What is permanent makeup (cosmetic tattoo)?

Permanent makeup originated from the ancient art of tattooing. A breakthrough in this area was the invention in 188O by the American cosmetologist Samuel Otreili of the electric tattoo machine, but only by the end of the 2O century, permanent makeup completely separated from the art of tattoo. Essentially, permanent makeup is the lightest cosmetic tattoo.

Unlike a real cosmetic tattoo, when applying permanent makeup, the coloring pigment, firstly, is not injected under the skin so deeply, and secondly, it is removed from the skin relatively quickly – on average, in 3-5 years. After 1.5-2.5 years, the dye begins to fade, and then you have to resort to decorative cosmetics or renew the permanent makeup.

The lifespan of permanent makeup is influenced by the individual characteristics of the organism, as well as by the climatic conditions of residence – it has been noticed that southerners have to renew their permanent makeup more often than northerners. The overwhelming majority of women, after the final washing out of the coloring pigment from the skin, re-apply the permanent makeup procedure.

With the help of permanent makeup, you can do a lot, very much: visually enlarge the lips, at the same time making them brighter, apply a slight blush on the cheekbones, bring the eyes or even make the nipple areola more expressive, but the vast majority of women do permanent makeup only for the lips and eyebrows. For the lips, for example, you can trace only the contour, combine the contour with feathering, or you can completely blend the lips.

Permanent makeup is a worthy alternative for those who are allergic to decorative cosmetics. In addition, it allows you to ideally mask some of the flaws on the face – so, you can retouch even skin irregularities left after acne in your youth. For older women, permanent makeup will allow you to hide age-related changes – with its help, for example, you can create the effect of tightening the skin on the outer corners of the eyes or correct the corners of the lips that have dropped over the years.

How is permanent makeup done?

To begin with, you should contact a specialised salon and discuss with the master where and how you would like to apply a cosmetic tattoo. Before carrying out the procedure, the master must draw a test pattern and, only after you approve the test version, proceed directly to the introduction of the coloring pigment.

The coloring pigment is injected along a pre-drawn contour to a depth of 1 mm using ultra-thin sterile needles using a special apparatus. All dyes that are used when applying permanent makeup are of mineral or organic origin, are completely harmless to the body and eliminate the risk of allergies.

The shallow injection of the dye compared to a conventional tattoo keeps the blood vessels and nerve endings intact and significantly reduces pain. And yet, the procedure for applying permanent makeup must be done with anaesthesia. Anaesthesia, in addition to eliminating pain, also provides complete immobility of the client, and it is important that the makeup is applied completely symmetrically. However, in some salons, external anaesthesia (applying an anaesthetic gel to the treated areas) is replaced with conductive anaesthesia (several injections).

The duration of the cosmetic tattoo procedure for applying permanent makeup on the eyebrows, eyelids and lips is approximately 2.5 to 3.5 hours, and if you need, for example, to paint on only the eyelids, then it will take no more than 4O minutes. Permanent makeup usually appears defiantly bright right after application. Do not worry: 2-3 days will pass, the crusts will disappear and the colors will become more matte and natural in appearance.

As a rule, make-up is applied twice: the coloring pigment does not immediately take root in the tissues and after 7–1O days some of it disintegrates, so after a month the make-up is corrected (correction of the tattoo).

Masters who know what tattooing is, as the best period for applying permanent makeup, indicate the time from early autumn to early summer. The fact is that after the procedure, micro-wounds remain on the skin, therefore, during the first week after visiting the salon, you have to treat the skin with protective agents and wash only with herbal infusions of chamomile, eucalyptus or sage, which have an anti-inflammatory effect. Sunbathing, swimming in open water, as well as the use of decorative cosmetics during this period is categorically contraindicated for you.

We’ll have to come to terms with the fact that until the micro-wounds finally heal, your appearance will not be so hot. Well, beauty requires sacrifice, and puffy lips or reddened eyebrows are not the biggest price to pay for the opportunity to do without decorative cosmetics in the coming years, especially since in a few days all the unpleasant consequences for the appearance will disappear without a trace.