Raising Brows: My Story of Building a Billion-Dollar Beauty Empire

by Anastasia Soare

From the founder of Anastasia Beverly Hills - an immigrant who built a global cosmetics brand from nothing - an inspiring memoir about believing in yourself and chasing what brings you joy

An esthetician and single mother with no connections, Anastasia Soare risked her life escaping communist Romania to come to America. Raising Brows tells the remarkable story of how she built a billion-dollar beauty brand and went from watching Oprah’s TV show to learn English, to shaping Oprah’s eyebrows on the very same show years later.

Anastasia disrupted the beauty industry by applying her art school training on the "golden ratio" of beauty to eyebrows. Helping women find harmony with their face, Anastasia put eyebrows on the map. She pioneered new makeup products and built a glittering roster of clients like Michelle Obama, Jennifer Lopez, Kim Kardashian, and Hailey Bieber. But beneath the glossy exterior, Anastasia’s path wasn’t easy.

In this powerful memoir, she shares her extraordinary journey, putting her Romanian values of hard work, persistence, and optimism to the test in Los Angeles, ignoring the landlords and bank managers who laughed when she tried to open a salon focusing on brows. Anastasia’s story serves as a powerful reminder that you can do anything you put your mind to so long as you are passionate and determined. As she says, "It's the love and effort we put into our pursuits and relationships that truly define our success."

Genres: Memoir, Business

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2025

Reviews

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listened to the audiobook. This could have been much more enjoyable, interesting and higher rated book if not for 2 big factors.
1). The narration was awkward and disjointed because Anastasia narrates a portion (which I really enjoyed) and then her daughter narrates a portion (but her daughter is speaking not as her daughter-but as Anastasia). It really threw off the feel of the story.
2). I also didn’t care for the way the book was trying be part memoir, part self help, part inspiration and part “how to”. Too many things at once and interjected in the middle of her personal story. It was not a good flow for me. If she would told her story first …then in a separate section provided all her “how to” and “inspirational tips”, it would have been much better.

[CatReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anastasia Soare (b. 1957) is a Romanian-American businesswoman best known as the founder of the Anastasia Beverly Hills (ABH) cosmetics brand, which is most known for its eyebrow filling and shaping brushes, stencils, pomades, pencils, and powders. Soare's 2025 book Raising Brows is part Pollyanna-esque memoir, part general inspirational encouragement, part name-dropping manifesto of every A-to-C-list celebrity she's ever worked with, and part pan-business how-to guide; I listened to the audiobook which is narrated alternately by Soare and her daughter Claudia, better known as beauty influencer Norvina.

Soare's life certainly has been interesting -- she was born in Romania during Communist rule, watched her mother struggle and then succeed through entrepreneurism as a single mom after Soare's dad passed away, immigrated to the US as a young wife and mother with barely any money in pursuit of the vaunted American Dream, worked her way up from entry level esthetician to business owner, and managed through grit and ingenuity to become a billionaire. Soare doesn't go into depth on this, but I do think the rise of her brand in the late '00s and early '10s enabled the full brow beauty trend of the '10s (and did a great service for those who overplucked their brows in the early '00s as was the style, and thus were in need of ABH products). Still, rather than dwelling on struggle and difficult chapters, Soare instead largely focuses on the positives, which will likely make some readers find the book a puff piece and potentially disingenuous.

Further reading: beauty and beauty entrepreneurs
Eyeliner: A Cultural History by Zahra Fatima Hankar
The Red Menace: How Lipstick Changed the Face of American History by Ilise Carter
Becoming Elizabeth Arden: The Woman Behind the Global Beauty Empire by Stacy Cordery

My statistics:
Book 336 for 2025
Book 2262 cumulatively

[cititoare-visatoare · Rating 5 out of 5]

O bucurie! Anastasia Soare își scrie cu recunoștință toată povestea, tot parcursul ei, etapele prin care a trecut, cine a ținut-o de mână și a încurajat-o în tot acest drum al ei. Plecată din Constanța mea iubită, cu un copil în brațe, din sânul unei familii mari și unite, spre visul american, pe care nici măcar nu și-l formulase în gând.

Mereu am urmărit-o pe Anastasia cu mare admirație, mi se pare unul dintre oamenii care inspiră, iar această carte ajunge cu ușurință la cititor, fie că muncește în industria de frumusețe, are o afacere sau un job pe care îl face cu drag.

