There’s a cafe in my town that I go to for lunch every so often. I go in, order my salad (dressing on the side with extra tomatoes) and chat, when the place isn’t too hoppin’, with the gal who usually works at the register.
She loves funky nail polishes, so we always have something to talk about. (SIDE NOTE: beauty gals/guys should have a secret handshake or something, like the jeep wave, so we can identify ourselves in public and commiserate, haha!)
Anywho, one day I noticed that she was wearing teal eyeliner. It looked sharp, and I asked her about it. She said it was permanent. She’d had it done years ago — had her liner permanently tattooed — and she absolutely loves it. It saves her a ton of time. Looked really good, too.
Sometimes I entertain the idea of having my brows permanently filled in… Just think of all the time I could save every morning if I didn’t have to fill in my brows! — but then I remember my control issues and how much I hate needles and chicken out. 🙂
The thought of leaving the fate of my brows in someone else’s hands FOREVER makes my left eye twitch…so no permanent makeup for this girl.
Plus, my tastes change. And styles change, too. I wouldn’t want to feel stuck with something I didn’t like anymore.
But…it’s an interesting idea, isn’t it? It’s a great option for some people, too, especially after chemotherapy or an injury to hide a scar or restore pigmentation to damaged skin.
Have you ever considered getting permanent makeup? Think of all the time you could save! Or do you have any permanent makeup now, like your liner/brows/anything else? What’s your take on it?
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. Touchdown! Aloha from Lihue, Kauai. El Hub and I got in around noon, had fish tacos for lunch at a beachside grill (Duke’s), went for a quick swim, took a nap, and now we’re gonna hit the Wal-Mart to pick up some snorkel fins, a tiny tube of toothpaste, shaving stuff for him, maybe a bag of cookies… You know, important stuff like that. 🙂
Hope you had a good day today. What did you think of Laurie’s skincare routine in today’s My Makeup Life? Pretty extensive, right? She uses a bunch of products I’ve never tried before.
My cousin has had permanent eyeliner done. I’m not a fan personally, while I actually have a tattoo. I love my tattoo, it means a lot to me and I wouldn’t change it. My make up, however, I love to change and getting it inked into my skin would ruin my chance to really explore with different looks, colors and products that are introduced.
I think it would be great to have a super dark brown eyeliner done, only on my top lashline. It would be a permanent tight line and I think it would make my lashes appear way darker and thicker than they actually are. I know it’s nothing too drastic but I never do anything too drastic and I’d have to live with it.
My sister-in-law has dark brown eyeliner tattooed on her lower lash line, but first off, I don’t think I’d wanna let anyone anywhere near my eyes with needles and secondly, that would take the fun out of doing my makeup, as I change it up on a daily basis (I never wear the same look twice in a row).
Totally agree with most of the other comments – I would LOVE a permanent tight line, but anything else I’m a little too nervous I would want to change in time. I have really sparse eyebrows, tho, so maybe a little fill there, too?!
Permanent Makeup is very popular in the Philippines while I was growing, especially with my Mom’s era. My Aunt got tattooed eyebrows. The drawback, it just sags the skin as u get older. I’m glad u featured a fellow Midwestern, like Laurie. I have never tried RMS Beauty. Might check it out.
Yikes, I totally hadn’t thought about sagging eyes interfering with you permanent make-up. That’s definitely something to consider.
Permanent makeup scares me; I like the idea, but hate the commitment.
p.s. I’ll be in Kauai in less than a month. We’re staying somewhere near Poipu Rd., aloha! Save some sunshine for me, please:)
Like some of the others, a permanent tight line would be my one “maybe”. I’d definitely be concerned with how it would stand up over time, though. And, as others mentioned, the idea of needles around my eyes is a little disconcerting!
I’m waaay too indecisive for a tattoo of any kind. I can’t even commit to tinting my eyelashes or eyebrows lol
no way for me,, I am very good friends with several physicians. It’s amazing how many people come in to ask about tattoo removal. Things they originally wanted to be permanent and now no longer desire. I don’t like anything applied to my face or body that has the word “permanent” in it.
Tattooed on makeup, no – too creepy. However, if my eyebrows ever completely disappear when I’m older, and they could do it really lightly, then maybe.
Awww…Kauai…my favorite place on earth! Spent 3 weeks up north by Hanalei in February. We always go in winter to escape the Pacific Northwest rain! Anyway, my mom had her eyebrows, which were non existent, tattooed on 2 years ago. She is quite happy and her morning routine is free of the stress of drawing on brows. I think the biggest challenge when doing the permanent route is getting the eyebrow shape right if you don’t have any hair left to follow. Mom’s eyebrows were done with vegetable dye and it is not permanent like the ink used on body tattoos. Also over time the dye is absorbed by the body. If you get a vegetable dye tattoo, it will need to be redone every few years. I think this is ideal for “makeup” tattoos. My mom’s brows have faded and need to be redone. When she goes in I’m going to have my brows filled in too. I wouldn’t do this if I was going to change my hair color in the future, but my mom and I both have our natural hair color, so no worried there. I would be too scared to do tattooed eyeliner, but I think not having to do my brows everyday would be fantastic!
