"Can I tattoo my past permanent makeup clients in the future?"
Fresh, healed, and aged are terms you'll hear a lot in the permanent makeup scene. You'll see posts on Instagram and other social media telling people to pick their artist based on how their healed work looks. Healed work is important, but aged work is even more crucial because it shows if you'll need removal later on. So, what's aged PMU? I'd say it's anything 2-5 years after the first session.
Aged work matters because we artists need to be able to update our old work. Cosmetic tattooing is an art that requires careful thought about how it's applied to the skin. You can't just rush in without considering the pigment, skin type, skin condition and expectations, long-term factors, and technique.
If you've been doing cosmetic tattoos for over 5 years, you know that a simple shaded eyebrow usually ages best for most clients. Some clients with thin skin might heal with a speckled or ashy look due to needle depth, but overall, 85% of powder clients will enjoy a nice long-term effect.
So, what's the ideal long-term result? The benefits of soft shading for a good long-term look are... drumroll
even color distribution (not patchy or speckled, just a soft shadow on the skin). NO SHARPIE effect.
a neutral tone (not too cool or warm, not ashy, blue, green, or red)
pigment staying within the natural eyebrow shape
pigment faded over 50% in the skin
pigment chosen (inorganic, organic, or hybrid) ... this one often trips me up
if the shading is light enough, you can switch to another technique like nano which is an advantage
What’s a non-ideal long-term result?
patchy, speckled, deep, blown out
different techniques on the skin (microblading, shading, nano) ... someone who should have had removal at some point
a client who keeps wanting more and more until the skin isn't visible
cutting and puncturing at the same time... this one's the worst.. It's like grounding beef on the surface of your skin
getting hair strokes too close together because the client doesn’t want natural but thinks they do, and they keep asking you to fill in areas (you should have had a powder brow doll).
sharp edges and lines with powder that looks sooooo FAKE
There will always be someone who disagrees with me, but it all comes down to personal taste. From someone who's tried all the techniques and worked with most pigments, my professional opinion is that less ink is better in the long run.
Please let me know if you have anymore questions.
This is an example of machine shading, which really has the best long-term benefits. We used inorganic ink because it's less ashy overtime but fades faster in the skin.
This method, called powder, ombre, borderless powder, and machine shading, uses tattoo marker dots to keep the outline, but they'll fade away within a few washes.
This example showcases three pmu techniques, focusing on fresh nano work. Initially, I covered discolored microblading with shading, transitioning to nano after a few years. Although I prefer softer shading, clients often request more color, so we balance their expectations. I carefully applied nano over her powder and microblading, and we were pleased with the result.
Here's an example of aged microblading with shading. Basically, it involves cutting and puncturing at the same time. It looked great for a few years, but then it started to break down and separate under the skin. When she came back to me for a touch-up, I had to clean up the original microbladed hair strokes using nano. It was definitely the right call because it brought everything back to life.
I caught up with my guest months later for a lash lift, and her brows looked great. From a distance, they looked amazing, and up close, they seemed really natural, especially since she doesn't have much hair there. The color was brown, and you could see some skin through her tattoo, which is a good thing.
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