Well, I have held off this article as long as I can. Over the last two months, I have had the privilege of trying out some products that not only changed the way I look at cosmetics but also how I actually look.

First off, if anyone ever told you that the eyebrows can really make you look at the world differently, believe it. The eyebrows in Chinese Meng Xian (feng shui face reading is extremely important). Just a simple distance of the eyebrows can tell a lot about a person’s personality. Next, if anyone ever tells you that thin lips not only makes you look angry and terse, it is also highly unkissable, believe that too. When I think of brow and lips, I am thrown back to the 195o’s, nothing was more definitive than eyebrows and lips, times just after the war when make up technology was not that advanced and people had to just make do with the basics. Ask me what the current actresses’s brows are like, I can’t for the life of me tell you. But ask me and anyone else, about actresses like Sophia Loren, Katherine Hepburn, Audrey Hepburn ooh la la so chic and classic, all we can remember would be the eyebrows red the well defined red lips.

So,what am I rambling about? Well, I had the privilege of sitting in to a Shu Uemura brow session and, you could say I was reborn. I have always had issues with my eyebrows, I have very sparse ones which even after my application of eyebrow makeup palate, it will run after a few hours. To top it up, I do not have a regular brow keeping sessions, so the shape had generally been quite circumstantial. I am also supremely paranoid about anyone else touching my brows other than myself, who coincidentally is the same person who nearly trimmed off the one eyebrow while attempting to give her fringe a trim. At seventeen, when you are told that chopping of your eyebrow means bad luck and since eyebrow takes a while to grow, it kinda “messes ” you up a bit. But, I did not do anything weird unless you call leaving my eyebrows straggly and un-chic, weird.

But lo behold, once introduced to the Shu Uemura’s brow pencil and their brow expert Lisa, life and how I looked at it has definitely changed.

I know it sounds a little exaggerated. But I can tell you it isn’t. What was most interesting for me was my brow trim, I got to choose: masculine, rounded soft and the feminine brow with arch. Lisa, decided a masculine brow suits me more, since I look so “serious” and business-y. And after sprucing up my unruly brows and leaving some at the ends (for money fortune) , she got down to showing me how to draw my brows using their best seller “naginata” swordshape eyebrow pencil which by the way can only draw when there is hair, brow hair.

But it is surprising how a small detail like a neat brow can change your whole appearance. It makes one look more sophisticated and, well if you must know, feel quite sophisticated. I have since experimented with the brow scissors and tweezers and managed my own feminine come hither brow with the “perfect” arch that allows me to raise one brow in a quizzical look when someone says something, anything, whenever I feel like it, throwing them completely off guard. Aaah, I am liking it. I feel like a changed person. Life is good.

I am now a convert. Pencil is good, even for someone who can’t draw straight. The shape of the pencil lead also makes it easy to draw or rather fill in the brow to the desired shape. Definitely, penciling this one down.

On a roll, I wondered what does it feel like to just have a little assistance for my lips. I have seen botox-ed lips and can’t help but wonder what would induce anyone to ever do that. Then I look at Angelina Jolie and imagine her giving Brad Pitt some mighty salty lips and I can’t help but be more than just a tad curious. So when Skin Sensation ++ gave their Lip Plumper with Advance Lip Plumping Therapy and Vitamin C Ester, I decided to give it a little try. I was more secretly quite excited. After careful reading of the ingredients, I figured no permanent damage. I gave it a smack, I had tingling sensation upon application on my lips and a slight “swollen” feel to the lips for a couple of days. I must admit there is a slight “stung” look to the lips, whilst not quite Angelina Jolie or Amber Chia, I felt fuller as a person. And yes, I did walked around feeling a little Jolie-esque pout for about two days.

The brows and mini “bee stung” lips were not the redefining moments of me, they were merely the collateral damage. The real moment was when I took the lip, oops ,I mean the leap of faith to embrace change and not be hung up about, always being natural and putting up with things I am not entirely happy with, including myself. It was about being objective about assistance and experimentation. Exhilarating and liberating. So now, like Madonna, I think I can and will subscribe to a constant re-”invention” of me on a regular basis. Next…

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