Definitely not for me. The idea of permanently filled in eyebrows is appealing, but I’ve seen people who had it done. I’ve never liked the look.
I had my eyebrowns and my eyeliner done about 10 years ago and have had it retouched about 3 times since then. I love both. saves me alot of time. I overplucked my brows as a teen so its nice to not have to worry about my eyebrows washing off when I go swimming or sweat too much. the eyeliner is not done on the actual waterline, but instead in between the eyelashes for a more natural look. I had upper and lower done. the pain is unbearable for the eyeliner. the eyebrows were fine as I had my forehead numbed (had the tattoo applied at my plastic surgeons office)
I’d love to have eye liner on my lower lash line tatoo’d on. But I’m scared to death and what if the ‘artist’ screws up?
I’m going to Oahu in 2 weeks .. gawd, I can hardly wait!!
Monica,
While I like the idea of doing a dark brown along the lash lines, I’ll be too scared of the needle near my eye ball!
While I would love the ease of not having to fill in my brows everyday, I have the same concerns as you- I’m hesitant to trust someone with it. Even while I’m at the salon getting my brows threaded, I keep checking the shape of my brows every seven seconds or so. 😛
And getting a permanent line on my eyelids is a complete no! It’d totally take the fun out of applying eyeliner on my eyes (which as of now is my favourite part of the routine). Also, I like to experiment with eye makeup, even if it’s just different styles of drawing eyeliner, so getting ONE permanent one is not something I’d enjoy.
xo
Ashwini
My aunt had her eyebrows tattooed on a few years ago. She really didn’t have any to begin with and was always drawing them on. To be honest, I don’t notice AT ALL. I was actually a little surprised when I was told she had that done, so I would say it could be done nicely, but I think if it was me, I’d have it done incrementally, just to be safe.
I love the idea of permeant makeup. I rarely have time to spare in the mornings so it’d be great for me.
No thanks! I like to change my look, I don’t like needles, and am a control freak.
I have been researching permanent makeup for about 10 years after staring off my career as a special effect makeup artist over 20 years ago. And all the various forms of permanent makeup around the world that i found in my travels all had side effects that i was not happy with. Some left scaring, some had down time, the changed colors over time etc, etc, etc. And all of them looked harsh to me as someone who was very much into looking natural.
So i created a solution! http://www.microartmakeup.com
It is amazingly natural and has NONE of the side effects of permanent makeup. There are 2 down sides MicroArt Semi Permanent makeup. 1) its more expensive that permanent makeup 2) its only available in Beverly Hills California.
But its well worth the trip to LA to get it done.
Only if I could draw the eyebrow shape! I’ve seen a lot of semi permanent makeup lately, since I wanted to have my eyebrows done. Come on… Most of them suck at eyebrow design! People seem unnatural, strange looking, or even kind of scared. A big no for me!
In the 90s when thin eyebrows were in I over plucked and ended up with only thinner half of each eyebrow. Until this ear I drew them on and I felt so ugly on no makeup days. I had always thought eyebrow tattooing was done as one big heavy line but I googled it this year and found out that it is now done as fine hair- like lines. I made an appointment and got it done and it is The Best Thing Ever.
For a start the esthetician used my already drawn on brows as a starting point but modified them so they were better. She painted the proposed brows on as fine lines and showed me so I could say if I was happy or not. When I was happy with them she did the deed.
It didn’t really hurt but it was like being lightly scratched. One side hurt more than the other, which she said often happens. I had to go back after three weeks fr a final touch up.
It isn’t like a tattoo, it is only done in the top layer of the skin and will fade over a couple of years and need to be redone. So I’m not worried that I won’t be able to change my look. Anyway, eyebrows don’t really change that much – if I want them thicker I can draw them on thicker because they are a fairly classic medium arch.
I still do my brows as part of my makeup but I don’t HAVE to if you know what I mean. And like someone else said, it is MUCH harder to draw brows on where they don’t exist so my tattooed brows are kind of a starting point for different brow looks.
I HIGHLY recommend it. But I would never get eyeliner done! I couldn’t wear makeup or get water on there for a week a food there was a possibility of stabbing plus I had to keep them moist with paw paw ointment for a week, which would be much more of a nuisance than on the brow area.
The day I had them done I took the afternoon off work, thinking I would be a hot mess afterwards but they looked natural and not red or anything so I went back to work!
Typos galore, thanks iPad! Most are probably understandable but towards the end there was a risk of SCABBING not stabbing!
I’m a pretty firm “no” on this one! If only for the old ladies I see whose permanent eyeliner and eyebrows have turned a tinge green :/