Makeup Your Mind

Permanent Vs. Semi-Permanent Procedures

BY CHRISTY BLEVINS

Permanent or semi-permanent makeup can help make your morning routine a little easier. It can also be a life-changing option for people with limited mobility or vision impairment. Here’s what you need to know before deciding what’s best for you:

The Battle of the Brows: Tattooing vs. Micro-blading

Eyebrow tattoos are permanent, and liquid ink is used to create new brows. This penetrates deeper layers of the skin, and if there’s something you don’t like about your new brow, you will be “not liking” it for a lifetime.

In contrast, micro-blading is considered a semi-permanent makeup procedure. It uses pigments that won’t fade to some odd blue-green hue like tattoo ink can. It can last up to 1 to 2 years. Your skin type, age, and how well you care for your skin can impact how long the pigment will last. Over time, the pigment will fade, leaving you with your natural brows. To avoid this, you can schedule a touch-up every year or so. If you are unhappy with an area, your technician can change the shape of your brow. A technician will painstakingly fill in and shape your eyebrows one hair at a time, using a hand-held tool known as a pen.

The verdict: If you’re tired of filling in your eyebrows with a pencil day in and day out, you can get fuller brows with micro-blading.

Lip Blushing vs. Lip Blushing Tattooing – Tomato vs. Tomahto

Even though lip blushing is sometimes called lip blushing tattooing, this is a semi-permanent procedure, lasting for 2 to 3 years. Instead of reapplying lipstick throughout the day, lip blushing can give your lips a hint of a tint. You can still wear lipstick over it when you want to mix things up a bit. A single needle is used to create a series of dots on the lips. Lip blushing can even be used to enhance lip symmetry or give you lips that appear fuller without fillers.

The older forms of permanent lipstick created harsher lines and often didn’t achieve a natural look. Permanent lip tattoos could be permanent mistakes.

The verdict: Call it whatever you like, lip blushing or lip blushing tattooing, this modern procedure may have you kissing your lipstick goodbye.

Permanent Eyeliner: The Eyeliners Have It

Like micro-blading and lip blushing, permanent eyeliner deposits pigment into the first layers of skin using a needle. Permanent eyeliner lasts from 1 to 3 years, so it isn’t really permanent. There’s no competition between permanent and semi-permanent eyeliners, but you still have a decision to make. How bold should you go?

A tight-line is used to darken your lash line in the subtlest of ways by adding pigment between the layers of your lashes. You can also go for a dramatic eyeliner effect or anything between a tight line and a full-on Cleopatra look.

The verdict: There’s a look for everyone.