Semi-permanent eyeliner!

Eyeliner has always been a bit of stumbling block for me. No matter how hard I try, I very rarely perfect it and if I do, it is usually three or four hours (and five or six tantrums) after initially plopping down in front of the mirror AND by then, my eyes are so irritated and watery that the so allusive 'perfect' line quickly becomes a black splodgy mess.

One big fat sigh!

Few things frustrate me more. I've tried so hard over the years to master some kind of lining technique but to little avail and I've got to say as far as make up can, this makes me sad.

You see, y'all know I'm a bit of a sucker for mascara. I like my eyes to look their best. To be honest, its the first thing I notice in others and I guess, I wonder if it the same in reverse. If it is, if my eyes are the first thing people notice about me then I want them looking darn good and sorry, but without eyeliner, sometimes I think my make up looks a little incomplete or as if I haven't bothered. I also think certain eyeliner looks give off a bit of a professional air and that all eyeliner makes a person instantly look more confident. As I grow older, I find this appeals to me more and more.

See, I friggin' love eyeliner, I should be showcasing flicks and lines everyday. . . if only I could apply it.

Well, I can't so I have opted for a little help . . , semi-permanent eyeliner.

Semi-permanent eye liner (micropigmentation) is similar to a tattoo in that pigment is injected in to the skin to leave a lasting mark. All semi-permanent make up procedures should be done by a qualified specialist (and not your everyday tattoo artist). My therapist is actually a qualified nurse, a fact I repeated to myself again and again as I saw the shadow of the needle heading towards my eyes! The most common features enhanced by semi-permanent make up are the eyebrows, lash lines and lips. I have opted to have eyeliner micropigmentation on both my top and bottom lash lines.

Semi-permanent make up does not tend to last as long as a tattoo. It is not permanent. In my case, I had an initial consultation (including patch tests. Note: I believe that you have to be 18+ to have semi-permanent make up in England) and it was explained to me that the pigment would be placed in to my skin during the first appointment and a guideline would be formed. Then on the second appointment, at least 4 weeks later, a little more pigment would be added and my lines would be perfected. My therapist could not pinpoint exactly how long the lines would remain perfectly in place but she strongly recommended a booster session after the first year then sometimes, the make up can last six years or so but again, it depends on the products you use, your environment and natural skin exfoliation and reactions. Annual boosters may be necessary for some.

So far, I have only had my first appointment but I'm quite impressed. I will do a full post after my second appointment but so far I can make the following points:

The look!



A photo I took on my phone a couple of hours after the treatment.

- The initial lines, particularly the top one, looked great. The pigmentation of the black I'd chosen was very strong and the colour was solid. My eyes were obviously lined but very neatly so it didn't look too much. I was advised not to wear eye make up for a while and that first night, I didn't need a scratch.

 

 

What my eyes look like now.

- Moving on four weeks and right now, if you looked at me straight on, you may see a difference in my eye make up but you probably wouldn't be able to pinpoint what it was or any obvious eyeliner.

After the first appointment, you are told that 70% of the pigmented new lines will appear to disappear in the first week (you do not lose as much after your second appointment as then there is a pigmented base to work from) and that is about right. My bottom lash line and the ends of the top lash line have muted greatly. The needle used was very thin and precise and now, my lash line just looks deeper. Although from above, you can see fine lines.

- I've got to say that even though the eyeliner is not particularly identifiable as eyeliner, my face does seem to be taking less time to do in the mornings. I don't think I look made up when I wake up or anything but I just don't seem to need quite as many layers of mascara or blush to awaken or brighten my face up. There is no doubt the lines have added something already even if you can not always see "lines".

- My therapist has initially given me two lines which follow my natural lash lines. There are no flicks or anything like that. If I want those, I can (easily?!!) add them myself. Some therapists may add these more arty touches on the second appointment. I think, my therapist would prefer not to. She sees the treatment as one to enhance my natural lash line and something I can build on further. Once you have your therapist put flicks or cat eyes on, you define the way your face and style will be for months, possibly years to come. It's a bit of a commitment as far as make up goes.


About a week after the treatment. This is what I would like the finished look to look like although I've just noted one eye still looks a little swollen.

Yes, I've go to say that I'm pretty happy with the initial lines that I've been given. I may ask the therapist just to take them in ever so slightly further to the inner and outer corners but I don't want her to stray from my natural lash line or close my eyes up. With the lines, I currently have, versatility is maintained. I can go over them with different eyeliner products and colours. I can also add to them to change the shape of the line for a special night or to indulge my latest whim or the the latest fashion. Who knows maybe if I keep tracing over the pigment, I may get the art of eyeliner in to my head and be able to do it myself, without any guidelines, by the time the pigment disappears. Yes, flying pigs!!

And 'cos I'm sure you're all wondering . . .the pain!

- The initial application did not hurt too much at the time. Though I did find it more painful then a tattoo I recently had (but then I didn't find the tattoo painful at all). The needle bit was bearable and I did not need any breaks. The therapist went over each eye four times with pigment. Local numbing products was used. It took about an hour.

- My eyes felt more or less fine for the first 12 hours after the treatment and I drove 30 minutes home with no problems. The next morning, my eyes felt very heavy and began to look swollen. Within 24 hours, they were very, very swollen and extremely sore. It took about 48 hours for this to die down. Even though, my therapist had warned me over and over about this. The extremity of discomfort those couple of days did worry me at the time and I started panicking, thinking, 'Is this normal?'. I think, I was just so shocked because they had felt so ok on the day itself.



