Which Inspiration Photos Should I Show My PMU Brow Artist?
Updated: Oct 3
Bringing inspiration photos to your permanent makeup appointment can be extremely helpful. They give your artist an idea of the shape, fullness, softness, and overall style you’re hoping to achieve.
But what inspirational photos should you really bring?
One of the most common mistakes I see clients make is bringing photos of freshly tattooed eyebrows—sometimes from a completely different artist—and expecting to get those results.
Before saving your next brow inspiration picture, there are two things I want you to consider:
Is this photo fresh or healed?
And even more importantly:
Did the artist I’m actually booking create these brows?
Fresh Brows Are Not the Final Result
For example, fresh nano brows and microblading can look absolutely beautiful.
The individual strokes can look extremely thin, crisp, and defined immediately after the procedure. If you’re looking through social media trying to decide what you want, it’s completely understandable that you might see those results and think:
“THAT. I want exactly that.”
The problem?
That isn’t the finished result.
Permanent makeup changes during healing. Hairstrokes can become lighter and less visible. some even disappear. The overall result can look substantially more lighter than it did immediately after the appointment.
That doesn’t automatically mean anything went wrong.
A beautifully healed nano brow can be considerably softer than the fresh version.
But if what you actually loved about your inspiration picture was how full, crisp, and defined those fresh strokes looked, you need to know whether you’ll still love that technique after it heals.
Don’t Ask, “Which Fresh Results Do I Like The Most?”
Ask yourself:
“Which healed results would I like to get?”
That’s a much more important question.
You only live with fresh results for about one week. After that, the brows start peeling, scabbing, and once the pigment has fully settled, it’s the healed results you’ll be waking up to every morning.
So when looking for inspirational photos, look specifically for healed results, and then note which technique was used.
That’s the technique that you want to get done.
But make sure to look for healed results after the touch-up has also healed.
That comparison gives you a much more realistic idea of what you’re actually choosing.
Because permanent makeup is a two step process. Most people need a touch-up after 2 months to achieve better retention results. And the touch up can change things quite a lot. Ideally, you want your chosen artist to have multiple healed cases after a touch up.
Remember:
You only wear your fresh brows for less than 4 weeks. But you live with the healed results for years and chances are you’ll need to touch them up a few times so make sure you see how touch ups heal not just first session healed results.
Your Inspiration Photos Should Ideally Come From YOUR Artist’s Healed Portfolio Too.
This may be even more important than choosing healed photos as inspirational photos.
I’ve had clients sit in my chair and show me a beautiful brow result from another artist and say:
“I want these.”
And my first thought is:
Ma’am… this is not my work. I didn’t create that. 😂
Your artist can absolutely look at outside inspiration to understand what you like. But another artist’s photograph should not be treated as a guarantee of what your artist can reproduce.
Different PMU artists have different techniques, experience levels, machines, needles, pigments, stroke patterns, shading styles, pressure, depth, and artistic approaches.
You wouldn’t choose one hairstylist solely because you loved a haircut performed by a completely different hairstylist.
Permanent makeup shouldn’t be any different.
Ask Yourself Why You Chose This Artist
Before booking, look through the artist’s own healed work portfolio and ask:
Do I like the majority of their healed work?
Would I be happy if I randomly got any of those healed results?
If you cannot find consistent healed examples of results you like from their own healed work, you don’t actually know whether that artist consistently produces your desired outcome after healing.
This becomes especially important if you’re paying premium prices.
So What Should You Actually Bring to Your Appointment?
If you’re looking for inspiration examples to bring to your appointment, they should consist of:
Healed results of the artist you’re actually booking
Results on clients with similar brow density as yours
Healed results after a touch up
Several examples you love—not just one lucky case.
You can certainly bring outside inspiration too. It can help communicate your preferences.
Just don’t use another artist’s work as the standard your artist is expected to reproduce.
Know before rather than later
The best time to discover that your chosen artist doesn’t have consistent healed examples resembling your dream brows is before you let that artist tattoo brows onto your face.
Final thoughts
The best inspiration photos aren’t necessarily the most beautiful fresh eyebrows you can find on Instagram.
They’re the healed eyebrows that make you think:
“If MY brows healed exactly like this, I would be happy.”
Then look at the technique and name attached to those brows.
Because if you repeatedly find yourself saving healed results from the same artist…
That might be the artist you should actually be booking.
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