Permanently Beautiful

When choosing a permanent cosmetics technician, the expertise, experience and artistry of the technician are essential to achieving the beautiful, natural look you desire. In our November 19 post we shared some tips for selecting a permanent makeup technician from the Society of Permanent Cosmetic Proessionals. Today we continue with more tips:

• Ask about the technician’s background. Ask about experience and education. Find out how long the technician has been practicing in the industry. The application of permanent makeup cannot be learned in a two-day course. It requires continuous study to keep abreast of this rapidly evolving field and long hours of experience to perfect the exacting techniques involved in micropigmentation. Make sure the technician is Board Certified. Ask to see certificates of training and continuing education and inquire about professional organizations to which the technician belongs.
• Review the technician’s portfolio. To ensure that you are pleased with the end result, the technician’s work should match your personal style. When you look at the picture portfolio, pay attention to the details, such as the width of eye liner, depth of lip color and lip liner. Discuss your procedure with the technician and be clear about the look you wish to achieve. 
• Ask about experience in the specific procedure you seek. Different techniques are involved in applying micropigmentation to lips or eyes or the entire face. It is essential that the technician you choose have specific, long-standing experience performing the particular procedure you desire.

You should know that lip work is more advanced than eyebrows and eyeliner and that cheek blush and eyeshadow are the most difficult permanent cosmetic effects to achieve successfully. It takes years of experience and a certain artistry to create a beautiful, natural-looking permanent cosmetics effect. Choose a permanent cosmetics technician who can meet the challenge.

Choosing the right permanent cosmetics technician is critical. When you decide to invest in permanent makeup, your goal is to enhance and perhaps improve your natural beauty. You want the results to look beautiful and natural, not garish or artificial. The expertise, experience and artistry of the permanent cosmetics technician you decide to work with are critical to achieving the results you desire.

With its increasing popularity, permanent makeup services are more widely offered, sometimes by facilities and technicians with limited experience in the field. You should be aware that there are currently no uniform regulations governing the industry in the U.S. Because permanent makeup will permanently alter your appearance, it is essential that you carefully research any technician and facility you consider.

The Society of Permanent Cosmetic Professionals, which has been lobbying for the establishment of industry standards, recommends the following:

• Visit the site where the work will be performed. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) do set standards for physical cleanliness and sanitary work environments. Ask to view the rooms where procedures are performed. Facilities should have the spotless cleanliness of surgical facilities. Rooms should be private to prevent contamination from other procedures being performed at the facility. Hot and cold running water should be available to technicians outside of the restroom.
• Meet the technician. Is their appearance clean and neat? Are their nails clean? Make certain that new gloves and clean sheets are used for every client. And, most critically, find out if new sterile needles and equipment are used for each client.

More on how to choose a Permanent Cosmetics Technician on Friday.

We’ve interviewed Melany on how she beautifies eyes for a new client. We think that you will find her artistic insight interesting reading.

Interviewer: Melany, you do such a wonderful job on enhancing eye beauty, but don’t clients get uncomfortable with you working so close to their eyes with needles?

Melany: Let me explain a little about the eye area first. The eyelids are literally the two folds of skin that shield the eyeball. The upper eyelid is larger and more moveable. It regulates the opening and closing of the eye with the help of the Orbicularis Palpebrarum muscle. Lower lid movement is slight. The eyelids act to sweep dirt from the surface of the eye, protecting it from injury, and helping distribute tear fluid.

As a permanent cosmetic practitioner, I am frequently working in close proximity to the eye and over the major protection for the eye, the eyelid. This is the biggest fear that my clients have – can I go into their actual eyeball during a procedure? Well, because the eyelids are the protection for the eye – I only work with a closed lid – thus protecting the eyeball at all times. I hold the lid firmly, but gently, in order to get enough stretch for pigment retention in that area. Poking a client in the eye has never been a concern for me a seasoned technician. The part of the eyelid that I work on is thicker at the margin – called the Tarsal Ridge. This is where most technicians DO NOT put color because it is actually more difficult to do, if one is not familiar with the physiology of that area.