Ouch! 24 hours after the initial treatment.

- After the initial 2 or 3 days, my eyes felt (and looked) normal again. Very occasionally, maybe 2 or 3 times a week, I have a couple of minutes where it feels as if there is something in my eye. It may be they are a little bit dry, it reminds me of how they felt when I tried contact lenses at the beginning of the year (disaster!) but passes much quicker. For the first couple of weeks, I would also find little flakes of pigments of my cheeks or face cloth.

Anyway, at the moment, as uncomfortable as the aftermath was, I'm hoping that it will all be worth it. This was just a post today to introduce you to semi-permanent make up but I will follow up with my final thoughts after my second appointment next week.

Would you consider semi-permanent make up? How do you master eyeliner? Have you had any cosmetic treatments to try and enhance your look or just make life a little easier?

 

Have a fab weekend. Until next time . . .

 

X

　

The annual tan incident!

So just how many fake tan disasters will it take for me to realise that fake tan and me aren't a match made?!

Probably too many!

I normally have at least one tanning disaster every year. However, as I opted for a professional spray tan this year instead of a hapless, hasty home application, I dared to hope the curse may be broken.

Shakes head, *Na dahhh* Really, I should have known better.

Sure, there was a lot of good points to my Sienna X Spray Tan including the fact that . . .

- The tanning solution gave me an instant colour and I was given a choice of three shades by my therapist.

- My body, from head down, instantly looked more toned and healthy. I honestly think I look at least half a stone lighter. Got to love that! Ooh and my teeth do look quite white, kerching! :)

- The tan dried quickly. The therapist left me under a heater for 5 minutes and I've yet to find any tan on my clothes, furniture or sheets.

- The scent of the tan is summery and reminds me of sandy shores. My skin also feels incredibly soft and happy.

- The tan lasted and lasted and still lasts . . . despite a whole lot of scrubbing.

Yes, that's right, despite all of the good points, there are many reasons why I have spent the last couple of days tirelessly trying to scrub my golden glow away.

- Firstly, it is just too much. The medium shade (which I chose, oops!) was absolutely too dark for me. My face looks all wrong and kind of harsh. The tan is perfectly smooth (withstanding a few smudges around the wrist area) but when I see my reflection, all I see is tan and a little shimmer. There is no hint of me or my skin at all. I look artificial.

- What bothers me most is the fact that my own eyes (the only feature that I quite like about myself) are suddenly unrecognisable and in the words of another, 'not as bright'. The boldness of my new tan makes my green eyes appear almost brown and they just seem lost.

- In fact, some of my other features suddenly seem askew. Although I look slimmer from the neck down, my face actually seems to look a little less sculpted and I'm putting this down to an unflattering shimmer sitting on my forehead which will not be scrubbed or buffed away.

- Usually when I'm having a bad face day, I play around with my make up but at the moment, I'm soo tanned, I have no idea what shadows and blushes to pick and whatever I pick seems to either appear chunky, chalky and cheap (All That Glitters and Satin Taupe, I'm looking at you) or disappears leaving me defined by nothing but the bloody tan (MAC Bronze, anyone?!) or just obviously plain wrong (Benefit, Dandelion and MAC, Blushbaby)!  I don't have a clue what colours to use to compliment my new skin tone.

- As if that wasn't bad enough, the strength of the tan seems to overshadow my barnet. My hair suddenly looks flat, moussy and patchy. Eurgh, really lacklustre.

In short, I look wrong which is why I haven't included any face or portrait shots. I tried but everything seems overpowered by the power of the tan and tanned, I no longer feel like me.
Sidenote: Just so you know, the fact that I've been brushing on that new L'Oreal False Lash mascara (reviewed here) every day does not help me feel any better about myself. I'm really going to have to get something else this weekend. Such a letdown!
However, I have included a little pic of one of my tan lines so you can see the contrast between my natural skin tone and the tan.

Nice tan!

I just wish it suited me especially my face. I know, bodywise, I'm actually going to feel quite fat and frumpy when the tan fades away. :(

Lately I've been off the clothes and make up fad but riding the beauticians one with more regular grooming treats here and there. My original plan for the summer was to maintain a tanned complexion with regular spray tan appointments but now, I'm seriously considering digging the Make Believe (reviewed here) or Soltan (reviewed here) out for a more natural golden glow occasionally and limiting the beautician treats to nourishing facials (a big cheer for the Skin Brightening one please!) and suchlike.

Though in conclusion, I've got to admit that the Sienna X Spray Tan does do exactly what you would expect from a spray tan, it leaves you with a fabulous tan (in my case, a very tropical one) that really lasts.

It is just that until I got my Sienna X spray tan (I now know, I've never met a home tan that really really tans, they lend a mere glow in comparison), I never realised how pale I actually was and how much a proper full on tan works against my natural colouring and features.

I would totally recommend this tan to those of you who are seriously in to tanning or are naturally a little more tanned then myself (not hard!) and I've got to admit (I'll whisper this) that I'm tempted to get a top up (after all, top ups are discounted!) with the lightest shade of Sienna X just to see if this is light enough to give me a look closer to what I originally envisaged. In fact, I have had a spray tan before which went a little more to plan and on that occasion, the lightest shade available of a tan from Coco Bay was used so you never know?! Maybe the only tanning mistake this time was in fact, my choice of shade .

Oh dear, it looks like I have a few more fake tan episodes to come yet. Will I never learn?

I hope you are all OK. Have a great weekend!

What is your tanning ritual? Do you get spray tans? Any bottle tan recommendations?

X