Microshading Must Dos – Everything You Need To Know About Booking A Semi-Permanent Brow Treatment
Struggling with sparse brows or just looking to define what you already have? Microshading techniques including microblading, microfeathering and nanoblading are the go-to treatments for hyper-realistic brows that last (up to 18 months), without the need for make-up.
Having become a staple in many peoples beauty routines, the permanent make-up techniques use tiny precision strokes, mimicking the natural direction and length of the brows for a truly natural look.
Microshading treatments are fast becoming akin to a trip to the nail salon but when having invasive treatments, there are some ‘need to knows’ about booking a treatment. Karen Betts permanent make-up artist, CEO of Nouveau HD Beauty Group, and owner of Karen Betts Clinics reveals her brow guidance for consultation, aftercare, and everything in between for best brow results…
Qualifications are a MUST
You should always seek out a qualified professional for permanent makeup treatments or any salon treatment. Don’t be afraid to ask about qualifications – it’s your face so you absolutely want your brows to enhance and suit you. Ask for before and after pictures, training and insurance certificates and which brand of pigment they are using to ensure your PMU artist is fully qualified and right for you. If you don’t visit a qualified professional, you put yourself at risk of undesired results, misplaced colour, infection or even scarring. Do your research.
Don’t be fooled by a bargain
Everybody always wants a good deal and the same is true for treatments like Microblading. Please don’t be fooled by a bargain though… if it sounds too good to be true it probably is and a microblading treatment from a reputable practitioner usually starts at around £400 and goes up to around £900. The price covers the time and experience of a qualified professional, the best products, and pigments to give you the confidence that you’ll get the best results that will last for up to 18 months.
Consultation is key
Before a treatment, you should always have a consultation – this will involve talking in great detail about the treatment, desired results, and suitability. If you’ve had permanent makeup treatments in the past, you may not be suitable and similarly if you’ve recently had tweakments like Botox or fillers, you’ll need to wait. Consultations help both the client and the artist ensure the desired results are created. At Karen Betts Clinics brows are drawn on with a makeup pencil during consultation. These can be drawn on and adjusted 50 times if necessary and the tattoo process will never begin until the client is completely happy with what they are going to look like.
Timing is important – Consider your full beauty routine
It’s really important to consider your full beauty routine when booking a permanent treatment. If you’re using active ingredients like retinol or acids like AHAs and BHAs, you need to give the skin time to recover both before and after treatment. If you have facial fillers, botox or other injectables, you’ll need to discuss the time needed between treatments. Speak to your professional make-up artist at a consultation for the correct advice and factor in these timings to your regular beauty regime.
Invest in aftercare
Aftercare is just as important as choosing the right technician to care for and protect your new brows, ensuring the best results and maximum longevity. You’ll need to adjust your regular beauty routine for the first week, including not applying makeup for the first 72 hours and avoiding actives and using gentle skincare for seven days. In addition, you shouldn’t expose skin to extreme heat (saunas, sunbeds), cold or moisture until the area has healed, which is usually around two weeks. Overexposure to UV is one of the biggest culprits of pigment fade: I tell all my clients to use high-factor sunscreen daily to protect the area and leave 4-6 weeks between your final re-touch procedure and a holiday.Finally, like any skin or cosmetic treatment, you need to keep up with maintenance. I usually see a client every 12-18 months for a colour boost to ensure their brows are looking perfect.
Interested in booking a brow-building treatment with Karen Betts?
Karen Betts – The Brow Builder, prices available on request from Karen Betts clinics nationwide
Do you feel like your eyebrows are missing something? Perhaps they are sparse, fair, or maybe you just want a more defined look? Karen Betts provides a bespoke brow builder treatment (microblading) to give brows a new lease of life. This microshading technique uses state-of-the-art handheld tool to apply tiny precision hair dots to mimic the natural direction and length of your brows and fill spare areas. The colour-matched pigment is applied over the brow area for subtle and natural results.
