6 things I wish I knew before getting eyebrow and eyeliner embroidery

Any semi-permanent embroidery treatment should come with a thorough pre-treatment consultation, which must include speaking with the technician who is going to do the embroidery on you. The fact is that you’ve probably never felt the sensation of a needle poking repeatedly so close to your eyes or on your face. It can really be quite unnerving. So make sure you ask for an experienced technician and don’t be afraid to ask her questions like how many such treatments she has done, or even for pictures and testimonials of her work on satisfied customers. Also, make sure she draws the shape of the eyeliner or brows to your satisfaction before she even gets close to you with the tattooing device.

The numbing creams or lotions used for aesthetic embroidery treatments are topically applied, this means that it is much less strong or lasting compared to injected anesthesia. In short, they wear off, sometimes pretty quickly too depending on your pain threshold. In the midst of the tattooing or embroidery process, whether on the brows or along the eye line, if you start to feel the sharp pain of the needle, do not hesitate to speak up and ask for more numbing cream to be applied. Of course, this would mean that your treatment will take longer because when the numbing agent is applied again, the technician will have to wait for several minutes before it takes effect. But for pain-phobes, it’s totally worth it.

This is for the eyeliner embroidery noobs out there. Once all the details like your eyeliner look, thickness and colour is sorted and the treatment is about to begin, a numbing agent will be applied to your lash line and this lotion is likely to sting your eyes. I’ve asked why this is so and it turns out it is the nature of the numbing agent itself, and most established salons have ensured that this is safe for use on the eye area despite the stinging. Also, yes, the eyeliner tattooing would feel pretty unbearable without the numbing agent, so you do have to bear with the slight stinging of the numbing agent, just so that the tattooing process is less painful. But I really hope they come up with new and improved numbing agents that do not sting the eyes sooner than later, because I’m due for a touch-up soon.

You don’t have to be a hero and lie on the treatment bed or chair without moving or making a sound. You’re only human. Voice out if you feel too much pain or if the technician is tugging your eyelid too hard. As mentioned, ask for a top up of numbing cream if you need it, and if you need a little breather mid-way through the session, don’t be afraid to ask for it. I blink like crazy whenever my eyeliner was being tattooed on and tear uncontrollably because the numbing agent stung my eyes, so I always ask for pauses multiple times to dab away the tears and also to break up the continuity of the tattooing process.

Immediately after the embroidery of either the brows or eyeliner, the tattooed on colour will look much darker than expected. This is because the ‘ink’ is still fresh on the skin’s surface. After the scabs heal and a new layer or skin grows after about a week, your semi-permanent makeup will look more natural. However, depending on how your skin heals in different areas, the tattooed on colour may fade unevenly in sections. For example, one side of my eyebrow always turned out lighter than the other, so I mentioned this during the touch-up sessions and the technician deliberately put in more strokes and ink on the lighter side. Yes, touch-up sessions are a must to ensure the best results, because of this fading.

There’s a list of to-dos and don’t-dos after your brow or eyeliner embroidery. Follow them closely to get the best results from your treatment. Some commandments you must adhere to include not to get the treated area wet for a week and avoid strong sunlight. Also do not apply too much skincare or even the post-treatment lotions or creams that the salon recommends, as keeping the tattooed skin too moist can cause the colour to look blurred or overly faded.

Read Next

3 things you need to know when growing out your eyebrows

15 eyeliner hacks every woman should know

5 tips to care for eyelash extensions for first-timers