Pretty Please Studio Permanent Makeup Artistry

Q: Can I camouflage a scar, area of the skin that's missing pigment, or previous permanent makeup by using skin colored tattoo pigment? Clients with Vitiligo and scar tissues on their body/face request camouflage tattooing to match their natural skin color.  There's always Pros and Cons. Pro:  Tattooing skin colored pigment can conceal or make the area with loss of pigment less noticeable.  There are a lot of vendors with various colors, so you may find a color to match your skin tone.   Con : Your skin may darken or lighten depending on the time of the year, i.e. sun tan. It may be subtle, but your skin varies in darkness/lightness throughout the year.  However,  the Camouflage pigment will remain the same.  It will not tan with you.  Therefore, if the scar/loss of pigmented area is on your body that gets exposed to sun light,  this may not be a good solution for you. Also, all pigment fades over time.  Again, the pigment color may match your skin color

Questions to ask yourself when choosing Permanent Makeup lip color: 1.  Are you a good candidate? Take a look at your lips in the mirror.  Are both top and bottom lips the same color?  If yes, you are a good candidate. Are the Top/Bottom lip significantly darker/lighter than one another?  If so, you may not be a good candidate.  The difference in hue will be accentuated with permanent makeup. 2.  Cold sores, fever blisters or herpes simplex HSV-1.   1 in 3 women that I provide permanent makeup lip procedures have HSV-1.  The client must take prescription strength anti viral medications pre and post lip procedure.  Most common prescription drug is Zovirax.  There are many other medications on the market, so ask your doctor.  The dosage varies so be sure to ask your permanent makeup artist what the proper dosage is.  Lycine- L and other over the counter drugs will not prevent an outbreak. 3.  When choosing lipsticks, do you use   Reds with Blue Undertones or Reds with Ora

Diagram description: Area 1 points to the Bulb Area 1-2 is the Bridge Area 2 points to the Arch Area 2-3 is the Tail Women's brows tend to thin in the Tail area first.  Then eventually, it thins throughout the Bridge area and the arch is lost. Common events, some women have over plucked brows throughout the years, and the new growth is sparse.  Others simply haven't touched it, but it still thins.  One possibility is your thyroid or changes to your estrogen level.  Please refer to your physician for more details. Either way, there's no quick solution to make the hairs grow back.  Clients have used Latisse on their brow in hopes to grow hair.  The side affects is that it left dark, hyper pigmentation on the brow area. This method is not recommended and it's incredibly costly. If this is the case, you are a perfect candidate for permanent makeup brows.  It will bring back definition to your eyes and relieve you the hassle of drawing them on daily.

Many clients ask how painful Permanent Makeup Procedures are. Everyone has varying threshold for pain.  What's considered uncomfortable for one person, may feel differently on another.  It's difficult to assume that everyone will have similar experiences.  With the SofTap tool, the Eyeliner procedure is the least painful, then Brows, then Lips. Also,  the quality of topical anesthetics used by the Permanent Makeup Artist before and during the procedure will be a key factor.   Don't be afraid to ask if they use high quality anesthetics.   Depending on the Artist, the medication will vary.  However, the numbing process should take place in two steps to ensure client comfort: 1. Prior to procedure, the Artist should use Lidocaine to numb the surface of the skin.  It takes minimum of 10 minutes for it to be effective.  Currently, 5% Lidocaine is the maximum allowed over counter.   2.  During the procedure, the Artist should use a blend of Lidocaine,

Before Permanent Makeup After Permanent Makeup Hairstroke Brows Believe it or not, scars around the eyebrows is common for both men and women.  Either a childhood accident or early adulthood, many women reveal scar tissue around the eye area.  If the scar is directly on the brow, this area is usually hairless.  Most women cover it up with either brow pencil or powder. Permanent Makeup pigment can be directly applied to an old scar tissue to conceal loss of hair. For more Before/After Permanent Makeup photos, please visit us at: Jee Kim www.prettypleasestudio.com San Ramon, CA

Before Permanent Makeup Brows After Permanent Makeup Hairstroke Brows Shaving or over plucking brows is not recommended for women of any age.   Myth 1: By shaving my brows, the hair should grow back thicker. Myth 2:  I can always pluck everything off and draw with pencil.  The hair will eventually grow back. For my clients that have shaved off their brows, the new hair growth is baby fine and patchy.  For those who have successfully shaved and grew back their brow, consider yourself extremely lucky, and do not repeat.  You may not be as lucky the next time around. For more Before/After Permanent Makeup photos, please visit us at: Jee Kim www.PrettyPleaseStudio.com San Ramon, CA

Before Permanent Makeup Brows After Permanent Makeup Hairstroke Brows The term "Touch Up" is used in few ways.  In general, it means you've had previous Permanent Makeup procedure(s). If you've never had procedure(s) done, most Permanent Makeup Artists provide a complimentary "touch up" visit 4 weeks after the initial procedure.  This is to allow modifications to the design and color, if needed. Another common way to use the phrase "touch up": Permanent Makeup Touch Ups are procedures for when you notice that the original pigment color is fading.  Typically, it is done annually on brows, and every 15 to 20 months on eyeliner and lips.  An alternative term is "annual color boost". Typically it is a one time application where the permanent makeup artist may add more of the  original pigment because it's faded, or use additional colors to warm or cool down the fading pigment. Most artists charge per Touch Up Se

