Friday 12 June 2015

S/P: Allure Beauty

Hi guys, here to share my recent experience at Allure Beauty!

A little background first. Established in April 2002, Allure Beauty is a complete one stop beauty boutique for all your beauty needs from head to toe; the beauty experts here make sure all you are always well and professional taken of. 

"Their philosophy has always been to enhance their customers’ physical looks and bring out the natural beauty and confidence in them. At Allure, they believe in using their expertise to deliver the best services and product knowledge to their customers."

They have 2 outlets at West Mall (Bukit Batok) and City Square Mall (Farrer Park). They have recently opened their 3rd outlet at Tampines One and i was invited down to try their Allure Signature Eyebrow Embroidery. This is actually one of their fortes.

Truth be told, i did not accept it readily as i've had not-so-good experiences with other salons previously. I first did my brows many years ago, at least 10 years ago as my original brow shape was growing downwards, and in chinese it means 向下 which isn't positive. My mum (and probably other chinese too!) believed it meant down on luck. Some may call it superstitious but other than the brows not looking good, i was open to have the shape changed since it doesn't hurt to believe in this myth.

Sadly, back then there weren't so many options and i did not do proper "homework" too. I just walked into a random store to re-shape my brows and i've been living with this shape since then. Eyebrow embroidery is semi-permanent, so once it has been done for the first time, if i wanted to redo it on a "blank canvas", it'd mean i'll have to go through a laser process to "wash" off the embroidery done.
So no thanks. I'd rather live with my existing brows though it's not the best choice.

Last year, I went to one of the renowned eyebrow specialist to have the shape corrected. I've heard so many raves about it and i thought they were able to amend it.  My brows aren't even and they can be corrected by drawing like everyone else. But it can get tiring when you have to do it all the time, plus i'm no pro. Sometimes, it turns out looking more uneven than ever and this flaw can be rather obvious. And you know that kinda feeling when your makeup just doesn't feel right?

They did not manage to correct the shape though they attempted to. Their brow expert tried to change the ends of my brows because that was the only thing that could change the shape, according to them. Because i've already done embroidery before, the color was too dark and this also affected the process. Sadly, none of this worked out. After a week, it was back to my original shape when the embroidery peeled off, and it was worst. I had 2 "tails" at the end of my brows.

This was how my brows looked like when undrawn. 
You can see the ends aren't one pointed one like how most brows should look like.
Instead, i've two tails at the ends. 2 tails at the ends and it really looked quite hilarious up close.

Frontal shot doesn't look that bad.
But the shape was just mehhhh, ugly.
A little too thin, and the arch doesn't look right.
I also have another problem where only the front has brows.
Because my original shape grows downwards, it means the ends do not have real "hair."

So when i was first invited, I told them honestly about my past experience.
Part of me really wanted to correct the shape of my brows without the need of invasive surgical procedures, but part of me was just wondering if i could really get my perfect brows? I was assured that the brow specialist will use her expertise to deliver her best and i could head down to let them reshape my brows, before i decided if i wanted to go ahead with the embroidery.

Having been to several eyebrow salons, I was surprised Allure Beauty stands out from the rest through their Golden Ratio technique. This is the FIRST time i've seen it and i just went woahhh. The Golden Ratio technique basically means they will use the shape of your face, the placement of your face features to give you the best suitable brows, one that brings balance and proportion.

Here you can see my specialist doing her "measurements" using this technique.
She spent a good 30 mins or more, perfecting the shape, drawing it to perfection.
She was really dedicated and i could feel her professionalism in wanting nothing but the best.
For once, i really felt my brows were safe in someone's hands.

And tadah, this was the final product part 1.
All hand-drawn with a normal eyebrow pencil!
A masterpiece if i can call it. It frames my face so nicely and my brows have never been this perfect my entire life! It sounds so exaggerated but my original brows were really something i didn't quite like, and something i've been wanting to change all these while. Plus this is really the best pair of brows i own in my 20 something years of life!

Just look at the ends. You can see a nice pointed tip instead of two split ends like before.
I was so mesmerized and in awe, i decided to go ahead with the embroidery right away.

Compare it with my before brows again.
Don't you agree it's a VAST difference? 

My brows are really problematic and most of the other salons i visited were not able to give me what i want, so for someone to be able to correct it so nicely, it really requires lots of professionalism and skills. These were what made me decide to go ahead with the actual embroidery. 

The embroidery process was painless - no swelling, no bleeding.
They will first apply a soothing lotion for about 15 mins, before the actual process begins. 
The process will be done within a few mins. Everyone has different threshold for pain. For someone like me who is quite afraid of pain, and to not feel much, it is safe to say this is painless. 

On my right, undone.
Can you see how the front looks darker than the end? 
It's because of the no hair at the ends which i mentioned earlier.

On my left, done.
All evened out nicely. 

I was pleasantly surprised when my brow specialist asked me time and time again if i felt any pain or discomfort. I think it's really important to feel "safe" when you decide to go for such a process. The previous times i did it, i was just wondering "how is it? omg is she doing it right?" But this time, all i had in my mind was "i can't wait to see how it turns out!"

After an hour plus, i walked out with GORGEOUS BROWS.
Final product!

A little korean-ish and it was the kind of brows i have always and always wanted. 
 I can't stress enough how awesome it is really!
It doesn't look too done up and is quite natural in my opinion.
All in all, it looks well groomed and defined, and it definitely brings out my facial features better.

Sooo satisfied! I hardly smile this wide if you know me well enough, haha.
So this was a genuine happy smile! 

It's a little dark now but the color will fade off after a few weeks, and a 2nd touch up will be required.
I will be heading down in a few more weeks for a final touch up and i'll definitely share more photos of the final product then!
Special thanks to this lady here for inviting me down! :)

Got this picture from their web if you'd like to compare more before and after.
This is another example of their Allure Signature Eyebrow Embroidery.
It basically gives you more defined brows.

It has been about 2-3 weeks since I did my brows at Allure Beauty and it has looks almost natural now! This was taken just this week, bare on its own.

The shape is still intact unlike my previous experience where everything faded into nothing, which defeats the purpose of me going for a session.
A selfie shows the brows best, yea? :p


On days where I prefer stronger brows cos of my dressing, i can just use my eyebrow pencil to lightly blend it. Because of the brow shape, drawing my brows is so much easier now. I don't have to worry if the brows are even or not. It's just like a "coloring" session.

Allure Beauty has a range of services and with their many years of experience, they have gotten a handful of good testimonials too. Like i've mentioned, if they are able to amend my problematic brows, pretty sure nothing is too tough for them!

Just brows alone, there are various types of services. 
They offer 5 different options: Basic Eyebrow Embroidery, Creative Eyebrow Embroidery, Combination (basic + creative) Brow Embroidery, Allure Signature Eyebrow Embroidery and finally Angelic Brows. The brow service that I tried would be Allure Signature Eyebrow Embroidery.
Generally, prices start from $1380 excluding GST. 

Allure Beauty
Bukit Batok West Mall #04-10/11
City Square Mall #03-29/30 
Tampines One #04-34
Contact: 6653 7979