I have known this sad fact for more than a year: I over tweeze. But it has taken twelve months figure out exactly what I was doing wrong, to ease up and to work a good arch.

Last September I booked an hour with a personal stylist. We focusing on clothing and were both talking fast so I could get my moneys’ worth out of the time. She said something in passing about overdoing it with my brows, but before I had a chance to ask her what she meant, we were on to her alarming idea of violating my vintage Chanel jacket with new buttons.

I figured I would keep my eyebrow look natural and simple, follow the general shape, and not worry so much about chasing down every little hair. Then I read somewhere in a magazine that the best way to break a bad brow habit is to let them grow out and then start again. So I let them grow. But each time I returned to pluck, I went too far. Consequently, 2006 has been year of oscillating between looking like Roddy McDowall in an ape suit and Bette Davis muttering something about Joan Crawford being stuck in a chair.

Last month I stopped by the makeup counter at Henry Bendel for a makeover and finally received the wisdom I had been hoping for.

"You know you are over tweezing your brows," said the gorgeous makeup artist as he tried to apply fussy liquid eyeliner to my ever-fluttering lashes.

"I know that, but I don’t know what it means," I pleaded.

"You, my dear, " he snapped, "are creating an artificial arch just above the inside of your pupil, and you need the arch to be directly over the outside of your iris. "

So that was it. I was looking for tweeze in all the wrong places. Now I know better.

I would love to aggregate our collective wisdom on this vexing beauty problem. Please share your comments on what you learned the hard way about the perfect eyebrow.