Permanently Beautiful

We’ve all had bad hair days. No matter how long you spend in front of the mirror struggling with brush and mousse and curling iron, you just can’t get your hair to look right. Bad hair can completely ruin your day. The ugliness you perceive in the mirror seems to permeate every thought and act. When you don’t look your best, you don’t feel as confident, as in command, or as sure of yourself. You can tell yourself that this is shallow thinking and that the way you look doesn’t change who you are, but no inner pep talk can change the feeling that, today, you feel ugly!

While permanent makeup won’t solve your morning hair dilemma, it will give you the self-confidence of knowing that your makeup is perfectly and artfully applied every minute of every day. Without checking the mirror, you will know that you look your absolute best at all times. Your brows will be artfully defined, your eyeliner perfectly applied and your lips full and lush. With permanent makeup you wake up looking as gorgeous as you did when you closed your eyes the night before. And all without the tedious, time-consuming skin care regimens required to put on and take off makeup. A simple cleansing and moisturizing morning and night and you’re ready for whatever the day — or night — brings!  

Permanent makeup can be applied to a single feature or a combination of features. A full face enhancement can even add permanent cheek color and eye shadow. Permanent cosmetics can enhance your most striking features and correct imperfections that eat away at your self-esteem. Permanent makeup is like having a perfect hair day every day. Because you know you always look your best, you always feel self-confident and self-assured.

Some women seem to have a certain commanding presence. No matter where they are or what they’re doing, they stand out in a crowd. Your eye just seems to be drawn toward them. It’s not really a matter of beauty, though many are attractive; it’s more that they exude an aura of complete self-confidence. I noticed a woman like this across the gym floor the other day. Like the rest of us, she was working hard, sweat glistening on her face. But unlike the women to either side of her who looked tired and haggard from exertion, this woman looked radiant, her cheeks glowing, her eyes sparkling, her lips curved with pleasure. In a room full of many attractive and many younger women, this particular woman stood out and commanded attention.

If permanent makeup can keep you looking fresh, calm, collected and in control in the middle of a strenuous workout, think what it can do for you during a board room presentation. With permanent cosmetics you know you look your best whether you’re whirling away in spinning class or making a killer presentation to the firm’s top client. You never have to worry about your makeup. When you’ve added permanent cosmetics to your beauty regime, you know your brows are perfect, your eyeliner expert and your lips beautiful every hour of the day. There is no better boost to your self-esteem than knowing that you always look your best.

The Whitney Center for Permanent Cosmetics specializes in the artistic application of permanent cosmetics to enhance your natural beauty. Our expert board-certified permanent cosmetic professional, Melany Whitney, is a nationally recognized expert in permanent makeup. Recently featured on NBC Today, CNN and Entertainment Tonight, Melany Whitney is recognized as the national “Voice of Permanent Makeup.” To find out more about how permanent cosmetics can enhance your natural beauty, please visit the Whitney Center for Permanent Cosmetics website.

This is a continuation of the post that was started on Wednesday about Melany’s professional eye enhancement tips.

Interviewer: What about the client who wants a more dramatic look?

Melany: If my client wishes a bit more thickness or darkness to that upper lash line, I can add a tad thicker line in that area to make that area even more outstanding. At the same time, I try to keep a “soft edge” to both the top and bottom liners for that all important natural appearance.

Interviewer: What about the lower lid, I think you do something different there don’t you?

Melany: Yes I do, the lower liner is definitely treated a bit differently than the top liner. It needs to be put in-between each bottom lash and in a more of a stippled or connected dots technique. Due to the natural salt we have in our tears – the bottom line will always fade a lot more than the top and give a softer effect – but a very important one. Without bottom definition, your eyes tend to look droopy and tired. Done correctly, which means, NOT done with a thick application, the liner will actually make your eyes “pop”. If not done in just that precise way, a thick black liner will tend to “close the eye up”.

Interviewer: What about color and what color should not be used?

Melany: The choices in color for eyeliner have basically come down to black and black brown. Color can actually be applied as a shadow above the liner (permanently or by conventional means) if desired later. If you understand color theory – the reason you should not rim your eyes with a medium or light brown is that those browns tend to have too much warmth or red tones in them and can give your eyes a “rabbit eye” (pink) effect. 

Interviewer: Any other important tips for us today on eyeliner?

Melany: Another VERY important tip is that eyeliners should NOT go past the last lash in any direction (top or bottom). This is due to the fact that if done in the medial area or outer Canthus area of the eye, you could experience “migration”, weeping or bleeding of the color under the skin, where it is not supposed to be. I am asked many times to pass these parameters and decline. Better safe than sorry in these instances!

Another comment I’d like to make is that all black eyeliner pigments have “blue” in them. This blue will eventually come out months to years down the road. This has never been a “negative” to be concerned about, since all eyes look great with the smallest bit of blue or charcoal around them. Actually this “fading” tends to make light blue eyes a bit greener looking! This does not indicate that your technician is using “common” tattoo ink in your liner – it is simply a reality of the color black.

Interviewer: What great tips and insights into how you enhance eyes permanently. You also had some great insights into brow design in the last newsletter issue and I would like to provide that link to our readers. I’m sure you’ll have another new tip for us in our next issue and even I will be looking forward to that.

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.