. Armitage, 773-880-9192 6-8 PM Damen Boutique, 1616 N. Damen, 773-342-8860 shape that flatters each individual's face, regardless of whose name she drops. "We look at your eyes, cheekbones, nose, face shape, and bone structure to give you a perfect, customized brow based on our 35-years-in-the-making brow-shaping technique," she stresses. "No stencils! No cookie-cutter brows! After all, Chicago ladies really are one in a million." MA Benefit's spacious Southport brow boutique