Department stores are like mythical worlds straight out of Roald Dahl’s imagination. But instead of rivers of chocolate, mountains of fudge and lickable wallpaper à la Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, We have private treatment rooms, dedicated areas for the most innovative beauty brands and a bespoke curation of personalised experiences ranging from fragrance spraying to lipstick testing.

That’s the case with Australia’s top shopping destination, David Jones. The iconic retailer unveiled its newly designed beauty floor on the ground floor of its Bourke Street flagship store to a small group of industry leaders and beauty founders last week. A $15 million investment has been made in the painstaking renovation, and the new floor is expected to welcome nine million visitors annually.

And what can customers expect? Individually designed zones focusing on makeup, skincare, haircare, perfume and wellness guide the experience like an odyssey of discovery. At each individual counter, which includes everything from Chanel Beauty to La Mer, we are invited by highly trained staff to learn more about the brands and product offerings. Immersive brand experiences such as luxury on-site facials in signature pavilions for brands such as Rationale and Aesop complete the new layout.

Anastasia Soare, founder and CEO of cosmetics company Anastasia Beverly Hills, has participated in several makeovers in her 30 years in the industry and has now travelled from Los Angeles to Melbourne to celebrate the highly anticipated unveiling.

Wearing the traditional houndstooth pattern that is the hallmark of the 186-year-old shop and a crimson rosette, Soare tells GRAZIA that she buys a Saint Laurent brow rose in every city she visits. The real-life “Eyebrow Queen” is also reaching an exciting milestone of her own – the first Brow Studio in the Southern Hemisphere.

Since she first appeared on Rodeo Drive in 1989, Soare has been tweezing, combing and filling the eyebrows of the celebrity scene and has literally carved a niche for herself since introducing the concept of eyebrow balancing to the masses. As Soare herself says, she was once a “victim” of the narrow but round eyebrow shape popular in her native Romania. After an art lesson on Leonardo da Vinci’s golden ratio, she was deeply influenced by an offhand remark from her art teacher: When drawing a portrait, if you want to change an emotion, change the shape of the eyebrow.

This principle became the defining feature of her salon and her subsequent product offering. Soare opened a boutique in 1997 (Editor’s note: Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell and Stephanie Seymour were among her first clients) before expanding her business to eyebrow cosmetics in 2000. She patented a shaping technique that she claims programs the eye to perceive beauty.

Creating this ideal shape began with her mixing her own formulas of eye shadow and Vaseline to create the perfect pomade that would allow her clients to achieve salon-like results at home. Now it’s easy for Australian beauty lovers to book a service at David Jones. (You can book your appointment here, the signature eyebrow wax starts at $52 for 30 minutes.)

Given the recent chatter on social media about eyebrow blindness, the inability to recognize how unflattering one’s eyebrows look at the time, we couldn’t speak to the Hollywood star without asking her about the trend. “Of course I’ve heard of it,” she laughed, subtly admitting the role her products play in some clumsy applications.

“Back then (2014-2016), our clients were too excited. They would take it and apply it to the entire eyebrow,” she began. “I always told my daughter Claudia that this (method) is wrong! I said it shouldn’t be like that. She said, ‘Mom, that’s how they like it. They’ll figure it out in the end,'” she said, adding, “I’m always right.”

When Soare looks into her crystal ball, she doesn’t predict that the laminated eyebrow trend of the 2020s or the resurgence of the thin eyebrows of the ’90s will be the styles we look back at in 15 years and cringe at. Rather, she believes it’s the over-bleaching of eyebrows that people might regret, simply because the style is so difficult to correct.

“People want to experiment, but we have eyebrows for a reason!” she explains, telling us about how she once had to touch up Kendall Jenner’s eyebrows after a photoshoot. “The human eye recognizes harmony when you create the perfect eyebrow shape that perfectly balances your facial features. So I think my Golden Ratio technique will still be used in 15 years because the result will always be considered beautiful.”

The secrets to beautiful eyebrows according to Anastasia Beverly Hills are: Never trim your eyebrows too short or you’ll lose the shape of your arch. Apply your products from the ends first to get enough coverage. Use your eyebrow gel as a final step to hold the shape instead of placing the eyebrows first and then filling them in. A touch of highlighter under the eye is never a bad idea and always wipe off excess product from your brush or eyebrow pencil before it reaches your face.

Most importantly? Help is always at hand. Even Soare admits she still over-tweezers, so if you ever feel like your current technique doesn’t suit your complexion, remember you can schedule a consultation at David Jones ABH Brow Studio just a click – not a tweeze – away. A world of pure browfection awaits you.

Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Studio is located at David Jones, 310 Bourke St, Melbourne VIC 3000