- Hi, I'm Nicky Davis, I'm 28 years old
and I am getting my eyebrows microbladed for the first time.
It was a thing I started thinking about
last year sometime.
One of my coworkers got her eyebrows microbladed
and she came to work and was raving about
how amazing it was and I found myself just like
staring at her eyebrows the whole day
and so then I was like, I should probably do this.
I do my eyebrows every day.
I didn't do them today but i do them every day.
I started doing them my senior year of high school
which is 10 years ago.
The amount of time I spend doing my eyebrows
depends on the day.
If I'm like, just gonna go do a very basic thing
it takes maybe a few minutes.
If I'm like, trying to look nice for an event
then it takes longer.
I would say maybe like 10 minutes,
trying to get them even is really hard.
It's like a very fine line.
Sometimes they look really really good
and sometimes you look like a Muppet
and there's just, you don't know until you've messed it up.
My sister actually was helping me get ready to go to prom
and one of my inspiration photos was
the album cover of Beyonce's B'Day.
My sister was like, "Okay if you want to look like this,
if you want your makeup to look like this,
we should fill in your eyebrows."
I didn't wanna fill them in because I was like,
it's gonna be so severe and make my face so insane.
And then when we did it, it actually looked more like me
than I was ready for.
I had been so nervous about looking too intense
or too intimidating or overpowering or something
but then when I saw it I was like, oh, but that kinda
suits my personality and actually looks more like my face
and the way that I imagine that I look
when I'm out in the world.
And then it just became part of my life
and then I was just doing it all the time.
Eyebrows are like architecture of the face.
It just feels like you're making a statement
that you're here and you're not sorry.
It allows me to take up space in a way
that I never really thought I could when I was a kid.
Before I have this done, one of the things I'm nervous about
is whether there are any risks involved,
if there are any reactions that I might have
and then how do I take care of it after it's done.
I am a little nervous because I've heard that it's painful
so I'm gonna do it and we'll just see how it looks
I guess the next time I'm here
I'm gonna just have a brand new face
so I'll see you guys with my new eyebrows.
[upbeat music]
- Hi! - Hi Nicky!
- Nice to meet you! - I'm Lindsey!
Nice to meet you too, how are you today?
- I'm good, I'm excited.
So this is maybe a weird question
but what exactly is microblading?
- No, it's not weird at all.
So microblading, it is considered a tattoo.
- Okay. - It is a cosmetic tattoo.
I'm gonna create a shape for you
and then we're gonna mimic the hair pattern
of your hair to add hair in areas that are sparse and light.
So it's gonna last you for about one til two years
depending on your lifestyle and your skin type.
- Okay. And are there risks
involved with it, like things that might go wrong?
- You know, in my career I've seen over 40,000
procedures and no allergic reactions,
everything we use is something you process
through your body every day.
I'm not saying it cannot happen but it is very rare.
- Awesome.
- So, I'm gonna use a thread to measure some symmetry.
Okay.
Is this something you've been wanting to do for a while?
- Um, it's a thing that I asked for for Christmas
actually, last year.
- Oh really?
- I think everyone in my family thought I was joking
so, didn't happen.
I think I got like, you know,
socks for Christmas not eyebrows.
- Okay, I found all your points where your brows should go.
I'm gonna connect everything.
- Okay, so, Lindsey just mapped out my face
and we drew the initial shape for my eyebrows
so now we're gonna draw the actual shape.
I'm super excited to see what it's gonna look like
so let's get started.
[upbeat music]
- Okay Nicky, I'm gonna have you look at them.
They're gonna appear 10 to 15% thinner.
- Okay.
- How do you feel about the shape?
- Really excited honestly.
I think they're gonna be great.
- Yes?
- I'm really excited about that shape, yeah.
- Do you have any questions, do you want a moment
to just feel out the shape?
- No, I feel like that's the dream shape
that I would do if I had any skill.
- Okay, all right. - It's exciting.
[upbeat music]
- So what made you decide to get microblading now.
- I am kinda entering a new phase of my career.
- It's very exciting.
- It's a good moment to like, be out
in the spotlight a little bit
and feel a little more cleaned up.
I haven't been in a place of feeling like
I am ready to make a statement until recently.
And so it feels like the right time to
sort of make my physical appearance
step up to where I am emotionally
and where I've gotten to professionally.
It feels like everything is sort of stepping into
a new level and this is a new me to go with it.
Okay so Lindsey has finished drawing my brows.
This is gonna be the final shape.
They are amazing, I'm really excited.
So the next step is, we're gonna numb them
and then I will see you in 30 minutes.
[upbeat music]
- This is your look for the next 30 minutes.
- Can't wait.
- Okay. - Perfect.
- Take a seat, I will bring you back
when everything is set up.
- Okay, thanks.
Okay so, my eyebrows are now completely numb
which feels really weird, you never know that you can
feel your eyebrows until you can't.
So now we're about to get started so I'm really excited.
Okay. - Legs up.
So Nicky, I'm gonna do like a light dark brown.
- Okay. - Okay,
it's gonna match your eyebrow hair.
- Okay.
- How do you feel?
- I feel pretty numb.
- Yes? - Yeah.
- You can tell. - Yeah.
- How was that?
- I didn't even feel that, did you do something?
- Mm-hmm, we started already.
[upbeat music]
This is the actual microblading part.
- This is really surreal, I can hear it.
- Mm-hmm.
[upbeat music]
Okay, we call it a first pass.
I'm gonna place some pigment on all the strokes
that I created and it's gonna sit here for 10 minutes.
This part might sting a little bit.
- This is really weird.
Like, it hurts a little bit but honestly,
it has hurt more when I've tried to pluck my eyebrows.
[upbeat music]
- Okay Nicky, so we did the first pass,
it was successful.
