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THE WASHINGTON POST TRENDS Josephine Kirks and her daughter, Heather, sit anxiously in the waiting room of Permanent-Line in Potomac. Josephine, 56, an information specialist, and Heather, 26, a youth activities counselor and aspiring model, are waiting to get tattooed. Yes, tattooed. The waiting room decor is Chippendale. The receptionist offers gourmet coffee, tea and Evian. Mozart is piped in. Not your typical tattoo parlor. No dragons or "Amy luvs Joey" here. To the contrary. A new breed of tattooing has emerged--permanent makeup. Now anyone can have eyeliner, eyebrows and lip coloring 24 hours a day. Not to mention the illusion of hair where there once was none. Donald Trump, Georgette Mosbacher and former Miss America Mary Ann Mobley, have had it done. James Brown, too. Permanent makeup artists from D.C. to L.A. have seen a quiet, steady rise in the number of clients in the past two years--among them federal judges, anchor women, politicians, movie stars, professionals and athletes. Permanent makeup, which has been popular in Asia and Europe for decades, made it to the United States about 15 years ago. In a one- to two-hour procedure, the artist implants pigment into the skin.
The initial color is darker than expected. In a few days the skin flakes off, revealing a lighter and permanent color. Adjustments in color can be made within a month. Because fading occurs gradually over two to six years, touch-ups are required. "Many of my clients are prominent women who really don't have the time to apply and reapply makeup throughout the day," explains Astrid Schneider, micropigmentation specialist and owner of Permanent-Line. "But I would say the majority of my clients are professionals who don't want to spend a lot of time dealing with makeup. It's fun when you're 16, but that can get a little old." Schneider has applied permanent makeup to approximately 5,000 clients in the past 11 years. Permanent makeup can enhance the appearance of people with alopecia (hair loss), especially to the eyebrows, by applying individual, hair-like lines. People with vitiligo, (uneven patches of skin lacking in color) burns and scars are treated by rematching the surrounding tissue. In Hollywood, big name celebrities may wait up to two weeks to get an appointment with Sheila May, the permanent makeup artist to the stars. "In Hollywood, looks and image are everything. I've seen a fast, significant rise (in permanent makeup) in the last two years," says May, 49, in a telephone interview from her office in Pacific Palisades. "Rock stars come to me because the perspiration from the heat and lights causes their makeup to run. There's also a lot of big-name soap stars coming because of all the kissing scenes they do. They tell me afterwards what a relief it is not to have to reapply their lipstick after each take," May says. "After I did James Brown's eyebrows, he told me he didn't mind if anyone knew. He's very open." Brown had them done in 1991. There remains a stigma attached to permanent makeup, much like cosmetic surgery, and many celebrities don't want to "come out." Many sign confidentiality forms. "I totally respect their privacy," May says, "and will never reveal a star's name unless they say it's okay. But I can tell you that a lot of big, big name stars are getting it done and it looks so natural that no one can tell." May and Schneider strongly advise anybody considering permanent makeup to check out the artist's credentials. Word of mouth usually offers the best guarantee of good results. "Look at the artists' portfolio of before and after shots and verify that the person showing you the pictures is indeed the one that did the work," says Schneider. "To do it well requires years of repeated applications. You've got to take into consideration the clients' skin color, texture and age." "It's important that the client is properly anesthetized," she says. "If a person doesn't know what he or she is doing and the patient moves, the pigment can be injected too deep and it will spread. I've seen people come to me with pigment a half-inch below their eyes. A lot of my work is just correcting other peoples' mistakes." May agrees. "Permanent makeup is a buyers beware market," she says. "It's an unlicensed field, so there are a lot of inexperienced people out there that don't know what they're doing. About 20 percent of my business is corrections. It's really sad." Dermatologist Arthur Ugell at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Laser Institute uses a laser to remove pigment from botched jobs. "I only see the women who are unhappy with their tattoos," says Ugell, "If I were to give advice to anyone considering this, I'd say, 'Be careful, have it done so it looks natural and subtle. What's fashionable today may not look good in the future. It may be easy to put on, but it's very