00:02The perfect amount of pressure when the needle touches the lip line, it should feel like it's dancing or almost
00:09like bouncing off the skin, very shallow.
00:11You never want it to feel as though it's too aggressive or stabbing into the skin.
00:21My name is Carolyn Staples and I'm getting AquaWell Lips done today.
00:25I was really wanting to enhance my lips. The color was fading as I've gotten a little bit older.
00:31So I've been wanting to enhance my lips, but a lot of old ways of doing it don't leave your
00:36lips looking natural.
00:38Pia has worked for me for the past six or seven years.
00:41She's always been doing cosmetic tattooing, but there's been so many changes over the last few years.
00:46And once I saw those changes and the boom of microblading, Pia and I got to talking and we decided
00:51to go in together on a new business venture called Brow House.
00:55I think it's one level to go into partnership with somebody that's for business purposes, but then when you go
01:01to the next level of having them tattoo your face, I think that's a whole different level of trust.
01:08Now more than ever, the industry is going towards very natural, realistic results.
01:14The Aquarelle lip technique has been around for the past couple years.
01:19The technique is designed to create a very gentle, soft contour of the lip to enhance the borders and give
01:28a really symmetrical design without those harsh lip lines that you see with traditional full lip tattooing.
01:37As we age, we also tend to lose some of the pigment in our lips.
01:40So it gives a very natural, kissable, like plump result.
01:46I think a lot of misconceptions about permanent makeup are kind of accurate because you can really get it done
01:52by the wrong person and it can be done the wrong way.
01:55I'm very sensitive to pain.
01:56I remember getting like a really terrible tattoo when I was like 16 years old and that really, really hurt.
02:01So I'm just a little hopped up on anxiety a little bit.
02:08I cleanse her lip to clear away any bacteria.
02:12Then I apply numbing cream that sits on her lips for anywhere from 20 to 30 minutes.
02:20I feel like a blowfish.
02:25I feel like I'm spitting everywhere.
02:27Never.
02:27Oh my gosh.
02:28We are now designing her lip because we're going to stay only in her lip line.
02:34So we need to find and enhance her lips because the lip tissue is very different from the skin tissue.
02:42From there, I contour her lip using a acupuncture needle, which is essentially a very thin, single needle,
02:53and a machine designed for the cosmetic industry.
03:07I go around the border of her lip using a very nude, natural color, and then I blend it in.
03:17We're working very, very lightly, kind of filling in and shading in the area with, again, using a very light,
03:23soft color.
03:39Cool.
03:43They look really good.
03:45They're pretty, huh?
03:45Yeah.
03:46Overall, I think she did such a good job at making my lips really symmetrical and making the lines really
03:50nice and clean and even.
03:52After I got my lips tattooed, they were super puffy and looked like I got lip injections.
03:58My boyfriend was like, what the heck did you do to your mouth?
04:02It just feels like somebody's scratching your lips really hard.
04:10If I felt like anything, I was like, oh my gosh, you know, so it's like half-stressed.
04:16You know, if there was just a little spot that wasn't all the way numb, I was like freaking out.
04:20My first initial reaction to Carolyn's final look was how perfect the shape of her lips are and how soft
04:27and natural they are going to heal to be.
04:30She's like the perfect canvas to work on.
04:33She's so smart and driven and fun and it's fun to be able to work on someone you're so close
04:40to.
04:41The aftercare for any lip cosmetic tattoo is you want to cleanse them very well to get any limp that
04:48the body starts to produce so there's no scabbing, no end.
04:51This will minimize any peeling and you will follow it with a specific ointment given to you by your artist.
04:58I can really tell the difference when I wake up in the morning.
05:01I really feel like I have a really pretty pink tint to my lips and it just, it's like a
05:06really pretty girly young color and I think it looks really good and it makes me feel awesome.
05:11I like the way they look a lot.
05:13Our goal is to enhance your natural beauty, not to change it, not to overdo it, not to make you
05:22look too extreme in any way.
05:24I would love for my lips to be like this forever so if I have to get them touched up
05:28in the future I definitely will.
05:30Thank you for watching Refinery29. For more videos click here and to subscribe click here.
Comments