Not only did I have a permanent makeup procedure done once; I did it twice. The first time I did, several girlfriends and I had a few glasses of wine and I did it on a dare.  I had a eyebrow tattoo procedure done. I had never been interested in some little heart with an arrow through it on my ankle or a butterfly on my buttocks, but eyebrow tattoo that made sense. I was not sorry the next day or anytime after that unlike some gals who get a tattoo after a few glasses of wine and a dare. It didn’t hurt. It was like little pin pricks. My eyebrows did feel hot when the tattoo artist was almost finished and then they were very slightly sore for an hour.

The first time it was done in a plastic surgeon’s office. My girlfriends and I had been attending a seminar on cosmetic procedures. For the first five years the eyebrow tattoos needed no penciling at all. But when they faded (and they will eventually fade) after eight years, I used the permanent eyebrow line, had the correct shape, .as guidelines for when I needed to pencil them in.

Fast-forward eight years. I am in the beauty parlor having my eyebrows waxed when the cosmetician remarked that one eyebrow was sparser than the other. That was obvious now that most of the tattoo was gone. “Why don’t you have it done again,” she asked. I decided then to make an appointment.

I had the procedure four days later and for a few days I needed to apply ointment to the scabs twice a day; I was not to get them wet. The color is darker than it will be when the scabs come off. What scabs? I didn’t think I had anything done so painful it would cause scabbing. Wrong! They will scab and then the color will be a much lighter brown to go with my fair coloring.

Here is my warning. Check around for someone experienced in creating permanent make-up. I have no desire to tattoo my lips and although I did have eyeliner done the first time I won’t go down that road again. It was great while it lasted and it does mean foregoing all those messy pencils and liquid liners but I think I would need more than a few glasses of wine to get it done again. I had never realized before having my eyebrows done the first time how important it is to have well shaped brows. I had put much more emphasize on eye shadow, foundation and blush. But well shaped eyebrows truly make your eyes look bigger and give your entire face balance. Think about it.