Facials · treatment guide

Microblading & permanent makeup

Semi-permanent brow, lip and liner tattooing.

Also sold as: microblading, PMU, permanent makeup, powder brows, lip blush

Check a place

What it's for

Create the appearance of fuller, shaped eyebrows through semi-permanent pigment
Define lip color or eyeliner through permanent makeup

Before you book

What to ask, what to verify, and what may change the decision — before you commit to an appointment.

Checklist

What license or health-department permit covers the artist and location
Which pigment brand, and are blades and needles single-use and opened in front of you
Is the touch-up included, and what does removal cost if you don't like it

These are the items most likely to change what you pay, what you get, or what happens if something goes wrong. Take them with you — or and bring it.

From Vanity or Vice

Read the long version when this is the appointment you’re actually considering.

Spa Intelligence keeps the working checklist short. These publication pieces carry the fuller argument, source file and maintenance context.

The ongoing commitment

The first appointment is one number. The useful number is the commitment you can reconstruct from the written plan: what it takes to start, what lands inside the first 12 months, and what an ordinary maintenance year looks like after that.

To start

Everything required before the first meaningful result: the initial session or series, mandatory add-ons, deposits and planned review.

First 12 months

The starting course plus repeats, maintenance visits and known follow-up costs that fall inside the first year.

A normal maintenance year

What the plan costs after the initial course is over. Keep this separate from the first-year number so a package does not make upkeep disappear.

What the treatment guide says to clarify

Annual touch-ups are typically needed. Ask what they cost and whether the initial price includes the first touch-up.

What belongs on the receipt

How many sessions or units the starting plan actually includes.
Which follow-up, touch-up or review is included and which is separately priced.
When credits, packages or banked units expire and what happens if the plan changes.
What the practice expects maintenance to look like after the initial course.

Published interval · not this place’s plan

Results reported to last: 12–18 months

Repeated as it wears off, that is 0–1 repeat visit in twelve months.

How long results last. A separate review of micropigmentation (PMC10506827) recommends yearly touch-ups; both describe an early touch-up within weeks of the first session, which is not this figure.

Source: Indian Dermatology Online Journal (review, 2021) — Microblading and the Science Behind it · “The results are semi-permanent and last only 12-18 months.” · checked Sep 24, 2026

Do not make the benchmark do the quote’s job.

Published averages have a source year. Reader ranges have a quote month and a rolling inclusion window. Neither is a current local quote, and a per-unit number is not interchangeable with a per-session number. Keep the dates and units attached when you compare.

Build the 12-month total See dated price context

The artist’s license or permit, the pigment brand, sterile single-use tools, and the touch-up policy.

How it’s priced

Per procedure, usually with a touch-up visit included or priced separately.

What a complete quote says

A written quote that answers the questions has:

Pigment brand
Whether the touch-up is included and when
Deposit and cancellation terms

Who performs it

Often regulated as tattooing or body art by state or local health departments — check your state page and local health department.

Ask these three first

What license or health-department permit covers you and this location?
Which pigment brand, and are blades and needles single-use and opened in front of me?
Is the touch-up included, and what does removal cost if I don’t like it?

Phrases worth a second look

“Semi-permanent, fades naturally”
Ask how long it realistically lasts and what removal involves.

Read an ad in the claims library

The 2 a.m. plan

If something is wrong tonight, the plan should cover:

A contact for signs of infection or allergic reaction

If you think it’s an emergency, call 911 or go to an emergency department.

The days after

Worth asking before the appointment, not after:

What aftercare is required during healing?

Watch from the source

Explainers picked for the question each one answers. They open on YouTube; nothing plays on this site, and none of them is about a particular clinic.

American Med Spa Association (AmSpa) · Some background helps
Q&A on Esthetician Scope of Practice in California (opens YouTube in a new tab)
A trade association's legal Q&A drawing the line between cosmetology board scope and the practice of medicine.
What it answers
Which procedures a licensed esthetician may perform, and where the medical line starts.
What it doesn’t
Any esthetician's competence, or whether a treatment suits you.
Why it’s here: The same treatment name can sit on either side of a licensing line depending on depth and device. Ask which licence the person treating you holds, and which board issued it.
California-specific; other states draw the line differently. · Checked Sep 8, 2026
Holt Law: For Healthcare Businesses · Detailed
CA Esthetician Scope of Practice | Must-Know Law (opens YouTube in a new tab)
A healthcare regulatory law firm reading the statutory boundary between cosmetology licensure and medical practice.
What it answers
Where the legal line falls between a cosmetic service and a medical act.
What it doesn’t
Candidacy, expected results, or the quality of any provider.
Why it’s here: The distinction turns on whether the treatment penetrates living tissue, not on how the service is marketed.
California statute; the line moves state to state. · Checked Sep 8, 2026
American Med Spa Association (AmSpa) · Some background helps
Laser Techs, Medical Estheticians, and other Regulations For Med Spas in California (opens YouTube in a new tab)
Regulatory counsel unpacking which job titles correspond to an actual licence and which are labels a business chose.
What it answers
Whether "medical esthetician" or "laser technician" denotes a credential or a job description.
What it doesn’t
Any staff member's competence, or which service to book.
Why it’s here: A service name and a staff title can both be unregulated words. Worth knowing before you ask what licence the medical esthetician actually holds.
Framed around California; title regulation varies elsewhere. · Checked Sep 8, 2026
Dr Dray · Some background helps
RF Microneedling Warning: What Dermatologists Want You to Know (opens YouTube in a new tab)
A board-certified dermatologist working through an FDA safety communication about a heavily marketed device category.
What it answers
What the regulator actually warned about, and how a cleared medical device differs from a cosmetic roller.
What it doesn’t
Whether you should have microneedling, or which device to book.
Why it’s here: A pen that breaks the skin is a regulated device; a home roller is not the same object under the law. Ask what device, its clearance, and who is licensed to run it.
US device regulation; tied to a specific safety review. · Checked Sep 8, 2026

Money explainers

The pricing terms that come up with this treatment, explained:

Deposits and cancellation

Compare with other treatments

See how this treatment stacks up against others on goals, tradeoffs, downtime, and maintenance — side by side.

Compare Microblading & permanent makeup with others

The decision path

From wondering to decided — the steps this guide supports:

Understand — What it's for, what it can and can't do — above
Compare — How it stacks up against alternatives
Ask — The questions to take into the room
Check the place — Run the before-you-book check on a specific spa
Record — Save your decision and what's behind it
Reassess — Come back and update when things change