Is it just us, or is lip blushing suddenly a major thing?
It seems that every beauty enthusiast is getting their lips done, and that every PMU artist is now doing lips! Lip blushing is all over social media, you can find a salon that offers it on every corner, and everyone knows someone who’s had it done.
Let’s try to get to the bottom of what’s going on with the popularity of lip blush.
2022 – Year of the Lip Tattoo
In the 2010s, brow microblading was a real revolution. It transformed the beauty industry, with people realizing that they can do something more permanent, yet non-invasive to improve their look and simplify their morning routine at least a bit.
We sort of took it for granted that the PMU industry would always be brow-centric. So when, in 2022, we started hearing about lip blush as often as microblading, it became obvious that lips are finally getting the attention they deserve.
When lip blushing appeared on the market, it was very niche. Not many artists offered the service, and not many people were asking for it in the first place. But in 2022, its popularity suddenly soared.
And this is not just an impression – data backs it up!
According to Google Trends, the end of the Fall of 2022 shows a major rise in the number of people looking up lip blush, indicating an increase in the number of people actually getting it done.
And the growth spurt was extensive enough to stick. The beginning of 2023 shows a steady increase, one that’s bound to continue.
So, What’s Going On With The Rising Popularity of Lip Blush?
The lip blush hype is great. More and more people are hearing about the treatment, even those who aren’t that into beauty, which contributes to the growth of the PMU industry as a whole and contributes to its sustainability in the long run.
But what happened that made people suddenly so interested in lip blush?
As with any shift in the industry, it’s a number of factors combined.
People Have Become More Comfortable with PMU
Permanent makeup is nothing new anymore. Folks who had PMU done in the first wave, around the middle of the 2010s, are generally satisfied with the experience.
Results which were done well aged well, and those who were reluctant to get it done before now feel reassured and aren’t so anxious to get their faces tattooed anymore. Plus, artists are now perceived as more professional, more experienced and more trustworthy.
So people trust the industry as a whole more.
As a result of all this, people aren’t talking themselves (and each other) out of PMU so much anymore, and consequently booking treatments more freely and with more enthusiasm.
Clients Who Loved Brow PMU Are Now Getting Their Lips Done
Apart from total PMU newbies who finally decided to take the plunge, a huge portion of clients who book lip blush are people who already had permanent makeup done (brows in most cases) and want more.
And Artists Are Jumping at the Opportunity for More Income
Closely related to the previous point is the fact that artists who kicked off their career with brows realized that learning another technique is a huge opportunity for extra income.
A satisfied brow client is the perfect target for selling a lip blush treatment to, and vice versa!
The client is already there – there’s no need to spend extra money or energy to get them through the door. They already trust you, and they already have a positive attitude towards PMU.
Jackpot!
This is the logic behind so many already established brow artists enrolling in lip blush classes lately. A less common scenario is PMU newbies choosing to learn lip blush as their first skill instead of brows, as there is still less competition.
With more artists doing the service, the treatment becomes more familiar, more available, and the buzz grows. Supply and demand are an interactive cycle!
People Are Kind of Over Fillers
PMU is closely connected to the rest of the beauty industry, so what’s happening in one field is bound to influence another.
So when the obsession with dermal fillers started to wear off, it’s only natural that people turned to less-invasive, less radical and more natural-looking lip enhancements that still provided longevity.
Lip blush doesn’t exactly give lips 3D volume, but it does gives the illusion of more fullness, with the color of the lips slightly extended outwards. It gives depth and evens out the tone, and can even visually balance out asymmetrical lips in some cases.
Since it provides some of the same benefits people seek from fillers without the risks they pose, it’s very likely a portion of clients who decide not to get fillers go for lip blush instead.
Plus, lip blush can do one thing fillers can’t – it successfully neutralizes cool tones.
So what’s the decision…
It might seem that the beauty industry is lightning fast, with new trends emerging every day all over social media (TikTok, we’re looking at you!) and making their way into our lives and onto our vanities.
But if you look at the bigger picture and truly feel the pulse of the industry, this is just an illusion.
Yes, microtrends now get more space and exposure, and people are more likely to try them.
In reality, treatments and products that are recognized as truly valuable are the ones that stick, and they survive, year after year. We can safely say that lip blush is one of them and that it’s not going anywhere, at least for a while.