All things brows:

1. When drawing always sit your client up at the end to ensure your drawn template looks as symmetrical as possible
2. Powder your drawing if you’ve drawn with pencil or a china marker to set the drawn template and prevent rubbing away.
3. Stretch around your template on your first pass, this will prevent you rubbing away your drawn template - once you have implanted your first pass you can then create an even tighter stretch. Small tight stretches over the area you are working on. The tighter the stretch the less skin acts as a bouncy castle to your needle. A firm but comfortable stretch will enable your needle to cleanly pierce the skin and allow the pigment to be stitched in.
4. On your first treatment remember to leave a lot of space so you can see how the skin reacts to the pigment (migration etc). On the touch up treatment 4-8 weeks later you can then assess if you can add more, and should you need to re-enforce previous strokes you can then see them clearly before adding more.
5. Think about your pressure, you should feel a nice even vibration as your working with your digital device, insert the needle into the skin first, find your correct pressure and then start to create your stroke.
6. 3 sloped needles will stitch in more pigment into the skin helping with retention. 1 liners have a longer taper so you can extend the length of your needle further to see the needle when youre working to ensure clarity and crisp hairstrokes
7. When working on bushy brows it helps to keep a clean (fresh) mascara wand to help you push the hairs away, you can then get a really tight stretch with your thimb and finger keeping those hairs pushed to the side. While doing the brows remember to comb your fingers through the brow hairs to keep an eye out for any gaps and to see if your hairstrokes are even and flowing
8. 9 times out of 10, poor retention problems are due to working too fast. Think you are in a race with a snail however youre trying to lose! You need to be going slower than a snail. Remember this when you are creating your hairstroke eyebrows, eyeliner or lips with a digital device. Allow time for the needle to stitch pigment into the skin.
9. If your client is a Fitzpatrick ½, do not use a dark pigment (even if your client dyes their hair darker). Explain to them how pigments age and make the client understand why you are not using darker pigments such as truly intense on them. Truly intense is super cool and dark best used on Fitzpatrick 3+
10. Pigments can be built up, always start lighter and then build up, rather than taking the deepest shade you can get your hands on. Use the deepest shade to darken another pigment that seems more suitable for the skin tone/hair of the client to give it a kick. Pigment should fade over a period of time, that’s what they are designed to do.

All things eyeliner:

1. Always draw on your eyeliner first, try pigment and a fine nail art brush - they work great! When creating a wing, use the angle of the lower lash line, this will create the perfect angle for the winged eyeliner.
2. The bigger the needle the softer the effect, the smaller the needle the stronger the effect. For eyeliner if you want more saturation of pigment in the skin, less needles will penetrate better, more needles will create a softer diffused effect. If you want a saturated lash enhancement, Steve would recommend a 3 outline or 3 micro.
3. If you are using brown on the eyes, always take a cool brown, this can prevent the client returning with a reddish hue around the eyes.
4. Steve loves using Liquorice by Finishing Touches, a carbon based black pigment gives a much stronger finish. If you are suffering with black eyeliners turning blue or grey, try adding a drop of corrective orange.
5. Stretch the skin taught and take the elliptical shape away and turn it into a straight line. This makes it much easier to tattoo. Your stretch should be tight and secure but comfortable.
6. It's best to start on the lower lash line, get both sides completed before moving to the top. If you find the eyes are watery, take a lint free cloth to help secure your stretch and stop your fingers slipping.
7. Some clients have a nervous hand, it wants to come up to the face or throw itself up in the air as you are working. Give your client a job, get them to gently pinch the bridge of their nose with one hand. This is great to keep their mind on doing something and the gentle pinching helps pull the skin taught in one direction while you stretch in the other.
8. Never join the corners of the eyes, this is because the skin can be very thin and delicate, so migration can occur.

All things lips:

1. When stretching the outer corner of lips, some techs find it difficult to not touch the lips. If you get a good quality setting powder, you can use this to set your drawing so you don’t rub it off while stretching.
2. When you are working on the bottom stretch, a good tip is to go behind the clients head, hands over their chin and pull back in the opposite directions. This is great for a nice taught line.
3. Once you have your lines in place, try changing your stretch. Using two fingers, stretch over the vermillion border and into the vermillion line. This helps to get the pigment in.
4. Remember all lips are somewhat cooler in undertone so thing carefully about the pigment you choose to use on your clients. To ensure safety, if you are new to lips, a small drop of Zinnia can help prevent a cool healed lip.
5. Lips come in a vary of tomes of pinks, reds, browns etc. The deeper the natural tine to the lip, the darker the pigment needed to create a contrast once tattooed into the skin of the lips. Be aware you cannot make the lips lighter than their natural tone, Trying to lighten lip shade could result in chalky, wish-washy effects. Especially if you are using pigment with a high amount of titanium.
6. Steve’s loves using a 4 flat needle on the lips as it helps add saturation of pigment to the vermillion zones. Using a 3 micro to colour in the vermillion zones would take a longer time as you must work slower to ensure even saturation.
7. It’s important that the lips are in the best condition before a lip treatment, dry keratin cells across the lips can be flaked away as long as it’s not a medical condition. Steve recommends mixing brown sugar and honey as it makes a fantastic lip scrub and a great sugar fix!

Products mentioned:

4 Flat Needle 

1 Liner Needle 

3 Micro Needle 

3 Sloped Needle 

Corrective Orange Pigment 

Zinnia Pigment  

Liquorice Pigment 

Disposable Brush Wand 

Marker Pencil