Permanently Beautiful

As we age, our skin texture changes. Fine lines and creases seem to multiply as we stare into the makeup mirror. Our skin looks drier, less “plumped,” less “dewy” than when we were younger. We may start to envy the youthful radiance of younger coworkers and friends. Yet, many women, particularly those who enjoy outdoor sports and activities, begin experiencing midlife skin changes in their mid-30s, quite a few years shy of middle age. The common solution is to throw more makeup at the problem, filling lines and creases with extra coats of concealer and foundation, hoping to hide lines from sight. Makeup artists say that’s the wrong thing to do. More makeup will actually make you look older and less attractive.

The professionals’ advice for women in midlife makeup crisis? Less is more. Makeup artists counsel their clients to embrace their natural beauty as they age. Rather than trying to hide themselves behind a wall of makeup, women should use lighter foundations which deemphasize lines and focus on highlighting individual features, particularly their eyes and lips. Permanent makeup can help minimize the visual effects of aging. Permanent lip color can bring the appearance of fullness and youthful color to pale, thinning lips. Eyebrows that have grown light and thin with age can be darkened and shaped with permanent eyebrows. Permanent makeup allows you to embrace life’s changes beautifully.

When popular British actress Sally Whitaker felt she was losing herself during her battle with breast cancer, permanent makeup came to her rescue and restored her sense of personal beauty. 

Fantasy became all too harsh reality when British actress Sally Whitaker was diagnosed with breast cancer at the same time that her character in the hit primetime British soap opera Coronation Street was also battling the disease. In fact, Sally credits the experiences of her onstage persona with prompting her to do the self-exam that discovered the lump in her breast. As her on-screen character moved from initial cancer discovery into treatment, Sally was motivated to monitor her own health. Finding a lump in her breast and discovering that it was cancerous created an eerie feeling of deja vu as her real life experiences began to mirror those of her on-screen character. Sally’s personal battle with cancer gave tragic poignancy to her character’s on-screen fight with the disease.

During chemotherapy, Sally lost all of her hair, including her eyebrows. While she could cover her bald head with cute caps and scarves, the loss of her eyebrows made her feel extremely uncomfortable about her appearance. Without eyebrows she felt her face looked robotic and unattractive and she began to feel her self-confidence eroding. Permanent eyebrows applied by a skilled permanent makeup artist rescued Sally’s self-esteem and made her feel attractive and feminine again.

It begins with a small bald patch. In as little as 4 to 6 weeks, every hair on your body disappears. You are completely and totally bald. Your head, eyelashes, eyebrows, beard, arms, legs — yes, even there. Alopecia areata sufferers may joke about never having to wax or shave again, but nothing about this disease is funny. Alopecia drastically changes a person’s appearance, causing severe emotional pain.

Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease that induces the body to attack its own hair follicles. Progression of the disease, which attacks men and women equally, is individual and unpredictable for the 2% of the population affected. Some alopecia sufferers lose every hair on their body (alopecia universalis); others experience a few bald patches.

Genetic research at Columbia University shines the first rays of hope on this emotionally devastating disease. Researchers have discovered a genetic trigger that focuses immune cells on hair follicles, killing them. Previously, scientists believed alopecia was an autoimmune skin disease like psoriasis. New research indicates that alopecia behaves more like rheumatoid arthritis and celiac disease. Heralded as a major breakthrough, researchers hope new findings will lead to a cure for alopecia.

For now, paramedical tattooing offers the only solution for alopecia sufferers. A skilled permanent makeup artist can tattoo natural-looking hairs to fill in patchy beards or eyebrows for those suffering mild cases of alopecia. While there is little relief for alopecia universalis sufferers, tattooed permanent eyebrows can give the face a normal appearance.

On NBC’s The Doctors yesterday, permanent makeup took center stage as the doctors discussed the benefits permanent makeup offers many women. As obstetrician/gynecologist Dr. Lisa Masterson and plastic surgeon and reconstructive surgery expert Dr. Drew Ordon pointed out, permanent makeup offers time-saving advantages for busy women from soccer moms to corporate executives who want to look their best but don’t have time to spend on makeup. Permanent makeup also meets the beauty and grooming needs of women who are allergic to makeup; people who suffer small motor impairment caused by arthritis, disease or aging and find it difficult to apply makeup; and women with vision problems who cannot see well enough to apply makeup.

