I got a tattoo.
Yes, another one.
Don’t tell my mom.

But this one is so very different than the others.
Why?
Because this time around, I opted for permanent makeup.

I was having a recent conversation with my mother-in-law during which she was considering getting her cosmetic tattooing re-done. I never even knew she’d had it in the first place.
She was going on and on about great it was and how it was so cheap and lasted for so long and it was so easy just to wake up splash some water on your face and go!

I started thinking about it.
My eyes had gotten quite sensitive in the past couple years. I love eye makeup and used to load it on, but lately my eyes have been getting irritated easily and I’ve been reluctantly foregoing most eye makeup as of late.

I started looking it up online a little and I began warming to the idea.

Then I found a place just blocks away with good online reviews.
So, I walked in and made an appointment.

Then I got a little… terrified.
A tattoo.
On my face.
What if it got messed up?
What if my eye gets punctured?
Or I go blind?
WHAT HAD I JUST COMMITTED TO?!

I did not want to end up looking like this:

I shouldn’t have been nervous. I already had 14 tattoos and no really issues with any of them. And I wasn’t getting my tattoo done in prison, so I probably wouldn’t end up looking like a freak.

The big day came, I waltzed into the place ready to meet with Sherry.

She was sweet and had been doing cosmetic tattooing for 15 years.
She had done her own face. Which looked lovely (with the exception of her freakishly big collegen lips).

I tried to relax by chatting with her as she drew on the liner she would trace.
I asked her why more places don’t offer this service. It seems very popular, especially in this area.

She responded by saying most aestheticians won’t do it because of all the blood.

Great.
Eye blood.
This “friendly chat” wasn’t helping me relax at all.

I didn’t really think about the inevitable eye blood because I hadn’t signed a waiver or anything like you do with regular body tattoos.
It was slightly comforting knowing I could sue the hell out of both Sherry and Profile Ltd if my eyes fell out.

Sherry asked me what I wanted (like how natural, thickness, shape, if I wanted my eyebrows done too, etc).

After drawing on the liner and arguing about more, less, longer, shorter, thicker or thinner (we quickly settled on exactly what she originally drew), and the process began.

It starts with a numbing cream applied to the lids.
And I wondered why regular tattoos don’t use a numbing cream, ’cause it sure seems like a great idea.
But Sherry said it was super expensive, so that could be one reason.
The cream sort of prickles and tingles for the first few minutes, but once 15 mins has gone by everything was feeling groovy.
Until she injected my lids with another numbing agent.
Those 6 little injection pins pricks were unpleasant.

Then Sherry began the tattooing and that was totally fine. It just felt like a tickly feather going over my lids. Until I twitched, or she slipped, or both.
Whatever happened, she really jabbed in and the bleeding began.
And then she hit another spot that was not numbed at all.
And I had to have another one of those damned injections.

About halfway through, it began to feel as though she was stitching my eyes closed.
And by the end of it, my eyes were swollen and I did not want to open them back up.
Ever.
Barf.
It felt terrible and was really starting to hurt.

Why did I think for some magic reason this tattoo wouldn’t hurt?
The other 14 all did (in varying degrees).
And of course, this would have been way worse as it was on my eyelid.
Thank goodness for that numbing cream.

But 90 minutes later it was over.

She gave me the instructions:
No soap or hot water for a week and apply vaseline for 2 weeks.
And if it didn’t take or I wanted to add more, I could come in for one free touchup in the next 3 months.

I toddled back out to the front desk paid the $225 and was on my way into the bright sunshine and wind.
Squinting hurt.
So did looking.

I felt much better after napping for a couple hours.

And 3 days later, the swelling all but subsided and most all of the pain is gone.

But, I probably won’t be getting any more makeup tattoos anytime soon.
Fortunately, this lasts for 5-10 years, so I don’t have to make any decisions right now.

***

Here are the before and after pics of my eye bulbs! (after pics are like 2 days after, and look weird partially because they are all oily with Vaseline):

This is the one that got jabbed, and is still a bit wobbly due to swelling)

Here are some more pics from my adventure!

The waiting room:

My torture bed:

Sherry’s toolbox:

If you have questions about my adventures in tattooing or makeup, ask away!