At the end of last year I went for my first 'powder brow' session at a Yorkshire based beauty salon. Unfortunately I was unable to have the treatment as planned as I was informed once there that I needed to have stopped breastfeeding for AT LEAST 2 weeks before I had the semi-permanent eyebrow tattoo. I ended up going back in April this year for my first session, which I was happy with, and this blog post and video shows the healing process. A few weeks ago I went back for my top up session and I'm afraid to say that this wasn't a positive result and I ended up having emergency tattoo pigment removal using 'Botched Ink' 24 hours later...
I had saved up for semi-permanent Ombre / Powder Brows for a while, but had always put off booking a session because I was so worried that I would come away with brows that I hated, were uneven, the wrong shape or the wrong colour. Read on to find out what happened and why I ended up needing emergency removal....
What is a semi permanent powder brow or Ombre brow?
A powder brow is achieved by using a pen machine, similar to a tattoo gun, which pushes ink into the skin to create a semi permanent makeup look. Unlike micro-blading which creates 'hairstrokes', a powder brow is lots of tiny pixel dots on the skin creating a soft 'powdered' look. These dots tend to get fewer and further apart towards the start of the brow to create a more 'ombre' look which fades naturally at the inner edge. It is generally considered better for oily skin (like mine!) as microblading can blur and look less crisp on an oily skin type.
My Semi-permanent eyebrow experience:
My eyebrows are naturally quite fair and very sparse as you can see below. I have spent years filling them in every day and searching for the perfect 'cool' coloured shade to match my skin and hair which doesn't make me look like I have ginger eyebrows, or brows that are too dark and obvious! I finally plucked up the courage to get them done this year.....
What happens when you have semi-permanent eyebrows?
After a patch test is performed a few days before to check that there are no reactions - the semi - permanent powder brow treatment starts with an anesthetic numbing cream. I believe that the usual procedure is to put the cream on the brows and then leave it to work for 10-40 mins but the therapist I saw preferred to speed up this process by 'breaking the skin' first and then applying the cream to help it get to work much faster.
Now, I've never had botox, but I couldn't feel my brows afterwards or lift them properly so I guess it might be a similar feeling!
First of all the therapist does some 'face mapping' using inked string which she uses to draw lines and guides around the brows coupled with other measurements to make sure they are even and the right shape and size. She then showed me these guides in the mirror to check that I was happy before starting on the outline of the brow with the tattoo pen and then filling it in!
The therapist used a blonde pigment on my eyebrows by permablend which did look very 'warm' and quite ginger after the session but I was assured that this was normal and that after a few days the colour would tone down to a much cooler colour...
Semi Permanent Brows Healing Video day by day....
If you would like to watch my Youtube Video of my eyebrow healing journey in full you can do so here: https://youtu.be/poN92kGdCHY
After 6 weeks my brows were finally ready for a top up! My first top up session didn't take at all as the therapist said I had a lot of lymphatic fluid coming out of my skin as she was trying to do my brows so rather than over work them she booked me in 4 weeks later for a final top up....
Semi-permanent powder brows before and after....
During my final top up I wasn't shown any guides etc on my face - I assumed this was usual practise and the therapist got to work on filling in the gaps and adding to the colour. She decided to use a darker shade this tie as the blonde pigment had faded quite a lot from the first session and didn't take as well as hoped....
My semi-permanent eyebrows went wrong....
During the top up session the therapist did make a comment about 'losing my arch' on my right brow. I wasn't sure what she meant to be honest but assumed that all was ok as she didn't say that any mistakes had been made.
Unfortunately when I got home and took my mask off and was able to look at my brows properly I could see that they were completely different to my original session and that I now had one short, pointy, arched eyebrow and one longer, flatter, curved brow....
Have a look at the mages below for a comparison of each brow fro the first and last powder brow session....
Not only were the eyebrows a different size and shape to before, they were also very different to each other....
Emergency eyebrow tattoo removal using Botched Ink
One of the eyebrow technicians on Instagram put me in touch with a therapist in Halifax at a salon called 'The Studio' who specialise in semi-permanent eyebrow removal using a solution called Botched Ink.
I contacted Sammie from The Studio (and bear in mind this was REALLY late in the evening by this point!) and she explained that the removal needs to get underway within 48 hours to be successful. She booked me in for the next morning (phew!) and I made the hour long trip to Halifax to have this procedure....
What is Botched Ink tattoo removal?
This procedure feels similar to having the eyebrows tattooed but just a bit more stingy! Numbing cream is applied 15 minutes before and left to get to work before the procedure starts.
The machine pen is used, but instead of ink being pushed into the skin a special saline solution is pushed into the skin which causes the skin the scab over and the ink to come away with the scab. The healing process takes at least 8 weeks and I will not be able to have any correction procedures for at least 12 weeks after the treatment.
As you can see in this after shot, my brows are really red and sore and this is definitely something I could have done without having to have done and having to pay for on top of the cost of the semi permanent eyebrows!
Botched Ink tattoo removal healing journey...
I am going to be filming another video showing the botched ink removal journey which I will also write about here when it is finished so make sure you are subscribed to my blog (below) and my youtube channel to see when they are ready.
Usually it takes 2-3 sessions of the botched ink removal to fully work but I am hoping that as I had it done within 24 hours I wont need to...especially as we are in the process of buying a new house at the moment so I just can't afford it if I'm really honest!
I will keep you posted on what happens next. Don't forget to watch the video linked above!
Sarah x
