Adventures in Vanity: Microblading

So, today was the day. The day that my brows were given new life. Here's the short story: two hours after my first microblading/eyebrow embroidery session, I am SO happy with the results. For the long story, keep reading...

I arrived at Jaime's a few minutes early, my babes peppered around the County of Newell (thanks, Keeley and Lindsay!) Jaime got right to it, asking me to fill out some paperwork and waivers. I'm the kind of person who actually reads waivers before signing them and asks questions ("is it ok that I took an Advil a while ago?") so it probably took me a bit longer than usual. 

Once I was lying down, Jaime applied some numbing cream to my brows and began measuring and drawing. This part, to my surprise, took the longest. It made me kinda excited because I love measuring when I design - there's something so satisfying about symmetry. We had the whole "brows are sisters, not twins" conversation, and I admitted that it was my right brow that caused me the most grief because of a well-earned bald spot (Note: do NOT pluck the arches of your brows! Ever! Bad news!) I was complimented on the overall shape and symmetry of my brows, which, ironically, has been the result of not touching them for two months with any type of tweezer, wax, or thread. 

My brow lady extraordinaire let me take a peek in the mirror once she'd done all the measuring and drawing - I'll admit, seeing lines drawn across my brow was a little bit frightening, but intriguing at the same time. I LOVED the shape she'd drawn. She reminded me that the final result wouldn't look so "Oscar-the-Grouch-y" (aka she would not be blading me a unibrow.)

It was time to bite the bullet. 

Once she'd applied a little bit more numbing cream and allowed it to set in, Jaime got to the actual microblading. I was nervously anticipating the first stroke; she reminded me that I'd given birth. Touché. This would be nothing compared to going from 3 to 10 centimeters in 1.5 hours and delivering sans pain relief. Nothing will ever be that awesome and horrible at the same time. NOTHING. 

Using a pen-like instrument, Jaime dug in. She "drew" (scraped?) a few strokes on one side, a few on the other, and kept at it, back and forth between my brows. I'm not gonna lie - it wasn't exactly comfortable. I explained to Jaime: "it kind of just feels like you're drawing a tiny razor across my skin." To which she replied: "Well, that's pretty much exactly what I'm doing..." Oh, right. Yes, miniature needles being drawn across my face on a Thursday afternoon. This is what I'm paying good money for. The price we pay for beauty. 

And before I knew it, she was done. It was a lot quicker than I expected. It was now time for the moment of truth. I hopped off the bed, glanced in the mirror, and absolutely loved what I saw. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. 

Two hours post-blading, I still feel a little bit crazy for letting someone slice up my eyebrows and apply semi-permanent pigment. I'm very happy with the results so far, though, and there's still some healing and fading to be done. Would I recommend microblading? Right now, yes, absolutely, if your brows cause you daily grief. I'll let you know in a few days after things have healed up and the pigment has settled. Long story short: my brows have graduated from "arghhh!" to "I'd better be careful not to look in the mirror too much - I might give myself another vanity-induced black eye" (that's a story for another rainy day.)