Let’s be real for a second. You’ve probably got a brow pencil, a glow kit, or a crushed-up eyeshadow palette lurking in your makeup bag that bears the name “Anastasia Beverly Hills.” It’s the brand that promised you perfect, Instagram-worthy arches or a highlighter that could signal passing aircraft. So, who is the wizard behind this eyebrow empire? Spoiler alert: it’s not some faceless corporate board. It’s a tiny, tenacious woman with a dramatic origin story.
The Queen of Brows, Hailing from… Romania?
Her name is Anastasia Soare—pronounced “Soar-ay,” like you’re about to soar into a better-looking future. She was born in a small fishing village in communist Romania, which is about as far from the glitz of Beverly Hills as you can get. Think less “poolside cabana” and more “standing in line for bread with a ration card.” But she figured out early on that she had a freakish superpower: she could look at someone’s face, pluck three hairs, and suddenly they looked like a supermodel.
By the late 1980s, she managed to flee the gray oppression of Ceaușescu’s rule and landed in sunny Los Angeles. She arrived with nothing but a dream, an unshakeable accent, and a pair of tweezers. Okay, maybe she had a suitcase too, but we’re going with the tweezers for dramatic effect. It’s the truth—she didn’t have a beauty school diploma or a rich uncle. She had guts and a golden ratio.
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The “Golden Ratio” That Changed Everything
Anastasia didn’t just wing it with eyebrow shaping. No, no. She studied the mathematical Golden Ratio—the ancient Greek formula for perfect proportions—and applied it directly to your face. While other aestheticians were just yanking out hairs like they were weeding a garden, Anastasia was doing geometry. She figured out that the perfect arch should start directly above the tear duct, peak right above the iris, and end at a 45-degree angle from the outer corner of your eye. It sounds like a math test, but it turned her into a celebrity whisperer.
Soon, clients like Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, and Jennifer Lopez were lining up. They literally waited for her. Can you imagine? You’re J.Lo, you could call anyone on earth, and you’re sitting in a chair waiting for a Romanian woman to count your eyelashes. That’s the power of a good brow.
Anastasia Beverly Hills founder explains exactly how she creates JLo’s
The Brand Brawl That Almost Killed It
By the 2000s, Anastasia was a mogul, selling products everywhere from Sephora to Ulta. But here’s the plot twist: she had a partner. A co-founder named Norbert Chattillion. And they did not get along. It’s like a pirate ship with two captains, except the treasure is eyebrow gel. They fought so hard over the company’s direction that it ended up in a nasty legal slap-fight.
In 2015, things got so ugly that a judge actually had to step in and decide who owned the store. The court ruled against Norbert, and Anastasia bought out his share for a cool $30 million. But wait—there’s more. She transferred the entire company to her daughter, Claudia Soare. Yes, the business is technically owned by a mother-daughter tag team. Anastasia remains the public face and the creative genius, but Claudia is the CEO who runs the empire. So the answer to “who owns it?” is Anastasia and her family, which is far more interesting than some hedge fund.
The Jail Time Plot Twist You Didn’t Expect
And here’s the part that sounds like a trashy Netflix documentary. In 2016, Norbert Chattillion (the ex-partner) was sentenced to federal prison for trying to extort the Soares. He threatened to release a video that would smear the brand if they didn’t pay him. He got 18 months in the clink. So, the owner of Anastasia Beverly Hills is a Romanian immigrant who out-maneuvered a convict. That’s a better villain arc than most Marvel movies.
The Accelerate Action theme speaks to the journey of Anastasia Beverly
What Does That Mean for Your Makeup Bag?
So when you swipe on that Dipbrow Pomade, you are applying a product created by a woman who escaped communism, used Greek math to fix eyebrows, and then went to court against a guy who literally went to jail. That’s a wild ride for a beauty product. She never sold out to a huge conglomerate like L’Oréal or Estée Lauder. She owns it all. The company remains privately held by the Soare family, which is rare in the beauty world. It’s like owning a unicorn farm in an industry full of factory-churned horses.
The brand is now worth over $3 billion. Let that sink in. A woman who started with a pair of tweezers and a hunch now sits on a throne of cash and perfectly groomed arches. She doesn’t do a ton of interviews, but when she does, she usually says something hilarious like, “I fix faces. That’s all.” It’s the humblest brag of all time.
Anastasia Soare is the owner. She’s the queen. She’s the one who decided that your eyebrows should look like they could be framed in a museum. So next time you catch yourself staring at your reflection trying to get that arch just right, remember: you’re not just plucking. You’re honoring a Romanian-born, math-loving, jail-surviving boss who made the world a more symmetrical, better-drawn place. Now go forth and shape your face with confidence. You’ve earned it.