A Conversation With ... Susie Stephens

I opened this facility, 5601 S. Campbell, Ste. 108, in June. I am a licensed cosmetologist, a licensed esthetician, a licensed tattooist and a licensed permanent makeup instructor. I'm regulated by the state; they do inspections. I'm treated as a medical facility.

In June, you moved to teaching. How is that going?

I have had about eight students. The class is three and a half to four days, and we have heavy-duty class days. There's financial aid available for students, and I'm a vendor for vocational rehabilitation. Anyone who has a disability, that's state-funded … tuition and supplies. I'm working on paperwork to be a vendor for Pell grants. Class schedules vary, and I will do one-on-one classes.

I also still do procedures and day spa services for clients.

How did you make the switch from providing permanent makeup to teaching others how to do it?

I've been doing permanent makeup since probably 1985. I became accredited with a school out of Texas. I've always been interested in makeup. When I did the hair thing, it wasn't me. I didn't like it. I did hair for years, but it just wasn't my thing. I went into skin care, and I like the skin care. But the permanent makeup, when it began to get popular, that's when I became interested in it.

The reason that I went ahead and got my instructor's license so I could teach (permanent makeup) … (is that) permanent makeup makes such a wonderful, wonderful, self-gratifying career. It's really powerful for women because it's one career out there with minimal investment, not years of education and thousands and thousands of dollars. You can … have your own career, be your own boss and make wonderful money. That's really the biggest (factor) other than I love doing it. But I'm really behind the women in this career. That's really my motivation behind doing the teaching.

What procedures can be done with permanent makeup?

On the cosmetic end, designing eyebrows for people is my specialty. Eyebrows are the frame for your face. I can change the shape of people's eyes. I can make it appear that they've had an eyebrow lift. I can do scar work, and I do lots of enhancements. I do eyeliner, I do lips, I do lip-liner. ...

On the medical side, we can do lots of medical correction work, such as for people with cleft palates. I'm currently having a lot of success with tattoo removal.

Do you teach technique as well as information on how to run a business?

I do. When we have class, we do anatomy, the legalities of (business), the state regulations. I instruct them on the equipment. We go over medical (issues). We go over the dos and the don'ts of medical situations. We go over topical anesthetics, and of course we go over the needle and the needle size per procedure. … Also, there are people with medical conditions that cannot have permanent makeup. I cover finding insurance all the way through filling out the application with the state tattoo board.

Besides that, I can throw in my more than 15 years (of experience). They're learning from my mistakes.

What's a big mistake you try to help your students avoid?

Matching colors. I deal with one pigment color, and I have all these years, because that's the hardest part of my job, knowing my colors, because they will change colors on people. You have to know how much they fade, and you have to know how they're going to mix with their body chemistry.

When we have class, we work on live models, and that's my students' number one fear. I've got all kinds of ways (to) correct bad work, and I share that with my students … (for) color corrections. They can pull a lot of the ink out within a certain amount of time.

What happens if clients change their minds or decide they don't like the color of their permanent makeup?

It's so simple. This is a form of tattooing. Ink is embedded into the second layer of the skin. When it's healed, it's under the skin. So if I should put pink lipstick on you, and it's all healed, and you decide 'I want to wear red,' just get out a tube of lipstick and put it on. It's the same with eyeliner.

What do you like to do for fun?

My fun is work. I work all the time. If I'm not in here working on somebody, doing a consultation or teaching, then I'm out trying to promote my school.