I Tested It So You Don’t Have To: Brow Lamination

Over the past few months, brow lamination has taken the beauty world by storm. Migrating its way to North America from Russia, the technique promises full, detailed brows like those of your favourite Glossier model. I quickly became intrigued by the un-intrusiveness process, so I booked an appointment at Toronto’s The Beauty Collective to test it out.

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In a nutshell, lamination is like an eyelash lift for your brows. The treatment, similar to a perm but performed with gentler chemicals, keeps your brow hairs brushed upright for six to eight weeks. The effect is immediate: feather-like, bushy looking brows. The process takes about 20 minutes to complete, which makes it a convenient beauty hack for all you busy bees. Plus, there’s no downtime needed to recoup afterward, so getting #laminated on your lunch break is entirely possible.

In terms of aftercare, you’ll need to keep your brows dry and clean from any products for 24 hours. To moisturize, massage them every night with Argan oil for extra nourishment.

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Walking in to my appointment at The Beauty Collective, I had few expectations. My natural brows are on the thinner side and have zero ‘fluff’ to them. Even with a few swipes of brow gel, I couldn’t get them to look as bushy as I wanted.

While the beautician applied a hair softener to my brows, she also placed cling wrap on them while waiting for the perm solution to take affect. And just like that, in under 25 minutes, I was done. The results were better than anything I could’ve imagined – my brows looked deceivingly thicker than they actually are, made my eyes look much more awake, and my whole face appeared to be lifted.

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A few days later, I’m still loving the results. I finally have the brows I’ve always dreamt of: they’re big, bold, and super fluffy. Brow lamination has also cut down the amount of time I spend on my beauty routine. All I have to do in the morning is brush them up and I’m ready to go! If you’re thinking about trying brow lamination post-quarantine, I highly recommend it. Boutiques are sure to be back-booked, so reserve yourself a spot today.