The word “permanent” is an adjective. According to the dictionary it is a word which means everlasting, and to exist perpetually without significant change.
It is designed to exist for a period of a number of years without touch up or maintenance procedures.
Permanent makeup is a form of cosmetic tattooing. While most people can immediately perceive the similarities between the two practices, permanent makeup tattooing has significant differences from the much better known practice of traditional body art tattooing.
First and foremost, the face is different than the arms, legs, ankles, torso, or other parts of the body where people choose to get tattoos. Permanent makeup applications are done primarily to cosmetically enhance the appearance of the areas of the eyebrows, eyeliner, lips, and even the creation of beauty marks on the face. On the body, cosmetic tatooing is done primarily to create a beneficial illusion from scarred areas. The most common ones are scars from face lift surgeries, or the areolas which were altered by various forms of breast surgery.
Traditional body art tattooing is done with an ink expected to last for a person’s lifetime. This is the truly permanent concept of tattooing. Permanent makeup, also known as permanent cosmetics or micropigmentation uses pigments. This changes the life expectancy of the tattoo limiting it to a range between a couple of years and more than a decade depending on the personal preferences of the wearer. There are also other external factors such as the person’s amount of exposure to the sun, and the uniqueness of their natural skin tones and facial features.
Where you choose to have permanent makeup applied to your face is also a matter which determines its staying power. For example, the eyebrows are near the highest point of your face and receive a high amount of exposure to the sun. The area around your eyes is the thinnest skin you have on your face. And the lips are sensitive tissue and not skin per se. Each of these areas being tattooed can be different for you than other people.
There are a number of other contributing issues affecting the length of a permanent makeup application. One prominent one would of course be pertaining to the level of quality of the work done by the permanent makeup artist.
Permanent makeup often uses different colors than traditional body art tattooing. It makes use of more tertiary colors than straight primary colors. This is another reason why cosmetic tattooing does not last as long under the skin.
Permanent makeup is at its very best an undetectable asset. It offers a subtle but significant way to enhance the natural contours of a person’s face. This is much different than the concept of traditional body art tattooing which makes some sort of statement to be noticed by others for a person’s lifetime.
Permanent makeup is not completely permanent in that it is expected to change with a person as they age. Other influencing factors include the amount of exposure the wearing person has to the sun, and also the amount of skincare products they apply to the areas where the cosmetic tattooing exists. This means that if you choose to get permanent cosmetics you can definitely expect the colors of your tattooing to eventually fade on your face.