Brow Architects

THE ARTISTE: JIMENA GARCIA

Brow inspiration: Isabella Rossellini and Natalie Portman Philosophy: Get dramatic. Garcia quite literally sees every set of brows as a blank canvas. “I was studying art history and sculpture when I became a makeup artist,” she says. “It felt essentially like creating live art, and eyebrows took it to another level; it was like sculpting. You can really create a different character.” Garcia got her start at a concept store in upstate New York called Maison Rouge, then moved on to working for FACE Stockholm before branching out on her own. While her aesthetic is, in her words, “enhanced natural,” she doesn’t see brows as one size fits all. “Nowadays everybody wants the perfect eyebrow and arch; it's the Kim Kardashian effect,” says Garcia. “The brow I do depends on the person: I consider each individual visually, aesthetically, and personality wise.”

Technique: Tweezing, some waxing, and a lot of tinting figure into her process. “I tint most of my clients because it enhances their brows,” she explains. “It’s like when you put a gloss in your hair; it creates a shine and a depth and it’s just beautiful.” The two essentials always in Garcia’s kit? Transparent gel to tame longer brows (she likes Make Up For Ever Brow Seal) and a precise pointed tweezer (she favors the gold point variety by Rubis Switzerland).

THE NATURALIST: KRISTIE STREICHER

Brow inspiration: Brooke Shields

Philosophy: Let it grow. Streicher’s name has become synonymous with the laissez-faire arch style favored by the likes of the Olsens and Emily Blunt. The makeup artist turned holistic arch expert started her career at New York’s Warren Tricomi and recently opened Striike, a beauty emporium in L.A., with her sisters (one is a hairstylist, the other a makeup artist). The key to achieving her signature feathered brow? Patience. “The process can take up to a year, but it’s totally worth it,” says Streicher. She urges new clients, many of whom have been maintaining the same arch since college, to look at photos of themselves in their youth to get an idea of their natural shape. Technique: When she picks up the tweezers (her tool of choice), her M.O. is simple: “It’s more about the hair you leave, not the hair you take. Sometimes it’s a matter of removing just a few hairs to make the brows more even, and that makes all the difference.” Streicher advocates for a natural shape and natural products: Her Aforé Oil is an argan blend that calms and preps the skin for tweezing, and Après is a lightweight gel cream with camphor to soothe post plucking. The final touch: a strong-hold clear gel to keep hairs in place. “Sometimes brushing the longer hairs over from the mid-arch can cover up any holes or sparse areas, like a brow comb-over,” she adds. If you don’t have a favorite brand, stay tuned; Streicher has a line of her own coming out soon.

THE MINIMALIST: SANIA VUCETAJ

Brow inspiration: Jennifer Lopez

Philosophy: Look younger now. Vucetaj’s decision pursue a career in brows started with an accident. “I had a scar that went through my brow from falling down at age 4. I always hid it with bangs, and when I was 21 I became determined to fix it,” she says. After devising a way to obscure the scar with makeup, she became transfixed. She practiced on friends and family before going to aesthetic school 14 years ago, although she explains, “They didn't teach me anything about brows. Everything I’ve learned is self-taught.” She landed at Bergdorf Goodman before opening her own salon in New York a year ago.

Technique: She only tweezes (“waxing stretches the skin and threading breaks the strands and causes ingrown hairs”). Vucetej studies the space between the eye and the brow to determine the ideal arch, and eschews practically all products, explaining, “many of them seep into brows and inhibit growth or cause hair to fall out.” The result is soft, lush brows with a slight arch that creates a natural eye lift. “My style is recognizable,” she says. “It’s such a compliment when people say ‘I saw somebody, and I knew she went to Sania.’”

THE PERFECTIONIST: KELLY BAKER

Brow inspiration: Zendaya

Philosophy: Keep it sleek. Instagram has been good to Baker. An early adopter, her business exploded after she started posting before-and-after shots of clients’ brow transformations, and she now has more than 300,000 followers. “Now we have at least five new people coming into the salon every day, and they found out about me through social media and seeing the reality stars or celebrities [Zendaya and Shay Mitchell are both regulars] who post about me,” she says. A trained makeup artist, Baker has been doing brows for 13 years, and she has a sleek salon in Venice on Abbot Kinney.

Technique: “I’m a stickler for straight lines,” she says of her signature style. “It has to be full and straight and perfect.” Baker uses a combination of waxing, trimming, and tweezing to achieve the effect. “Everyone leaves with fuller brows,” she promises. And they often leave with her “Fab Four kit” too, which includes an angle spoolie brush, brow powder, a highlighter smudge brush, and the Magic Stick, her personal favorite. “It’s a highlighter pencil that works on everyone and will have an instant lifting effect and distract the eye from any holes in your brow.”