I am a permanent cosmetics artist. I tattoo faces. I call it my side hustle, even though it has been my business for almost 5 years. I have always been creative. I have always drawn/doodled/sketched and have always loved makeup.
About 5 years ago, I wanted to get my eyebrows microbladed. Microblading is form of cosmetic tattooing that implants pigment into the skin via a manual tool with a blade attached. It is used to create or fill in missing brows and can last a couple years. While researching an artist, I discovered someone who also did training. It was like a lightbulb went off in my head. It was my "AHA" moment. This was something I could do, and I felt drawn to it.
I hired an artist to train me and was supervised by her for multiple "models" before heading out on my own. I later learned that there were licenses, permits, and other official things that needed to be done in order to open up my own shop. I was in a salon within 3 months of being trained.
This April will be 5 years for me. I train multiple times a year to learn new skills and methods. I no longer am a manual artist; I only use tattoo machines to create brows, eyeliner, and lips. I get paid to be creative. It is part time since I am still so busy raising kids and doing school with them daily, but I am my own boss and set my own hours.
Ladies come to me because they overplucked their brows as teenagers and they never grew back. They come to me because they have no brows, don't know how to shape their brows, or don't want to keep doing it every single day. There are ladies who get sick of their brows being gone by the end of the day because they have been wiped, sweated, or melted off. I also have women who are older (65+) and want to still look their best but cannot see well to draw on their brows anymore or they have lost hand-eye coordination and can't draw them on anymore because their hands are so shaky. Ladies who NEED help are the most rewarding to help.
I also love to be able to create a good before and after. Every person that comes in my door is a unique case. Everyone has a different face shape, bone structure, and skin type, as well as different aesthetic tastes. Every appointment takes me about two hours. I do measure and sketch out brows on my client, and once I get their approval, I mix their ink and get to tattooing. I usually use a single needle, and I do numb for this. I do the same thing for eyeliner and lips. People get eyeliner and lips done for many of the same reasons they do brows. The permanent cosmetics will usually last a couple years, and then I do a retouch as needed to refresh the color and/or shape.
Being a permanent makeup artist really helps me to satisfy my creative side, and I get paid for it. It is a great blessing, and I regularly pinch myself that I am able to have this opportunity. Another skill I will learn soon is areola tattooing to be able to create areolas for cancer survivors. I plan on continuing to learn new things year after year. Not only is it fun, but also rewarding to see how lives can be changed by having something like this done. It is a joy to see a woman's life transformed in this small, but impactful way.
