Brows(er) Update

You can only write about beauty fads from a distance for so long before giving them a go yourself. This was not the case with the urchin haircut, fake braces or dyeing armpit hair, which briefly debuted as aesthetic fixes. But I was swept away by eyelash extensions. I was so distracted by women with long lashes on the tube that I missed my stop as they literally created a breeze when they blinked. They just looked so girlie and awake, which I discovered is one of the benefits  when I got a set of my own.

Lash application is a lengthy process, but beautician Kim Balaskas understands clients who are always in a hurry and fixed me up with a set of natural-looking extensions that specifically create thickness and in record time. With my lashes still batting, it was my brows that came to the fore this month as they were thinning and fading in different places (see top right and below). It wasn’t a good look and Kim also a permanent make-up specialist was desperate to restore my eyebrows.

“It will make you look younger,” Kim said, which was enough to agree. Using my existing shape as the template, she pencilled the area and, once I approved it, set to work with her specialist facial tattooing machine, which applies pigment to the skin using the finest needles.

It doesn’t hurt (think energetic toothbrush), although contact with the sinuses on the brow bone did make my nose run. On completion and before showing me the results,  Kim reminded me that the initial darkness would fade over the next two weeks and look more natural.

It took an evening to adjust to them but, within a few days, I have come to appreciate my new brows. Defined, tidy, almost symmetrical and a perfect canopy for my lashes, I understand why permanent make-up is so popular. For anyone who feels their brows or lips have disappeared due to ageing and/or sun exposure, this is an opportunity to restore them and shed a few years.

Think of it as repainting the front room with Kim as the decorator.

Kim Balaskas, Permanent Make-Up and Beauty Clinic, Bickerton House, 25 Bickerton Road, Highgate N19 5JT. Visit kimbalaskas.com or call 07894 828084