FAQs
If you have to cancel your scheduled appointment, we ask for the business standard of 24 hours’ notice.
Can you give me directions to your Permanent Makeup Clinic?
Click here and you can get door to door directions.
What forms of payment do you accept?
Most procedures are done on women, but some men opt for it, too. The ages of those who choose this solution range from 18 to those well into senior-citizen status. (The oldest woman to have a permanent makeup procedure by Sally was 97.)
Permanent makeup is different than traditional body art tattoos which are usually designed to stand out, generate attention, or make some sort of statement. The best applications are undetectable. It is meant to provide subtle support of a person’s natural features. As a result, procedures should be done in a manner which blends with a person’s skin tones. Most experienced professionals will advise against trying to match hair colors or using unnatural colors which do not blend with skin tones.
As for the “permanent” label, this process is again different than traditional body art tattooing. Pigments and not inks are used in permanent makeup. Thus, they do not last for a lifetime. Occasional touch ups every few years may be considered depending on a variety of factors, including personal preferences, darkness of facial features, amount of exposure to the sun, and the quality of the procedure performed.
What is your experience with Permanent Makeup?
By 1988, I was doing permanent makeup on a full-time basis. I discovered this was my passion and wanted it to be my new career. And so I ended up selling my successful beauty salon in Scottsdale to pursue only permanent makeup, and I have never looked back.
Am I a good candidate for permanent makeup?
Remember you have but one face. Do you want to trust putting it in the hands of just anyone because they are conveniently located or the price is right? Bad permanent makeup can make a mess of your appearance, self-image, and attitude about life. It can cost you far more than the cost of the procedure. The pain of overcoming such a common mistake is physical, emotional, and financial.
Not all permanent makeup artists are equal. Not all are properly trained. Anyone can call herself or himself certified, an artist, or a professional. The proof is in their performance, and you wear the results on your face.
It’s very important you do your research. I recommend the internet because there is a ton of information on the subject. It’s right at your fingertips. You can look and read any time you want. You can look at websites, YouTube videos, and before/after photos for the quality of an artist’s work. You can learn about their knowledge and skills by the quality of their online content. You can see reviews and testimonials posted by other users.
Also, ask people whose opinions you value and trust for recommendations or referrals of permanent makeup professionals. Ask your doctor, your hairdresser, or someone whose permanent makeup you like.
I highly recommend seeing one or more artists or technicians for a consultation. It’s one of my most valuable recommendations, and one of my favorite things to do in my job.
I invite you to take advantage of a consultation. There is no-risk and no obligation. You simply come in and tell me what you think you want. Let me make recommendations and also show you with topical makeup how you will look if you go forward with the procedure. In less than 30 minutes you can literally see and hear for yourself if it’s really what you want to have done, and if I’m the right professional for you.
You can even have your permanent makeup done the same day as you have a consultation. I will never do your procedure without showing you first. Simply tell me at the time of scheduling your consultation that you might want to do the procedure the same day, and I will leave time open for you.
NOTE: If a permanent makeup technician can’t show you what you will look like using topical makeup, you probably do not want to assume the risks they can somehow do it using cosmetic tattooing.
As someone who has had permanent makeup herself, I can tell you it doesn’t hurt.
As someone who knows everyone’s levels of fear and threshold for pain are different, I make your comfort an integral part of the service I provide.
Getting permanent makeup doesn’t hurt but the described feelings of the experience vary from person to person. Five different people can have five different sensations during their procedure. Here are some examples:
“I made it a whole lot worse in my head than it turned out to be.”
“Oh, it tickles!”
“It feels a little scratchy, like you’re using a pencil that’s not sharp enough.”
“I didn’t really feel a thing.”
“I can’t believe I actually fell asleep.”
For permanent eyeliner and permanent eyebrows, most people say having the procedure done felt like a scratching or tickling sensation. Usually, you don’t feel much if anything at all. With permanent eyeliner, it is fairly common for you to want to rub an eye after the procedure. Pain is generally not an issue for most women.
For permanent lip color, I take extra measures for your comfort. I always have a registered nurse with me to do what is, in essence, a superficial dental block. This way, you will feel absolutely nothing while we give you the luscious looking lips you’ve always wanted.
Regarding cosmetic tattooing of areolas, if you have undergone a mastectomy you may have very little sensation. However, in my opinion, you have already been through more than enough. I will use a lidocaine topical anesthetic as a numbing agent for you just in case you do have feeling.
