Permanently Beautiful

Self-adjusting makeup is the latest buzz in fashion mags and at makeup counters. Makeup manufacturers from inexpensive Cover Girl and Almay to upscale Dior and Lancome have been debuting a variety of makeup products that seem to promise a highly personalized makeup experience by precisely matching the individual color of the wearer’s skin. Touted as a chemical break-through in the highly competitive world of commercial cosmetics, the hype is that these cutting-edge foundations, concealors and blushers are formulated with specialized shade-sensing agents that, ads claim, allow the makeup to almost magically mimic the color of your skin.

The commercial cosmetics industry has long sought ways to personalize its products. Gimmicks have come and gone. From simple color charts to intricate multi-choice wheels through quirky sliding gizmos, the makeup industry has tried any number of color-coded, number-matching, skin tone-identifying gimmicks to try to create a personal experience from mass marketed products produced for the largest number of users. This latest trick may be fun and some of the cosmetics do turn a pleasing color on the skin, but no mass-produced product will ever be truly personalized to the unique makeup requirements of a specific individual.

If you desire a truly personalized makeup experience, distinctively mixed and artistically applied permanent cosmetics will give you the perfect makeup colors and lines you desire to showcase and enhance your uniquely personal beauty.

Want to see how you’d look with Twilight smoky eyes or neon blue Alice in Wonderland shadow? There’s an app for that! Want to learn how to create zigzag hair or add hair extensions? There’s an app for that! Want to know what this season’s hottest “must have” fashion is going to be? There’s an app for that!

Apps are revolutionizing the way we live. Apple led the way with apps for its iconic iPhone, recently broadening the app market by making its iPod Touch app friendly. Other smartphone makers have entered the fray with their own app stores. Savvy app designers have created universal apps that can work on both Apple and Microsoft-based systems. Apps are not only fun to use; they take the effort out of so many of life’s little chores. It’s no wonder that the beauty and fashion industries have begun embracing apps.

Apps make it possible to try on new looks from makeup to hairstyles to fashion accessories right on your smartphone. Sure you can do these things on the Internet, but now you can experiment with new looks while you’re on the go. Makeup apps can help you see how you’d look with permanent cosmetics. Try out different eyebrow arches, redefine the shape of your lips, experiment with thick or thin eyeliner or find the perfect lip shade. Save your “look” and an expert permanent cosmetics artist like Melany Whitney can create and even improve upon the perfection you seek.

In good news for breast cancer survivors, a new survey of women who underwent paramedical tattooing to create nipple-areolas as part of breast reconstruction surgery after mastectomy found a high rate of long-term patient satisfaction. Published in the Annals of Plastic Surgery, the report demonstrates acceptance by both the medical community and breast cancer patients of nipple-areola tattooing as a viable alternative to additional surgery in breast reconstruction.

Six years following paramedical tattooing, fully 84% of the women surveyed continued to rate their nipple-areola tattoo as satisfactorily pleasing in appearance; and 86% of patients agreed they would again choose a nipple-areola tattoo over other possible breast reconstruction options. Two to six years post surgery, more than half of the women (57%) surveyed reported that their nipple-areola tattoo still looked like a normal areola. Fewer than 3% reported problems with rash or infection post-procedure.

While 60% of tattoos in the study were marginally lighter in coloration than the natural areola, only 10% required any touching up to correct for excessive fading. Expert paramedical tattoo artist Melany Whitney has developed a procedure that minimizes potential fading of nipple-areola tattoos. By implanting a second layer of pigments six weeks after the initial implantation of permanent cosmetics, Melany is able to increase color retention and tattoo longevity. She has received no complaints about premature fading from her nipple-areola patients. In fact, Melany’s clients have been amazed by the realism and illusion of nipple protrusion achieved by Melany’s unique artistry and expert tattooing technique.

Dove is chipping away at America’s idealistic views about beauty, doing its part to show that each of us is beautiful in our own way. Dove used the Super Bowl to tackle stereotypes about men’s grooming. Using the tag line “Be Comfortable in Your Own Skin,” Dove used buff athletic men to portray moisturizing and skin care as a healthy way for a man to nurture his body.

