Should PMU Consultations Be Free or Paid?
For most permanent makeup artists, especially newer ones or anyone whose clients find them through ads, keep the consultation free and take a deposit when she books her procedure. A paid consultation, small and credited toward her procedure, makes more sense once your reputation brings people in already set on booking with you, or for consults that take real work, like correcting old work.
By Evan Marrone, cofounder, builds the system · Updated
What the consultation is for
The consultation is where she decides. She sees your healed work up close, you look at her skin and her brows or lips, you talk through shape and color, and you set expectations about healing and the touch-up. It's also where she asks the questions she didn't want to put in a text.
So the real question isn't whether your time is worth paying for. It is. The question is whether charging for that first visit brings you more procedures or fewer.
The case for a free consultation
A free consult makes it easy to say yes to meeting you. Someone who found you through an ad or a search hasn't met you yet, and plenty of people aren't ready to pay just to talk. The consult is your chance to show her your work and answer her doubts in person.
You still protect your time where it matters most. Take a deposit when she books her procedure, credited toward her price. That's the appointment that blocks hours on your calendar.
Free fits best when you're building your book, when most of your clients find you through ads or online, and when your consults are short and focused.
The case for a paid consultation
A fee asks her to commit before she comes. It gives her a reason to show up, or to tell you she can't, so your consult time goes to people who are ready to decide.
It makes the most sense once your reputation brings people in already set on booking with you, through referrals or your name. It also fits consults that take real work before you can quote a price, like correcting or covering someone else's old work, where you're doing an assessment more than a conversation.
Keep it small, and credit it toward her procedure, so the people who book don't pay twice.
The tradeoff
A fee gives her a reason to come, and it can also stop some people from booking at all. Asking her to pay before she's met you is a bigger ask than it looks, especially when she only just found you.
So ask which costs you more: some empty consult times, or fewer consults overall. While your calendar has room and you're growing, a missed consult costs you an hour, and a lead who never books costs you the procedure she might have bought. Once you're booked weeks out, the math changes: your consult time is scarce, and a small fee protects it.
If you keep it free, make it work
A free consult works when coming in is the easy choice:
- Confirm it in writing as soon as she books, with the date, the time and your address.
- Send a reminder a day or two ahead and again that morning, and ask her to reply to confirm.
- Make rescheduling easy, so she moves her consult instead of skipping it.
- Offer some times in the next few days, not only weeks out.
- Take her procedure deposit at the end of the consult, when she's ready to book.
Offer some consult times soon
Plans change between booking and the consult. In the studios we work with, consults booked 5 or more days out were cancelled or moved more often than ones booked sooner, 61% against 46% (1,867 consults across 32 studios, appointments Jun 1 to Oct 13, 2026). That's a pattern, not proof that booking sooner prevents cancellations, but it's a good reason to keep a few consult times open in the next few days.
Our guide to cutting consultation no-shows, linked below, goes through each of these steps.
If you charge, keep it simple
A paid consult works when the fee never comes as a surprise:
- Keep the fee small enough that it doesn't feel like a barrier.
- Credit it toward her procedure, and say so everywhere you mention it: your website, your booking page and your texts.
- Take it when she books, and say up front what happens if she needs to move or cancel.
- Charge everyone the same way, so no one feels singled out.
- Check your state's rules on deposits and fees, and put your policy in writing.
Options in between
Free and paid aren't the only choices:
- A free first look by photos or a video call, then an in-person visit for the people ready to book.
- The consult at the start of the procedure appointment, for clients who already know what they want, with a deposit when they book.
- Free consults for new clients, and a paid assessment for corrections and cover-ups.
Say it before she books
Whatever you choose, say it in one plain sentence before she books: free, or the fee and that it comes off her procedure. Put it on your website and your booking page and in your booking confirmation, so the price of the consult is never a surprise.
Where Permanent Profits fits
Whether your consults are free or paid is your call, like your prices. What we work on is getting people to the consult: bringing in leads, answering them fast and getting them 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
Should PMU consultations be free?
For most artists, yes, especially newer ones or anyone whose clients find them through ads. Keep the consult free and take a deposit when she books her procedure. A small paid consult, credited toward her procedure, makes more sense once your reputation brings people in already set on booking with you.
Should I charge for a microblading consultation?
Usually not at first. Someone who found you online hasn't met you yet, and asking her to pay just to talk can stop her from booking. If missed consults are eating your days, try confirmations, reminders and easy rescheduling first, then a small fee credited toward her procedure.
If I charge for a consultation, should it go toward the procedure?
Yes. Credit it toward her procedure and say so before she pays, so the people who book don't feel they paid twice. A fee that comes off her price feels like a first step, not an extra charge.
Should a lip blush consultation be free?
The same reasoning applies: free works for most artists, with a deposit when she books. A lip consult covers her natural lip color, what she wants and anything your training says to ask before lip work, so keep it focused and take the deposit at the end when she's ready.
How do I stop no-shows on free consultations?
Confirm each consult in writing, send a reminder that asks her to reply to confirm, make rescheduling easy and offer some times in the next few days. If no-shows still eat your consult days, a small fee credited toward her procedure is the next step.
Do I need a separate consultation before permanent makeup?
Not always. Some artists do the consult at the start of the procedure appointment for clients who already know what they want. A separate consult helps most with first-timers, lip blush and corrections, where she needs to see healed work and you need to see her skin first.
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.