The audience observed permanent cosmetic procedures being performed on 35-year-old mom and pilot Trish. Extremely fair, Trish had very light eyebrows with some small gaps in the hair growth and nearly invisible eyelashes. With facial skin, lips and eye lids nearly the same tone, Trish’s face lacked color and definition, leaving her looking sallow and washed-out without makeup. Using permanent cosmetics, Trish’s eyebrows were darkened and the gaps filled with hair-like brush strokes. Permanent eyeliner was added to bring out Trish’s eyes and add definition to her lashes. Permanent lip color in a shade somewhat darker than her skin tone was applied to define her lips. The transformation was stunning. Trish went from mousy to vibrant right before the audience’s eyes!

Next time: Permanent makeup advice from The Doctors

Your eyebrows frame your face. They are the portals to your eyes, pulling people into their limpid depths. Eyebrows come in all shapes and sizes. Today, lush, naturally-shaped eyebrows are fashionable, but in times past barely there, pencil thin brows have been in vogue. Today, we prefer eyebrows that follow a gently-sloping natual contour, but past fashions have included straight-lined beetle brows, exotic slanted brows and high-peaked, overly-arched eyebrows. Unfortunately, eyebrows perpetually plucked and trained to narrow or highly-stylized shapes may balk and refuse to regrow when we wish to adopt the natural look popular today.

Other forces can also impact the way our eyebrows grow and look. Many women have little understanding of natural eyebrow shape and over-pluck their eyebrows. In time, plucked hairs may refuse to grow back, leaving eyebrows that start a bit too far from the nose, arch too thinly above the eye or end too soon in an abrupt taper. Many men and women pull and tug at their eyebrows and eyelashes when they’re nervous. In it’s most severe form, Trichotillomania sufferers from may pluck their eyebrows and eyelashes bald. Age, too, affects hair growth and may leave eyebrows thin and patchy looking.

Inadequate eyebrows are a problem for both men and women, but, fortunately, it is a problem solved by permanent makeup and permanent makeup for men. Permanent eyebrows can correct eyebrow flaws, hide eyebrow scars, fill in thin or irregularly-shaped eyebrows and create the illusion of natural, healthy, well-formed brows.

Have you ever heard a woman say, “I feel naked until I put my face on”? For many women putting on their makeup is more than part of their morning routine, it’s a symbol of their femininity. Like doing their hair and dabbing on their favorite scent, applying eye makeup and lipstick makes women feel more beautiful, self-confident and ready to meet whatever the day has in store. Even women who favor the natural look and choose to skip foundation prefer the way they look with a dash of eyeliner, a swipe of mascara and a touch of lipstick. Makeup enhances our natural beauty and makes us feel good about ourselves.

A stroke, arthritis, muscular dystrophy, long illness, accident or other degenerative condition or disease strikes at the very core of who a person is as an individual and a woman. The inability to apply makeup when motor skills are lost and hands shake can be a tragic blow to a woman’s sense of femininity and sense of self. Without makeup she no longer sees in the mirror the woman she once was. It makes her loss cut even deeper. Permanent cosmetics can restore a woman’s sense of personal beauty and her self confidence in her appearance.

Artfully applied cosmetic tattooing can create beauty-enhancing permanent eyeliner, permanent eyebrows, permanent lips or even a full face enhancement. With permanent makeup, a woman who is no longer able to apply her own cosmetics can still look like she’s just applied fresh makeup.

The economy will continue to drive the way we dress and live in 2010. Realistic fashionistas are going practical with a return to smart basics. Expect clothing to feature good, sturdy fabrics in mixable neutral shades of brown and gray. Clean lines, simple cuts and a more classic look will dominate 2010 fashion. Versatility will be the name of the game. Women will splurge on just a few fabulous pieces that offer multiple ways to dress up or dress down their wardrobe. For example, savvy shoppers will look for items like a sleek leather tunic that can be worn as a mini-dress, vest, tunic over leggings or even light outerwear. Women will continue to look for smart ways to stretch their clothing budgets. Individual expression in the midst of Plain Jane fashions will come from colorful custom-designed jewelry and artfully applied permanent makeup.