For centuries men took a bare bones approach to grooming. A shower and a shave was the male standard. In the 1800s, male grooming products were introduced at upscale barbershops and men’s clubs, but were sneered at by the Joe on the street. With the exception of hair pomades which faded in and out of style and were considered more of a necessity than a matter of vanity, male toiletries comprised an extremely thin market through the 1950s. The 1960s sexual revolution heralded a turning point in male grooming standards. By the 1960s men’s toiletries had become a fast growing market, although selection was still limited to basics like shaving cream, hair gel and aftershave.

It wasn’t until 2000 that male fragrances exploded onto the cosmetics market, opening the door to skin care and other grooming products designed specifically for men. Today most men take as much care in their appearance as women and many turn to permanent cosmetics to enhance their appearance, camouflage scars or correct flawed features. To find out more about male permanent cosmetics, visit our permanent makeup site for men.

Tomorrow scour your wardrobe for bright red clothing and put on your brightest red lipstick. It’s time to Go Red to support women’s heart health. February 5 is National Wear Red Day when millions of women and the men who love them don red to call attention to heart disease, the No. 1 killer of women in the U.S. The American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women campaign encourages women to learn more about heart health and how to prevent heart disease. Click here to take the AHA’s quick Heart Check Up to assess your heart health. On the same site check out Better U diet and exercise tips to promote good heart health.

You’ll want to keep that tube of red lipstick handy after tomorrow. Bright electric reds, oranges and pinks are this spring’s hot new lip colors. You can apply them right over your permanent lip color. Much like popular new lip stains but with less fuss, permanent makeup subtly colors lips in the perfect shade for your skin tone and personal preference. Permanent lips are beautiful naked or with a touch of lip gloss when you’re on the go and provide the perfect base when you feel like a change and want to command attention with one of this spring’s bright corals or hot reds.

After enduring a mastectomy, or any other breast surgery, your nipples can look irregular. This may be the case of fading or discoloration of the area or due to surgery and a change in position. With permanent paramedical breast restoration a medical miracle for patients such as you. You can be beautiful again. With repigmentation and restoration techniques, a cosmetically tattooed new areola can be created.

An initial consultation is required, in which potential patients can discuss their expectations for the cosmetic  procedure. Ultimately, areola restoration allows patients to have their natural beautiful looking breasts and nipples back. This procedure generally helps to increase your self confidence and is especially helpful for women who have had breast cancer surgery. You can get a sense of normalcy and feel like a “real” woman again.

Permanent paramedical makeup technicians like Melany Whitney provide a natural breast look to her patients. Realistic looking nipples and areolas are created with the use of circles and color and a special 3-D technique that is truly miraculous and unique to Melany Whitney. For many women their insurance companies may cover the procedure as a result of their cancer treatments. It’s important to research if your procedure would be covered before having an initial consultation with a permanent paramedical makeup technician.

Give yourself the self confidence that you once had back! Feel like a woman once more through the use of nipple restoration procedures. To review the miracle of paramedical tattooing we invite you to visit our breast page to see before and after photographs that you simply will not believe.

The cameras may be positioned to make it less obvious, but look carefully and you’ll notice that hunky Twilight star Robert Pattinson suffers from grossly uneven nipples. Perhaps it’s embarrassment about his nipples and not his professed fear of injuring his beloved that is really at the core of vampire Edward Cullen’s sexual abstinence. Pattison’s Twilight alter ego is rarely shown shirtless, perhaps with good reason.

Fortunately, fans of the vampirous Brit need not worry. Robert’s uneven nipples can be permanently fixed by areola restoration, a specialized type of paramedical tattooing perfected by Melany Whitney. A nationally recognized expert and innovator in the field of permanent makeup, Melany has developed a unique tattooing process using special tools and pigments to create realistic-looking nipples. Originally developed to help breast cancer patients undergoing breast reconstruction, Melany’s innovative tattooing process produces a normal-looking, textured, three-dimensional nipple.

