How Much to Charge for Permanent Makeup Services
As a permanent makeup artist, charge enough to cover your time for the consult, the procedure and the touch-up, your supplies and your studio's running costs, plus what your experience and healed work are worth in your market, so there's no single right number for everyone. Work out your floor from your own costs, check what artists near you charge for similar healed work without copying them, and publish a starting price for each service that says whether the touch-up is included.
By Evan Marrone, cofounder, builds the system · Updated
What goes into a PMU price
A price has to cover a lot more than the procedure itself. Here's what goes into it:
- Your time, all of it: the consult, the procedure, the touch-up, setup and cleanup, and the messages before and after.
- Supplies for each client: needles, pigment, numbing, aftercare and anything you throw away after one use.
- The touch-up, if it's included: a second appointment that brings in no new money.
- Your studio's running costs: rent, insurance, licenses, software, marketing and card fees.
- Your experience and your healed work. The more healed results you can show, the easier it is for her to trust what she's paying for.
- Your market: what clients near you are used to paying, and what artists with similar healed work charge.
Work out your floor, with made-up numbers
Your floor is the least you can charge for a procedure and still cover your costs and pay yourself for your time. Here's how to work it out. The numbers are made up to show the math, not any studio's costs or prices, so swap in your own as you go. This example includes the touch-up in the price.
- Running costs: $2,400 a month for rent, insurance, software, marketing and card fees.
- Hours you spend with clients: 80 a month. Count the hours you really book, not the hours you're open.
- Time for one client: 1 hour for the consult and the messages around it, 3 hours for the procedure with setup and cleanup, and 1 hour for the touch-up. That's 5 hours.
- Supplies for one client: $50 across both sessions.
- What you want to pay yourself: $70 an hour, before taxes.
Working the example through
Running costs of $2,400 over 80 hours with clients come to $30 an hour. One client takes 5 hours, so she carries $150 of running costs, plus $50 in supplies. That's $200 before you've paid yourself anything.
Pay yourself $70 an hour for those 5 hours, which is $350, and the floor in this example is $550.
That's a floor, not your price. Your price sits at or above it, depending on your market and your work. If your floor comes out above what artists near you charge, that's a sign to look at your costs and how many hours you book, not only at your price.
Taxes come out of what you pay yourself, and they depend on where you live and how your business is set up, so ask a tax professional what to set aside.
Check your local market without copying it
Look up a handful of artists near you who do the same service. Look at their healed photos, their reviews, how long they've been working, their starting price and whether the touch-up is included.
Then place yourself honestly. If your healed work and reviews hold up next to theirs, price alongside them. If you're newer, a little under is fine, but don't go to the bottom just to be the cheapest.
Don't copy anyone's price, though. Their rent, their experience and how far out they're booked aren't yours, and a price that works for them can lose you money.
And compare like with like: a price with the touch-up included isn't the same as a price without it.
Include the touch-up or charge for it
A PMU result often isn't finished until the touch-up, so decide how you'll handle it before you set your price. You can go either way:
- Included: one price covers the procedure and the first touch-up. It's simple, and there's no second bill to surprise her, but your price has to carry the touch-up's time and supplies.
- Charged separately: the first price looks lower, and the touch-up is priced on its own. Say the full cost up front, or the second bill will feel like a surprise.
- Either way, set the window the touch-up has to happen in, based on your training, and what it costs after that window or for a second one. Say it on your price list, at the consult and in writing when she books.
Starting prices and exact quotes
Publish a starting price for each service, with what's included, and give her exact price at the consult, once you've seen her brows or lips.
Say on the page what can change it, so her quote isn't a surprise: old work that needs correcting, an extra session some lips need, or anything else your training tells you to price differently.
Keep the gap honest. If almost nobody pays your starting price, she'll feel it at the consult.
Why a starting price on your page helps
Price comes up a lot. In the studios we work with, 44% of leads who texted asked about price or cost (7,716 leads across 36 studios, Jun 1 to Oct 20, 2026).
A starting price on your website, your Google Business Profile and your price list answers that before she has to ask. The people who reach out already know roughly what it costs, and you can go over her exact price at the consult.
When and how to raise your prices
Good signs it's time: you're booked further out than new clients want to wait, your healed portfolio has grown, your costs have gone up, or it's been a long time since you last changed it.
Raise it for new bookings first. Honor the price you already quoted anyone who's booked, the touch-up she was promised and any gift card sold for a service before the change.
Tell your regular clients ahead of time, with the date it changes, so it's never a surprise when she pays.
Raise it in steps you can explain by your work, your demand and your costs. If people still book at the new price, you'll know it fit. Then change it everywhere it shows: your website, your booking page, your Google profile and your price list.
Where Permanent Profits fits
You set your prices. What we work on is the part before the procedure: bringing in leads, answering them fast and getting consults to show up.
We run your Facebook and Instagram ads for brows (microblading, powder and combo brows) or lip blush, and our AI texting assistant texts your new leads as your studio, day or night. It answers her questions, follows up when she goes quiet, sends reminders and books consultations onto your own calendar. You can read every conversation and step in any time.
It's $0 to start. For your first 45 days of ads, our only fee is $50 per consultation that shows up. Your ad spend goes straight to Meta on your own card, with a $500 minimum across the 45 days, and we suggest about $30 a day. Texts and calls pass through at carrier cost. At day 45, you decide. If you keep going, there's a one-time activation fee based on your results, then a small monthly amount plus a small fee for each consult that shows.
Questions artists ask
How much should I charge for microblading?
There's no one right number for every artist. Work out your floor from your costs and your time, touch-up included, check what artists near you charge for similar healed work, and set a starting price at or above your floor that says whether the touch-up is included.
How much should I charge for lip blush?
Work it out the same way as brows: your costs and your time, including the touch-up, then what artists near you with similar healed lip work charge. Say how many sessions it usually takes and what can change that, like darker lips or old lip work, so her quote at the consult isn't a surprise.
Should I charge for the touch-up or include it?
Either works if you say it up front. Including the first touch-up keeps one simple price, and charging for it separately lowers the first price but adds a second bill. Whichever you pick, set the window it has to happen in and what it costs after that.
What is a good pricing strategy for a new PMU artist?
Price from your floor and your healed results, not from the cheapest artist in town. A little under established artists near you is fine while you build healed photos and reviews, and plan to raise it as they grow.
When should I raise my PMU prices?
When you're booked further out than new clients want to wait, your healed portfolio has grown or your costs have gone up. Raise it for new bookings first, honor prices you've already quoted and gift cards already sold, and give your regular clients notice with a date.
Am I overcharging for microblading?
Check two things: whether people who come to a consult go on to book, and how your healed work and price compare with artists near you. If consults book and your calendar is full, your price is probably fine. If they don't, look at your photos and your consult before you cut your price.
See if you qualify
Permanent Profits is run by Isabelle Marrone, a permanent makeup artist, and Evan Marrone. We work with one artist per area.
If you do brows or lip blush in the US and you'd rather have the ads and the follow-up handled for you, see if you qualify at offer.permanentprofits.co.