Anastasia Soare built a successful beauty empire on the foundation of brows

The founder of the 25-year-old brand Anastasia Beverly Hills shares how distinctly shaped brows can transform one’s facial features

Brows, as an aspect of a full face of make-up, have been subjected to a spate of evolutions almost every decade. From super-skinny and overly drawn brows in the 1920s and 1930s to untouched, natural-looking brows in the 1940s, sculpted and darkened brows in the 1950s and 1960s (courtesy Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra), boy brows in the 1980s, and slender, fine brows in the 1990s and 2000s again, brows have truly oscillated between thin and thick variants. While most beauty enthusiasts are getting to grips with the significance of well-groomed brows, brow expert Anastasia Soare was privy to the game-changing powers of the eyebrows in the 1990s, which led her to launch her first-ever flagship salon in Beverly Hills in 1997, dubbed Anastasia Beverly Hills.

Romanian-origin Soare noticed the non-existence of the brow grooming space in the American market while working at a beauty salon in Los Angeles when she moved to the USA in 1989. She was keen to revolutionise the brow game for women in America, to begin with, paving the way for not only her salon but also the development of her ‘Golden Ratio Technique’—a technique she devised to ensure everyone’s brows were groomed according to their individual brow bone structure for a flattering look. “Within six months, word of “Hollywood’s best kept secret” spread, and Soare had clients like supermodels Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell, and Stephanie Seymour, and a line of people clamouring for an appointment with her, revealed a Mediumarticle. Soon after, in 1998, Soare launched her brand’s debut brow product. Today, over a hundred different products fall under the umbrella of Anastasia Beverly Hills—with almost 50  products exclusively to shape and groom eyebrows. 

With a clientele comprising the likes of Kim Kardashian, Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama, Soare and her brand have successfully reached cult status. 2023 marks the 25th anniversary of Anastasia Beverly Hills. We speak to Soare who tells us about her passion towards eyebrows and her brand.

Take us back to day one—how did you know that you want to pursue beauty as a profession?

I knew I wanted to be significant and do something that I loved and that would have an impact. I always had an interest in beauty, but I didn’t enter the industry with a master plan. I got a job as an aesthetician out of necessity. I was an immigrant, and waxing was work I could do without needing to speak the language. It was while working that I noticed a glaring gap in the market—no one was paying attention to their eyebrows. It was hard to believe that such a structurally significant framing feature was being completely overlooked by salon services. I had this stroke of inspiration that maybe the same Golden Ratio I learned about in art school could be applied to shaping brows, bringing balance and proportion to my clients’ faces. I developed a three-step technique based on the theory and began to offer brows as a separate service. When the demand skyrocketed, I went from renting a room out of someone else’s salon to opening my very own flagship salon in Beverly Hills.

2023 marks 25 years of Anastasia Beverly Hills in the business. What are the shifts that you’ve seen in the beauty industry at large over time?

Beauty has seen tremendous growth in the last decade and a half. For such a long time, there had been a rigid, one-size-fits-all mentality for what was considered fashionable, and everyone subscribed to that—even if it meant that it didn’t suit them personally. I think today, the definition of beauty carries with it a breath of fresh air, fluidity and most importantly, individuality. Anastasia Beverly Hills was built on the foundation that brows are personalised to each person’s bone structure, creating harmony and proportion. People are now making beauty their own—what’s best for their features, their skin tone and their particular aesthetic. Beauty has shifted towards embracing and celebrating all the ways we can be different. 

Anastasia Beverly Hills began with a salon in 1997. What propelled the launch of an in-house make-up line?

I started creating products for brows simply because there were none in the market then. At the salon, I was making my own homemade mixture with things like eyeshadow and Vaseline. There were months of travelling to Italy and going back and forth on the development of the formula to ensure that it performed at the quality I needed it to. When I launched the first Anastasia Beverly Hills product line in 1998, it carved out a new product category in beauty.

Why are you so big on brows? How, according to you, can brows be game-changing? 

The core of Anastasia Beverly Hills has always been the Golden Ratio. I learnt about this concept in art school in Romania. We would study highlight and shadow, balance and proportion and I thought if the Golden Ratio could bring harmony to art, architecture and the body, why not eyebrows? It turns out that brows shaped and tailored to an individual’s distinct bone structure are truly transformative. The result unlocks this sense of balance and suddenly, all your features appear to be in the correct proportion. Properly shaped and filled arches also make you look alert, rested and can even take years off the face. It is instantly more flattering, but in a way where no one can pinpoint exactly what’s different. 

