Designed around your faceEyebrow tattoo

How do I choose a brow tattoo technique?

We assess your skin, existing brow hair and any old pigment, then compare strokes, shading and a combination of both. The choice depends on your starting point and preferred look.

One brow droops more than the other and they don't match. Can you make them identical?

Every face has some degree of asymmetry. The height of the eyes, the bone structure, the position of the brow bones and the strength of the muscles all differ from side to side, so making two brows identical, as if measured with a ruler, is difficult.

In fact, if you match only the brows to exactly the same height and shape without considering the differences in the face, the existing asymmetry can stand out more, or the face can look skewed.

CYAN's goal is not to copy one brow onto the other. It is to design brows that look as symmetrical and harmonious as possible across the whole face, balancing your features without anything feeling off.

In the design stage we check the bone structure, the height of the eyes, the movement of the brow muscles and your expressions in detail. Midway through the procedure we sit you up and re-check the balance from the front, the way your face is actually seen in daily life.

That said, asymmetry caused by bone structure or muscle movement cannot be fully corrected with pigment alone. Where the difference in muscle use is significant, we may suggest consulting a physician first about whether a muscle-relaxing treatment such as Botox is appropriate.

How far it can be balanced naturally is decided after we see your face both at rest and in expression, and we guide you toward the most suitable direction in the consultation.

I'm worried the color will turn red or blue over time.

How is brown made?

The brown in brow pigment is not a single color. It is mixed from several colors such as black, yellow and red. In fact, a study that analyzed 974 permanent-makeup inks found an average of 4 pigments in each product.¹

But these colors do not hold up equally. Some are especially weak against sunlight and break down first; others last much longer. In experiments, the light-sensitive pigments lost about 60% after 32 days under simulated sunlight.² On top of this, the body slowly carries pigment out of the skin.²

So as time passes, the brow lightens overall while tilting toward whichever color held out longest. This is why a brow that started brown can come to look reddish, or grayish. The color did not change into another color; what remained simply became visible.

A bluish look has a different cause. When pigment sits deep in the skin, only the cooler wavelengths reach our eyes as light passes through the skin and back out. It is the same principle that makes a black stone look blue in clear water.³ The more pigment particles there are, and the more densely packed, the more pronounced this effect becomes.⁴

A change in how the color looks does not in itself mean an allergy or a side effect. But if the brow area becomes red and swollen, itchy or hot, that is a different matter, so please check with your artist or a dermatologist.

That is why CYAN does not aim for “brows that last as long as possible.”

Going deep and dark makes it last. But the density of pigment in the skin rises, and with it the chance that it lingers years later as a red or blue shadow.

Besides, permanent makeup does not disappear cleanly on its own. Research shows that when the cells holding the pigment reach the end of their life, neighboring cells take the pigment up again, which is why tattoos persist.⁵ The more you put in at the start, the more remains at the very end.

Removing an old, red, blue or botched eyebrow tattoo takes laser removal, and creating a new design as an eyebrow cover-up means layering yet another pigment over what is left.

Your face, your hair color and the brow shape that suits you keep changing. There is no guarantee that a brow design that suited you three years ago still suits you now.

If we do not overfill the color at the start and design it to fade naturally over 1–2 years, then a year later, when you come back, the old traces will not get in the way of the new design, and we can once again complete beautiful brows that suit your face and your taste at that time.

Good permanent makeup is not the brow that lasts longest. It is the brow that fades cleanly and does not block your next choice.

I still have an old eyebrow tattoo. Can it be covered up?

Yes, it can. Drawing on the principles of color and perceptual psychology, CYAN analyzes the color, brightness and extent of the red or blue-shifted residue left by a previous eyebrow tattoo, and corrects the color and density so the old work does not stand out on your face.

A cover-up does not mean simply blanketing everything in dark brown. Covering the old color using the principles of perceptual psychology while adding density only where it is needed, so that even a covered-up brow looks as natural as possible, is what sets CYAN's cover-up work apart.

But there are cases where removing first is better than covering.

• ·When the old design runs well outside the new one, so the brows look doubled
• ·When the previous brow is too thick or very different from the shape you want
• ·When the residue is so dark that a light brow with visible strokes is hard to achieve
• ·When making the brow thicker and darker to cover it would only make the face look harsher

Forcing a cover-up in these conditions may hide the color for now, but the brows can grow thicker and heavier over time. So CYAN does not only ask whether a red or blue brow can be covered; we first judge whether covering the residue will actually make the face look better.

If removal is the route to a more natural result, we recommend lightening the red or blue residue first and then designing fresh. Send us a clear, makeup-free photo and we will check the color and shape of the current residue, then advise which is more suitable, cover-up or removal.

Does it hurt?

Brows are one of the less painful areas. Because we work in the shallow layers of the skin, most clients describe it as mild pressure or a light scratching feeling.

How long does the procedure take?

A full session typically takes 1.5 hours, including consultation, design and the procedure itself.

What is the healing time?

Expect mild redness for 1–2 days. The brows look darker at first and lighten by about 30–40% as they heal over 4–6 weeks.

I have oily skin. Will it fade quickly?

Oily skin does tend to lose color faster. That is why we do not push the color too far in the first session; we look at the healed result and build density at the touch-up.

Do I need a touch-up?

The first session is where the color is set. At 4–6 weeks, once healed, we fill only the gaps and top up the color. For most people, this is where the brows are completed.