I had saved for a serger sewing machine for several years (I asked for money for birthdays, Christmas, Anniversary, Mother’s Day, and I had about $300 saved). Then I saw a friend who had the permanent make-up done and I *LOVED* it. So after debating for a while, I took my serger money and spent most of it on tattoos :). For quite a while now, I have *hated* the fact that my lips were so "washed out". I felt it really contributed to my looking aged! I hadn’t ever considered doing "permanent eye-liner" but my friend loved it so much, and I never could find an eyeliner that didn’t smudge down and look a big mess after a couple of hours. So I had my eyes and lips done at the same time, and it was about 3 hours under the needle! I absolutely LOVE the end result, but I have to say, if you're thinking of having it done, I thought it was EXCRUCIATING!
She did put numbing cream on my lips (and let it sit for a while before she worked on my lips), but it wasn’t very effective until the lips were "opened up". So it was EXTREMELY painful initially as she basically ran this machine over the entire surface of my lips and "ripped them open" in order to take the dye. (I don’t know what the technical terms are, I only know what it felt like!) Once my lips were open, she put more numbing cream on, and while that went to work, she did my eyes. When she went back to my lips, I didn’t feel anything at all. It was EASY - NO PAIN - until the recovery process.
Actually, having the eyes done was NOT as painful as the lips. But I found it irritating in the EXTREME - I can’t tell you how difficult it was for me. You have to keep your eye open and steady with that machine buzzing right at the edge of your eye. I got to the point where I just said, "STOP - I can’t TAKE any more!"
After - You are BURNING and need LOTS of crushed ice IMMEDIATELY. On the eyes, I had to keep ice on for 20-30 mins of every hour for the first evening. The next morning, I did maybe 10 mins every few hours. They peel a bit. But the recovery was really very easy. The lips were another matter. I walked around holding a bag of crushed ice to my lips almost SOLID for the first day and MOST of the next day too, and I looked like Nadia had painted my lips for me! In fact I looked AWFUL for a good 3 days, and not so great for 3 days after that. Your lips blister and peel, and bits of the color peel off every little while, until the whole top layer has peeled off.
I *DO* love it. Initially the "oddest" part to me was that I would wake up in the morning, and looked like I was wearing lipstick. The eyeliner is GREAT. Most days, I get up and go, and don’t do anything else with make-up. The only time I put on eye shadow & mascara is for church, going out, etc. So I figure I save a LOT in time and money because of that. Negatives are primarily the miserable recovery. I do think that my eyes are more sensitive since I had it done. It’s odd and hard to quantify, but they seem to "tear up" more often (no - I’m not talking about REAL tears - that Vermeulen genetic curse). And they just feel more sensitive as I put on mascara.
BTW: This is how I found out that there was an oral anti-VIRAL med (to stop cold sores breaking out). The lady who did my "tattoos" recommended it, because she said you can break out in hundreds of cold sores after you have your lips done. My dentist prescribed it for me. If anyone is interested, it’s AYCYCLOVIR (generic for Valtrex).
I have been told that there are more BAD practitioners out there than good ones, so if you decide to do it, be sure to check around thoroughly and make sure you’re getting a good one!
If you want cost info - I paid $100 for the eye liner and $125 for full lips. I was told that in order to make the color more uniform and make the pigment last longer, I needed a touch up about 6 weeks after. Well, I couldn’t hack the thought of anything on my eyes, so only did the lips. In hindsight, I wish I hadn’t done the touch up on the lips - I don’t think it was needed. They also said people usually do a touch up on the eyes every 2 years or so and the lips more often (for $50 each). Well, it’s 2 years now, and I have no intention of doing them again any time soon. I think they still look great. So that’s my tattoo story - and I’m sticking to it :).
