This Tiny Tweak Is the Shakeup Your Fall Beauty Routine Needs

When a new season sparks a desire for change, there’s an impulse to let the scissors do the talking (Jean Seberg pixie, anyone?). But a fall reboot can be just as effective with subtler means of transformation. Consider the brows: Tinted this way or that, those twin punctuation marks can suddenly bring a certain je ne sais quoi to the face. “I really like it when people can’t figure out what’s been done, but everyone’s like, ‘You look so good! Awake, alive, refreshed,’ ” Carrie Lindsey tells me at her brow-and-facial studio in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene neighborhood, the sort of place where both sunlight and chic regulars stream in all day.

While the runways traffic in the avant-garde—futuristic bleached eyebrows at Givenchy’s Fall show, highlighter pink brows for Maison Margiela’s couture collection—Lindsey lets nature be her guide. “Typically when I tint, I look at the root color of your hair; that tells me if you’re warm or cool,” she explains of her custom-blended colors. (After testing dyes over the past two decades, she favors the gentle vegetable-based ones formulated with just a hint of peroxide, to aid in the depositing of pigment without any bleaching effect.) That keen eye for observation means she embraces the seasonal shifts. “In the summer I love that sun-kissed, beachy look, when the brows get a little lighter. Then I pull the brow back out in the fall,” she says of her tendency to go darker with the onset of cooler temperatures.

How is it that a subtle wash of color can make such a difference? Because, with brows, there’s often more than meets the eye. “The tint adds color to all hair that it touches, even the new growth and blonde facial fuzz we all have, making a noticeably richer and more ‘filled-in’ look,” says Kristie Streicher, who sculpts her trademarked Feathered Brow at her Beverly Hills salon, Striiike. For those experimenting with statement hair color—such as platinum, candy pink, or dove gray—Streicher welcomes a bold brow that reads “edgy and cool.” On the flipside, softening the brow color with a high-lift tint can temper an otherwise harsh look, she points out. “However, proceed with caution,” she stresses, “as the hair on the brow is not as strong and forgiving as the hair on the head. Overbleaching, -coloring and -shaping can really affect future growth.”

Back in Brooklyn, I’m perched in a high stool while Lindsey mixes a tailor-made shade of brown. “I’m going to lean toward ash on you because you have cool undertones,” she tells me, before she swipes rainbows of color atop both brows. Minutes later, she wipes off the dye and stands back to assess. “It’s super pretty—subtle,” she says. “It’s just the perfect emphasis.” She’s right. It wasn’t enough to catch a friend’s notice over wine that night, but the next morning at work my editor stopped herself mid-sentence to say, “Wow—your brows look great.” For a makeup minimalist, what more can you ask for?

Carrie Lindsey Beauty, 88 S. Portland Avenue, Brooklyn, carrielindseybeauty.com
Striiike, 9278 Civic Center Drive, Beverly Hills, striiike.com

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