Permanent makeup is acosmetic technique which employs tattoos (permanent pigmentation of the dermis) as a means of producing designs that resemble makeup, such as eyelining and other permanent enhancing colours to the skin of the face, lips, and eyelids. It is also used to produce artificialeyebrows, particularly in people who have lost them as a consequence of old age, disease, such as alopecia, chemotherapy, or a geneticdisturbance, and to disguise scars and white spots in the skin such as in vitiligo.

Most commonly called permanent cosmetics, other names include derma-pigmentation, micro-pigmentation, and cosmetic tattooing, the latter being most appropriate since permanent makeup is, in fact, tattooing. In the United States and under similar arrangements in some other countries, the colourant additives used in permanent makeup pigments are subject to premarket approval as cosmetics and or colour additives under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.