Just like items of clothing, body parts have their moment in the spotlight. In the early 2000s, the clavicle was an area of scrutiny and celebration thanks to fashion trends that exposed the area. Last season, we were all about the shoulders (and most definitely not about cleavage). But there’s no doubt that 2017 is the year of the eyebrow.
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Thanks to celebrities with envious arches, like Cara Delevingne, Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid, eyebrows are big business these days: 2016 saw a rise in the use of pencils, powders, and gels to build them out, while 2017 is dominated by treatments like microblading, where tiny tattoos are drawn into the brow to make it appear fuller.
“There’s definitely a lot more awareness of brows thanks to social media and celebrities,” says Maddox Lu, national brow and trend artist with Benefit Canada. “I think it has to do with how accessible and easy it is for anyone to jump on a brow style. Not everyone can execute a smoky eye or a perfectly contoured face, but brows are achievable.”
Not surprisingly, Instagram is the main proponent of this trend (and its many offshoots), with makeup artists around the world taking to the social media platform to display their creative eyebrow handiwork. Brows have been morphed into a number of different shapes, including feathers and barbed wire, and have been manicured to look nothing less than exactingly angular.
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But one makeup tutorial on Instagram that outlines the latest shape trend — squiggle brows — and how to take them to gory new heights for Halloween has followers in awe.
A Canadian makeup artist who goes by the handle Eyesobell posted a series of images to the social media site of bloody squiggle brows just in time for the spooky holiday. They’re eerily (and disturbingly) realistic, although her followers were filled with nothing but praise.
Her posts have collectively received over 10,000 likes and her followers have called her everything from an inspiration to a genius.
Eyesobell is capitalizing on the bizarre trend that took hold earlier this year and shows no signs of abating on Instagram.
“The squiggle brow is pretty wacky and definitely not the most wearable trend, but it proves that people are more and more aware about the transformative power of eyebrows,” Lu says.
He credits these makeup artists (and otherwise brave beauty pioneers) with starting the conversation that eventually distills down to a wearable trend.
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It’s hard to say how long brows will be in, but considering that they’re responsible for framing the face, and when groomed properly can actually make a person look younger, it’s doubtful that the focus will shift to another facial feature anytime soon.
In fact, Lu says, there’s even more to look forward to.
“Look up ‘braided brows’ and ‘ponytail brows,'” he says. “You’ll be amazed.”
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