Permanent Makeup: Stories

I've always had great brows. They're thick and bushy but my real issue is that they grow like weeds and reshaping them was always a hassle when they started growing so fast and out of control. I started using a #1 guard on my trimmer and shaving them down and just drawing them in with brow powder. So, of course on days I didn't feel like drawing them in I'd look like a freak! I was told I should get them done a while back because my shape was off. I didn't think my shape was off. My eyebrows were fine. I've always shaped my eyebrows as nice as possible, but on the off time I would over tweeze and could not make both sides even. So enough was enough. I did a bunch of research online and found Tina Davies from Natural Effects Permanent Makeup in Toronto. She posts a lot of her work online on FB and her website. I loved that she did feathering rather than the solid eyebrows. Her wait time to get an appointment is approximately 3 to 4 months!!! That really goes to show how in demand she really is, so obviously people trust her and she gets so booked up. It was worth the wait.

She did the consultation and drew in my eyebrows to make sure I like the shape. The appointment took maybe 45 minutes from start to finish. She tweaks parts here and there and sends you home with an after care kit. Naturally the color fades after a month and you go in for a touch up to darken parts you feel need it. Most of my color faded so she decided to go a bit darker for my touch up.

I now no longer need to draw my eyebrows in. Reshaping isn't needed because all I do is tweeze the strays around the tattooed area. If I accidently over tweeze and area you cannot tell.

This procedure was absolutely worth it in my opinion!!! First things first, you MUST do research and ask to see any previous work that was done by the artist!! I cannot stress this enough because I've read about such nightmares and have been told about them. This is a permanent procedure. It cannot be undone. If the artist doesn't have the experience or uses poor technique you can have a very ugly result. I paid $600 and that's a fair price to pay for someone with more than 10 years experience and has over 10,000 procedures.

So I had a touch up appointment about 2 months after to address some fading issues. I loved the tone and was hoping she could go over the brows with harder strokes so they'd take darker. Instead she suggested a darker tone in color because I said I didn't mind darker. It was fine during the first week because I knew it was supposed to be much darker during that stage. But after the initial scabbing came off it stayed the dark black tone. It looked fake and harsh. I felt like everyone was staring at my eyebrows. I just had to book another touch up to correct this issue. My brows were now darker than my natural hair colour.

So one month after my first touch up I got them toned. She basicly put a warm reddish tone on top of the blackish parts. Much better!! Currently I'm in my healing stage and I like them much better now. Hope they still look good in a month when the healing is complete. I love that Tina stands behind her work and will fix issues even after having done the initial touch up.

I highly suggest not ever going the black or gray black at all. It fades into a very unnatural looking color.