I finally did it! I've been equally curious and terrified about eyeliner tattoo since I heard about it at my first lash lift session with Visage Beauty years ago - and I finally racked up the courage to get it done last week. I waited to write about it because I wanted to experience the full healing process, and maybe it's because I was used to the long and tedious after-care and healing time of microblading, but I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly I went back to wearing makeup and using cleanser on my eyes again.
The final verdict: I LOVE IT, and am kicking myself for not doing it earlier! I've detailed the whole process below, and this may not be for everyone, but this is a great way to enhance your eyes subtly and effectively.
First, numbing cream is gently brushed onto the eyelids. Tape holds up your eyelids so that the numbing cream juust hits your top lid waterline, but there's no discomfort here. It took around 25 minutes for the numbing cream to set in and become effective. Okuyama (the owner of Visage Beauty) performed this procedure, and I'm assuming she does so for every customer who requests the eyeliner tattoo here.
The machine she uses is like a long, thin pen that makes a soft buzzing noise. She will apply it out on one part of your eyelid to test your comfort with it, and begins. For me, it felt like close to nothing - kind of like something vibrating gently against my eye, and certainly no pain at this point. I have to admit it is pretty scary though, having the device so close to your eye, and I was subconsciously holding my breath the whole time because I was terrified to move even a little bit. The part that was actually most uncomfortable for me was the inner eye corner of my right eye - this part stung like crazy, but maybe it was because the numbing cream hadn't absorbed well here. Because the same spot on my left eye was completely painless! Also another uncomfortable part of the process is, when the ink inevitably gets in your eyes from blinking. My eyes are naturally very dry and I tend to blink a lot in general, so at one point I looked like a demon with the black pigment swimming around in the whites of my eyes! So other than that, the tattooing procedure only took around 20 minutes. At the end, she uses saline solution to clean the eyes of ink, and it's all done.
After finishing, I headed over to the pharmacy at Watson's to pick up saline solution to wash my eyes over the next couple of days while it healed. Okuyama told me that my eyes should hurt the next day, but it actually didn't. There was some swelling, however, which I was able to calm down with some ice packs from the freezer. I made sure not to wear makeup for the first few days to avoid infection. One thing happened during the healing process - I developed a small stye 2 days in. This is basically like a pimple on the waterline when a pore there gets clogged (probably with some pigment). Thankfully at this point on the third day, I was able to use regular water to clean my eyes so made a solution of warm water & a bit of dettol to compress my stye with a cotton bud. This made the stye go away pretty quickly.
I started using makeup again 4 days in, and after that, it was all smooth sailing. A week later, I'm able to rub my eyes, cry, use oil cleanser, and do whatever without feeling worried or conscious about the eyeliner!
BEFORE:
AFTER (also note the perfect lash lift that I'd done right before tattooing):
Tattoo eyeliner at Visage Beauty
Price: HK$2,500 (including 1 free touch-up)
Location: Visage Beauty, 20/F Siki Centre, 21-23 Jardine's Bazaar, Causeway Bay
Full price menu at Visage Beauty
Barbie Perm
Upper lashes:
Single treatment 780HKD
2040HKD for 3 times (680HKD/treatment)
2900HKD for 5 times (580HKD/treatment)
Tinting:
Single treatment 300HKD
690HKD for 3 times (230HKD/treatment)
1000HKD for 5 times (200HKD/treatment)
Lower lashes:
Single treatment 580HKD
1440HKD for 3 times (480HKD/treatment)
2250HKD for 5 times (450HKD/treatment)
Brow Lamination
Single treatment 880HKD
2340HKD for 3 times (780HKD/treatment)
3400HKD for 5 times (680HKD/treatment)