I Got My Lips Professionally Tattooed To Add A Subtle Color And I'm So Mad I Didn't Do This Sooner
Hello, everyone! I'm Hannah, and I love testing and trying things ranging from Starbucks fall coffees, to hair products, to dating challenges, and today I'm back with something new — lip tattoos!
Commonly called either a lip blush or lip neutralization, a lip tattoo is basically exactly what it sounds like: Color is deposited onto your lips using a needle. But it's not your mother's lip liner tattoo: The results are a lot more subtle, and they include your entire lip, not just the edges. Now, I love trying out beauty treatments, especially things that make it easier to do my makeup — so, I decided to head over to Sculpted Studios and see what it's all about! The studio is located in NYC, though there are also locations in Miami and Phoenix.
While I love doing makeup, my face tends to sweat kind of a lot, and I've loved not wearing as much makeup in the summers or on vacations, or at the gym/on hikes. It's also nice to wake up and feel like you're already kind of ready to leave the house!
I had my treatment done by Carla Ricciardone, a Permanent MakeUp (PMU) industry leader, influencer, and educator as well as the owner and master cosmetic artist at the award-winning permanent makeup studio, Sculpted Studios.
Carla started me off with LOTS of info on lip blushing, which was helpful because, frankly, there's a bit of conflicting info online. First off, she assured me that lip blushing, or tattooing, does NOT increase the size of your lips. It does not overline your lips (and I would caution away from any artist suggesting it can/does). It merely affects the color, and may make your lip borders appear more even and defined.
NBC
As Carla and her NYC studio manager Cori told me, it's all about enhancing your natural lip shape. In fact, I was struck with just how passionate they both were about the industry of cosmetic tattooing, and how firmly they both felt that its goal is not to change anything on your face, but to bring out your natural beauty. They were both so genuinely excited about color theory, cosmetic tattooing, lip shapes, etc. They both almost fangirled about my lip shape, and I've never felt so good about myself, lol.
The biggest thing you have to know about lip blushing, though, is that contrary to what you may have heard...it is NOT temporary. It's a tattoo, and it's permanent.
20th Century Fox
You may have heard that cosmetic tattoos "fade" — what actually happens is that over time, the sun and water and different face creams and treatments change the color of the tattoo. Also, layers of your skin gradually wear away. But the tattoo doesn't go away — it just appears faded due to these factors. But the only way to truly get rid of any kind of tattoo completely is through laser removal. You CAN do this with things like eyebrow and eyeliner tattoos — a bit of a "dark secret" Carla told me is that all permanent face makeup will likely have to be removed eventually if you want it to stay flattering, because it gets to a certain point where you can't add any more pigment to the skin, and the shape is already so defined that it's difficult to change.
Unlike other cosmetic tattoos, however, lip blushing CANNOT be removed, because the lips are a membrane — they aren't skin. Carla says she knows of laser technicians who will try removal, but that there really isn't a good way of removing it. However, as a fast-evolving industry, she's hoping there will soon be a way.
This is all to say that you should be really, really sure about your lip tattoo — and you should definitely start with a subtle color. You can always add color, but you can't take it away. For my part, I decided to give Carla full power over the color. She suggested something close to my lip tone, which is peachy with some cool undertones. Choosing from multiple pigments, she mixed up a color unique to me.
The color mixed did not really look like the color on my lips. Carla mentioned how she doesn't normally like to even show clients the color in the little pot, because they might not like the way it looks. The color melds with the color on your lips to create something new. This is also why they don't display color on the wall — as Cori told me, it's not really like a nail salon where you can "pick your" color. It's far closer to a hair salon, where the color you put on your hair is going to mix with your existing hair color to create something new. If you want a totally different hair color, like pastel pink, you'll probably have to bleach your hair to a blank slate of white — the parallel for lip blushing would be adding a lot of white to sort of create a "spackle." However, since lips do not grow back like hair, it's unwise to go with something so far from your natural tone.
