I had the pleasure of getting to know Annie when I did her brows in March, and she is such a beautiful person. She had persevered through so many challenges in her life, and yet, she carries such a positive aura about her. One thing that stood out was her passion for the beauty industry—she loves making others feel beautiful. As a single mom, she works as an HR analyst to provide for her daughter, however, her heart still wanted more for herself. She had gotten her cosmetology license years ago but did not get a chance to pursue it. Knowing how much she can contribute to the beauty industry, I encouraged her to train 1:1 with me. When she finally made the leap, I was so ecstatic! Why? Because this was going to be my first 1:1 full-on training for a beginner. In the past, I did 1-day shadow training that was designed for those who have some experience, but wanted to hone their skills.
For Annie, I started spending many nights going over my journal, and my previous notes from my beginning practices. I also reviewed notes from all of my previous trainings and the knowledge that I had obtained from my brow friends. I reflected back on the struggles, and how I overcame them. Because I struggled for nearly 3 months in my beginning practices, my journal gave me a lot of insight in what I was looking for in my training program. Initially I was thinking of doing a 4-day training program for 1:1, but I wanted to also make my training affordable for those who wants to learn. And so, I set out a target of a 2-day training instead and challenge myself. I wanted to test and see if I can create a sound program that can help beginners achieve their goals. To do this, I aimed at getting Annie to visualize. I created imageries in my instructions that I believe would be crisp and clear. My main goal with the imageries was to help her see every part of the process from start to finish. I wanted the process to become second nature to her.
Annie’s first task was convincing someone she knows to become her model. At first, she was very discouraged and freaked out because people were declining her. I assured her to have more confidence when asking people to be her model. Let them know that they are in good hands because your instructor will be there to make sure that everything goes well. And if we needed a model, I would post on my page but I wanted her to get an opportunity to find someone on her own. That same night, she texted me back “Found a model!” I could sense how happy she was…and little did she know, but that was her first golden achievement!
Because we were doing a 2-day training, I had her focused on the most important task at hand on her first day—shading with the machine on synthetic skin. I had her visualize all the key points of a brow and drew it out on her practice skin. Then I had her separate the brows into sections so she can focus on specific field of view. The reason is because each section will have a different gradient. My goal was to get her to visualize the Ombre effect. Next, we worked on holding the machine and flow of the movements that she must create when landing on the skin. I told her to pay attention to how the needle sounds when it hit the skin. After that, we focused on how the ink deposits into the skin. And lastly, how the machine hand felt when hitting the skin. All of these senses will help incorporate the right pressure and consistency. We then focus on her outlines. At first she struggled, because of the way her body was positioned. We discussed about ergonomics, and how to position her body to help her avoid injuries. Once she figured out her body, arm and hand positions, I can see that she was able to outline more fluidly. When we moved on to shading, I was amazed because the instant that she had the right depth, I informed her to keep doing the same thing—and she did it! I had her finish shading the rest of the other field of views. Each time that she moves forward to a new area, she lose her consistency in the beginning, but as I remind her to follow her senses again---she was able to regain it back. By the time she reached the front bulb section of the brow, it became second nature to her. I instructed her to create more spaced out gradients and she was able to do it with ease.
Once I felt that she got the shading down, we went over mapping with a string on the latex doll with the golden ratio in mind. After that, we went over sanitation procedures, inspection requirements, and set up for the next day. I sent her home to focus shading brows on the doll because working on curves are not as easy as working on a flat surface. For her to master working on the actual face, she must be able to work on different curves and planes. The key is to anchor the hand properly. We went over anchoring of the hands upon a face, and how she can place it anywhere as long as she is able to still angle the machine properly.
On her 2nd day, we analyzed her practice on the doll. She mentioned that it was so hard, and she messed up on the right brow so she is so nervous that she may not be able to do well with her model. She was too hard on herself. Looking at her practice, I can tell that she struggled in the beginning because she worked on the right brow first! Then we admired her shading on the left brow, where we can see that she somehow figured out how to shade against curves. And you know what’s funny? I reassured her that I expected her practice results to be just like that! Struggle on first brow and better on the second, and she felt relieved. We went over color theory, and knowing how to read skin undertones. We then role played client consultation, client consent forms, and aftercare procedures.
When her model came in, we had her do the whole process on her own – client consultation, mapping, mixing the ink, machine setup, outlining, numbing, and shading. Throughout working on the live model, I had her focus on stretching the skin and getting her anchors on the machine hand. In the beginning, she was able to outline but her pressure was too light so ink wasn’t depositing into the skin. I can tell that she was afraid to increase the pressure so I had her go over the lines again until she sees the ink depositing into the skin. Then I reminded her to use her senses like in her practice skin to consistently outline with the same depth. We then had her slowly wipe the outlines in sections, when she realized she cannot see the tip end of the tail area, she was a bit worried. This was when I stepped in to show her the grazing technique with the machine to find her outline. I then wiped off the grazed outline and had her find the outline herself. And what do you know! She got it! After she was done with the left brow, we had her numb it, and move on to the right. I can see that she was getting very comfortable with the outlining process because she was very absorbed and did not pause to question herself. I had her wipe the whole brow this time because I can tell that she was working with the right depth. When she saw her outline, her eyes lit up! It was so heartwarming to see this…. just priceless!
For the shading process, I reminded her that it will be just like the synthetic skin practice and she must be able to shade consistently with the same pressure once she sees how the skin takes in ink. We had her shade in different depths so we can analyze how the client’s skin reacts to them. When she was going too light, the skin did not take in ink and began to turn red. This is very common. No deposit of ink means you are just going over the skin almost like rubbing it so it will naturally turn red. When this happened, I had her double check her needle length and make sure pigment is not stuck in the cartridge. Reason is because the needle length can change when the adjuster gets moved slightly—and that was the case! After fixing this minor issue, she was able to get back in her zone and shade again. I can see that Annie was becoming a natural with shading. She was very concentrated, knew what she was doing. By the time she got to her 2nd brow, I stopped observing her and was goofing around with the cameras. I was literally jumping with joy for her! It felt incredible watching her shade and doing her thing!
In the end, there is nothing more rewarding than feeling accomplished. Working with Annie and seeing her drive and determination—was just just everything to me. With every direction I had given her, she was able to grasp them. She is the affirmation to my vision of a creating visual learners. I am truly proud of her, and I am confident that she will find success in following her dreams. Thank you Annie for trusting to have me guide you in your brow journey!
Check out the videos of her training on my Instagram: ForeverNaimee in the highlight section of "Training" or click link below:
https://www.instagram.com/s/aGlnaGxpZ2h0OjE3ODcxNjE4NDQyMzk0Mjk3?igshid=5yqgizkrmplb&story_media_id=2073029666945334146