difficult and expensive to remove." In a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers found that it takes an average of 8.9 laser sessions to remove more than 95 percent of tattoo pigment. Sessions run between $200 and $350 each. "Permanent makeup can look very good for a long time," says plastic surgeon Robert Sigal of the Austin-Weston Center in McLean. "But one needs to be careful if considering this. There's the chance of a possible allergic reaction or marks where you don't want them, caused by a slipped hand." A woman living in Bethesda knows the risks. "I had my eyebrows and eyeliner done five years ago by a plastic surgeon," says the woman, who is in her sixties and did not want to be identified. "It was a disaster. I felt like a person for him to practice on. The eyebrow shape was unnatural and the eyeliner was so thick." She paid $2,000, only to pay another $700 to have it corrected by a reputable permanent makeup artist four months later. Then there's Judy Chen, formerly of Rockville, who had eyeliner applied by a "fly-by-night" permanent makeup artist. It's been three years, and the pigment has since run below her lower lids creating a raccoon look. "I'm leery if the procedure is not done in a medical surrounding," says Michael Maron during a telephone interview from Los Angeles. Maron, celebrity beauty expert, author of "Makeover Miracles" (Random House) and makeup consultant to the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons, sees permanent makeup being offered by beauty salons, where sterility and properly trained technicians could be a concern. Another concern is that in many states, including Maryland, it is illegal for beauty salons to offer the procedure. "Any place where there's permanent makeup taking place should have an autoclave (a heat sterilization machine) and disposable needles." he says. One also needs to be aware of the surroundings: Are they clean? Is the person applying permanent makeup wearing gloves? "Permanent makeup has it's place if it's done correctly, for people with problems with dexterity, vision and allergies. Remember though, styles change." How safe is permanent makeup? John Bailey, director of the Food and Drug Administration's Office of Cosmetics and Colors in Washington, has begun preliminary studies on permanent eyeliner. In an in-vitro (cell cultures) study, a pigment used in some permanent makeup procedures, was found to be cytotoxic--meaning it affects cells under certain conditions. The next step in the study will be to test the pigment on mice. "Permanent makeup is not to be approached as a lark," says Bailey. "Approach it cautiously. The consumer needs to arm (herself) with not only the benefits but also the risks. The consumer should talk to people who have had it done. Have it done by someone who knows what they're doing, someone with artistic talent." "Though I am not an advocate of permanent makeup, there is a place for it . . . for the elderly or anyone having difficulty applying makeup." It's been four weeks, and Josephine and Heather Kirks are back for their follow-ups. They are delighted with their new looks. They both had their eyebrows, eyes and lips done. (Another daughter, Kendra Kirks, had a permanent makeup procedure several months earlier). Josephine adds only foundation and blush. Heather, born with great skin, uses nothing. "It used to take me 25 minutes to put on makeup in the morning," says Heather. "Now, I'm out the door in no time." The Cost At private clinics, eyebrows are $ 550 to $ 800, eyeliner is $ 650 to $ 1,100 and full lip shading is about $ 1,200. Expect to pay more in a physician's office Permanent Pigments Make Up for Busy Lives Penny Lictra lies on a doctor's type table, covered with a white sheet in a white room with a white light glaring down on her face, the kind of beam you see in your dentist's office that makes your eyes water. She is perfectly relaxed. She's not here for a root canal or a filling, just a simple procedure not unlike many that more and more women are opting for, and that will give a few more minutes of free time in the morning–she's getting her lower eyelids permanently lined. German-born Potomac resident Astrid Schneider, a micro-pigmentation specialist and owner of Permanent-Line located in Potomac Village, she goes to work. She dons sterile gloves, removes Licitra's eye makeup, and lightly applies a gel-like anesthesia to Licitra's lower Lids. Then , with the grace of an artist and the skill of a craftsman, Schneider applies a line of dye along Licitra's lid, who is resisting the urge to blink. "The hardest part is keeping your eyes open," says Licitra, a McLean resident. "I prefer the eye open because it stretches the skin but the priority is to stay still," says Schneider, who was trained in her work in Europe. Next comes the machine, a thick pen-shaped device that looks and sounds unnervingly like