An Instant Face Lift

The eyes may be the windows to the soul, but the eyebrows are the framework for the entire face.

Eyebrow guru Anastasia Soare of Anastasia, Beverly Hills, joins Monday's The Early Show to show how to transform the most difficult of brows - from too full to over-plucked.

Soare insists (as does nearly every other reputable brow groomer) that you should never wax your own brows. For an initial shaping, you should go to a professional who can give you the right shape for your face. Otherwise, you risk waxing off too much hair and looking even worse.

So how do you determine the right shape for your brow?

Here are Soare's 5 simple tips that she demonstrates on The Early Show with a pencil against her face:

1. The INCLINE of the brow should always be longer than the decline.
2. The INNER EDGE of the brow should line up with the inside edge of the nostril (and not the outer, as most people assume).
3. The PEAK of the arch and the OUTER END of the brow should be along an imaginary line drawn from the center of the tip of the nose through the middle of the pupil (to the peak) and through the outer corner of the eye (to the end of the brow).
4. The closer to the eye the incline of the eyebrow, the higher the arch you will be able to achieve. Avoid plucking too much from the inner brow.
5. Your inner brow should be no thinner than the radius of your iris, to keep the brow from looking too surprised.

The Full/Bushy Brow:

Wax into a complimentary shape to your face. Trim to create a proper arch and remove any excess length by brushing brows up and snipping carefully. And finish the look by filling the brows in with brow powder and a short, angled brush using quick, light strokes.

Tip: If you have full or bushy brows, try a brow stencil to get the perfect shape. Put the stencil up to your brow, fill in with a dark powder, and when you remove, you can tweeze and trim everything outside the darkened areas.

The Over-plucked Brow:

The trick to getting over-plucked brows back in shape is to thicken them and create an arch with brow powder (again, a stencil could come in handy here - you just fill in the stencil with your brush and powder, and voila, new brow).

Tip: If you've over-plucked, dab a little Rogaine onto your brows to speed up growth. Soare says that rubbing castor oil into your brow has a similar effect.

The Sparse Brow:

Clean up the shape by waxing and tweezing stray hairs, and trimming brows.
Fill in sparse areas with a brow powder or tinted pomade.

Tip: If you have sparse or over-plucked brows and are looking for a powder or pomade to fill in the bald spots, here's a color tip: Choose a powder or pencil one shade lighter than your brow color. If you're a blonde, though, try one shade darker.