Permanently Beautiful

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.

Did you catch the Victoria Secrets fashion show last week? Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas certainly held her own against the professional runway competition. She looked utterly amazing in that glittering emerald body suit with its free-flowing cape. In a night filled with plenty of big T and tight A, it was a night of glamour, fantasy and beautiful women. The backstage glimpses of models being made up and stage managers rushing them on stage added to the excitement, but haven’t you always wondered how models achieve that absolutely perfect, flawless on-camera look?  

When asked to reveal their special makeup tips, professional makeup artists agree that totally flawless skin starts with a good moisturizer. Airbrushed foundation application and artistic facial contouring are the techniques the pros use to ensure that models and celebrities put their best face forward. That’s outside the skill set or needs of most women, but there are a number of professional tips you can apply at home.

• For barely there lips, apply a good moisturizer to lips, follow with concealer. Apply pale lip gloss for kissable natural looking lips.
• For a light and luscious lash line, dot along lash line with eyeliner pencil then blend gently with a Q-tip.
• For perfectly groomed eyebrows, fill in and shape brows with a 3B or 6B graphite pencil instead of an eyebrow pencil. While too harsh for blondes, graphite will give brunettes a more natural look.

More tips next time

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 new summer movie, “My Sister’s Keeper,” puts out there on the big screen what people look like when they undergo chemotherapy.  In the film, the older of two girls in a family has leukemia and the younger sues to stop having to donate her body parts to keep her sister alive. The sister with the illness is realistically shown with no hair, eyelashes or eyebrows.

As often supportive friends and family do, the mother in the movie, played by Cameron Diaz, shaves her own hair so she will be bald like her cancer-stricken daughter. But she still is Cameron Diaz and still looks beautiful. She still has her striking eyebrows and eyelashes. People undergoing chemotherapy don’t. And it can make the ordeal even more devastating. Especially for women who in our culture continue to have a premium placed on their looks.

Permanent makeup can help give anyone facing chemotherapy – a child, man or woman – the chance to feel better about themselves when they look in the mirror. And they deserve every bit of feeling better that they can get. Applied by a professional, permanent makeup can give them eyebrows and eyes that help them look like their former selves.

It may be better for someone who has cancer to have permanent makeup applied before chemotherapy or in the early stages of treatment to reduce stress and promote healing. A doctor’s release should be provided. Alternatively, with approval of the physician, permanent makeup can be applied in the midst of a course of chemotherapy during an off-week when no chemo drugs are administered. Advance approval of the doctor is recommended for all attendees before enrolling in the clinic.

Smoother clearer skin may be high on every woman’s beauty wish list. But finding the time to see a dermatologist is often low on her to-do list, especially given the expense. Fortunately, better skin has become easier to achieve at home. A number of new do-it-yourself products (some formulated by top doctors) – from microdermabrasion treatments to chemical peels to skin lighteners – have hit drugstore shelves and department-store counters.

Before trying any, it’s important to learn how these treatments work, how they benefit your skin, and how they might save you a buck or two and time in the waiting room. Consider it a beauty wish come true.
Microdermabrasion can help treat acne, clogged pores, surface dryness and uneven skin tone.

Many companies now offer powerful exfoliating scrubs, creams and gadgets that work like pricier in-office treatments.

Weekly at-home microdermabrasion treatments don’t go as deep as the doctor can but still offer noticeable results.

Chemical peels are good for oily skin, hyperpigmentation, and fine lines.

At-home chemical peel solutions are much milder, typically containing only 10 percent hydroxy acids compared to 70 percent in the strongest doctor’s solution. But when used on a regular basis to exfoliate, the results will be clearly visible. Pores will look a little tighter and skin will glow.

Saving by using at-home versions of these treatments means you can definitely afford to try permanent make-up. Unlike facials, peels and other beauty treatments, permanent make-up gives instantly dramatic long-lasting results but can’t be done at home – always go to a trained professional.

If you haven’t used a product or a tool in a month, toss it, says celebrity makeup artist Mally Roncal.  Ditto for multiples of similar colors. Instead of carrying around two, three or 10 pink glosses, keep only the one you reach for most.

There are no expiration dates on makeup, but experts advise to estimate the age of a product from the date it was opened. Toss any makeup that has developed a funny smell, because that indicates bacteria, dermatologists say.

Bacteria can set in as makeup deteriorates and cause an infection. If the bacteria enters the eye, conjunctivitis, also known as pink-eye can develop.

While throwing out unused makeup may seem wasteful, ending up in the doctor’s office with an infection can be very time consuming and possibly painful. Yet a survey by the American College of Optometrists found that two-thirds of all women used eye makeup that was more than two years old.

If you want to make a fresh start, experts recommend packing these essentials:  a double-duty cheek and lip stain, black eyeliner to transition from day to night, mascara, concealer and an eyelash curler.

You can really de-clutter your make-up bag by getting yourself inked with permanent make-up.  No more need to carry around eye-liner, brow pencil, lip liner pencil and lip gloss. Talk about lightening up.  And you’ll no longer have to possibly risk car accidents by swiveling car side mirrors and rearview mirrors to the angle you need to reapply your make-up. With permanent make-up you’re always good to go.

