Everything You Need To Know About Cosmetic Tattooing

  Full disclosure, I couldn’t stop singing Lil Wayne and Wiz Khalifa and the band Imagine Dragons’ “Sucker for Pain” while writing this piece.

After all, the idea of letting someone anywhere near my eyes or lips with a needle in the name of beauty makes me squirm in my seat.

I’m not talking about Botox and other injectables, I want to talk about cosmetic tattooing.

Let’s start with a myth-buster: just because it has the word tattoo in it, doesn’t mean that it is permanent!

In fact, professionals have moved away from traditional tattoo ink towards pigments to create a more natural look and this also means you will be up for touch-ups every year or so.

If you’ve had a full lip colour tattooed, you could require more regular touch-ups because, well, you use your mouth to eat and drink every day and this helps to exfoliate the pigment out.

As the name suggests, cosmetic tattoo involves the placement of pigment just below the epidermis of the skin and can be done using anything from a traditional coil tattoo machine, to a pen-type rotary or digital-rotary machine, or a non-mechanized manual device.

The most common areas for cosmetic tattoo are the eye brows, eyes, lips and eye lids.

Yes, we are dealing with some highly sensitive areas of the body here, so there is most definitely an ouchy factor involved. How much, depends on your pain threshold. If you are a Sucker For Pain (hehe!), you should get by just fine, but if you do tend to feel every pinch or skin prick in the day-to-day, you might need to seriously consider this procedure.

There are pain management options available through some clinics, like having a local anesthetic administered or fully being put under, but cha-ching! It will cost you.

As it is, one renowned Brisbane cosmetic tattoo artist charges $800 for perfect eyebrows, $700 for top and bottom eyeliner and $800 for lips.

That, in itself, can hurt!

There will be swelling that can last between two to 72 hours, so don’t think you can get in a quick tattoo before your big social event. Professionals say colour will slightly fade during the healing process, but will be a true reflection of what you will be stuck with after two weeks.

Like any tattoo, it can fade and the rate at which it fades is determined by your level of care, sun exposure and the skin care products you use.

If you are looking at the procedures for aesthetic reasons, the before and after photos are quite astounding.

Eyebrows can have fullness and definition added where there were once sparse hairs and the trending 3D look takes it to the next level, by creating a powdered eyebrow look and then adding hand-drawn, realistic looking hairs on top.

Eyeliner can make your eyes really pop and can be accompanied by eyelash enhancement, which creates the illusion of thicker lashes.

Although tattooing can’t give you Kylie Jenner-style enhancement (that’s Botox my dears…) you can add a fuller look and add definition with tattoos. You can even use it to correct an uneven lip line, or just wear your favourite lippy colour every day.

But for those who have allergies or sensitivities to cosmetics, tattooing is a blessing!

It is also something to consider if you are an active sports person or gym enthusiast, or are in the public eye and want to look your best at all times.

Medically, people with disorders resulting in hair loss, or with poor vision, or who are suffering from dexterity challenges that make applying makeup difficult, find that semi permanent cosmetics offers an excellent solution for their beauty needs and their self esteem.

Many clinics also offer paramedical tattoo, where they use their skills to help patients to camouflage scar tissue left from burns, acne, chicken pox, loss of pigmentation and vitiligo.

It can also be used for patients in the final stage of breast reconstruction surgery by creating a natural looking nipple-areola.

Would I do it? Not on your life! But now that you have all the info, you can make an educated decision.