Brow notes
Microblading or powder brows?
Both are brow tattooing. The difference is strokes or shading, and which suits you depends on your skin, the hair you already have and the look you want, more than on either technique being better.
At Ink Mugi in Annandale, Mugi mostly shades. Hair strokes are offered as part of the combination brow rather than on their own.
Side by side
| Microblading | Powder brows | |
|---|---|---|
| How it is done | A hand-held blade draws fine, hair-like strokes. | A machine builds a soft shade from many small dots. |
| What it looks like | Individual hairs, closest to a bare natural brow. | A soft, filled look, closer to a brow pencil or powder. |
| Tends to suit | Normal to dry skin, a fair amount of your own brow hair, wanting texture rather than fill. | Most skin types, including oily; sparse brows; wanting fullness or a defined shape. |
| How it tends to age | Strokes soften first, can blur together and often fade unevenly. | Usually gets lighter overall rather than blurred. |
| Healing | The same aftercare for both, and both are judged at about six weeks. | The same aftercare for both, and both are judged at about six weeks. |
| Sessions | Usually two. | Usually two. |
“How it tends to age” is what artists commonly report, not a measured rate. Healing for both: the brows are kept dry for the first 7 days, with makeup, sweat, swimming and sun kept away for 14; the aftercare guide has the rest.
Four questions that usually decide it
- Is your brow area oily by the afternoon? If so, shading is usually suggested, because strokes are the part most often reported to blur.
- How much of your own brow hair is there? Strokes frame hair that is there; shading fills where it is not.
- Do you fill your brows in most days? A shaded brow usually matches the look you already wear.
- Is there previous work? Old pigment changes what is possible, so it is looked at first. How previous work is looked at.
You do not have to decide alone. Mugi looks at your skin and your brows and tells you which she would suggest, and the shape is drawn and agreed on your face before anything is tattooed.
Questions people ask
Microblading draws individual hair-like strokes with a hand blade. Powder brows build a soft shade from many small dots made with a machine. The first looks like hair; the second looks like a well-applied brow powder. Which suits you is a question about your skin and the brow hair you already have.
There is no honest single figure for either. A shaded brow has no fine strokes to lose, so as it fades it usually looks lighter rather than blurred, which many people find easier to live with. How long either holds depends on your skin, your sun exposure and your skincare.
Shading is the one usually suggested. Fine strokes are the part most often reported to soften and blur on oily skin; why has not been settled. Mugi decides by looking at your brow area rather than at a skin-type label.
People describe both as scratching or pressure, with numbing cream applied first, and you can ask for more at any point. Experiences vary from person to person more than between the two techniques.
Often. Faded or blurred strokes can frequently be shaded over; dark, patchy or misplaced work may need lightening elsewhere first. A photograph gives Mugi enough for a first opinion, and the decision is made in person.
Nothing establishes that. Summers here are humid, which makes the first fortnight of aftercare harder to follow. After that, sun is what fades permanent makeup, wherever you live.
Soft powder and ombré brows are $600. Microblading is not sold on its own here; hair strokes are part of the combination brow, also $600. Both cover 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.
Both can, and they look natural in different ways. Strokes look like hair close up; a shaded brow looks like a brow with a little makeup on it. If you fill your brows in every day, a shaded brow usually matches how you already look.
More: soft powder and ombré brows, microblading on oily skin, why microblading fades and nano hair strokes, the machine-made alternative to blade strokes.
Not sure which?
Send Mugi a bare-faced photo of your brows and what you are hoping for. She will tell you which she would suggest for your skin and why.
Not sure yet?
Ask Mugi
Send a question, and a photo if you like. She replies herself with what she would suggest. Free, and it books nothing.
Ask Mugi about your browsDecided?
Book the procedure
On Vagaro, from $600. Pick the service and a time; the appointment still starts with the drawing.
Book on Vagaro (opens the booking system)