Permanent Makeup review

Over the past few years I have gone in and had some permanent makeup done on myself. I wanted to share my experience with those who may be thinking about this option. I’ve had my top eyeliner and eyebrows done on separate occasions by two different artists.

When I was 18 I had my eyebrows tattooed. I had struggled with my eyebrows for some time. Still have never figured out what is the problem with them, but they tend to be very thin and sometimes get red. Maybe this could be linked to a food allergy or some kind of dermatitis but after years of filling them in, I decided to get them tattooed. After finding an artist with plenty of before and after pictures that appealed to me, I went for it. I’ll be honest, the procedure itself was not something I would care to relive. She started by scraping the skin open in order to apply a numbing solution. Because the eyebrows are so close to the ears I could hear her scrape the skin, which was unpleasant to say the least. I was happy to have the numbing cream because the eyebrows are fairly sensitive and overall the procedure didn’t hurt too badly. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being very little pain and 10 being extreme, it was about a 5.  The numbing cream probably helped quite a bit, I’m guessing.

The other unpleasant part of this process is when she would be working on the part of the eyebrow that lies over the bone. This was probably the most painful part of the procedure.  I was thankful once the procedure ended and my eyebrows healed pretty quickly. Within a week my eyebrows looked great and I didn’t have to pencil them in anymore.  That was about six years ago now and although the tattoos are very faded you can still see a faint shade of where she put them. Even with them faded they don’t look odd, nobody even realizes I have them tattooed.  Just like a normal tattoo the more sun exposure the tattoo receives the faster it will fade. Even though the procedure was painful and uncomfortable if I found the right artist I would probably do it again. It was well worth the $400 I spent to get it done.

After getting my eyebrows done my confidence was up about permanent makeup. So a couple years later I decided to get my top eyeliner done. Same uncomfortable feeling of scraping the skin. The pain was less, but the scariness of a needle being right next to my eye was worse than the pain. It was impossible to keep my eyes from fluttering and watering. After the healing process took place the tattoo didn’t last. I asked the artist why it hadn’t worked and she said sometimes the ink doesn’t take. So overall that was a big waste of time, money and a little freaky at the same time. Probably won’t go back to get that done again.

Still, overall, I am a fan of permanent makeup. Just make sure to find yourself a good, well-experienced artist with lot of before and after photos. As long as you can handle an hour of discomfort you should be fine and the results may be well worth the pain.