Eyebrows frame the face and give it character – dwell on that, before following a trend and turning them into a thin line, advises LA based make-up artist Mina Abramović
If Riri says pluck, all the trendsetters are ready with tweezers in their hands, attacking their, up to now more than bushy brows. Lately there’s been talk whether the fashion bible Vogue’s cover is really a forecast of a radical change – return of the penciled-on brow that ruled the 90s. Then sported by Gwen Stefani (with added rhinestones) and Drew Barrymore. Half a century earlier, another actress famous for her royal posture, the elegant and gathered Greta Garbo proudly wore her super thin brows, practically a line, that gave her face a distinct look. Practically simultaneously, another ambassador of the clown-like brow was Marlene Dietrich, her technique to achieving the sad clown look was to pluck it all, pencil them on aiming for a shocked expression. Therefore, if this summer you finally invested in Japanese brows, or you invested a lot of time in the jolly bush effect, all your efforts were in vain. But what now? I believe that we’ll get the best answer from, undoubtedly one of the best make-up artists in the region, one that fashion magazines fought over, as well as celebrities. Mina Abramović is someone that was wanted for big or small shoots, someone you trust blindly. Mina, like many other great and successful people, decided to move to the States. She currently lives and works in Los Angeles, home of all trends. I caught her in a hurry, asked for a flash interview and an answer to my dilemma, what stand should we take in the upcoming madness.
When Riri sports a thin brow, the so called penciled-on look, we are to expect a new trend. What do you say?
Rihanna is famous for setting trends, but considering the fact that her brows were part of an editorial shoot, I hope that girls won’t adopt them as a new beauty trend. Although, no one can know for sure, we live in an extreme society and maybe some girls will reach towards such trend. But, as long as we have the Kardashians and Instagram, they will be the ones to set trends.
They were signature looks of Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich. Are there differences between theirs and ones from the 90s?
The true differences are minimal. It’s all part of a fashion trend that comes back from time to time.
Brows frame the face and give it character. It’s important that we adapt them to the size and shape of our eyes
Which technique is best used in order to achieve the perfect thin brow, your step-by-step advice for the ideal thin brow?
There is no ideal thin brow. When it comes to brows, trends should never be followed. Brows frame the face and give it character. It’s important that we adapt them to the size and shape of our eyes.
My advice is to find your ideal brow shape and thickness and maintain it forever
It’s not easy to twitch from thick to thin brows. How should it be done?
If you ask me, it’s much harder switching from thin to thick brows, because most women in the 90s over plucked and now can’t get their brows back, resulting in many techniques for permanent brows. My advice is to find your ideal brow shape and thickness and maintain it forever.
If we decide to get a tattoo, which one is best?
As far as I can see, there are many different techniques for permanent brows. Considering the fact that I see different results on my clients, some good, some not so got versions of a tattoo, my advice is to get well informed from examples and experiences of others or online and find the best one for you.
You’ve been in California, Los Angeles for a couple of months now, what would you say about beauty habits of women from the West Coast. What is their beauty obsession?
This place is a real gallery of different styles!!! As far as I can notice, Instagram make-up is really trendy; girls love thick brows and opposed to ours, wear fake lashes during the day. Although, there are still those who don’t wear make-up at all or do it very discretely.
What is a brand or product that blew you away?
I am constantly amazed and always need something new. I believe that it’s the same for my colleagues as well! I am currently amazed anew by Urban Decay eye shadows (their pigmentation) both single pans and palettes. I have two more products that I can’t live without currently, Burberry Fresh Glow Base and ILIA Cosmic Dancer Stick Highlighter
Unfortunately, Instagram influencers dictate make-up trends
Is everyone in Hollywood obsessed by trends, or just the famous?
This can be a trick question. Famous-famous or Instagram-famous. Unfortunately, Instagram influencers dictate make-up trends. In most cases its You Tubers who ‘drag themselves’ in my opinion, but there are those who play with make-up in the correct way, like Celine Bernaerts.
What are your main impressions of life there, pros and cons compared to our lifestyle?
Emotions are currently mixed! Considering that I’m at the very beginning, I don’t have a realistic picture of everything. What I can notice though, is that respect work and that every extra hour is paid for.
We all have our expectations before leaving, were yours realistic?
Honestly, I wanted to change something. My Aquarius insanity guided me to explore. I never have any expectations!!! I just love dreaming and exploring my boundaries.
What are you doing at the moment, have you already done some celebrity faces?
I was lucky enough, to start working in a Century City salon almost as soon as I moved. The owner of the salon is a renowned hairdresser and make-up artist Glenn Nutley, also the personal hairdresser of Britney Spears. Besides that, I have all sorts of shoots for some brands unknown to us, as well as some known like Yamamay. When it comes to celebrities, I still haven’t gone so far, besides for doing Melissa Ziegler twice a week (mother of Maddie Ziegler, girl ballerina best known for staring in Sia’s music videos).
From your perspective, how different are a California lifestyle and our ordinary one?
Two completely different worlds!!! What really bothers me is how slow they are (somehow something still works). I don’t know whether it’s due to the climate or the fact that marihuana is legalized, but everyone is extremely slow. It doesn’t really mix with my temperament but all right. We’ll see how long I’ll last! Don’t let me forget, a huge difference is that here you can always work and shouldn’t be ashamed of anything!!! Which isn’t a characteristic of ours.
What have you already adopted as a positive habit?
Hahahah… The fact that there’s an app for everything. An app for work, for a bank, for buying coffee without waiting in line at Starbucks, Bird (electric scooters that everyone drives around LA).
Your plans?
I don’t have any. As they say; “Go with the flow!”