And was it a conscious decision to let brows take centre stage in your business/brand?

It was never a decision that had to be made; brows were what started it all. 

You launched with brow products—what was the checklist to develop them?

From the beginning, the cornerstones of the brand have been quality and education. A product has a single opportunity to make a first impression, so if it’s not something we would recommend to our family and closest friends, the product doesn’t launch. And with each release, Anastasia Beverly Hills has an education team that develops pro tips and video tutorials to make sure our community gets the best performance possible out of the new product.

You’ve worked on the brows of celebrities like Jennifer Lopez, Kylie Jenner and the Kardashians. What is the experience like and how did that change things for you and your brand?

When I was getting started in the beauty industry, I was in a position where I relied on other women’s support. It was my clients who stood by me, spreading my business through word of mouth, and I cherish those relationships—some of them are decades-long. A surreal moment and major turning point was when Oprah brought me onto the Oprah Winfrey Show to do her brows live, on national television. She was the original influencer. After the episode aired, the phone wouldn’t stop ringing at the salon for months. She is still a client of mine, and also a dear friend. I owe everything to the strong, vibrant community I have met along the way, and it has been a great source of joy and inspiration.  

Anastasia Beverly Hills is available in over 25 countries today—how do you envision the business in India, particularly?

Every population has its own distinct and captivating take on beauty. What makes Anastasia Beverly Hills successful in so many different countries with their disparate tastes and trends is our brand’s deep-rooted commitment to quality, creativity, and inclusivity. Through our extensive shade ranges, formulas, and product types, we ensure that there is truly something for everyone. No matter what product they’re picking, they will always be receiving the Anastasia Beverly Hills standard of quality. 

Give us a quick tour of your cult Golden Ratio Technique.

The most flattering eyebrow shape is always going to be one tailored to the individual’s bone structure. The Golden Ratio Shaping Technique relies on the following measurements: Brows should begin directly above the middle of your nostrils, they should end where the corner of the nostril connects with the outer corner of the eye, and the highest point of the arch should connect the middle of the tip of the nose with the middle of the iris. 

What is your current favourite eyebrow aesthetic? Has it changed over the years from skinny to bushy, for instance?

My preferred aesthetic has always been gorgeous, natural brows. I always recommend incorporating a detailed brow product to create realistic hairlike dimensions and to fill in brows in an ombré fashion (darker at the arches and ends, lighter at the centre) for the most natural look. 

What is your biggest mistake and biggest learning in 25 years of being in the business?

When I started shaping brows, the salon was so busy that I was working 12-hour-long days, seeing client after client with hardly a break. Each moment that passed was precious, and I noticed that even the seconds it took to switch my tools were wasting valuable time. So, I worked with a manufacturer to develop a double-ended tool: A brush on one side and a spoolie on the other. It was the first of its kind. At the time, I didn’t know that these sorts of things could be patented, and now those brushes are everywhere. Years later, while working with a trademark lawyer, I received an incredible piece of advice. He told me that the best thing I could do for the brand was to make Anastasia synonymous with brows. So that’s what I did, and I’ve never let an opportunity like that go by again. That is one thing I am very proud of—I like to believe that I never make the same mistake twice. 

Can you share some of the challenges you faced as an entrepreneur in the competitive beauty industry and how you overcame them?

Starting a new business as both a woman and an immigrant came with a unique set of challenges, and I relied heavily on people who were willing to take a chance on me. It felt like I was constantly on a mission—to convince the bank to give me a credit card, to convince the landlord to rent me the salon space, to convince detractors that eyebrows could be big business. I believed in my vision, and that is what kept me going. I learned early to never give up, to never take no for an answer. Ever since, no matter the challenge, passion and determination have been my guiding lights.

How do you see Indian beauty aesthetics influencing the global beauty trends and how does Anastasia Beverly Hills plan to incorporate or has already incorporated such elements in its products?

India is rich in culture and diversity, with a population that encourages playful use of colour, vibrancy and bold beauty. Anastasia Beverly Hills always aims to ignite creativity and enable individuals to express themselves confidently through their make-up, so I cannot wait to see the many ways the beautiful women of India make our products distinctly their own.  

Lastly, if you had to pick one brow product from your Anastasia Beverly Hills, what would that be and why?

I will never leave home without an Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Wiz. It handles both shading and hair-like detail, fills areas of sparseness and creates a brow with extremely soft and natural dimensions. Whether someone wants a single product that does it all, uses Brow Wiz as their detail in a multi-step routine, or struggles with patches of sparseness, this is the brow pencil that will always deliver.

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