Eyebrows are an important feature: Dr Vinu Kriplani

For those eager to enhance their facial features and look more attractive, Semi-permanent make-up can help create fuller, well-defined eyebrows, neatly lined eyes and even brighter coloured lips. Dr Vinu Kriplani, a cosmetologist with over 35 years of experience was one of the first to bring this technique to India, which has now become a thriving business. She explains its origins. “Earlier, facial tattooing was popular. Most women from Vietnam and Thailand because they have sparse eyebrows, would go for tattooing as a result of which they’d have a greenish bluish tint on their eyebrows. Somebody may have had a scar and a tattoo artist may have said they’d fill it up, from that they realised that one could actually create a proper eyebrow. That’s how tattooing the eyebrow became popular. Then it reached Europe, and they don’t like tattoos on their face. They are more particular about how they look and like to look natural. That’s where semi permanent make-up comes into effect. A German company makes the most natural looking semi permanent make-up. They created nicer colours, they created a gentler machine. And they created a whole system called Contour make-up,” says Dr Vinu.

As the name suggests, semi-permanent make-up tends to fade over time. This is beneficial for those who want to change the shape of their brows or improve on it, whereas in a tattoo what you have is what you are stuck with. The frequency of touch-ups depends from individual to individual. “In Western countries, because their skin is lighter, if they do eyeliner they don’t really need a touch-up for many years. Because we Indians are a little darker, we want our eyeliner to look darker so we need more touch-ups. It also depends on a person’s skin, some skin types hold colour better and some don’t. Eyebrows generally need touch ups between one to two years. Most people need touch ups for their top liner every year. Lips hold the colour the longest, though they’re the most difficult to do,” she adds.  While most people know of the cosmetic side, there’s a medical side to it too. “We do areolas post surgery of breast, to give it colour. People with thinning hair can camouflage bald spots with micropigmentation on the scalp. We can also work on scars, vitiligo on lips,” she adds.

Dr Vinu has had clients as young as 13 years, who would pull her eyebrows out due to exam stress, and those 40 plus who may need it because their eyebrows have become scanty as well as in between. “Eyebrows are your most important feature. You can do full make-up but if you don’t have nice eyebrows you will not have a proper shape to your face,” she says, adding that generally two sessions (about one-and-a- half hours each) are required, one main one and then a touch-up. So in case there is some area a little less filled adjusting can be done.

Getting the eyebrows right is not easy. Longer eyebrows can pull the face down and ruin a person’s face. Training is important and you need to be artistic in temperament, explains Dr Vinu, who has now launched a training academy Derma Esthetic Academy where she teaches semi-permanent make-up techniques. Prices for the make-up range depending on equipment, colours, material used, with eyebrows at about Rs 12,500 plus tax for the first time and touch ups much less. And do her clients come with certain requests? “Most Indians want natural looking pink lips while they have dark lips. I’ve to explain to them that I can give them pink lips but they won’t look natural. They have to work their head around the idea that it might look like they’re wearing make-up.”