What’s the pre-care protocol for cosmetic tattoo?

Pre-care entails ensuring that your skin is in the best possible position to receive a tattoo. This means avoiding topical skincare treatments that are likely to sensitize the skin. Retinol, particularly prescription retinoic acid, should be omitted from your routine for a minimum of two weeks prior. Generally avoid exfoliators (salicylic acid, glycolic acid, physical scrubs etc.) in the days leading up to your appointment, but slather on the moisturizer to keep your skin thoroughly hydrated.

Avoiding blood thinners 24 hours before your appointment is important. Alcohol, caffeine, Aspirin and Ibuprofen (Tylenol is non-issue) are all examples of blood thinners. If you’re prone to low iron, consider getting it checked ahead of time as anemia can impact healed results/retention.

What about Botox and laser treatments?

Schedule Botox no sooner than 2 weeks before your tattoo appointment. This allows the effects of Botox to settle, ensuring that it doesn’t affect the symmetry and expression of your face after we’ve started your tattoo.

Laser treatments should be fully healed before tattoos. Even if the brows aren’t directly impacted, often peeling or sensitivity tends to migrate to your brows and other areas.

How do I care for cosmetic tattoo post procedure?

Keeping your brows dry and sweat-free for 10 days is key for the healing process. Be prepared to wash your hair carefully, and avoid sweaty exercise (think light weights and long walks, not spin or HIIT classes). You’ll be sent home with an aftercare balm to use in the first few days to protect your fresh tattoos. Areolas and freckles each have their own slightly different process.

Refer to our full aftercare instructions.

What are powder brows, microblading and combo brows?

Powder Brows: a soft and elegant tattoo that helps to create structure, depth of colour and density to the brow. Edges are typically hazy and light, mimicking the look of beautiful powder makeup. This style is performed with a machine for minimal skin trauma.

Microblading: a manual technique in which a fine hair stroke-like pattern is etched into the skin. It’s known for its realism and ability to create texture to spare brows.

Combo Brows: this can look like many things. For example, hair strokes in the front of the brow, with shading through the sensitive tails. Alternatively, loose hair strokes throughout with textured shading to compliment.

How do I decide what brow procedure is best for me?

Skin plays a huge role in dictating the best method or style for your brows.

Oily and sensitive/mature skin tend to do best with powder brows or combo brows as shading is a gentler technique.

Dry/normal/non-sensitive skin has more flexibility. This skin type can usually handle hair strokes better, which means it often comes down to personal aesthetic preference.

Find more info on choosing a brow technique.

What do appointments entail?

Appointments will always start with a consultation, regardless of whether or not a separate consultation service has been booked. Once we’ve chatted through the basics we will map your brows. We’ll start with measurements and a pre-draw of the shape and work together, back and forth, until we both feel great about what we have.

We’ll look at a variety of pigment colours to determine what makes most sense with your skin tone, hair and brow colour. It’s always better to err on the side of caution and start with a lighter colour. We can deepen the shade at follow up sessions if needed. You’ll have a clear idea of the shape and and colour before any tattooing starts. Once we’re set on these details we can start tattooing!

Numbing will be applied both before and during the appointment.

How many appointments are recommended?

Two appointments are always recommended for brows. Cosmetic tattoo sits very close to the surface of the skin, which means the healing process is usually a little patchier and less predictable compared to body art tattoos. A second session is necessary to perfect any areas that didn’t take pigments and generally build up depth of colour. Sometimes a third session is needed for particularly delicate or sensitive skin.

Freckles require one to two sessions. The more you layer up from session to session, the more realistic the result will be.

How long-lasting is cosmetic tattoo?

This is a tough question to answer — there are many factors that play into the longevity of cosmetic tattoo. Oily skin usually fades tattoos the quickest. Sun exposure also breaks down pigment. Powder brows tend to fade more evenly out of the skin, whereas microblading can often linger for significantly longer. Darker pigments last longer vs. lighter pigments. All this is to say, there is no one answer, but expect to do cosmetic tattoo touch-ups every 1-2 years and about 5+ years to fully disappear from the skin.

Laser removal is wonderful tool that’s often overlooked. It’s an incredibly fast and effective way to remove pigment. You may need to do some removal if you have old work that you’re not happy with. It’s also often preferable to do removal after a certain amount of yearly touch ups. It allows for more freedom with healed results.

How do I know when to come in for a touch up?

You’re looking for a sweet spot. You want to still see shape and structure, but to have lost approximately 50% of the colour. Touching up too soon can result in heavy looking brows and a lack of hair stroke definition.

Sometimes touch ups are required simply to shift the tone of colour from cool to warm/neutral.

If you’re ever unsure if it’s a good time for a touch up, feel free to reach out via email or Instagram!