Ce m-a învățat Anastasia de-a lungul timpului, de când o urmăresc, este să acorzi toată atenția omului din fața ta, fie că e cineva drag, client sau necunoscut.

Știu că poate părea un clișeu american, dar dacă cineva ți-ar spune ceva frumos, un compliment sau ceva încurajator… nu-i așa că ziua ta ar fi puțin mai bună? Nu-i așa că lumea asta ar fi mai bună dacă ne-am încuraja unii pe alții, cum spunea și Alex. Leo Șerban: „Haideți să ne admirăm unii pe alții. Pare naiv?”

[Carolina Tenorio-Espinosa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I jumped at the chance to read this book. Having been an avid fan of Anastasia the woman and the brand, it was a much anticipated read.
Really well written and I loved reading the history of the company and how it was founded. A really inspiring story about a strong woman immigrating to make her and her families life better, whilst creating a legacy.
Really enjoyed this book.

[Oana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately, it lacked depth for me. I’d say 80% of the info in it I’d already knew from interviews and other sources. I was expecting some more essence to it, the story feels very on the surface. All in all, I can’t say I feel like I did a good deal buying it.

[Kathey Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, inspiring read!

I loved reading about Anastasia's success story from beginning to end. She chronicles what it's like to be an immigrant coming to America and explains some of the hardships that immigrants face. But she also shares the positive aspects of how she personally was embraced in the beauty industry. The fact that she built her business from the ground up, ultimately becoming a billionaire, is mind-blowing. I was repeatedly equal parts impressed and inspired by Anastasia's story. There are so many golden words of wisdom in this book, for women trying to run a business, and just women in general. If I hadn't read this book in library book form, I would've highlighted nearly the entire thing! I've used Anastasia's products for years and now I have a new appreciation for the woman behind the product itself.

This book is a great read for anyone who is a fan of Anastasia products or any woman looking to start a business. Or just women in general, as Anastasia describes an almost sister-like community of women that she holds close, working alongside throughout her life.

[An Le · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to this on Audible which has some chapters with her narration. I really love this book - also keep in mind I love autobiographies in general. I love learning about business and especially women in leadership.

The story is an easy to follow narration of her journey as an immigrant who does not know English or have any relationships coming to USA. This is an uplifting story, I noted down a lot about lessons on business mannerism, doing business as a woman, having hard work. Impressive, motivational!

[Sophia M · Rating 3 out of 5]

So/so. I didn’t really pick up more than a few points and felt like it was a bit repetitive and lacked depth. There were huge gaps in the steps. I was hoping for more details on the nitty gritty of the business and instead it just seemed like the company went from small to big to bigger with very little constructive information for business owners and goal getters. It’s a bummer because I use her products and was hoping to be inspired. Glad that I didn’t buy this and instead got it from the library.

[Marie-Ange Janvier · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you need a wake up call this book is for you! Anastasia no excuses attitude is the reason why she is successful. She comes from humble beginnings in Romania to build a successful billion dollar empire with brows in USA! She’s relentless and very inspiring. She shows how innovation happens at the intersection of experience and knowledge. I really got chills reading her book also realizing she’s an immigrant doing amazing things once she believed in herself. This book was so easy to read as she spills all her secrets in building her brand. Love this book very much!

[Simsim · Rating 4 out of 5]

i really enjoyed the writing and Anastasia's story, but the name dropping was a bit too much. Especially the last bits where a lot of celebrities had their own separate page with a short description...maybe to impress the Romanian public? I really feel like Anastasia does not need all the extra props given by her celebrity friends, she is enough.

[Josephine Olok · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story, great writing. Her story is inspiring, and there are some lessons to learn. I first heard about the author through the Oprah podcast, and most of what was in the book was covered in that interview. I would have liked more depth.

[Chrissy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely LOVED her story of how she turned eyebrows to an entire beauty empire but I could have done without the self help sections and the ode to celebrities at the end.

[Karolina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned something new, written by a person that started from nothing and found her niche. liked it as a documentary tv show style book.

[Nat Bosu · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️

[Maya Marcu]

Long live Romania

[Emily Morrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow I wasn’t expecting to love this so much! I thought it’d be a good read but it was extremely inspiring and touching! As a professional in the beauty industry I feel invigorated honestly.