a dentist's drill, with a disposable needle inside that moves rapidly in and out to inject the dye under the skin. Now just try not to blink. But Licitra shows no sign of concern. "It doesn't hurt," she says, adding that the sensation of a needle poking in and out of her eyelid feels "a little prickly" but isn't painful. It also, she says, makes her sneeze. Schneider pauses every few moments to check her work, injecting dye just a bit at a time, like a painter dabbing oils on a canvas. After about 20 minutes, its over. Licitra sits up, checked her eyes in a magnifying mirror, and nods her approval. Her eyes are a bit puffy (that subsides in a day or so, says Schneider) and her eyeliner is a bit on the darkside (that also fades into a more subtle hue), but Licitra, who works for the show "Tennis Today" as a publicist, won't have to apply eyeliner for the next five years or so. Imagine. Never having to put on make up. Never having to worry about smudges. Waking up already made-up. Tossing out the lip brushes and eye liners and flipping the T.V. channel when yet another ad for a truly lasts-all-day cosmetic comes on. Never having to surreptitiously re-apply lipstick at a restaurant, or try to wipe off a smudge of the same from a wine glass. Licitra's foray into permanent makeup began last March, when she ventured into Schneider's clinic hoping for a fuller upper lip. "I had no top lip," says Licitra candidly, pulling out a pile of "before" photographs, showing a full-but-pale bottom lip and a thin, barely-visible top one. "I'd spend as much time working on my lips in the morning as my hair or anything else." Now, though she doesn't exactly have the pout of Claudia Schiffer, there is a noticeable difference. Her upper lip is a natural-looking, full Cupid's bow, and doesn't look at all like a tattoo, which, technically, is exactly what permanent makeup, or micro-pigmentation, is. Since they, she's had her upper lids lined by Schneider, who also enhanced her eyebrows with tiny, hair-like strokes of her needle. "Nature is very hard to fake, "says Schneider, of Permanent-Line, who adds that she strives for an unmade-up look. "The goal is to allow a woman to get up in the morning and run out of the house without looking washed out," she says. Permanent-Line uses pigments that are federally approved and are widely used in the cosmetics industry. The clinic test patients for allergic reactions before doing any procedure, injecting a bit of the pigment in an area such as behind the ear. The next step is deciding which colors to use, and how much. Astrid Schneider's philosophy is to talk her clients out of anything too trendy. No Cleopatra eyes here. Most of the colors last three to five years, although the pigment may not fade on very fair-skinned woman as long as 10 years. Clients of permanent makeup services range from busy women who don't have time to put makeup or don't want to bother, to people who aren't able to apply cosmetics the way they want it because arthritis or poor eyesight, to women who wear contacts and whose eyes water, making their makeup run. Unlike face lifts or fat injections to make lips fuller, permanent makeup is relatively non-intrusive and a bit easier on the pocket book. At Schneider's clinic, for example, an upper and lower lid lining costs $350. A lip lining costs $650, while lining the lips and coloring them in with pigment costs $1,100. Not exactly as cheap as a lifetime supply of lipstick, but stillÉThis reporter, for one, was ready to hop on the table and get the works right then and there. It's tempting. But, as with all cosmetic medical procedures, or with regular, over-the-counter makeup itself, you may expect to look a little better, maybe feel better about yourself, but you can't expect miracles. "I don't have a magic wand," says Schneider. But that's fine by most people, who just want their lives to be a little more streamlined, And often it has little to do with vanity. When Licitra is asked if she minds if her face in all its cosmetic surgery glory adorns the cover of, say a local newspaper, she responds breezily, "I'm not vain., I've had liposuction, all kinds of things. And I tell anyone who asks." And when people ask her what wonder lipstick she is using that manages to stay on during a meal, she says she just tells them the truth. Usually. "I was outside gardening the other day and my neighbor came up to me and said" 'You put on makeup to work in the yard?' I just smiled knowingly." To reach
Permanent-Line, call (800) 933-2748 or (540) 687-4746 |
If
the goal is permanent eyeliner, the client reclines in a chair similar
to one found in a dentist's office and topical anesthetic is applied.
For the next hour or so, there is the "bbbbrrrr" of a pen-shaped
device as the pigment is injected between the eyelashes. Some clients
describe a "prickly" or "annoying" feeling; others say they felt
nothing.