Permanent makeup lip procedures are favored by women who are losing lip color around the Oral Commissure area.  As we age, collagen production and blood circulation slows down which causes our lip color to pale in color.  Over time, this area may turn into skin color causing the lips 'shrink' or look thinner.  Many clients ask me if permanent makeup can give them a fuller looking lips. The answer is Yes and No. The Vermillion border is where the your skin and lips meet.  It borders the lips and forms a slight ridge.  The artist should stay either directly 'on' the vermillion border  or slightly 'above', when lining lips.  They should not tattoo noticeably above the natural lip line.  In doing so, the pigment color will draw attention to the Vermillion border and will not look natural.  However, by tattooing natural lip color pigment in the lips and by keeping them moist, it will create an allusion of fuller, plumper lips. If you have uneve

Before Permanent Makeup After Permanent Makeup  Hairstroke Brows Brow Design and Color: Two elements required for a successful permanent makeup brow procedure. If you have permanent makeup brows that just doesn't look right, ask yourself, is it the Brow Design or the Color that is not quite right. If the pigment color is not right, minor adjustments can be made to cool or warm the brow color.  The artists may use an Orange pigment to warm the Blue Grey brows.  If the brow color is too warm, then the artist may use a green to cool down the color. If the Brow Design is not right, Tattoo Lightening process may be required to fade the area of the brow that's too high or too low.  This process will require patients and commitment from the client.  Several treatments of the Tattoo Lightning may be required and therefore, can take several months to fade.  For more Before/After Permanent Makeup photos, please visit us at: Jee Kim www.prettypleasestudio.c

Before Permanent Makeup Brows and Liner                                                       After Permanent Makeup Hairstroke Brows and Eyeliner                                                C ommon question asked by my clients: I had permanent eyeliner done in the past.  The original artist used Black pigment.  It looked great at first, but as the pigment faded, it turned Blue Grey.  Why does this happen and what can I do? As mentioned before, all pigment fades over time.  Carbon Black pigment has a lot of the primary Blue color.  Therefore, as the other colors in the Black fade, the blue color remains. Touch ups are essential to keeping permanent eyeliner looking fresh and crisp.  If you have blue grey liner, ask the artist to add Orange Pigment to the Black Pigment to counter balance the Blue.  The Orange pigment will turn the blue into a soft brown, and with the added black pigment, the blue will not be noticeable. For more Before/After Permanent

Before Permanent Makeup                                                               After Permanent Makeup Hairstroke Brows                                                    Many clients ask what is the difference between hairstrokes and softfilled brows. These are two techniques that produce difference results. First is the Soft Fill.  Soft Fill brows allows artists to fill in the complete brow with pigment.  This method is beneficial when the client has a lot of hair on their brows, but has gaps in between the hair.  The use of round configured needles allow artists to cover larger surface of the skin and therefore, can shade in the entire brow, so that there's no gap in between. The Hairstroke method is best for clients with sparse brows.  The artist draws little hair like strokes to give the appearance of hair.  Light shading throughout the brow is then used to give the brows dimensions.  The picture above is a sample of hairstroke brows.  Pigment is

                                              The term 'Tattoo Removal' is a misconception.  The only way to 'remove a tattoo'  is to have a doctor extract the pigmented area of the skin.  The outcome is painful and mostly likely to scar. 'Tattoo Lightening' is usually the method most technicians use via laser or salt/saline.  The goal is to "lighten" the color of the pigment so that it is not visible at a quick glance. Tattoo Lightening takes patients and many applications.  Over time, the pigment will fade, however, there's usually a blurry hue of the pigment left in the skin.  People should think twice before getting tattoos.  It costs few hundred dollars and a couple of hours to get it on the skin.  But may cost thousands of dollars and years to lighten. Also, forget spending money on the 'over the counter'  Tattoo Removal systems...it may help exfoliate the epidermal layer of the skin, which may temporarily give the

Before Permanent Makeup                                                    After Permanent Makeup  Hairstroke Brows                                                    My client Rhonda is Asian.  When she first inquired about permanent makeup, she expressed the fear of Blue Grey brows that she sees many women with permanent makeup have. To avoid eyebrow pigment fading to blue-ish grey, do not use Black pigment for brows.   No matter how dark our hair and complexion, the Permanent Makeup artist should always used a variation of Brown, not Black. Black pigment has primary Blue pigment, henceforth, as the black pigment starts to fade, the color blue remains, therefore, will leave a blue- ish grey brows. All pigment fades over time.  There's no way to avoid that, therefore, regular touch ups are needed.  On the flip side, as the Brown pigment fades, Red is the dominant color, therefore, brows may fade into a pinkish color. In either cases, the artist c