This year the eyes have it! In 2010, permanent eye makeup will focus attention on your beautiful face. It’s your eyes that will add that special spark of alluring fire to practical fashions. Perfectly arched and feathered permanent eyebrows will provide a window to eyes exquisitely lined with permanent eyeliner. Add neutral shadows for serious work hours, then go wild with a slash of neon bright shadow for evening wear. The spring release of Tim Burton’s film version of Alice in Wonderland is expected to add a hint of Victorian whimsy and wild psychedelic colors to fashion accessories and makeup pallets this spring.

Women aren’t the only ones taken with the brooding vampire look popularized by Robert Pattinson in the hit movie Twilight and its just opening sequel New Moon. There are plenty of guys who are fans of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga. And even men who prefer Bram Stoker’s more brutal portrayal of the great fanged one in the 1992 film Dracula  to Twilight’s romanticized tortured hero have tuned in to the power of those brooding brows. For it’s Pattinson’s lush, full, dark eyebrows that have women swooning.

Those sexy brows dominate Pattinson’s face, giving him an allure of mystery and power with a “shivers down the back” touch of danger. What’s not to love? Eyebrows frame and define the face. Hollywood makeup artists, who deal in perception, know that thick dark brows indicate power and command. Even though Pattinson seems to have been born with superb brow genes, you can bet the Tinsletown paint and brush experts have plied their craft to make those brows look thicker, fuller and more brooding.

It’s a look that can benefit any man who wants to get ahead in life. Commanding brows make a man appear powerful, in charge, self-assured and confident. In business — and in matters of the heart — people respond to the way you look. For those without great brow genes, permanent makeup for men can create a strong, commanding but natural-looking eyebrow line. Find out more at Permanent Makeup for Men.

New Moon, the second eagerly-awaited installment in the Twilight Saga, is opening in theaters. With brooding, blood-sucking hunk Edward (Robert Pattinson) off doing vampire things, will beautiful Bella (Kristen Stewart) turn for comfort — and romance? — to mysterious werewolf Jacob (Taylor Lautner)? The allure of the Twilight series goes beyond teenybopper fandom. The best selling series by Stephenie Meyer has women of all ages turning pages late into the night. Sensuous and sexual without being explicit, Meyer has transformed sex into the more emotionally powerful yearning. In a Time magazine interview, saga screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg called it “safe sexuality. It’s the ultimate romantic ideal. You have the allure of danger. And yet there’s only so far you can go.”

Who knows how far you’ll go when you slip into New Moon’s mysterious “Twilight Eyes.” The dangerous allure of New Moon’s otherworldliness begins with the eyes. Create Bella’s sensuously tortured look by first defining eyes with a thin line of chocolate eyeliner. Thicken and define brows. Use a pale neutral pink shadow under the brow. Apply russet brown shadow lightly to eyelid, feathering and slightly smudging up toward inner brow terminus and slightly beyond outer eye line. Add a very light swipe of shadow under eye and feather slightly toward cheek; don’t smudge the eyeliner.

Permanent makeup provides the perfect foundation for Twilight Eyes or any look. Lush permanent eyebrows perfectly frame your face. Permanent eyeliner flawlessly defines eyes. Add shadow and you’re ready to prowl!

My friend is distraught. She isn’t even 30 and she’s starting to lose her hair. We expect men to have thinning hair and bald spots, but women? Sure you see the occasional older woman with wispy hair. I had an aunt with hair so thin you could see her pink scalp through her wispy bouffant, but she was in her 80s. Thinning hair just isn’t something most women think about. Unfortunately, Alopecia Areata Universalis (AAU) is more common than you’d expect.

The second most common hair loss disease, AAU more often affects women, although it can affect men and children. AAU occurs in apparently healthy people like my friend and generally develops in the late teens or young adulthood. Sometimes called “spot baldness,” in its early stages the disease creates small thinning patches that can become bald. The disease can spread over the entire scalp and even affect other body hair, including eyebrows, eyelashes and pubic hair.

Researchers suspect a genetic factor as the non-communicable disease appears to be hereditary. Research also indicates that AAU may be an autoimmune disease exacerbated by stress. Whatever its cause, my friend finds it highly embarrassing. Fortunately, permanent makeup can help restore to eyebrows, eyelashes and scalp the natural appearance of hair lost from Alopecia Areata Universalis. Combining expert cosmetic tattooing with practiced artistry, Melany Whitney can restore a woman’s confidence by recreating naturally sensuous eyebrows and eyelashes and using permanent paramedical repigmentation to help hide scalp hair loss.