AS YOU GO Making It Up

Carrie Ann Borgerding’s personality is evident in every corner of her permanent makeup studio, which is complete with bright pink furniture and walls adorned with pop art painted by Borgerding herself.

Borgerding, who opened Permanent Makeup by Carrie Ann in Fargo in February 2015, has her Associate’s Degree in Surgical Technology and is a licensed tattoo artist. In addition to running her own business, Borgerding continues working in the operating room; however, she said that doing permanent makeup is what she truly loves.

“It’s nice to be more in control of my own schedule,” she said. “I love helping people and, in specific, I love helping women. I like helping them to feel good about themselves because, when there’s so much negativity in the world, I want to add positivity.”

Borgerding offers permanent eyeliner, brows and, most recently, 3D areola tattooing designed specifically for breast cancer survivors. Her training specific to areola design included studying shading, depth and dimension, and she’s more than excited to be bringing such a unique option to Fargo.

“For a lot of breast cancer survivors, they feel like they’re missing something of their femininity,” she said. “I had one woman - my very first client in New Jersey - who said that she felt like the bride of Frankenstein. So, the areola is the final hoorah, where they feel like they’re complete again.”

Permanent eyeliner and eyebrows also help women feel more complete, in Borgerding’s experience.

“We’re all out here, living our lives, and it can be so beneficial not to have to do much to feel good about yourself. Maybe you have to get up at 5:30 in the morning or your kids are home sick or you’re an older woman with fluctuating hormones, which causes thinning eyebrows,” she said. “Any little thing that I can do to help the women in our society is rewarding. We’re all so critical and we just want to feel good.”

However, she admits that many women think permanent makeup is too expensive. Borgerding, though, thinks that it’s well worth the investment.

“When you’re looking at permanent makeup, you need to keep a few things in mind,” she said. “What is the technician’s skill level and how much training have they had? There are a million reasons to come to a permanent makeup artist instead of a random tattoo artist for something like eyeliner. For example, I have top-of-the-line equipment and use pigments instead of ink. Plus, as a surgical technician, I’m not squeamish around the eye area.”

In addition to her training and skills, Borgerding said that there’s more to being a top-of-the-line permanent makeup artist than the equipment.

“You have to continually grow, which is something that I know from my exposure in the medical field,” she said. “You have to be on top of the trends and constantly educating yourself. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been doing something - you could still be using outdated techniques and poor equipment.”

Overall, Borgerding said that she loves running her own business, despite the fact that it’s more challenging than she initially expected. She said that support is incredibly important, and credits a portion of her support to Ashley Froemke, owner of Lash by Ash and Borgerding’s suite-mate.

“I’m so blessed to have crossed paths with Ashley,” she said. “It’s so important to have that support and positivity. You want to surround yourself with happy and uplifting people that won’t constantly tear you down or be toxic. My close friends, my mom and my husband have all been huge supporters, too, but it’s still a matter of getting your name out there and getting people in the door.”

Balancing time and expenses is one of the most difficult parts of running a business, she said. Even so, Borgerding said that she’s excited about her journey and loves that she’s able to help women in the Fargo/Moorhead community. Her advice? Just keep trying.

“I’m told that all of this gets easier with experience and over time, but who knows,” she said. “I love what I’m doing and I want so badly to put out good work and have women feel happy with it. You just have to put out your work, assume it’s great and see that it’s great, and walk away. You just have to move forward.” [AWM]

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WE’RE MIDWESTERN BUBBLY: TWO BEST FRIENDS - TWO DIFFERENT STYLES - ONE BLOG.

At Midwestern Bubbly, we want to share with you pieces and trends we love. Our goal is to not only provide you with outfits we adore, but to also inspire you to develop your own personal style to go along with your awesome personality.

We want to share with you all the hot gossip revolving around FALL FASHION! Since the temperatures can still be warmer during the day, but cooler during the evening, dressing can get tricky. LAYERS are the perfect, trendy way to solve this. Adding a fun patterned sweater or bold blazer can pull together a fall layering effect all while keeping you warm - bonus!

Graphic tees & fun print patterns are also on trend this season and are a great way to express yourself. Pair your favorite patterned dress with fall booties and you’ll be lookin’ fine!

Now lets talk color - army greens, mustard yellows, browns and of course the color of the year MARSALA are huge this autumn. Not only do these colors look great on their own, but pairing them together looks wonderful as well.

If you want to see more of what we do, you can visit: www.midwesternbubbly.com.