Permanent Makeup: Stories

[Where do I put the 'thumbs down?'--although 'mixed feelings' is a better choice of words in my case]. About permanent makeup for eyebrows-- It is a VERY risky thing to do. First of all many makeup tattooist, even the one who are 'medically certified,' often use just a $10.00 kit which they buy online, which gives them a choice of 3 pre-shaped stencils only. Don't EVER let a makeup tattooist use pre-shaped stencils on your face! I made the mistake of trusting the tattooist's judgment because she'd been referred to me by a cosmetic surgeon whom she had a working relationship with--but the cosmetic surgeon clearly didn't care about QUALITY work--she only cared about her working relationship with this tattooist who worked out of her office. Even my husband noticed that the the fake-looking "comma" eyebrows looked bad-- unfeminine and harsh. Eyebrows need to be well-shaped to a person's face. One problem is that we can each only see ourselves 2-dimensionally in a mirror--we can't see ourselves 3-dimensionally like other people can, and we can't see ourselves from the side, either. So the results of eyebrow tattooing can be disastrous, only you won't realize it until after you leave the office. Well, I had the eyebrow tattoos lasered off (although the laser did leave some scarring, but it was still worth getting rid of those hideous eyebrows). I then had a skilled makeup tattooist do my eyebrows for me 2 years ago, and they looked good, although I still needed to pencil them in. But at my age, it was nice to have some definition there since my eyebrows are pretty much gone. HOWEVER, last week I saw a plastic surgeon again. I have some droopiness of the eyelids from aging that is still there in spite of the fact I had a blepharoplasty to my upper eyelids. The surgeon told me that in order to address the kind of droopiness I had, I'd need to have 'forehead tucks' done. Unfortunately, when he pulled my forehead up with his hands, it raised my tattooed eyebrows up so high that I looked like a dragon lady. Consequently he advised me against the surgery. I'm just sick about it. If I had known that getting eyebrow tattoos would prevent me from getting forehead tucks at age 60, I never would have had the tattoos done in the first place--or if the tattooist had only placed the brows, which were really just a thin line of definition, on the lower edge of my eyebrows instead of the upper! [The surgeon also advised against having my tattoos lasered off, although I'm not sure why]. So THINK TWICE before you have eyebrow tattooing done (although the eyeliner is nice provide you have someone good do it--not a tattooist who uses a motorized machine).

Thumb BOTH UP and DOWN--if the eyebrow tattoos had been set lower, instead along the top of my brow, then the definition would have been nice at my age and wouldn't have interfered with potential plastic surgery. Eyeliner is nice, but don't go all the way across the bottom--it's too harsh-looking.