Walk The Line Permanent Makeup

ith no discomfort. There seem to be a lot of fears and misconceptions associated with permanent makeup. I'd like to offer some answers to frequently asked questions here. If your question is not answered in this section, please feel free to message or call me. Doesn't it hurt to have a part of your face tattooed? I use the very best anesthetics available to ensure you are numb during the procedure. When you come in to have your eyeliner, brows or lips tattooed, I will apply an anesthetic for 20 minutes before the procedure begins. I will make the first pass with my needle just to open up the skin, and then apply a second anesthetic that contains an anti-inflammatory agent. If the anesthetic starts to wear off during the procedure, I am always happy to apply more to make sure you are comfortable. And am I going to be swollen and unable to go out in public during this time? Everyone is different, but most of my clients report very minimal swelling and say they are healed within a week or two. It is recommended that you do not wear topical makeup such as mascara for five days following the procedure and that you buy a new tube of mascara when you do start to wear it again. I tell my clients to apply ice for about 20 minutes before they go to bed and to sleep a little elevated to minimize swelling. You will apply light ointment that I provide for you with a Q-tip at least twice a day until the area is healed. As long as you keep the area clean during the healing process and apply the ointment I give you, you should see little swelling or peeling. Many of my clients report that they have gone out the same day of the procedure or gone to work the next day and been just fine. Do I have to shave my eyebrows to have them tattooed? In fact, I ask that you do nothing of the sort. I will tattoo through the hair in your brows and in your lash line. It will not cause you to lose your hair and the hair is not in my way. Will my eyebrows look like they were drawn on with a marker? I specialize in natural-looking hairstroke eyebrows. These are perfect for people who have sparse brows and for people who have fuller brows alike. Almost everyone is a good candidate for permanent makeup. If you do not prefer to have hairstrokes, I can make them solid. It's all up to you. I know someone who had their brows done and they healed a funny color. Will this happen to me? Can you fix it if someone had a bad experience elsewhere? I have seen just about every color of eyebrow one can imagine ... purple, red, green, gray ... and, yes, I can correct those unsightly colors. I often can also fix brows that were applied unevenly. Of course, it depends on how uneven they are to begin with. I custom mix all my colors to complement hair and skin tones and know how to prevent purple, red or green brows. Won't my black eyeliner turn blue or green eventually, like a tattoo? The pigments I use are formulated specifically for the face. Not to say they will never fade, because they will, but I have not seen the black ink I use fade to any color but a lighter black. I recommend that you plan to touch up your eyeliner or brows every year or so to keep them looking sharp. Touch-ups are very affordable and will save you from having to pay full price to have the procedure done again a few years down the road. Can you make my eyebrows or eyeliner any color or shape I want? Of course, within reason. I know someone who had their permanent eyeliner done and it looks like the color is bleeding. What causes that and will it happen to me? In the tattoo industry, this is what is commonly referred to as "blow out." It is caused by a technician inserting the needle too deep into the skin or at an incorrect angle. When it happens around the eye, it is generally because the technician turned their needle toward the outer eyelid, causing pigment to shoot out into an area of the skin where it was not intended to be implanted. Sometimes I can cover small blown out spots with a flesh colored pigment, but this is generally very hard to correct. This is why it is important to make sure you are having your eyes tattooed by someone who knows what they are doing. In Nevada, there is no licensing required to apply permanent makeup. Make sure you choose a technician who has completed proper training. Speaking of training, where did you go to school? I trained with Debbie Jensen at the Permanent Cosmetics Clinic in Orem, Utah. Debbie is one of the industry's best. If she feels a student is not talented enough to implant pigment into the face using a tattoo machine, she will ask that student never to try to perform a procedure without further training and practice. Debbie told me that in the almost 20 years she has been teaching, very few students were as naturally talented as I was. When I moved back to Reno, I worked at Sinful Skin Tattoo, where I was fortunate to learn more about the art of tattooing and about different machines from two amazing artists, Chris Palmer and Anthony Velazquez. Though I am happy to be in my own permanent makeup studio, I would not trade the time I spent learning from these talented artists. What kind of machine do you use to apply permanent cosmetics? During school and for quite some time after I completed training, I used a Meicha Sapphire Pro machine, which basically looks like a fat pen. This machine is very effective, but I found that it was not very powerful and that my clients were coming in more frequently for touch ups. While at Sinful Skin, I learned how to apply permanent makeup with a regular coil tattoo machine and with a very quiet rotary machine. Now, I use the rotary machine for all my procedures. I have found that it implants color very quickly and evenly without causing trauma to the skin. This is key when it comes to making sure the color stays. The less trauma to the skin, the less color will be lost in the healing process. For example, I had my eyeliner and eyebrows done about 10 years ago using the hand method, or Softap method. This is done using a plastic tool with needles in the end of it. It is not a machine. The procedure took six hours and by the time I got home, my eyes were swollen shut. When I finally healed, all the color fell out because my skin was so traumatized during the procedure. I had everything redone a few years later with a tattoo machine, and I experienced almost no swelling and the color has stayed for years without a touch up. What is the procedure for having my lips tattooed? I require that my lip clients come in for an in-person consultation prior to having the procedure done. This is so I can talk to you about what to expect and so you can pick out a color. I require that all lip clients are in the middle of taking an oral prescription for cold sores when they come in for the procedure. Well over 90 percent of the population carries the virus that causes cold sores. Even if you have never had a cold sore, it is best to be taking the medication to prevent a painful outbreak. Tattooing the lips can cause an outbreak to occur, and if this happens you will be completely miserable and will lose a lot of the color in the healing process. It's better to be safe than sorry.