The Treatment:
Mist Brows, £390, by Samantha Trace Cosmetics
What are mist brows?:
An “airbrushing” technique used to implant fine dots of pigment into the skin, to create a mist of colour for a natural look of light makeup behind microbladed hairs giving a shaded effect for a ‘Bolder Brow’. Advised for oily skin types and darker skin tones.
Reviewer:
Kiké, Digital Project Manager
Beauty Bio:
My eyebrows are my pride and joy I’m happy to forgo any other type of makeup as long as my brows are shaped and tidy. Yes, I am THAT girl who draws on her brows to go to the gym.
I religiously get my slugs threaded and tinted every month without fail, I shudder at the thought of the amount of money spent trying to keep my Mr Spock brows in check.
I love the thought that with mist brows I can get an extra ten minutes in bed and wake up with feathery defined brows that frame my face perfectly. The dream.
Review:
My treatment was with the lovely browologist Samantha Trace at the chic and very Instagrammable Blush + Blow, which is situated in New Kings Road in Chelsea.
Before we started, Samantha explained to me why she created the mist brow technique. Feedback from her clients where, whilst they loved the fullness of microbladed brows, they sometimes still felt the urge to use product to fill in the gaps for that slight makeup look. Mist brows is essentially the best of both worlds you still have the feather like strokes but with a soft powder effect between the hairs.
She then explained that the treatment is done in four stages; selecting the colour, drawing the shape of the brows, the microblading and then finally the misting all of this should take about two hours.
I was then asked to lay on the bed, where my brows were assessed under a bright light. Samantha decided she would keep the whispy bits of hair that I had at the front of my brows adding just a few hair strokes there so they still maintained the natural gradient. The middle of my brows were quite full and dark but the tail of my brows would require more hair strokes as the hairs there were quite fine.
Samantha then proceeded to mix a combination of browns pigments to create my perfect eyebrow colour. It was important that the colour chosen replicated my natural brow colour and complimented my underlying skin tone.
Next, using an eyebrow pencil Samantha drew the outline of my new brows. Initially this was done freehand but to make sure they were perfect she used an app on her phone called Phibrows which measures symmetry. I was then asked to look at the shape in the mirror to make sure I was happy with them which I was.
Anaesthetic was then left on my brows for ten mins to numb them. Samantha then began to use a machine which had tiny microscopic needles to create thin hair strokes on my right eyebrow. Thankfully I couldn’t feel too much due to the anaesthetic however the sound wasn’t exactly soothing similar to scratching of a scalpel across a wooden table. The process was then repeated three times on each brow.
Finally onto the misting, Samantha used a second machine to implant fine dots of pigment into the skin, this is what would create the natural look of light make up behind the microbladed hairs.
I was then cleaned up and allowed to have a good look at my new brows. I couldn’t believe how full, feathery but most of all how real they looked. The biggest transformation was the tail of my brows I went from having sparse hairs on either side to having lots of realistic hair strokes.
In between me staring at my reflection in awe Samantha explained the crucial aftercare tips. Do not get brows wet for at least ten days, avoid applying any serums or creams to that area otherwise it will impact the amount of pigment retained. They may get a bit itchy but under no circumstances am I to pick or itch instead I can dab some ointment (which she kindly supplied me with) on it.
We agreed that I would return in a months time for a colour top up to perfect everything.
I’ve shared my ‘healing’ experience below:
Week 1: In all honesty, my brows are a bit darker than I anticipated (cue worried face) but Samantha did tell me this is due to the pigment being pushed to the surface of the skin and it will soften later. That aside this is seriously saving me a good 15 mins in the morning which means more time to snooze meditate.
Week 2: My brows are a bit itchy, it also looks like I have slight dandruff issues going on (thumbs up). I’ve been dabbing a bit of my ointment over them to help. The hair strokes don’t look as defined any more and I’m slightly concerned but I’m trusting the process.
Week 3 & 4: I can finally wash my face properly *whoop* also the hair strokes have reappeared they are a lot softer than they were in week one as Samantha promised and I’m thrilled. I do however find myself reaching for my trusty benefit pencil just to add a few extra strokes where the pigment has not retained as much. I have my touch up appointment booked next week so I’m sure Samantha will be correcting this.
Final Verdict:
At my top up appointment we essentially just went over my brows again but this time made them a bit thicker as per my request and now two weeks post healing I am super pleased with the final result. I feel more put together and polished, now my brow routine consists of just using a clear brow gel and that’s it! It’s given me the fluffy soap brow look I’ve always wanted but without all the faff. I also no longer have to worry about my brows melting off during a gym class. Even though this is classed as semi-permanent treatment, with a colour boost every 9 months you pretty much can have your mist brows for life which for me makes it extremely worthwhile.