Melany’s cosmetic tattooing procedure can be used to provide men with the perfectly symmetrical nipples every man desires. Small nipples can be made to look larger. Melany’s specialized tattoo shading techniques can correct the size, color and shape of male nipples and areola (the colored skin surrounding the nipple) so that they are larger, attractively tinted and perfectly positioned. Don’t be embarrassed to take your shirt off. Melany Whitney can make male nipples look normal again.

Find out more about Melany’s unique tattooing techniques on our website.

Thanksgiving is the biggest travel weekend of the year. Whether they travel by air, rail or auto, Thanksgiving sees more people going home to be with family than any other holiday. Maybe it’s those four fabulous days or the lure of roasting turkey that draws us home. Whatever your reason for returning to the nest, you want to make an impression on your family and show them that this bird has spread her wings in style!

Unfortunately, long hours traveling take a toll on skin and makeup. If you don’t take a few precautions, you’ll arrive home more bedraggled than magnificent. Oprah gal pal and cosmetics expert Paula Begoun offers makeup and skin care tips for holiday travelers. The hit author’s best recommendation: travel sans makeup! Paula says recirculated air, particularly in airplanes, is horribly drying to your face. Wearing makeup in such dry conditions can damage skin and cause even quality makeup to give your face that flakey undead look.

Best bet? Apply a good moisturizer or moisturizing toner at the start of your trip. Reapply as necessary during long trips. When you reach your destination, slip into the ladies room, wash up, remoisturize and apply your makeup. You’ll be fresh and fabulous when you greet your family. Of course, if you have permanent makeup, you look fabulous every hour of the day without makeup. Just moisturize to refresh your skin. The bonus? You still look hot when you say “hi” to the hunky guy in the next seat!

The holidays are fast approaching and you can probably already feel the first little tendrils of holiday stress creeping up your spinal column. By Black Friday many of us are gripped in the tentacles of a major holiday meltdown! Of course we love the holidays, but they’re also stress, Stress STRESS! Shopping, baking, decorating, tree trimming parties, gift wrapping, gift exchanges with friends, holiday lunch with your BFF, more shopping, office parties, MORE shopping, the annual gathering of the clan (MAJOR STRESS!), condo cocktail parties, trading gifts with your sweetie — WHEW! and New Year’s Eve is still to come!

If TIME is the gift you crave most during the holidays, permanent makeup is your perfect holiday stress reliever. Permanent makeup, artistically applied by nationally-recognized cosmetic tattoo expert Melany Whitney, can shave hours off the time you spend getting ready to do all the important things you want to do during the holidays so you can spend more time doing them. Think of all the hours you spend every week preparing your face before applying makeup, applying it, then taking it all off again at night. And that doesn’t count the time spent refreshing it during the day and before you go out at night. No wonder there’s never enough time.

When your natural beauty is enhanced by permanent cosmetics, you just quickly cleanse, moisturize and you’re out the door. All that time you used to spend in front of the bathroom mirror, you can now spend enjoying friends and family!

With the last chocolate bar a fading memory, it’s time to put away the Halloween grease paint and start thinking about your holiday look. Thanksgiving marks the start of holiday festivities. Dress up cocktail parties, family gatherings, office bashes, potlucks with friends, dancing ’til dawn, shopping junkets with the girls – a girl’s got to look good! So what’s hot for the holidays? Sex, smoke and shimmer!

Soft, smoky eyes get the holiday touch with a little shimmery shadow on the lid. Carefully apply then smudge a thin line of deep brown or gray eyeliner to top and bottom lashes. Stay away from black; you don’t want sepulcher eyes (Halloween is over). Add mascara, a swipe of shimmery blush to your cheeks and finish with a light lipstick or gloss. Stay away from dark lips to keep the focus on your eyes. Permanent eyeliner adds depth to your eyes. Smudge a little eyeliner on top to smoke up your eyes.

Go sexy this holiday with deep red lips. Line lips first, then use a lipstick brush to fill with your favorite show-stopping red color. Shimmer a sparkling blush along your cheek bones. For this look, keep the focus on your sexy lips by pairing with a light matte eye shadow that’s close to your skin tone and a swipe of mascara. Permanent makeup creates a perfect lip line for the sexiest lips this holiday. Create permanent lips in your favorite lipstick color or apply new shades over the ideal background for your skin tone.