Overdrawn Lips in Overdrive: People Are Now Tattooing Them On

The treatment lasts 8-10 years.

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Beauty trends are ever-changing (we're reminded of this daily), which is why the notion of permanent makeup—brows, eyeliner, and now lips—makes us a little skittish. 

While we're forever on a mission to streamline our beauty regimen, it just seems so finite in a world where we've got a million eye and lip colors to choose from. Take for example, the uptick in permanent lip liner tattoos, which are no doubt the upshot of those famously-enhanced Kardashian pouts.

Just last week an editor at Cosmopolitan Australia tattooed the outline of her lips to make them fuller as an alternative to fillers. She visited  the cosmetic tattoo experts at Amy Jean Eye Couture, an Australian salon that offers a "Kiss Me Lip Tint Tattoo" treatment, but is just as well known for its brow tattooing treatments. 

While the editor was very pleased with the subtle results—the expert used three different shades of pink to blend the lip line to complement her natural color—the treatment, which is said to last 8-10 *years*, costs an eye-watering $1195 (with touch-ups costing $350 and up every 3-5 years). Not to mention, the minor scabbing that comes with a fresh tattoo.

This said, we can't deny how impressed we were with her natural-looking results. And since then, we've discovered several other instances of women going under-the-gun for a plumper-looking and more contoured pout, that are, dare we say it, kind of tempting us. And while we imagined visible lip liner tattoos treading into dangerous '90s territory, these ink jobs prove subtlety can be achieved. Not to mention, dye jobs can save women from the countless, laser-focused minutes spent attempting to paint on a precise, not-too-overdrawn line. And we know just how long that can take. 

To get an ever better sense of the results of these treatments, check our some more 'grams of the growing trend, below. And if you're thinking of getting a lip liner tint yourself, be sure to take the same precautions you would before getting a body tattoo and then some, because unlike where the sun don't shine, you face is not to be messed with.

Lauren Valenti
Beauty Editor

Lauren Valenti is Vogue’s former senior beauty editor. Her work has also appeared on ELLE.com, MarieClaire.com, and in In Style. She graduated with a liberal arts degree from Eugene Lang College, The New School for Liberal Arts, with a concentration on Culture and Media Studies and a minor in Journalism.