After mixing the color, the next step was lining my lips and figuring out my lip shape. I'm fairly ambivalent about my lips, but I have been told by others that I have no upper lip, and I do sort of feel like it disappears into my skin because of its lack of color or a defined border. While this isn't necessarily something that bothers me a lot, I was shocked to see what the actual shape of my upper lip was after she outlined it in white for me to see. I wasn't necessarily insecure about my lips before, but seeing their actual shape made me actually start to like my lips.
We also talked about the asymmetry of my lips, which became even clearer after they were outlined. I was wondering how much that might be corrected, but Carla told me that while they can smooth our tiny asymmetries in lines, they can't really change the shape of the lip — but, as she reminded me, our asymmetry is what makes us beautiful. If you do have asymmetry you want corrected, careful lip injections are probably the way to go — but that wasn't for me.
Oh, and before I forget — there is some pre-care instructions you have to follow. One Carla emphasized was that if you've had even one cold sore in your life, it's important to have a doctor to prescribe you Valtrex for the day before, of, and after as the needle can trigger an outbreak that will affect healing. Also, everyone should be gently exfoliating their lips in the week prior, and you should avoid alcohol and too much caffeine — which was difficult for me, as I pretty much rely on my multiple daily coffees.
The WB
I'll be honest, I forgot to exfoliate and had also just gotten off a flight, and you can tell my lips are a bit chapped. This may have affected my lip sensitivity and pain level during the tattooing.
Here are some of the other pre-care instructions:
— avoiding lipstick, retinols near your lips, and sun for the week prior
— drinking lots of water and keeping your lips hydrated for the week prior
— avoiding blood thinners like ibuprofen in the 24 hours prior
After the lining process, Carla went in with the needle! Now, I'm not going to sugarcoat this for y'all...it's literally a tattoo on your lips. It felt like constant mini bee stings. You can numb your lips, but it can affect results because the cream makes your lips rubbery and difficult to work with, and can blanche the color. So, personally, I chose not to, though before the third and final pass of color, Carla ended up adding the cream.
If you are very sensitive to pain or needles...frankly, I would not do this service. I definitely found it worse than microblading in terms of pain/discomfort (I BARELY felt microblading with the numbing cream).
The good thing was that the pain faded as soon as she stopped for even a second. So, I'd go through short little spurts, then have a break. The most painful was definitely the beginning, while she was lining the lips, and the top was worse than the bottom — with the exception of a spot where my lips were chapped. I found myself reallyyyy wishing I'd followed the pre-care. Along those lines, I would also recommend not getting this done in the dead of winter or any time your lips might be dryer than usual.
The whole process — from lining my lips in white to being completely done — was probably about two hours, though there were small breaks, and it was much better after I was numb. There were also parts where she basically just massaged my lips, which felt nice. At the end, I had to hold a mix of Arnica and aloe vera on pads against my lips for about 10-15 minutes, then she doubled checked everything and showed me how to apply the ointment.
At the end, Carla gave me a mirror, assuring my that I was still very swollen. "If I had a dollar for every person who said 'it looks so swollen, but the color is amazing,' I wouldn't have to work anymore," she joked. And readers — that is exactly what I said when I looked in the mirror.
I legitimately felt like a Real Housewife. I've never had any sort of lip fillers or used those suction things that were all the rage during the Kylie Lip Challenge, and I've never really used plumping gloss. So, seeing my lips big was a HUGE shock. If you're like me and haven't used those things, I'd just mentally prepare yourself for that. It's not like changing your hair color or getting a piercing — I genuinely felt for a second like I didn't recognize myself in the mirror, and it was a very surreal feeling. It was more akin to, like...waking up from dental surgery and your mouth being swollen, lol. But in kind of a pretty way? Still, I didn't love the size of my lips, because I didn't feel they fit my face. I think big lips are beautiful, but not on me. And this was all about getting color, not size!
Still, I loved the color and the shape, and Carla immediately assured me that the worst of the swelling would be gone in a few hours. "Most of it is from me stretching your lip around," she assured me. But it is also a wound — she's just been scratching my lips for two hours. In this before-and-after, you can see how much bigger my lips are. I look like I got a ton of filler.
