The new generation of stay-put make-up looks (nearly) natural, as Ellen Burney found out.
Painless procedures
As a girl who chows down black eyeliner for breakfast, lunch and dinner, I opt for Robson-Lawrence’s Defining Eyeliner treatment. Laid back in a dentist-style chair, an anaesthetic cream is applied through my top and bottom lashes. Next, the ink-filled needle stars to whir. 'It's a much less invasive needle than one used for traditional tattoos,' Robson-Lawrence assures me and begins to repeatedly stroke the needle into the roots of my lashes all the way around the eye. It feels scratchy rather than painful and I manage to get through the 20-minute ordeal without any major panic, give or take a lot of deep breaths.
Once done, my drowsy eyes feel heavy for ten minutes until my thorough inspection begins. My eyes are perfectly lined through the lashes with such precision I could never achieve. It doesn't look at all dramatic; in fact for someone who is used to waking up with smudged panda-eyes, this new doll-like fine liner is alien to me, but thoroughly embraced. The next day I am off on holiday and Robson-Lawrence warns me not to wear any make-up for a couple of days and to keep my sunglasses on to protect the liner from UV rays. But for once, going make-up free causes no fear, as my eyeliner is already on. At first I find that waking up with dark liner next to un-made up skin can accentuate any dark circles but within a few days, I am off to breakfast happily mascara-free (even though I'm allowed to wear it now) with tanned skin, defined eyes and extra time!
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Make-up to wake up in
Funnily enough, stencilled lip-liner and tattooed eyebrows have never been something I'd associate with cutting-edge, contemporary beauty, so why do I suddenly find myself signing along the dotted tattoo ink line for a bit of face invasion? Well, it’s only natural, apparently. ‘There's a new generation of semi-permanent make-up that looks 100 percent natural,’ says former make-up artist and beauty therapist Debra Robson-Lawrence , who offers semi-permanent make-up treatments from her Harley Street office. 'It's a continual blending and interblending of pigments to get the most authentic looking results.’ Robson-Lawrence has created an ultra-fine stroke technique called Facial Aesthetic Micro-enhancement (FAME), mixing many different pigments to create a customised shade couture-made for the client, depending on their skin tone, hair colour and the natural colour of features such as lips and eyebrows. 'I don't do party looks, it's all very natural and I enhance or correct features,' she says. 'I can create the illusion of volume in thin lips by making the middle of the top lip a shade lighter. This is also good to disguise a protruding jaw as you shift the emphasis to the top lip.' She also creates natural-looking eyebrows for those who have over-plucked, have uneven brows or who have lost hair through chemotherapy, can add rosiness to dull lips and even paint on natural-looking eyelashes. 'It's 'make-up to wake-up in' and 'make-up to make love in,'' she says. I’m sold.
Semi-permanent make-up
At my boyfriend’s sister’s wedding last week I felt distinctly underdressed - in the eyelash department. There I was fluttering YSL ’s Luxurious Mascara lashes only to find that my boyfriend’s mother and sister were both kitted out with semi-permanent lash extensions. Lasting up to six weeks their lashes looked entirely natural but thick, black and long, while my lashes looked on and drooped. They perked up on discovering that Nails Inc. have launched ‘Get Lashed’, a new lash and brow service in selected salons nationwide and Groom Urban Spa has opened the Lash Lounge in Selfridges, Oxford Street, both offering semi-permanent lash extensions . And, at Mayfair salon Daniel Hersheson, a new beauty menu now includes semi-permanent lashes and make-up. ‘Our beauty therapist Shirelle was regularly being asked about semi-permanent make-up and if it’s a service we offered so we reacted immediately to offer our clients the latest treatments,’ says creative director, Luke Hersheson . The services available include semi-permanent eyebrows, eyeliner, eye shadow, lip liner, full lip and beauty spots.
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