What permanent makeup procedures do you do?
What do I need to know about Permanent Eyebrows or Eyebrows Tattoo Procedures?
If your eyebrows look fake or misplaced, it will often create a negative reflection on you. Natural-looking tattooed eyebrows will generate positive responses to you and your appearance. They will also be so much easier to maintain, and will give you back time every day with newfound freedom from applying, checking, and worrying about embarrassing smudges, smears, and run offs.
Take advantage of my consultations. It could the best 20 minutes to give you confidence and clarity in the process. When you come in, I will listen to what you want and make recommendations from there. I will show you with topical makeup exactly how your enhanced eyebrows will look for you.
The color is harmonized to your skin, not the color of your hair, the color of the month, etc. You always want to have a very natural-looking eyebrow. I don’t believe in putting any black or gray in your eyebrows.
What do I need to know about Permanent Eyeliner Procedures?
I have my own technique for doing all applications of permanent eyeliner. I do it along the lash line and underneath it, instead of the topical makeup look where the line is above the lash line. There is good reason why I have done it this way for so many years:
I don’t like wrinkles. I don’t believe in helping or creating them, especially around the eyes.
I have consulted with some of the leading plastic surgeons to help me refine this technique. I’m a woman just like you. I’m one who is certainly as age conscious as you or probably anyone you know. I don’t want to see wrinkles or let them have their way with me or you.
I want to help you look better, feel better, not help your wrinkles and hurt your appearance and your feelings. The way I do permanent eyeliner is because of the fact that as we age, our eyelids tend to get more crêpe-like, more vulnerable to wrinkles. You certainly don’t want to look like you had an unsteady hand when you had your makeup applied.
Personally, my permanent eyeliner is 26 years old and I’ve only touched it up three times. God knows I’ve aged but people still tell me how great it looks. Women love how having their eyeliner applied along the lash line and under the lash line. It looks good the day we do it, and it looks good, as well as natural, as they age gracefully.
Finally, here is a golden nugget most women want to know. Following your procedure, you can wear mascara again in 24 hours. However, you will need to use a new tube to minimize any risk of infection.
What do I need to know about Permanent Lip Makeup Procedures?
There is one important point you should remember about lips. Lips are tissue which is quite different than skin. As a result, lip tattoos won’t be as bright as traditional lipstick.
As you know, your lips are very sensitive. Therefore, I have a registered nurse give you a superficial block so you are in total comfort with no pain when you have your lips permanently colored.
As for lip procedures in general, I always advise against doing only lip liner. It leaves you with a “ring around the mouth” look which I’m pretty sure you won’t find to be an attractive look to wake up to every day. On a regular basis, I have many women come to me after the fact wishing their previous technician or artist mentioned this to them before doing their lip liner procedure.
The real art in tattooing lips is getting a perfect line. What happens too often is a person gets an imperfect line which doesn’t blend with their lip color, and it leaves them unhappy and insecure over their unwanted “ring around the mouth.”
I have built my entire career of more than a quarter century on delivering undetectable permanent makeup. I believe wholeheartedly in it. My clients agree. I always recommend doing the full lips, the liner and blushing throughout. This provides an absolute match in lip color for you and it looks natural for you morning, noon, and night, saving you time, effort, and total freedom from worrying about “ring around the mouth.”
If you have fever blisters, you will need to get a prescription medication such as Valtrex to take prior to your lip procedure.
What do I need to know about Cosmetic Camouflage Tattooing Areolas?
If you are someone who has had a mastectomy, we can easily create the appearance of a whole new areola. I can do a 3-D effect where it blends in naturally. Sometimes the surgeon creates a nipple for the patient, but not always. In those situations, I do that, too, with blending of the right colors.
In most cases, it takes two applications. I tattoo the area the first time. Then you wait about 30 days and come back for the second application which is when we fine tune the color. We have more flexibility than you may realize here. For instance, if you want to see more of a beige tone to your areolas, we can do it. If you think more of a light pink tone looks better, we can do that, too. Whatever the natural color of your areolas was prior to your surgery is what we should have as our target.
You know, areola tattooing is so important because it represents the finished product for a patient after reconstructive surgery. I’ve learned that most women whom I’ve worked on feel like it’s given them a feeling of completion.
Having breast implants can also be an emotional journey. You don’t want to come so far and have areolas with no coloring. The women for whom I have done cosmetic tattooing of their areolas want their new breasts to look complete, to look as natural as possible. They’ve wanted to feel like the past was over.
