We heard all your question about microblading and consulted Mari Santos, founder of Maris Beauty and Academy on all things eyebrows and microblading.

This brow guru started sculpting brows at 14 and has never looked back. “I like drawing and painting, and microblading was passion at first sight,” explains the Brazil native. Now clients come from around the UAE for her ‘velvet brow’ treatment, which mixes microblading and shadowing. 

Cosmo ME: I saw a super cheap deal. Should I take it?

Mari: It’s not just the price that matters. You need to look at the results, the real results, whether you’re going to someone and they’re charging Dhs400 or Dhs4,000.

A really, really critical thing is this: make sure the picture is actually from that technician — right now people are stealing photos, posting them as their own, and misleading clients regularly. I’ve had girls that put microblading on their bucket list, they go to someone where they’ve seen photos, and they don’t end up anywhere near those results. Their face is ruined, they want to remove it, and it really impacts them. So just be careful and be smart.

Cosmo ME: What’s the most common mistake people make with microblading?

Mari: There are two actually: shape and colour. The worst one is a professional getting the shape wrong. If the colour is off, at least you can cover it. But if the shape is wrong, it’s not such an easy fix.

Cosmo ME: How do you get a good shape then?

Mari: I personally start by looking at a client’s features and also asking about their preferences, like if they want thicker brows or not. Then I follow her natural hair growth. I start with freehand drawing, but at the end, to make sure it’s all neat, I use a calliper. It’s a lot of tiny details, like the arches in the same place. There’s no ‘one eyebrow fits all’ situation. Each person has a different facial ratio, that involves our bones, muscles, the distance between the eyes and eyebrows, and even skin thickness.

Cosmo ME: I don’t want my eyebrows to be weirdly red. How’s that happen?

Mari: Usually, the wrong colour goes too grey or too red. This can come either from a professional making a mistake or from the client doing things like laser treatments. If it can be corrected, I correct it. So if it’s too grey, I put more of a warm base, and if it’s too pink, I’ll add cool tone. If there’s no way to fix it, then we’ll have to look at laser removal.

Cosmo ME: I’ve seen girls with huge brush stroke brows. How do I avoid that?

Mari: It depends on two things: the crispness of the blade and the thickness of the skin. On the market, most people use .18 to .21 blade, but we’re using .15, so it allows for finer ‘hairs’. Your skin also impacts the results. If you have thick skin, microblading doesn’t happen as smoothly, and oily skin causes the stroke to expand.

Cosmo ME: I’ve heard people shave the eyebrows…

Mari: We don’t shave eyebrows. That’s wrong. We do remove a bit of hair to create the perfect shape, which is why we do threading — but it’s not shaving. We also don’t tattoo the eyebrow. We work on the first layer of skin, so it doesn’t stay with you for a lifetime.

Cosmo ME: What about huge slug brows that are super dark, how do I avoid those?

Mari: It’s normal for the brows to go really dark the next day. The colour oxidizes from 20 minutes after we finish, and then it peels off and vanishes around the fifth day. Then it starts to develop and you come back after eight weeks for a touch-up.

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