It’s time to collect our thoughts, analyze the year behind us, and prepare for a new chapter. In the PMU industry, this means pinpointing the trends that dominated salons, techniques that drew attention, and defining goals for the upcoming year.
We asked 2 of PMUHub’s loyal shoppers and amazing artists to share their reflections and predictions.
2024: A Year of Advancement
There have been 2 major watershed moments in the history of the PMU industry: 2016, when the microblading frenzy really kicked off globally, and 2024, when machine hair strokes AKA nano brows exploded beyond anyone’s expectations.
Mariana Petrov speculates how and why this happened: Instagram and social media overall have had a huge impact on making this technique popular. I also feel this is a result of artists trying to offer their clients an alternative option to microblading.
At the 2024 PhiAcademy Master Meetup, we asked Branko Babić why he thinks machine hair strokes became so hot: This method allows artists to create something different from microblading, to create something new. Because of the possibility of crossing the strokes and creating strokes of different thickness, shading between the strokes, the hair stroke technique gives artists a lot of freedom.
It seems that everyone in the industry is at a certain stage of learning, perfecting, or successfully selling machine hair stroke treatments. If you’re not on this journey yet, you’re probably considering it in the near future.
Techniques are constantly evolving and being tweaked to meet 2 new prerogatives: getting the results to be as natural as can be, and damaging the skin as little as possible. While machine hair stroke brows definitely lead the way in this process, advancements are happening in all areas of PMU.
This is a positive thing by all means, but it’s also what artists highlight as their biggest challenge.
Reflecting on 2024, the biggest challenge I faced in my permanent makeup business was adapting to rapidly advancing techniques, admits Alice Brunt.
With innovative tools and techniques emerging, staying updated while ensuring the quality and consistency of my services was vital. It was a significant learning curve, but it also presented a fantastic opportunity for growth and improvement.
A Lesson in Pigmentology
In terms of products and supplies, brands really zoomed in on pigments. As artists started putting more and more emphasis on pigments as a deciding factor in the quality and longevity of PMU results, brands focused on perfecting their existing formulas and developing new ones.
The zones of interest?
✔️ Safety and REACH compliance
✔️ Perfecting hybrid formulas that lean towards inorganic
✔️ Improving quality overall
Mariana and Alice have both shared their excitement about this.
We have more high-quality pigments entering the market compared to previous years, which is amazing. I’m happy to see that manufacturers are working with artists to create the best products or perfect the existing ones, says Mariana.
Alice is confident that this will help artists improve their services: [New] pigment formulations will likely make procedures even safer and more efficient, allowing for more personalization and durability in results.
She also mentions that advancements in machine technology have supported technique improvements, which is mutually beneficial for brands and the people using their products.
Keeping It Hyper-Realistic
The skyrocketing of the machine hair stroke techniques was made possible by the increasing demand for a more natural look, even more undetectable than microblading. We have shifted away from the Instagram powder brow and towards a hyperrealistic hair stroke brow.
Mariana confirms this – she’s been in the game a while and she can tell.
As a permanent makeup artist with over seven years of experience in this industry, I definitely can say there are slight changes in terms of trends and clients’ expectations. I feel there is a leading trend of subtle and natural-looking techniques like nano brows or machine hair strokes. I see clients walking away from harsh and oversaturating techniques and instead opting for more subtle, natural-looking techniques meant to enhance rather than change their appearance.
Alice agrees: Looking forward to 2025, I predict that the demand for hyper-realistic results will dominate the PMU industry.
And that is the starting point which translates into techniques. At the end of the day, the popularity of certain procedures is dictated by the wishes and demands of clients.
Clients increasingly desire natural-looking enhancements, and I anticipate the trend will push artists to refine their skills further.
But PMU never moves too far from its roots.
That doesn’t change the fact that microblading is still a popular and highly requested technique, at least at my practice, Mariana points out.
And we definitely agree with this, as there are still a bunch of perfectly successful artists who have not transitioned to machine hair strokes yet. And this is a good thing, because it provides clients with options.
For a permanent makeup artist, being able to offer their clients a variety of techniques to meet their needs and expectations is crucial today, she concludes.
The 2024 Issue: Clients Were Fewer and Further Apart
One thing artists felt all over the world and across techniques and treatments: getting clients was harder than ever in 2024. At least for artists who kept relying on the same old strategies. Mariana recognized this and reacted fast, so now she can share her valuable insights:
Looking back to 2024, my biggest challenge was creating a new strategy for finding new clients. If previously running ads was enough to keep your bookings full, these days it’s more important to build trust. Clients put more priority on quality and are more educated about permanent makeup thanks to social media and the amazing artists who use their platforms to share their knowledge.
Initiating a conversation with a potential client and offering consultations prior to booking has become my go-to strategy, and so far, it works the best.
Untapped Potential for 2025
Let’s go back to the natural PMU trend for a second. It’s easy to create hyperrealistic results on untouched brows. But with PMU being a beauty staple for a good decade, an increasing number of clients come in with previous work.
That’s why removal and correction is something you need to master, according to Mariana. Here’s her main prediction for 2025: I think there will be a rising number of cases requiring color correction or “fix” treatments due to previous works. Removal and color-neutralization treatments will become very important skills for a permanent makeup artist to perfect or learn.
I believe the future of permanent makeup will evolve from becoming a tool to create decorative looks where you use PMU to substitute the daily makeup, to a more reconstructive and enhancing side where you rebuild original looks based on clients’ natural appearance.