As you can see from my "before," I actually had quite a few areas of uneven color, especially on the borders of my lips. I also have little freckles on/near them. While there's nothing wrong with that, it was cool to see a straighter line and more even color. Also...I am just now noticing that I have that little sort of hole in my middle lip in the before and after. (Not a hole, but, like, a place where my upper lip comes up more and leaves a bit of a hole when my mouth is closed.) And I think it's kind of cute?!? Honestly, I feel like this whole thing actually made me appreciate my lips a lot more.
Here's how it looked by the time I went to bed, at which time I felt MUCH better. The color was still much darker than it would be. Carla told me it was at 100% saturation, and that over the next week, it might peel slightly or look faded, but that once it settled, it would be at about 40-60% saturation. And after my touch-up in two months, it would likely be closer to 70-80%. The second appointment can also even out any inconsistencies after your healing from the first appointment, so it is recommended to have two. Sometimes, people need even more than two appointments if their lips seem to not be taking the color as well.
Carla also told me that my lips will appear more matte while it's healing, like I'm wearing a matte lipstick, but after they heal, they'll look normal again. I definitely looked like I was wearing lipstick after (you can't really tell here because of the ointment), but seeing Carla and Cori's lips all healed, I was shocked by how natural it looked. Carla told me she was literally just wearing a bit of coconut oil on her lips, and she looked amazing.
Carla had provided me with a cute little aftercare kit of a straw, antiseptic wipes, and ointment. You can check out the full aftercare here, but mainly it involves cleaning your lips with the wipes the first two days, then applying a thin layer of ointment with a Q-tip for the next week. The more difficult part is keeping your lips dry and clean — you shouldn't work out or fully wash your face (you can use a washcloth after two days), and you need to drink all liquids through a straw. You should also eat with a fork and knife and avoid spicy food, and you shouldn't kiss anyone. The good news was my lips appeared pretty normal throughout the healing process, if a bit uneven.
This all made washing my hair and showering very hard. But for me, the hardest part was not being able to use my trusty Burt's Bees. You shouldn't use chapstick, lipstick, or even vaseline in the week after your appointment — just the ointment provided.
Here's how my lips looked when they had healed, about a week later — I'm not wearing anything here but clear gloss!
Obviously, it's a subtle result — but you could definitely go with something more dramatic if you wanted to!
Two months later, I went back for my touch-up. Here's the final comparison of my lips before the lip blush and after two sessions!
The color looks darker in person — I wanted to match the lighting in the before and afters, so I used a ring light in both.
This is partially the light reflecting on my clear gloss in the photo, but I do think the inner part of my bottom lip is a little lighter than the edges. I may go back for a third session just for that part, which some people need — or, I may simply wait. It's only been a week and a half since my second appointment, and the color could still be settling. Even if this is the final result, I'm really happy with it!
Overall, I was really happy I did this, especially in the way it defined the top border of my lip. I feel like I appreciate my lips more and highlighted something on my face that I took for granted. I do recommend it, but I know that people have their own opinions on things like cosmetic tattooing — it's not for everyone!
Warner Bros. Pictures
I also know I'm incredibly privileged in my job that I was able to do this for free, and I know not everyone can. Costs are very dependent on your artist/studio, but they can range from $500 to closer to $1500. While you may be able to receive discounts for consenting for your photos to be used, watch out for cheaper prices than that. And no matter what, please make sure you are choosing the person you feel is the most qualified. If they mess up, they can literally damage your face for life — cosmetic tattooing popularity has vastly risen in the last decade, and regulations have not caught up to it.
NBC
So, if you're thinking about lip blushing...save up, do your research, go in with realistic expectations, and start small! As Carla emphasized, trends change, and this applies to makeup, too (especially eyebrows). It's better to underdo it than overdo it! Happy lip blushing, everyone!!!
If you'd like to book with Carla or her other artists, like Cori, check out her website!
Note: I received this service free of charge but I was under no obligation to review it in a positive light, and these are my honest thoughts.
