When you think of tattooing your lips, you think absolute insanity, pictures of elderly women with huge monstrous and thick lines penned around their tiny lips. You may also envision pain, and lots of it. The lips are a very sensitive area, after all.
I had originally heard of lip blush several years ago. I’d immediately dismissed the idea too- thinking ridiculous fake pouts that looked awful without the equally dramatic make up to complement it. That was until I stumbled across Jamila’s Beauty Bar in Beverly Hills (Sydney, not the USA).
The images that were posted on Instagram showed beautiful, natural pouts with a lovely hint of colour. There was no evidence of trout pout and overtly-drawn lipliner in sight. With each new image, I knew that Jamila knew her stuff. She tailor-made colour plans to suit each client’s complexions, wants and tastes, and mixed colours together, creating the perfect shade for each individual. I knew I had to get my lips tinted from her!
I’ve always liked the thought of just waking up groomed. Despite my adventurous streak and love of the outdoors, I am a lover of beauty and have an inherent need to be polished. I think it came from my paternal grandma; the glamorous granny, I call her. Having a bit of tint to my lips would make me feel put together, even when I’m sleeping. So, after a little (ok, a lot) of research, I decided to go ahead with lip blushing at Jamila’s Beauty Bar.
The Experience
Lip blushing is a two-part series. Once the initial lip colour is added in the first session, it will fade by 50-70%. After six weeks, you go back for a top up. This allows for any colour adjustments, shape and also more prominent colour to be added.
Before my session, Jamila added numbing cream to the area. She placed some cling film over this to help it set and we left it on for half an hour. During this time, we also chose the colours, looking at Instagram images from her page to achieve the desired look.
After cleaning and wiping away the lidocaine, she began the treatment. She added a colour to map where to add the pigment and then began the procedure. It was virtually painless at this point because the numbing cream had taken effect. However, after a little while, certain areas began to become sensitive, so she added more numbing agent. All in all, it’s a bearable experience, and the numbing agent helps make it much more comfortable.
After the procedure, the lips are noticeably darker. Mine were very prominent; like I was wearing a bright red lipstick. They looked great, but definitely not a natural tinge to the lips. This is perfectly normal, and for the first couple of days, lips are darker before they shed and heal.
By the third day, my lips had begun to scab. They looked a little unsightly, but it didn’t stop me from going out and about. If you have an important event, you may want to schedule your lip blush a couple of weeks in advance.
For me, the healing process was fairly quick. There was some tightness and dryness after the scabs had fallen, but by day five, this had virtually vanished. There were still some flakes of skin on my lips, but they just looked like they were chapped from winter dryness, rather than anything. I slathered on my lip balm to help with this and it made such a difference. All in all, you can expect the healing process to last a week. Just keep up with any aftercare that you’re told to do.
Am I happy with the results? Yes, they look great. The experience was so good and it’s so important to see an expert like Jamila, who is super experienced and puts you at ease. I’m certainly looking forward to my six-week touch up where I will give you the final verdict on my experience.
You can visit Jamila’s Beauty Bar on Instagram at: @jamilasbeautybar