Kathy Griffin shocks her husband with lip tattoo results: 'It's a little swollen'
Kathy Griffin has a new pout.
The comedian, 62, documented her trip to Vale of Shadows beauty studio in Los Angeles for eyebrow microblading and a lip tattoo in a YouTube video she shared Friday. Both are semi-permanent makeup techniques.
Griffin joked to the camera that she was "trying to go under the radar," while wearing a shirt emblazoned with her face and the phrase "Officially-Uncancelled." She was probably referencing her controversial 2017 photoshoot, in which she posed with a bloody mock version of former President Donald Trump's head.
Griffin added: "I'm getting my lips tattooed, but they call it blushing? We'll see."
"Lip blush tattooing is similar to the whip-shading or pepper-shading techniques seen in traditional tattooing," Shaughnessy Otsuji, cosmetic tattoo artist and co-founder of Studio Sashiko, told Byrdie in May 2022. "Using a single needle and a quick, consistent hand motion, we are able to create a series of dots as opposed to a solid line as the needle goes in and out of the machine, penetrating the skin."
Microblading uses a similar technique with a tool comprised of many barely visible needles to deposit the desired color into the brows and enhance the appearance of thickness.
Griffin showed the moment her technician lined her lips with a white substance and covered her lips with plastic wrap, presumably to activate a numbing agent. "You ready to not speak for three hours?" the practitioner asked, to which Griffin feigned shock.
Her video then fast-forwarded to having an ice bag over her lips and the post-procedure results of large, red lips.
Griffin shared the spooked reactions of her husband, Randy Bick, and friend Kristen Johnston, joking, "It's a little swollen."
"What did you do? That's not real," Johnston said.
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Griffin carried on, joking to the camera, "Well, Kristen thinks it's noticeable. ... I don't think anybody will be able to tell."
The comedian's swollen lips are a normal result for the first few days after getting a lip tattoo. "It is important not to be misled by the immediate ‘after’ results. The immediate results look nothing like when the lips are healed," Christina Son, founder of LA's Sugrain Studio, told Elle in February. "Once healed, the color fades approximately 30 (to) 50% and also blends in with the natural lip color."
Griffin's results "4 to 6 days later" showed her lips in a much more natural shade of pink.
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