Questions people ask

Microblading draws hair-like strokes with a hand blade. Ombre powder brows use a machine to build a soft shade, closer to brow powder than to pencil. A shaded brow has no fine strokes to lose, so as it softens it tends to look lighter rather than blurred, and on oily skin strokes are the part most often reported to blur. Which looks more natural on you depends on your skin and your own brow hair rather than on the technique.

Numbing cream goes on before she starts. The feeling is usually described as scratching or pressure, and some people compare it to threading. You can say at any point that you want more numbing, and she will stop and reapply.

A first appointment is booked as one two-to-three-hour slot. Most of it is the design time, mapping and drawing the shape until you approve it, then the color choice and the work itself. The second session is shorter.

Skip alcohol and caffeine on the day, and stop using retinol or acid exfoliants near your brows for two weeks beforehand. Arrive with clean brows and no makeup in the area, and out of the sun. On medication: tell Mugi before the appointment rather than on the day, and do not stop taking anything — including aspirin or a blood thinner — unless the doctor who prescribed it tells you to. Whether to pause anything is a decision for the person who prescribed it.

For the first few days your brows look darker and sharper than they will stay. Around the end of the first week they flake, and for a while after that the color can look too light. It usually settles by about 6 weeks, which is when the result is judged and when the second session adjusts it. Darker before it lightens is the usual pattern. It is not the same thing as pus or discharge, skin that is hot to the touch, spreading redness, a fever, or pain that is getting worse rather than better after the first couple of days: those need a doctor or an urgent care clinic the same day, before you wait for a reply from Mugi. The aftercare guide goes through it week by week.

Keep the brows dry for the first 7 days. For the first 14, keep makeup, heavy sweating, swimming, saunas, direct sun, and retinol or acid products away from them, and let the flakes come off on their own. The color is judged at about 6 weeks, not before. Use only the aftercare product Mugi tells you to, in the way she tells you to. Once it has healed, sunscreen over the brows on bright days does the most to slow fading. The aftercare guide has the detail, including when to see a doctor rather than wait.

Not on or near the brows for the first 14 days. Makeup elsewhere on your face is fine as long as it stays away from the brow area. After that you can go back to your usual routine.

The color is judged at about 6 weeks, once the skin has healed and the color has settled. That is also roughly when the second session happens, which is where density is built and anything uneven is corrected.

How long it holds depends on your skin, the sun you get and what you put on your face, and the spread between two people is wider than any single figure would suggest. The touch-up prices are the closest thing to a real answer, because they are what she charges at each interval: see the prices page. Oily skin often fades sooner than dry, and sunscreen on the brows on bright days is the part you control.

The price of a touch-up depends on how long it has been — $100 at 1 to 3 months, $150 at 3 to 6 months, $250 at 6 to 12 months, $300 at 1 to 2 years. That ladder is about the interval, not about whether you need one. Plenty of brows look fine at a year, and the honest answer is sometimes to wait. Send Mugi a current photograph and she will tell you which it is.

Ask Mugi how the six-week follow-up is charged before you book, so the cost is settled before your appointment rather than at it. Later touch-ups are priced by how long it has been.

Often, but not always. It depends on how much is left, what color it has turned and where it sits: some can be worked over, some needs lightening elsewhere first, and some is better left to fade for a while. A photograph gives Mugi enough for a first opinion. The decision is made in person.

The shape is drawn and adjusted on your face until you say it is right, and nothing permanent happens before that. If something bothers you once it has healed, tell Mugi. Small adjustments are usually made at the second session. If it is more than that, she will tell you plainly what can and cannot be changed, and what it would involve.

Soft powder and ombre brows are $600. The combination brow, which is what the booking system calls microshading, is also $600. Nano hair strokes are $650. All three include the design time, the appointment itself and vegan pigments. Ask Mugi how the six-week follow-up is charged before you book, so the cost is settled before your appointment rather than at it. Later touch-ups are priced by how long it has been. The four touch-up prices — $100, $150, $250 or $300 — are set in advance rather than quoted in the chair.

Any deposit and cancellation terms are shown in the booking system before you confirm, and those are the ones that apply. If you would like to know them before you choose a time, ask Mugi.

The terms shown at the point of booking are the ones that apply. If something happens and you need to move an appointment, say so as early as you can; a one-person studio can usually rearrange, and it is a conversation rather than a form.

Yes, and it is worth finding out before you book. Mugi will not work on anyone who is pregnant or breastfeeding, or on skin in the brow area that is broken or currently flaring. Diabetes, blood-thinning medication, an immune condition, keloid scarring or recent cancer treatment all mean asking your own doctor first: she is a licensed tattooer, not a clinician, and she is not going to make that call for you.

She uses vegan, EU-compliant pigments made for permanent makeup. EU compliance is a published standard with limits on heavy metals and banned colorants, so it is something you can look up rather than take her word for. She selects colors that complement your skin tone, hair color and what you actually want, so the healed result sits with your own coloring.

On this site, brows: soft powder and ombré, the combination brow, and nano hair strokes. Doing one thing is what lets her get good at it rather than adequate at several, and it is why she will tell you when something is outside what she does and who to ask instead. The booking menu also carries fine line tattoo work, which this site does not cover.