Brows, Botox and Lashes... Part 1

Nothing ages you more than lack of brows. Seriously. If you are not doing something to your brows you should be. You don't have to go crazy but do something. I promise it will wake up your eyes, your face and make you look younger!! I have been a brow advocate for many years but mine have gotten considerably suckier over time and I just couldn't take it anymore so here is my brow story for the day. I thought it was about time I pen some type of review post on all of the stuff I have been doing to my face lately but I think it would be a really lengthy post to cover all three at once so I am splitting it up into 2 or 3 parts. The cool thing is that between the 3 posts you can actually see all of the individual parts and they way they are coming along. Like in this post for example I still have my pitiful natural lashes. The better ones are coming in another review... stay tuned.

So...I decided this year that I was going to do a few things for me to make me feel a little bit better about some aspects of the aging process that are not pleasing me... such as disappearing brows, lashes and increasing frown lines. I mean really, why walk around looking all jacked up if you can fix yourself up a little bit and fight that asshole Father Time?  In answer to that I decided on microblading, botox and lash extensions. If you have an opinion about any type of cosmetic procedure and why it's bad, good for you but I don't care. Like I tell my kids... it's my world, you just live in it. Kidding... but seriously, these are personal decisions for anyone to try to improve/change/modify their appearance. I don't think it's anyone else's place to say what's worth it to someone else. My plan is to start small with little things that are reasonably priced, have no down time, minimal upkeep and instant results because... immediate gratification is my jam. I'll give you my thoughts on all 3 eventually, along with before (be kind) and after pictures.

First up today...

Microblading - If you are not familiar it is semi-permanent tattooed eyebrows also commonly referred to as "hairstroke eyebrows". Semi permanent because of the application process, it's not as deep as a traditional tattoo as there is no gun involved. The hair strokes are applied with a needle that is in a pen type of instrument and the artist actually applies each stroke individually. If you want to know all of the exact details check out a YouTube video for specifics. I got most of my info from my artist and friends who have already had theirs done. The whole process took 2 appointments to complete and a total of maybe 3.5 to 4 hours in all.

In the first appointment (January) she drew on new and improved brows, applied a numbing cream for about 15 minutes and then spent about 20-25 tattooing. One more round of numbing and then a little more tattooing and I was all done in a total of about 2 hours or maybe a little less. I went back a couple of months later (April) for my follow up. After living with my new brows for a few months I knew that I wanted more definition up front and just over all darkening. I was still having to fill in with a brow product daily to get the look that I like. My goal is no makeup brows. After the second appointment that is exactly what I have. I love them. The total cost was $550 for the first appointment and $100 for the touch up. Well worth being able to wake up and go with no drawing them on and filling them in every day. The pain was pretty minimal to me but I'm no stranger to tattoos so someone else may feel differently. It is a little uncomfortable because of where it is on your face. The nerve endings near my sinuses did go a little crazy both times and I got totally congested and feeling like I had to sneeze, other than that it was pretty easy. Healing time was probably about a week total. I am a rule follower so I do exactly what they tell me to do.... no getting in water for 48 hours, use a good healing product, no working out or rubbing or wearing hats. This is one cosmetic procedure that I highly recommend and will keep up. I should need another touch up in a year or two.If you are on the fence I say 100%... DO IT!

I apologize that all my pics are different lighting, makeup, etc. Clearly I am not the blogger who thinks these things thru but I think you get the idea.

Here is the before. You can see how patchy my brows are from age and over plucking. They don't match at all and they are very, very light. My right brow is definitely the couch potato loser.

During and after my first session. This is how she drew them on and then applied the numbing cream. Soooo attractive I had to take a pic. And below that the end result of the first session.

And this is after round 2. We added more shape, extra hair strokes all around but especially in the front because I wanted a specific look (like my original brows circa 1992), and darkened the base color just a bit. 

And just for the sake of comparison...

Again, I cannot say enough about how thrilled I am with my results. I am sorry I waited so long to get them done. Between the brows and the lashes (review coming soon) I have seriously shaved some dramatic time off of my daily beauty routine too. I think my face looks more youthful and my eyes a little less tired. All good stuff right there. Any questions?