Permanently Beautiful

Your face is your window to the world. Our face is the feature by which we are first judged when we meet someone new. A pleasing countenance opens the door to friendships, job advancement, even love. We hate to think we’re that shallow, but business studies have shown that beautiful people climb the corporate ladder more quickly, are compensated more richly and have an easier time making their way through life. As people get to know you, certainly your personality, strengths and abilities play a huge role in forming opinion, but at those first critical meetings when people first get together, it is your face that people judge.

With so much at stake, many men and women are turning to permanent cosmetics to enhance and improve their facial features. In the hands of a gifted artist like Melany Whitney, permanent cosmetics can enhance the natural beauty of your facial features, correct and reshape imperfections and even hide small scars to make sure that you are always putting your best face forward.

Choose a permanent makeup artist with care. While considerable technical skill and practiced experience are needed to produce consistently pleasing permanent makeup results, it is the artistic vision of the permanent makeup artist that creates the permanent beauty you desire. The pleasing arch of a brow, the sensuous curve of a lip, the careful shadowing of an eyelid — these are the things that set apart mere cosmetic technicians from highly-sought permanent makeup artists like Melany Whitney.

Catherine Deneuve

At Nordstrom’s celebrity-studded Cosmetic Trend Event in Honolulu next week, international makeup experts will announc the Return of Makeup. Say good-bye to the au naturel, no-makeup look; makeup is making a big comeback. The new look is still fresh-faced and luminous, but artistic makeup contouring and layering will be used to achieve ingenue radiance. Facial sculpting, the artistry of using makeup to create dramatic three-dimensional planes to enhance and reshape facial features, hasn’t been this popular since its heyday during the Dynasty days of the 1980s.

NARS Cosmetics national makeup stylist Janice Daoud will be launching Francois Nars’ new summer collection inspired by Catherine Deneuve’s sophisticated look in the 1967 film Belle du Jour. “3-D skin, juicy, fruity lips and cheek, and an indigo eye” are the hallmarks of the dramatic new look, Daoud told Hawaii’s Star Bulletin. Drama is created by layering shaded sculpting sticks to add dimension and highlights to the face, much as a painter layers paint to create a portrait.

It’s a technique well-known to nationally renowned permanent makeup artist Melany Whitney, who is also an accomplished artist.  Facial contouring is a labor-intensive technique, requiring considerable cosmetics skill and a painter’s artistic knowledge of facial planes and shadows. However, when Melany combines her considerable artistry with her expertise in permanent makeup techniques to apply dramatic contours to your facial canvass, the only thing you need to add is a little moisturizer and a smile.  With permanent makeup, you always look beautiful and alluring.

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.

Good news for women of all skin types and skin tones, makeup is going matte! No-shine matte makeup is replacing sheen and gleam for a fresh, natural look this spring. Glimmery makeup was fun during the holidays, but shine emphasizes every tiny facial imperfection. The new matte look minimizes little flaws, allowing them to fade from sight. Matte doesn’t mean dull and flat, though. The new matte look is sheer and satiny, very pretty and natural. Always use moisturizer to prevent a caky look.

The almost air-brushed appearance of matte skin tones lets you focus attention on eyes and lips. Watch for eye shadows in soft earth tones and barely there evening sky colors mixed with pale skin-tone pinks, browns and beiges. Minimal black-brown eyeliner highlights the new downplayed look. And those spiky black stiletto lashes that were such fun during the holidays? Gone; replaced by a soft, natural look. Lashes go au naturel or with just a swipe of soft black-brown mascara. This spring, lips provide the wow! Go retro with bright red, innocent with pale pink or vamp it up with purple. 

If you have permanent makeup, you already have the perfect base for spring’s new natural look. Permanent cosmetics treat you to a salon makeup finish all day long. To change it up, apply cosmetics directly over permanent makeup. Otherwise, just moisturize and you’re out the door!

The natural look may be in for every day wear, but New Year’s Eve calls for glitz and glam! Vibrant, bold lip colors in glossy, wet shines say you’re ready to party. New potted lipstains are fun, wear beautifully and are available in flashy, bright colors. Or choose a long-lasting lipstick in one of this season’s bold new reds topped with a slick, glossy shine. Remember to carry a refresher to touch up your lips right before that special midnight kiss!

Shimmer is in for New Year’s Eve. Glam up your eyes with a line of shimmery eyeliner and a couple extra swipes of mascara. For ultra bold eyes, layer two thick lines of shimmering eyeliner above lashes, overlapping just slightly. Depending on your mood, use complementary or contrasting colors or pick up a colors from your dress.

If you like glitter, this is your night to shine! A dusting of glittery blush across cheeks and decolletage adds sparkle. Roll on glitter for hair is fun, just don’t overdo it. A little glitter is alluring; too much makes you look like a Christmas ornament.

Naturally, if you wear permanent makeup, you’ve already cut your prep time. Just moisturize and add a little pizzazz. Your already perfect permanent makeup — eyeliner, lipliner, lip color, etc. — serves as a fabulous foundation for adding a little glitter to cheeks, glimmer to eyelids and shiny color to lips. Just apply New Year’s Eve makeup right over your permanent makeup.

Imagine two Christmas mornings. In one, your kids or nieces and nephews or grandchildren rush you out of bed. No time to even wash your face, much less moisturize, and forget about makeup. The kids simply can’t wait another second to start ripping and tearing into their loot to see what Santa brought. You gamely toss on your robe and troop downstairs only to be confronted by flashing cameras dutifully capturing the big moment. There you are: hair a bit disheveled, glassy eyes fading into your sallow face, lips dry and lifeless. Ugh! This is the moment your family is capturing for all eternity? Where can I hide?