- Yay. - I have to give you
another numbing procedure. - Okay.
- And I'm gonna do my second pass
and I'm gonna see how everything looks and we'll be done.
- Amazing.
Now I'm just really excited to see it.
[upbeat music]
- So the strokes are done.
I'm gonna fill in some shading.
- Okay.
- To give you a little bit more fullness.
- Okay.
- This is considered cosmetic tattoo.
- Okay.
- And it's very similar to body art tattooing,
it's more superficial because the deeper we work
the more permanent it becomes.
- I see.
- So Nicky, right after this procedure,
- Uh-huh.
- In some areas it might appear a little bit red
but it's normal. - Okay. Yeah.
- All of that will be gone probably by tonight.
- Okay.
- But when you wake up tomorrow your brows are gonna look
very dark, okay? - Okay.
- So you're gonna have a scab.
The scab will be completely developed by tomorrow
and it's really important that
the scab doesn't come off too soon.
The longer the scab stays on...
- The better. - Yes.
- Okay.
- Lucky for me I work from home so I'll just,
I can just sit in my house like a hermit
and no one has to see it.
- Good!
I'm gonna place some pigment on for another masking process.
- Okay.
[upbeat music]
- Okay, Nicky, you're gonna hold this, don't look yet, okay?
- Okay.
I am so nervous but I'm really excited.
- Ready?
You're gonna lift up the mirror.
- Now? - Yeah.
- Okay. - Right here.
- Oh my gosh, okay.
- Can you see yourself?
- Yeah, I can see myself.
- Okay.
- Holy crap.
Can I say that? - Yes.
- Holy crap.
- You can say anything you want.
- Oh my gosh, oh my gosh.
Oh wow, that's like a perfect eyebrow.
Has anyone ever had an eyebrow that good.
It's amazing. - Yes.
- Holy, yeah. Wow!
This is magical.
Oh my gosh.
- This is you eyebrow transformation.
- Oh my gosh, they look so good.
People are gonna think I got my face transplanted.
This is amazing.
Oh my gosh, wow.
It's cool.
Thank you.
Oh these are the best eyebrows anyone's ever had.
No one's had better eyebrows than this.
I feel like a princess.
Wow.
- Yeah!
- Can I give you a hug?
- Yes! - This is incredible.
So Lindsey just finished,
my eyebrows look incredible.
Like are you looking at them, I'm looking at them
and they look amazing, I can't stop looking at them.
We're gonna go over some aftercare and then we're all done.
- So for the first one to seven days
I want you to avoid water, lotion, rubbing, touching
the procedure area, any direct sunlight
and no makeup on the procedure area.
- Okay.
- So you're still gonna take a shower and wash your face
but just don't get water on your eyebrows on purpose.
- Okay.
- If they get wet for any reason I want you to gently
pat dry them or even blow dry them.
I do want you to start applying a thin layer of ointment.
- Okay.
- Just so your scabs are comfortable and lightly moistened
so they don't come off for this first week.
- Okay.
- It's important that your scabs stays on
for at least seven days.
10 days, 14 days even better.
- Great. - Okay.
- When the scabs comes off it's gonna be very light
and you're gonna see color coming through
every week up to six weeks. - Okay.
- That's how long it can take for the skin
to regenerate a new layer of skin.
- Got it.
- And only then you will see all the color surface.
- Got it. Okay.
- I can't wait to see them heal up.
- I am so excited, thank you so much.
- Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you too.
- There you go.
- Perfect. Thank you.
So, these are my eyebrows now.
I'm very excited.
Nobody's ever seen my face look this together,
it's a big moment.
It's still surprising, I'm still surprised to like
wake up and look like a mess but have these
very together eyebrows in the morning.
I would say the amount of time that I save in
not doing the makeup is less than the amount of time
that I save in not thinking about it.
The amount of time that I spend thinking about them
or like worrying about how they look
or worrying that I'm gonna sweat and rub them across my face
and then look ridiculous, easily like a day and a half
a week that I've saved.
So that's a huge win.
My eyebrows to me feel like a thing that I can do
that sort of make a statement about
how bold I am as a person and about
how sort of sure of myself I am as a person
and so I feel okay about it.
So I'm gonna call my sister.
She has not yet seen the eyebrows so it's very exciting.
We're gonna FaceTime her and see what she thinks.
- Hi! - Hi.
- Oh my gosh!
You look so good, oh wow.
- Thank you. - You look so good.
- Thank you. - Oh my gosh.
Oh, can you like turn your head?
- Which way?
- From side to side a little bit or like, you choose?
- No, which, I don't know.
- Your whole face is just like, uh!
- I know, I got a new face too, actually, while I was there.
- I'm so happy for you!
- I'm really excited, this is like
the completion of the vision from, what,
10 years ago when you did my eyebrows for prom.
- I mean, yes, and I had this vision.
And now, finally. - And now here we are.
So it's great.
All right, well I love you.
- Awesome.
- And thanks for looking at my face.
- I love you too!
- In the middle of the day.
- It's been a true pleasure,
it's been an honor and a privilege.
- Oh my gosh, thank you.
Okay. - You are so welcome.
- Okay cool, love you, bye.
- Love you, bye!
- The amount of confidence
that it's given me is kind of staggering.
I feel just like so much more put together all the time.
My face looks more like how it looks in my mind
and I feel like I look more like the person
that I feel like I am just naturally now
so I am more confident cause I just am myself immediately,
as soon as I wake up in the morning I just look like myself.
Even though it's sort of like an extreme thing, I guess
to get like permanent makeup done, now I have to do less
in order to look the way that looks best on me.
It just feels like going out into the world
and saying with certainty,
"this is how I look and I'm not sorry."
It really is just something that's for me,
it just feels like it speaks to who I am.