Wildflower Beauty Microblading Review

I had been wanting to do microblading for about four years to deal with my annoyingly uneven brows, but it wasn’t until I had a conversation with Mary Taylor, who had just gotten her microblading touch-up with Kelli Wheatley of Wildflower Beauty, and saw how amazing her eyebrows looked, that I decided to seriously consider it.

Microblading is essentially a semi-permanent tattoo of natural-looking hairline strokes on your eyebrows to give them new life.

One of my fears was having something permanent done by somebody who didn’t know what they were doing (and I had seen and heard some horror stories), so I felt more confident about it when Mary told me that Kelli was the absolute best microblading specialist out there.

I texted Kelli asking some questions about how the process works, if I needed to not pluck my eyebrows beforehand (yes, nothing with 2 weeks of the appointment) and of course, the most important question: “How badly is this going to hurt?!” I am a giant wimp with pain, and if it was going to be the same pain as a normal tattoo, there was no way I was going to be able to go through with it.

Luckily, Kelli assured me she used a lidocaine cream, the same stuff your dentist uses for numbing, and that for most people, on a scale of 0 to 10, the pain was a 1 or a 2.

I trusted her, but of course I was still a little nervous, especially on the morning of the first session.

Kelli usually does three appointments: a detailed 20-30 minute consultation where you discuss goals and game plan, followed by the initial 2 hour microblading session (which she described like a “base coat”), and a 2 hour touch-up session eight weeks later.

I’m the sort of person who wants to jump in with both feet, so I opted to do the consultation and initial microblading at the same time. I knew she was a skilled professional and I trusted her judgement, so I told her I just wanted to get started right away.

For my first session, Kelli spent lots of time measuring my eyebrows with a special compass and an app that would help her find the “golden ratio” of my face and find the shape that was most flattering to my face, then drew on the outline to show where she would be filling in.

Since everyone’s face is a little different, the most flattering eyebrow shape is going to differ from person to person, and this is where Kelli really shines. It’s both an art and a science, and Kelli is meticulous in making sure she gets exactly the right shape for your face, plus taking into account your own preferences. She calls this creating “uniquely perfect brows”. She says that you’re going to look at your face every day so she wants to make sure that you love it!

I told her I wanted more of an arch to my eyebrows and to make them more even, plus filling in some areas that were patchy. Booooo to the thin eyebrow trends of the 90s and early 2000s, where 16-year-old Rosemary overplucked into oblivion and then the hair didn’t grow back. (Kelli even joked on her Instagram @_wildflowerbeauty_ that 90s brows are '“73% of the reason my career exists”.)

Kelli uses the Golden Ratio and a special compass to outline the “uniquely perfect brows” for each client according to their facial structure, then fills in the brows once the shape is finalized. The shape looks boxy at first, but the final look is far more natural.

I opted for the “combo brow”, which is a mix of microblading (the hairline strokes) and a “powder brow”, which gives the look of the eyebrows being filled in.

I was so excited about the idea of never having to fill in my eyebrows ever again—that I would just wake up and they’d be ready to go!

True to Kelli’s word, the pain was very minimal or even non-existent after the lidocaine cream. I could feel a light scraping sensation on my eyebrows but no pain, and she said, “Are you doing okay?”

I replied, “Yeah, just fine!”

And she said, “Good. We’ve got two lines done so far.”

I said, surprised, “Oh, we’ve already started?!”

Kelli explained that after the skin was open, she would then add in the lidocaine gel, which would numb the skin even more for the rest of the brows being filled in.

When the process was done and she finally showed me the mirror, I couldn’t stop staring at my brows. They were perfect!

After the first of two sessions.

After we were done, Kelli explained exactly how to care for my new brows and gave me a card about what to expect during the healing process: first, the eyebrows will look way darker the next day, then as they heal they will become itchy and start to flake off and get a little patchy and then disappear altogether. But as they heal, the deeper layers of skin will come to the surface and they’ll be back.

I’m so glad she told me what to expect, because I think I would have been freaking out otherwise. Day 2 brows are super SUPER dark, and I think I would have been wondering, “what the %@&# have I gotten myself into?” if I didn’t know it was going to happen.

On Day 2, the brows are at their darkest and you’ll feel nervous, but they’ll lighten up. I didn’t know this photo was going to go on the internet forever when I took it. You’re welcome.

She gave me a nice-smelling balm to apply thinly throughout the day, which would help keep the eyebrows from drying out, but also helps soothe the itching. This was a godsend during the phase where my eyebrows were unbearably itchy; I kept the balm in my purse and applied it religiously.

She also told me to cover my eyebrows with a clean washcloth in the shower to keep them from getting wet, and avoid sweating or direct sunlight on my brows.

In the next couple weeks, Kelli was lovely and more than happy to send me tips as I peppered her with questions as my brows were healing.

This is the face you make 4-5 days in when it’s so itchy you want to scratch your eyebrows off. Breathe. Apply more balm. Repeat.

The only downside of microblading: you have to wait for your eyebrows to heal for 3-4 weeks before you can groom them, and if you’re prone to “fluffy” brows like me, you just have to cope with the annoyance of out-of-control “caterpillar eyebrows”, as I call them.

The only downside: having to let eyebrows get overgrown because you can’t pluck or get them threaded while they’re still healing. Hello, fluffy brows.

The touch-up session is a bit like a second coat, where Kelli refines the look to exactly what you want. For my touch-up appointment 8 weeks after the first session, we decided together to go a little darker and bolder, as well as warm up the tone to match my warm coloring (freckles, green eyes, reddish hair).

After my touch-up session brows healed (another 3-4 weeks), I was finally able to go back to get my eyebrows threaded and see the “final look”, and I was absolutely thrilled with them.

Finally, I have arches and all the patchiness is filled in! YAY! Goodbye, 90s brows, and hello, never spending money on eyebrow pencils again!

True to what I anticipated, I love being able to wake up in the morning and my eyebrows are not only already done, they’re perfect.

To keep your brows looking fresh, Kelli recommends doing a “brow boost”, another color touchup, after another 12-18 months. I plan to do it about once a year just to keep my brow game strong.

Fully healed after the initial and touch-up sessions. I LOVE THEM.

I’ve recommended Kelli to so many people since then, and I really do think she’s the best.

I am so, so glad I spent the money and I only wish I had done it sooner!

Kelli’s website is WildflowerBeauty.net. You can book an appointment with her or ask questions through the contact form on her website.