Interviewer: So do you put color there in the Tarsal Ridge?

Melany: Yes, I feel that any eye lining procedure is not complete without some darkness being put in between the client’s eyelashes (the Tarsal ridge area) to give the appearance of a fuller and thicker lash base. It usually is an area in which you simply cannot get conventional eyeliner – so that the line you get with over the counter products, winds up accentuating the thinning of our lash line instead of plumping it up.

I always include this lash enhancement, which in most cases is all that is needed, to give one a “brighter and open eyed” look. It is natural and cannot be easily detected as “added”. You can go to sleep, wake up, swim, sweat, etc. without “tell tale raccoon eyes”.

Check back on Friday for the rest in this interesting interview on eye beauty tips.

We’ve interviewed Melany on how she selects a brow shape for a new client. We think that you will find her artistic insight interesting reading.

Interviewer: Melany, you do such a wonderful job on eyebrows, how do you identify what is right for a new client?

Melany: I love doing new brows. Eyebrows add so much to a person’s individual beauty. First, I start with a careful review of the client’s facial bone structure. They can change their hair color and style, but they cannot change the shape of their face, nor the placement of their features such as how close or far apart their eyes are set. (This is also an important point in which to factor in when determining the proper placement for brows.)

There are natural parallels established by drawing imaginary lines from the inner corner of the eye straight up to the inner “bulb” of the brow. Yet with all these “rules”, some are necessary to either “break” or as I prefer, “bend a bit”. Finding this perfect combination of design and reality is found by using the “artistic eye” taking the whole face into account. There is not only balance in determining the position, arch, and placement but artistry to select the correct shape for the face as well.

Heavy and close set brows can give the impression of displeasure or frowning. Just like flat brows can cause the eyes to look smaller and the entire face to appear shorter in length. A very high and arched thin brows is not only outdated but can give an unnatural surprised look, like a “deer caught in a car’s headlights”. With permanent makeup, and the artistic skill that I have honed over the years, I can even narrow or widen a client’s facial appearance cosmetically by just selecting the proper placement of their new permanent eyebrows.

With skill and training a technician should be able to follow the natural “diagonals” of any brow’s hairline or decide on a soft powder fill to compliment the client’s natural head of hair. But what sets me apart from any technician is the wealth of experience and artistic eye to see you how you may not be able to see yourself thereby enhancing your natural beauty.

Color selection of the brow pigment is also important in this ever changing world of hair color, shades, and highlight options. I never use prepackaged formulas. I mix pigments individually for each client’s skin tone. One of the newest techniques I am using is the hair stroke simulation technique giving brows a wonderfully natural look.

I’d like to share with you a comment that one of my clients sent me just this past week via email…

“I wanted to once again express my thanks for the new brows. It is amazing how much their nonexistence affected my life. Thanks for the terrific, professional and artistic job you did!”
- High-Powered Woman Executive

They say that eyebrows define the face. Are your brows defining your face to accentuate your beauty. If not, I am here to help give “mother nature” a hand and enhance your personal beauty with artistic skill.

Interviewer: I think that I am ready for a new brow shape just listening to your explanation of how you select a look for each client. May I ask about color. I’ve noticed that in some of the Gallery photos the colors are stronger than I might want on my own brow, is there a solution?

Melany: Thank you for bringing that up. Most of our Gallery photos are taken just after the color implantation procedure. All the colors will soften to a natural look within seven days as part of the skin’s natural healing process. Permanent cosmetics is not an exact science, it is an art.

Interviewer: So true Melany. Which brings me to noting that you are a “true artist” whose medium has moved from oil on canvas to the face. I was intrigued by your canvases and your artistic eye for balance and color on the selections you have on your website. One final comment to our readers, at the Center for Permanent Cosmetics, we invite you to visit our Eyebrow Gallery to review before and after photos of clients. It is amazing what the “right” brow shape can do to enhance a person’s individual beauty!

Links for more information:
Melany’s Artwork
http://www.permanentmkup.com/paintings.php

Eyebrow Gallery
http://www.permanentmkup.com/permanent_eyebrows.php