A patch test is necessary to ensure that you're not allergic to the products that will be used on/in your skin. Everyone is required to do a patch test.

If you're aware that you may be at risk of having a reaction to the products used, please be extra careful to ensure you carry out a patch test before your appointment.

Please understand that there are sometimes traces of nickel in some needles and that this may affect you if you have an allergy.

The patch test may not always confirm or determine conclusively if you have an allergy or whether you'll have a reaction to the products used, but they are rare.

Please allow 3.5 - 4 hours for your first appointment. Each appointment varies customer to customer. Your top up appointment will usually be around 3 hours but this will depend on how well your skin has retained the ink the first time.

Most likely, either a little or a lot, as this is the most common reaction to lip tattooing. It is very temporary, and usually reduces significantly within 2-3 hours.

Other reactions can be light bruising, dryness, irritation around the lips - but this is different client to client.

Some clients are super sentitive at the first session, and don’t react the same way at the top up!

Everyone is different and you will feel the service differently to others. It's still a tattoo at the end of the day so won't be totally painless. Some customers feel nothing at all, whilst others may feel a light scratching or stinging feeling. Most clients have been pleasantly surprised at how little they felt. Numbing gel is used (once the skin is broken) to minimise the discomfort you may feel. After your service, there is no pain, but the area may feel a little tight, stingy, swollen or tender as the lips start to heal. The tightness should only last a couple of days.

Dryness should really be taken care of prior to your appointments, as essentially, I will just be tattooing dead layers of skin which are just going to peel away during the healing process, resulting in a patchy, weak result.

Lip OILS and light exfolitation (with a soft toothbruth) are the best things to keep your lips in a good condition.

Vaseline (or similar) isn’t actually great at adding hydration to your lips as it’s just a barrier layer.

Yes! Most lips are tattoo-able :) Different lips require different techniques so I will adjust my work to suit your lip tissue. Feel free to send a pic so I can advise if you’re not sure.

​If your skin is sensitive in general or on the day of the treatment, you may experience extra redness or swelling after the service. This should settle within a few hours. It’s normal for some clients to be more sensitive than others.

Yes! We will talk though what you like / don’t like prior, and I'll map out the shape that suits your face by using your facial features and where your natural lip tissue is. We CANNOT overline all of your lips - this will not heal well. We can make small adjustments to create more symmetry or a better shape, but overlining all of your lips is a big no-no.

We can adjust the mapping before any tattooing is done, but there is a limit to what can be achieved based on lip tissue, muscle pull etc.

Once we are both happy with the mapping, we will begin.

Yes, you can wear make up to your appointment, but I will have to remove anything on / around the lips whilst doing the tattooing.

Feel free to wear a lip colour if you’d like to show me what you’re looking for, or how soft / intense the coverage is that you’re used to (if applicable).

After the service is over, you may reapply makeup around your lips but NOT on top of or touching the treated area. You risk infection by doing this. Please keep this in mind if you're planning on having your service before an important event, day out, night out etc.

The initial healing period where extra care is needed is generally 3-5 days. Some clients may heal quicker, some may heal slower. During this first 3-5 days, your skin is closing over, and the ink is settling into your skin. After this time, you can resume normal daily activities (full face washing, exercising, wearing full make up etc). Your lips will heal faster if you are good at following the aftercare guidance during the first few days after your service. The full healing time to see the finished results (before your top up) is 4 - 6 weeks.

Immediately after your service, your lips will likely be swollen, either a little or a lot, but swelling goes down quickly. Your lips will probably feel a bit stingy and tight. The skin around your lips may also be slightly irritated.

Your lips will look darker and brighter than they are going to heal. Over the next 4 - 6 weeks, your lip colour will fade around 50% and even out as your skin heals over it. Your lips will never look as dark and bold as they do when they are fresh, as it’s natural to lose a bit of ink during the healing process, and also because as your skin heals, you will be seeing the ink through a layer of healed skin rather than in open skin.

It is important to wait until your lips are properly healed before making a judgement about them, as the colour and definition will only truly appear after they have healed fully, after both your initial appointment AND 6 week top up appointment.

Don't worry, this is normal. Your skin is healing, and like with any wound, a covering (such as a film or a scab) will develop to protect it from infection. This will then come away once the skin underneath is intact. It is important to not scratch or pick at your lips, as this can pull ink from the skin leading to missing patches.

Even though lips heal quickly, the dry and grainy feeling is the most annoying part, but its so important not to disturb the flakes that aren’t fully ready to lift away naturally.

If your lips are kept clean, dry from excess liquids, but hydrated with a balm, then only a thin film (not a scab) will appear at around days 2-3, which will then peel off by itself around days 4-5.

Let the area heal naturally for best results!

It's important to keep any wound dry whilst it’s healing (apart from the provided cleaning solutions) because water / sweat / moisture left to sit on top of your fresh lips will prevent the wound from drying out which can delay healing (increasing your chance of infection), and can also cause scabbing (instead of a thin film).

Once your lips have a film on them, we want to prevent soaking the film as we don’t want this to come away prematurely. The film is there to protect your healing skin.

The middle parts of your lips naturally get the most “wear and tear” - eating, drinking, talking, teeth brushing. Be extra careful with this area for 3-5 days to prevent losing too much ink from this area.

This is unlikely, but could be due to improper aftercare during the early healing stage, excess water / sweat coming into contact with them, too much balm being used (not letting your skin breathe), or an oilier skin type which is naturally prone to producing more lymph fluid.

During the first few hours after your appointment, lymph fluid should be blotted off your lips with a dry tissue to prevent it drying and developing into a scab.

If a scab does develop, it is important not to scratch the scab off as this could cause a scar and / or loss of pigment.

Don't overcompensate by using more moisturiser if you’ve been using lots already - that will make the scab worse. Don't worry - we can make corrections at your follow up appointment.

During the healing process and after the film has come off, it may seem as though some of the ink has lightened too much or disappeared from parts of your lips. Why? After your film has come away,  your new healing skin is covering the ink and is what's making them look lighter. You will notice that as you get closer to weeks 5-6, as your healing skin settles down, a bit of colour and definition will come back through (we call this blooming).

This is a delicate technique and both sessions are needed to target more dofficult areas & to get the best healed result.

It's normal to lose intensity to the colour compared to when freshly done, as you’re not seeing the ink in open skin anymore.

Any lighter areas are addressed at the follow up appointment, and is what the second appointment is for. Think of it like painting a wall… the first layer can be a bit weak and patchy, and the second layer is more consistent and blended.

Cosmetic tattooing is generally softer and less solid than a body tattoo as we are trying to keep it lighter and more natural. Cosmetic tattooing won’t replace make up for every client, especially if you like a strong look.

Specially formulated cosmetic inks that can break down over time are used, as over the years this ages better and allows for changes. This, combined with the fact that faces are generally oilier than other parts of the body, and that faces are usually more exposed to UV rays, environmental pollutants, products such as make up, cleansers & exfoliants, is why top ups are required over the years.

Your lips NEED to be somewhat faded and imperfect to require a touch up. Adding ink ontop of ink ontop of ink that hasn’t had chance to properly break down, leads to ugly long term results. We want your lips to be able to break down over time to keep the results looking soft.

You can, but I will recommend you buy some anti-viral tablets prior to your appointments, and also link you to a serum I would recommend you have on standby for the healing.

Even though the tablets will reduce the chance of an outbreak, if you’re particularly susceptible to coldsores, you may still have an outbreak.

Lip tattooing will help to disguise and blend any old coldsore scars you have!