If it is time for the new look and the new chapter in your life to begin, cosmetic tattooing of your areolas can be the bridge between the past and the future. I would be honored to help you get there.
How does permanent makeup work with facelift scars?
As for facelift scars, I find permanent makeup to be a very successful solution in camouflaging them. One thing about scars, you know they are inevitable; if you’re going to have surgery, you’re going to have a scar. As to what extent, depends on the person and the procedure.
Some people barely scar after surgery, while other people will have a little bit more of a scar. In any case, cosmetic tattooing presents a great way of covering up a scar and making it look smooth. If you like to wear your hair up behind your ears, you can take colors and blend them in. Sometimes right in the front of your ear you might have a little fine scar which can also be covered up.
Some people are very self-conscious about being left with a facelift scar. Through permanent makeup following plastic surgery, the cosmetic tattooing can fix this problem for you or blend it in to harmonize with your skin to the point where the scar doesn’t stand, and you feel much better about your appearance.
Will the application of Permanent Makeup have any effect on future plastic surgery?
What permanent makeup procedures do you NOT do?
Permanent Eye Shadow: I have never done this procedure because I don’t believe in it. I feel like this procedure locks people into a look that could easily become dated. To me, it isn’t worth it since eye shadow for most people is very easy to put on topically.
Permanent Blush: To put it in simple and straightforward terms, I just feel like this is too big of a liability issue.
Permanent Beauty Marks: I just don’t feel good about them. Over the years, I have been asked to fix too many of them done by other artists or technicians after they wound up looking more like nasty blackheads than anything else. So, I don’t create beauty marks.
Dark Spots: I don’t tattoo dark spots. You can’t cover something that’s dark and make it light. You can cover a white scar but not a dark scar or a red scar.
I don’t do birth marks.
I don’t tattoo under eye concealer.
I don’t tattoo scalps.
How do I prepare for a Permanent Makeup Procedure?
You can drive yourself to and from any procedure. If you have a career, you can return to work right after we’re done or take off the rest of the day. It’s up to you.
In terms of managing your time, you can be safe if you allot an hour for a procedure. Doing multiple procedures saves you time. You can figure on around two hours if you’re doing a full face consisting of eyebrow tattoos, permanent eyeliner, and full lip color.
What is the healing process like following Permanent Makeup Procedures?
Permanent Eyeliner: With this procedure there is virtually no downtime whatsoever for a healing process. Yes, you can wear mascara again in 24 hours. However, you must use a new tube in order to prevent infection. The only real limitation is you just can’t apply any additional makeup on your eyes for three days following your procedure.
Permanent Lip Makeup: Some technicians or artists don’t go to the extent I do to make sure you are comfortable during your procedure. But if it doesn’t have to hurt, why should it? After your procedure, it will be very similar to having chapped lips. Around the 4th day, your lips will usually peel around the edges. You are easily able to soothe them and cover it up wearing your favorite lip gloss or lip balm. It is nothing serious. You’ll be smiling over the look of your new lips right away.
Should I do Multiple Permanent Makeup Procedures at one time? If so, are there any advantages?
Doing your eyebrows, eyeliner, and lips together delivers facial symmetry. All of the natural contours of your face have been enhanced at the same time. All of the primary features of your facial appearance are in balance.
Many women describe doing one procedure as feeling like a mini-makeover. Doing all three at once feels even better.
Quite a few women will come in wanting to do permanent eyeliner and permanent eyebrows together. Then, after those two procedures, they love how that looks so much they decide they don’t want to wait to do their lips.
Over the years, it’s been a little more than one out of three women who do the full face treatment of permanent makeup at once.
How long does Permanent Makeup Last?
Here are some averages or parameters to consider:
Permanent Eyeliner and Permanent Lip Makeup have the greatest longevity. You are probably looking at wanting a re-touch approximately 5 to 7 years after your initial procedure. Again, it depends on the variables listed above.
For Eyebrow Tattoos it’s often around 2 to 4 years when more fair-skinned people think about having a re-touch. As above, your results may vary depending on the factors previously mentioned.
For what it’s worth, in my case wearing permanent eyeliner, I’ve had my third retouch after the initial procedure 25 years ago (all done by me on myself). So, in my opinion I’d say that’s pretty acceptable longevity.