Summer’s just around the corner. And along with summer fun comes the heat and humidity that can wreak havoc with your hair. Here are a few great summer hair care ideas we culled from places like InStyle:

Frizz-Free Curls

 If you’re lucky enough to have natural curls like Beyonce, flaunt them. Avoid frizz by simply adding an anti-frizz serum to your morning hair routine. Then gently scrunches the hair while blow drying on low with a diffuser. Don’t comb it out! Let it be natural and sexy. 

Long-Lasting Braids

 Drew Barrymore and Charlize Theron recently joined the long list of stars sporting braids this season. Braids look cute straight down or pinned up. No matter how you wear them, braids will hold better and longer if you start out with wet hair, use a stronger gel than normal and spray with a little hair spray.

Straight Hair

 Celebrity hairstylists say the key to straight hair in the summer is a ceramic wet-to-dry flat iron. First, apply a protecting spray to damp hair and then use the iron. The iron helps lock in moisture and fight flyaways. Bonus tip: After using the iron, apply the spray again on dry hair to help protect against the sun’s UV rays.

 Summer beauty is no sweat with permanent make-up. It won’t melt away in the heat, dissolve into your sunscreen or disappear in the water.  With luscious lips, gorgeous eyebrows and defined eyes, you’ll be totally hot but in a good way.

Utter the magic word “Chanel” and what do you think of? Hot haute couture fashions flaunted by supermodels like Carmen Kass and Claudia Schiffer. Or you may think of Chanel’s signature quilted purses, emblematic Chanel No. 5 perfume and signature little knit suits.  

But there really was a Chanel who started it all. Her name was Coco Chanel. We have a lot to thank her for. She’s the one who put women in pants and knee length skirts. And her classy comfortable suits. Just imagine. Before Coco Chanel, all women went around dressed like extras from the cast of Mary Poppins! 

Rumor has it that because Chanel, the child of a prostitute, was sent to Catholic boarding school, clerics’ garb was the creative child’s inspiration for the famous black and white women’s suits she designed. And the little black dress.

But there is one Chanel innovation that we’d all be a lot better off without today - the chic suntan. There really is no such thing. When Chanel started hanging out on the French Riviera with the jet set, she decided that a deep tan was just the ticket to set off her white summer wear.  

What Chanel could not have known is that a tan is really your skin’s response to an injury caused by ultra-violet radiation. That means the rays of the sun. Even if you don’t look burned, the damage is done. And the damage is cumulative. It builds up. So someday you are going to be wrinkled. Seriously wrinkled. 

Tanning beds also are bad news. As bad for you as the a direct hit from the sun itself. Go instead with a self-tanning cream or brush-on bronzer. And give your face some extra pop with permanent make-up.  You’ll look fabulous even when you’re in the water!

Even the most artfully applied permanent cosmetics require an occasional touch-up to keep you looking your best. The degree of “permanency” of permanent cosmetics varies with each individual. Although we call cosmetic tattooing “permanent”, it is really classified as “extended wear” makeup.

All good things have a life and permanent cosmetics are no different from any other product. Colors of the permanent cosmetic pigments can fade over time due to many factors, including over-exposure to the sun, a person’s own body chemistry, and the degree of care taken to maintain your new “permanent look”. Any process involving the skin such as facials, peels, or certain medications such as synthroid and cortico steroids can adversely effect permanent cosmetic pigment color integrity over time.

To maintain your permanent cosmetics, you should be wearing an SPF lotion or cream of at least 15 on your face. When exposed to strong sun, it’s best to use an SPF 30 lotion on your face and brows. Here’s our secret tip: as a quick way to get sun cover-up, try gliding on a quick thin coat of Chapstick Ultra 30+ or Banana Boat stick at SPF 30 on your lips and eyebrows for fast no-mess sun protection.

Many makeup foundation products will contain a degree of sun protection, but when you have “permanent” or as we call them “extended wear” cosmetics you should be even more careful about sun exposure to help your permanent look last the longest it can.

When It’s Time to Renew and Refresh Your Permanent Look

Typically, it may be three to eight years before you begin to notice any fading of your permanent makeup. The permanent cosmetic pigment colors may soften, the lines become less distinct, or the colors may simply fade. The length of time between necessary refreshes is unique to each individual and dependent upon skin condition, sun exposure and body chemistry. Refreshes are usually applied in a single visit and charged at 50% of the total cost of your original two-layer application.

It’s easy to give yourself an instant “face lift” and appear more youthful or to enhance your own natural beauty and achieve facial symmetry by adding to your permanent cosmetics while you’re in for a quick refresh. Our most requested addition is eyeliner and lip liner. Get more personal freedom by adding to your permanent look today!

Contact us today to schedule your refresh and we’ll schedule any new procedures you desire the same day as your refresh. Remember with permanent cosmetics, there is virtually no down time so you can look beautiful and refreshed 24/7 immediately!