Keeley Hawes is killing it right now in The Assassin, but there’s no weapon sharper than her latest makeover. The beautiful actress has powered up her beauty arsenal with a freshly-bladed brow look, complete with an eye-lifting effect – and we’ve got all the intel from the professional behind the assignment.
Before hitting the promo trail for her new Amazon Prime thriller, Keeley paid a visit to semi-permanent makeup guru Karen Betts for a microblading treatment, with stunning results. Her new eyebrows look razor-sharp, with the perfect, face-defining shape and a flattering, brow-lift effect.
Having such a naturally beautiful canvas to work on ‘makes my job very, very easy,’ Karen tells GH. ‘Keeley's got the perfect, oval face shape so she could have had anything with her brows, and it would have suited her.’
With no need to do anything radical, Karen explains she chose to simply enhance what was already there and – crucially – to communicate and agree the brow plan exactly before drawing a single permanent makeup stroke.
‘I asked what her expectations were, and she used the word ‘natural’,”’ says Karen. ‘So I analysed her face shape, and drew the brows on first to show her where I thought they should be to complement her bone structure. She saw it and said: “That's exactly what I want."’
While Keeley’s brows have ‘a very good natural shape’, Karen explains she tweaked them slightly with her microblading makeover. ‘I lifted them up and a little bit more out at the sides. Giving a bit more of an arch really does open the eyes and adds subtle definition without looking harsh,' says Karen. 'It brings out the cheekbones that bit more. She’s got a great bone structure, I just wanted to enhance it.’
Getting Keeley’s brow colour right was also key to a defined yet natural-looking result, says Karen. ‘I didn't want anything too warm or too flat. So I just used some cool and neutral tones slightly lighter than her own brows, because I wanted the strokes to blend in seamlessly so they looked like her own hair. Where there was some sparseness, I just worked within her own natural brows to add a little more fullness.’
The brow makeover was timed carefully to ensure Keeley’s brows looked perfectly camera-ready. ‘We did it a couple of weeks before the tour. You don’t want it just straight out of the clinic, because it'll always look a tiny bit darker before it settles.’
Having brows that look much darker than usual is an issue that Karen highlighted to GH over Queen Camilla’s recent eyebrow appearance, and something she’s keen to avoid with her own clients. ‘You have to be very careful with people’s schedules,’ she says. ‘A treatment two weeks ahead is good, so there’s time for it to soften.’
For the most natural effect, Karen insists on a two-step brow makeover for all her clients, including Keeley.
‘I always say, ‘let’s see how we go’ and tweak on the second appointment. I always like to see how the work has taken on the skin, and then add more if necessary.’
Karen adds: ‘People are often a bit worried when they have their first microblading session, but then they get used to their brows, and go: “I’ll have a little bit more fullness or more arch. Or they might decide they’re happy. So whatever Keeley decides, we’ll do next.’
‘Her brows look really good so I think she could come back and say she doesn’t really need much doing. So I’ll just check if every little hair stroke is as detailed as I’d want, and if not, I’ll just reinforce some. It’s like sketching.’
Karen tells us that Keeley is ‘really happy’ with her brow makeover, and the main bit of advice for her client now is about maintenance. ‘As with everyone, I recommend her to wear SPF50 as it just minimises fading.’
It’s certainly a look the actress will want to keep for as long as possible. ‘Microblading is all about enhancing, not overpowering, and for Keeley, that meant creating brows that felt like hers, only better,’ says Karen. Job done, we’d say.