But my eyebrows don’t have the same longevity. They’re on the highest point of my face and my home is in Arizona’s “Valley of the Sun.” Even though I don’t bathe in the sun, I still touch up mine about every two or two and a half years. This is mainly because I don’t like to see them too dark. And, I don’t believe in ever using any black or gray near the eyebrows.
As for my lips, once again, if you do them light and natural-looking you’re going to maybe consider touching them up 3 to 5 years. If you happen to do your lips a bit of a darker color there’s a good chance you could last about five years without a re-touch. I just re-touched my permanent lip color this spring. It had been six years since the previous re-touch.
If it actually is “Permanent” Makeup, then why will I need a re-touch?
Permanent makeup uses lighter blended colors than body art tattoos in order to keep it looking natural. This is why it eventually fades. You don’t “need” a re-touch; however, if you like how your appearance and how it makes you look better, and saves you time and effort, you will likely get them done occasionally. You set the calendar based on how often. If you aren’t sure, check with your service provider and she or he can help you determine when you might have a re-touch based on a variety or external factors affecting you.
What happens if I change my hair color or decide I want my Permanent Lip Makeup a different color?
The way I apply permanent makeup will not ever make you feel locked into a look. Because you have undetectable permanent makeup that looks natural day or night, you will enjoy great flexibility with your appearance. Wearing topical makeup is still an option or a choice whenever you want. But really, isn’t it nice to know it will no longer be a time stealing necessity every single day?
What types of equipment and delivery method do you use for permanent makeup?
For you, the even better news is these digital machines are designed for acupuncture surgical-grade needles that are a major upgrade from standard tattoo pins. If you had permanent makeup done many years ago, you will definitely notice this delivers a much more delicate experience for the skin or lip tissue, and provides you with much greater comfort in getting the look you want.
The fact of the matter is I receive zero compensation for using PureBeau. I pay for it like every other permanent cosmetic professional who chooses to use it.
The benefit for me is seeing your reaction that first moment following your procedure when you hold up a mirror and you see your enhanced natural beauty for the first time.
What is the difference between the Machine Method and the Manual Method in Permanent Cosmetics?
Are the stories of Bad Permanent Makeup real and as bad as I hear?
My business and reputation as an experienced professional are fairly well established. I don’t need to put down the competition in order to get clients. I am lucky and honored to get referrals from doctors. I am always touched by all of the referrals I receive from clients who have happily told others about what good I have done for them. It’s also very nice to get notes from people around the world expressing thanks for all of the information here on this website.
The truth is, I have seen thousands of examples of success in action. By this, I mean excellent undetectable permanent makeup done by true professionals and worn by women of all backgrounds who love how much better they look, how much more confidence they feel in their appearance, and how much of an easier lifestyle they enjoy.
Unfortunately, it is also the whole truth and nothing but the truth that I seem to have more women than ever come to me to fix bad permanent work done by poorly skilled technicians. I didn’t use the term “artist” or “professional” here intentionally because some of the work I see is not that of an artist, nor is it that of a professional.
If you think smears, smudges, or run-offs of your topical makeup is embarrassing, that’s a drop in the ocean of tears you’ll want to cry when it comes to getting a bad tattoo job.
The problem runs more than skin deep. I have women come to me with the confidence in their appearance gone. They hide the damage as best as they can and now makeup takes them more than ever instead of less. Many of these women say they feel more like hiding when they hoped they would be feeling more like shining. So they actually go out in public less as a result of it.
Permanent makeup is not designed to be a self-imposed prison. It is supposed to help you enjoy more freedom from time and effort spent looking great!
Bad permanent makeup is often pretty bad. By this, I mean you have to have it either lasered off or surgically removed. I see an average of 12 to 14 people a month that I refer to a laser clinic and sometimes it’s so bad I have to refer them to a plastic surgeon. It makes my heart ache because it is my chosen trade and there is simply no room or excuse for shoddy work.
I have had a good run for more than 25 years in permanent makeup. There’s not a day goes by when I don’t feel blessed and grateful for it. I take my career very seriously, and work as hard as ever to help others. Because of this, I have the courage and passion to speak out about bad permanent makeup. Hopefully, it prevents people from experiencing this problem.
- Do your homework on permanent makeup artists.
- Have a consultation before having a procedure.
- Don’t let anyone tattoo you who can’t first show you with topical makeup exactly how you will look.
- Trust your intuition and make a decision you can live with every day.
I absolutely love permanent makeup… and want you to feel the same way!
