My Experience Having My Eyebrows Microbladed

As you probably know by now, I love trying out various interesting beauty treatments. I find the experimentation fun, plus I know you enjoy reading about my experience. So when Sheila Bella Permanent Makeup reached out to me about documenting the microblading experience, of course I agreed!

What is Microblading?

If you follow the beauty scene at all, by now you have probably heard about microblading. Microblading is a a semi-permanent eyebrow tattoo that lasts 1 year or more before fading away. Microblading is done with a fine, scalpel-like tool which creates precise and delicate lines that mimic your actual brow hairs. Once the cuts are made, pigment is smoothed over the area and soaks into the incisions. While traditional eyebrow tattoos often look heavy and gain a green tint when aging, microbladed brows appear natural and the type of pigment used does not change color over time.

Before the Procedure

On the morning of my procedure at Sheila Bella in North Hollywood, I was only a little excited. I thought my eyebrows were pretty good already so I figured my brow artist, Julie, would fill in a few sparse areas and call it a day. See photos above for my brows beforehand. They were not the shape I really wanted (the large and fluffy brow head bugged me), but I assumed that there was nothing too much to be done since that’s just how they grew. However, once I sat down with Julie, she opened my eyes to a whole world of possibilities for my brows! She spent over 2 hours carefully stenciling and showing me how we could reshape the brow head with a combination of trimming, plucking, and microblading (see below). We could also give them a bit more arch which would open my face more. With this plan in place, I suddenly became WAY more excited!

The Microblading Procedure

I had numbing cream applied to my eyebrows before the procedure, but to be to totally honest, it didn’t really do much for me. Luckily the actual microblading process (see above) took Julie about 5-10 minutes, but the discomfort was on par with receiving a tattoo. It was significantly more painful than lip injections or botox. I just sucked it up and it was over very quickly! My Nana always used to say that “beauty must suffer”, and I’m a firm believer in that. After the cuts were made, Julie applied the pigment (see below) and allowed it to soak in for about 10 minutes. After that, she cleaned me up and unveiled to me my amazing new brows! They looked so fresh, crisp, and Kardashian-like! I was so excited. The whole process that day took 4 hours, but you can’t rush perfection!

The Healing Process

The first few days after having your brows microbladed, they get super dark and intense looking. Then, for around 2 weeks they scab up and get flakey. During this entire period, you cannot get the area wet. This means washing your face carefully with a wash cloth and avoiding the eyebrows. After they flake off, the ink looks much lighter. At around 3 weeks, they are completely healed.

Touchups

Having a touch-up appointment after at least 3 weeks is a necessary step for the microblading process. Certain parts of the ink may fade too much when the scabs fall off, and this is normal and to be expected. When I went back, Julie touched up areas that had faded and we also tweaked the shape a little bit. We evened out the brows heads more and added some more drama to the arches. This appointment was quicker than the first and took about two hours.

Final Thoughts

Now that my brows have completely healed, they look awesome! I was warned initially that about 10% of people will need a second touch up, and unfortunately I think I am one of those people since I still have faded areas. I was directed to sleep on my back while they were healing, but I slept on my side since I absolutely cannot sleep in another position. I think rubbing my face on my pillow is probably what caused the fading. Most people would not be able to notice the fading, and even with how perfectionistic I am, it doesn’t bother me enough to want to pay $200 for a touch up. I do not fault Sheila Bella for this at all and overall I am extremely happy with my brows! I now feel confident going out without filling in my brows, and when I do wear makeup on them, it only takes about a minute to apply. I will definitely go back to Julie at Sheila Bella when I need my yearly refresh!

Here are my brows with no makeup on them! What do you think of my results?

Bag: Zara
Jeans: James Jeans (similar)
Top: Urban Outfitters (old)
Shoes: Christian Louboutin (custom)

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