Now imagine yourself after permanent makeup. You wake up smiling, knowing you look fabulous. Run a brush quickly through your hair. With perfectly lined eyes from permanent eyeliner and soft red lips from permanent lips you know you’ll look smashing in the family photos to come. That mildly disheveled look has turned sexy and alluring. Bring on the cameras. You’re ready to shine — and it’s only 5 A.M.!

Who wouldn’t prefer to star in scene #2? Sure, it’s too late for this year; but it’s not too late to treat yourself — or someone you love — to a permanent makeup gift certificate from the Whitney Center for Permanent Cosmetics. Make a holiday vow that this is the last year you’ll find yourself hiding from Christmas morning cameras. Next year — after permanent makeup — will be your Christmas to shine. Smile!

Packing for a holiday trip? Think of all the items women typically pack in their cosmetics bag: moisturizer, concealer, foundation, powder, blush, eyeliner, eye shadow, mascara, eyebrow pencil, lip liner, lipstick, lip gloss — and that’s just the basics! Many women use additional makeup products (bronzer, shading, corrective skin coloring products, etc.). Many more women will pack multiples of many products so they’ll have a selection of colors while they’re visiting. Of course, you also have to pack everything you need to take the whole smear off at the end of the day: makeup remover, cleanser,  nighttime moisturizer, lip moisturizer and more. Then there are all the products you need to repair skin damage caused by wearing all that makeup all day long: skin rejuvenators, blemish control ointments, skin repair creams and more. No wonder the luggage industry makes special makeup cases. By the time you pack up your makeup, there’s hardly room for anything else in your suitcase!

Now compare the contents of a normal makeup case with the contents of a cosmetics bag owned by a woman smart enough to have permanent makeup. A woman with a full face cosmetic enhancement only needs to pack a mild facial cleanser, a good quality moisturizer and a moisturizing lip gloss. Permanent makeup wearers who need to pack light can get by with cleanser and sunscreen, using the sunscreen to moisturize face and lips. When you have permanent makeup, life — and packing — are simple.

As Sue Storm in the Fantastic Four film series, sexy Jessica Alba played the tantalizing now-you-see-me-now-you-don’t Invisible Woman. Now she’s the trench coat-clad vixen on the set of Gary Marshall’s star-studded romantic comedy Valentine’s Day. The ensemble film, likely to be released next February right in time for you know what, also stars Julia Roberts, Anne Hathaway, Jennifer Garner and Jessica Biel in a tangled story of hopeful L.A. romantics.

When she’s not on the film set, you can see Jessica on the tube. She’s the fabulous face of Revlon’s barely there Custom Creations makeup, the foundation that lets you dial the perfect shade for your skin tone. The ads claim that Custom Creations’ unique formulation allows you to adjust your makeup from winter pale to sun-kissed tan with a twist of the cap. Makeup that’s always the perfect shade for your face? Who wouldn’t want that?

But real women reviews of the new product have been mixed. Not everyone has been able to achieve the stunning, natural look Jessica flashes at the camera along with her come hither smile. Jessica may look amazing in hi def wearing Revlon’s new product, but there’s no guarantee you will. Only permanent cosmetics guarantees perfectly applied, natural looking makeup every time in the most flattering shade for your skin tone.

This morning as I descended into the third level of hell, otherwise known as the 59th Street subway platform, I wondered how Carrie and the Sex in the City gals always managed to look so fresh, polished and put together. Sure, I understand the fantasy of television; and Carrie et al. did seem to take a lot of cabs; but practical New Yorkers know that the only way to get somewhere in Manhattan’s perpetually snarled traffic is to take the subway. Unfortunately, an uncomfortable lack of air conditioning — are you listening, Mayor Bloomberg? — turns the NYC subway system into a giant Panini press during August heat waves.

You emerge from the depths of the subway hot and steamy, sweat making unattractive rivulets down your once perfect makeup. You can feel your eyeliner starting to run and your foundation slowly sloughing off your face like a Chinese mudslide in free fall. OMG, all that careful work this morning and it lasted less than an hour! Where is Mr. Big and his sleek, black, air-conditioned car? This would be the perfect time for it to glide to the curb and rescue you.

There’s no need to cue Mr. Big. Permanent makeup guarantees you’ll look fresh and polished all day long, whether you’re fighting subway crowds or leading a board room presentation. Stop worrying about August heat waves and eliminate daily makeup application with a permanent makeup full face beauty enhancement.

Permanent makeup procedures can be used for the correction of a variety of beauty flaws or other skin-related problems. They can even be used to enhance or improve your appearance. A permanent cosmetic makeup professional, such as Melany Whitney, can perform these procedures that will leave you with a lasting result that makes looking in the mirror no longer a fear.

An initial consultation with a permanent cosmetic professional will give you the opportunity to express your concerns about the procedure, discuss your finished look goals and any other questions relating to the procedure. A quality permanent makeup professional will inform you in advance what to expect and if your desired “look” is doable. Some of things that cannot be fixed after they have been done permanently are:

1. Poor color selection of eyebrows - a common error due to lack of proper color training
2. Narrowing eyeliner once it has been applied permanently by another technician
3. Correction of lip color errors (from a past procedure)

In some cases problems that cannot be corrected are caused by an inexperienced technician who has not selected the proper colors or does not have the experience to properly apply the permanent makeup.

When you work with Melany Whitney, you can trust that your permanent makeup will be skillfully and beautifully applied. With years of experience and even certification to teach permanent makeup to other technicians, Melany is the top choice for natural, trouble-free permanent makeup.