On the Tuesday morning during my spring break from school, I did a thing.

I had my eyebrows tattooed.

Actually, the proper name for this tattooing process is permanent makeup.  That does sound better, doesn’t it?

I’m no stranger to permanent makeup. My first experience was in 2009 and I’ve been hooked since.

So let me tell you a little about this game-changer.

My experience…

I’ve been seeing Lynn Soles, the owner of Permanent Beauty, since 2013. She is a certified cosmetic professional, trained to the SPCP’s highest standards of ethical permanent makeup practices. She is an artist. She is warm, professional, and I’d trust her with any procedure. That’s saying much since I firmly believe that I should probably never trust anyone.

Her Clayton location is convenient to Goldsboro and is easy to find. It is a very calm, relaxing environment.

Day 1

Lynn greeted me with a warm hug as I arrived. We spent a few minutes chatting and catching up. We discussed the results I wanted to achieve. As I’ve gotten older, one of my eyelids has drooped, causing my previous eyebrow tattoos to be uneven. Seriously, I have the most unsymmetrical face ever! She mapped out the new brows so as to correct the problem. I was able to approve the brow shape and color before the tattooing process began.

Just as I remembered from previous visits, she covered me with a blanket and gave me a stuffed animal to squeeze for comfort. This created a spa-like experience (for me, not the animal.)

After using ice cubes to numb my eyebrows- I swear, this was the worst part!– she did the outline of my brows. This felt like pinpricks. I’d compare it to Botox shots. It was definitely bearable. Afterward, she applied numbing cream while I relaxed for a few minutes.

Next, she finished the hair strokes on my brows. After the numbing cream, I felt no pain- only a pressure that felt as if she were drawing on me with a pen.

The entire process took less than an hour.

When she first showed me a close up of my brows, I was amazed! I’ve not had the hair stroke process before and couldn’t believe how natural it looked.

Since I only needed a boost, it was $150 of the best money ever spent. I try to go yearly, but I’ve found I can’t go more than two years without a boost.

Here are the before and after pictures she took. I have no clue why I didn’t smile. It was a happy experience!

Afterward, I put on giant sunglasses and treated myself to Bojangles fries. Yum! Once home, I applied concealer around the perimeter of my brows to hide the redness, and I ran my errands as usual.

I was instructed to apply the tinted Vaseline mixture every hour for 4 hours on the first day, and morning and night for the next ten days.

Happiness is not having to fight the brow battle in the mornings! I even slapped on a visor to keep my brows from burning in the sun later that afternoon and did yard work. I love this low-maintenance me!

Day 3

This is the day when I first noticed a difference. My brows were itchy and they began flaking, causing a splotchy look. I was able to disguise this with brow powder. Pictured is me with no makeup and my permanent eyeliner that is 6 years old….

Day 10

It did take exactly 10 days for the peeling to stop. The final result was lighter, but perfect for a natural no-makeup look. Perfect for pool days, right?

I still prefer to use my favorite brow powder to give my brows a more polished look. This is my favorite! It’s made by IT Cosmetics. The color is Universal Transforming Taupe and it is waterproof. LOVE it! It only takes 2 seconds to swipe onto your brows.

Let’s answer a few questions ….

What is permanent makeup?

Permanent makeup is basically a tattoo in which ink is deposited into the skin. It won’t wash off. It will fade over time and has to be retouched. A certified cosmetic professional, in my case, Lynn, works with you to achieve the personal look you desire.

Does it hurt?

If you are already familiar with Botox and fillers, it hurts slightly more than Botox injections and much less than fillers. Lynn numbed me with ice first. The first few strokes were the most painful- maybe a 3 on a scale of 1-10. Afterward, she applied numbing cream before she continued. Once the numbing cream was active, I felt nothing but pressure.

What is the cost?

What was the down time?

There was no down time for me. My brows were a bit red, but I was able to touch that up with concealer and resume my normal activities.

How is microblading different from permanent makeup?

From what I’ve researched, microblading uses a special pigment, rather than ink, which doesn’t last as long. Microblading is done in the upper surface of the skin. Tattooing uses a permanent ink that pierces the skin deeper. I choose the tattooing because it lasts longer than the microblading process.

Why did I choose to do this?

I basically do it for convenience. It saves me so much time during my morning routine. It used to take me 15 minutes to draw and redraw my eyebrows to match. Then, I constantly worried about my eyebrows rubbing off during the day. I especially appreciated the tattooing process when I broke my right arm last summer. Because I had skipped my boost, I had to spend weeks trying to draw eyebrows with my left hand. Not pretty. Not tempting fate, but if anything happens, my eyebrows will look good this year. Besides, my IT Cosmetics eyebrow pencils costed a fortune. This may actually be cost effective.

If this is something you’ve been considering, I highly recommend you try it. Permanent makeup is an affordable way to achieve convenience and confidence. Leave it to Lynn to make you look like yourself, but better- without the everyday struggle.

Besides permanent makeup, Lynn offers paramedical tattooing, areola reconstruction tattooing, scar therapy, hair simulation, body art, and art as therapy. If you decide to contact her for any of these services, please tell her how much I think of her and her work!

When I have low maintenance makeup, I am happy. When I am happy, everyone in my world is happy.

Happy tattooing, my friends!