Today we’d like to introduce you to Cynthia Irwin.
Hi Cynthia, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I was a retail packaging graphic designer turned cosmetic tattoo artist. I took a private microblading training in 2017 with the intention of making some extra side gig money, but it ultimately turned into my current career and passion. I currently am the owner and Lead Artist at Brow Expressions Permanent Beauty; a top cosmetic tattoo studio in Long Beach. We are a team of four skilled cosmetic tattoo artists specializing in eyebrows, lips, and cosmetic teeth whitening.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Definitely not. Covid! Enough said. What a crazy curveball for the entire world. It was incredibly frustrating being forced to close our doors just because our studio was behind the LA County line, while our neighboring competitors operating in Orange County were allowed to keep their doors open. Talk about unfair!!!! And don’t even get me started on the Black Lives Matter movement that had many business owners afraid of losing their businesses to the rioting and looting. We had to board up our business because our street was a target. Crazy!!!
Things then took a turn with the current inflation and recession worries. Cosmetic tattoo is considered a luxury item and people tend to hold back on spending on luxury items. We are having a slow period, but we’re hanging in there.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
We’re proud of being able to provide a service that helps people feel FIERCE in their own skin. The level of confidence a well-structured set of brows brings is unmatched. You catch a glimpse of yourself in a window or mirror and say “yeaaa that’s me”. You seriously feel like you can take on the world with a newfound boost of confidence. And that’s what we do for our clients.
We create beautifully structured brows through the art of microblading and shading, while still maintaining our client’s natural beauty. We don’t recreate your look, we enhance it. Our style is very natural and we focus on giving you the brows nature intended you to have, but somehow got thinned out with over-tweezing, bad wax jobs, age, etc.
Our artists are vetted and highly skilled. Therefore, our prices are set based on skill and experience. We know that there’s artists charging much less that work out of their homes, soon after being trained by another inexperienced artist, but with something as important as your face and identity, we strongly believe it is not something to skimp on.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Shy. Very shy. Nerd. I was #14 in GPA in my High School graduating class. And in choir for 10 years. I was a Nerd. But building my own business forced me to come out of my shell. I had to learn how to market and put myself out there in person, on social media, and just make my presence known. My success depended on getting comfortable in my own skin. I quickly learned most people are too busy worrying about themselves than to care whether you look dumb doing what you do. Who cares anyway. You won’t be everyone’s cup of tea and vice versa. You’ll resonate with the people who are and they are your tribe!
Pricing:
- $400 Microblading
- $500 Blade & Shade
- $800 Brows by Lead Artist (me)
- $450 Lip Blush
- $175 1 Hour Teeth Whitening
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.browexpressionspb.com
- Instagram: @browexpressions_microblading
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrowExpressionsPermanentBeauty/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/brow-expressions-permanent-beauty-long-beach
