The Difference Between Microblading and Powderfill Brows

A lot of the time I have clients who come in and are wanting their brows microbladed and want their brows to look as “natural” as possible. After assessing their wants and their daily makeup routine, skin type and many other factors that play a role in the decision of what technique will be best to use, I then use my professional opinion to tell my client what I think will be best suited for them. So let’s go over the differences between the two…

Microblading, what is it?

Microblading is the technique of using a tiny blade made up of a bunch of super small needles to make hair like cuts/strokes into the skin. The pigment is deposited into the skin through the blade and by rubbing the pigment into the cuts after they’re made. This technique is great to use on people with dry or combination skin, skin with a lot of elasticity, and skin with minimal to no visible pores. This technique is not suitable for all skin types. When done on skin that is not suitable you can run into “blurring” of the pigment under the skin or face a higher risk of scarring the skin. When done correctly it creates a very realistic look of hair in the skin.

Here are some pictures of what microblading looks like when done correctly.

Powderfill, how is it different from microblading?

Powderfill/shading/ombre is more of a “filled in makeup” look. It is often used to create density in a mix of microblading and powderfill brow, often called “combo brows” or “hybrid brows”. A powderfill brow is essentially creating a full filled in brow look without any hair strokes. This technique can be used on any skin type, and when done correctly causes very minimal damage to the skin. It is more of a tattoo technique and can be done both manually and with a permanent makeup machine to implant the pigment into the skin.

Here are a couple examples of a combo brows (my most common technique of using the powderfill technique)

Not every technique is perfect for every client, that’s why I feel it is so important to be able to offer multiple techniques so that you can create the perfect brows for every one of your beautiful clients.