How to Win Permanent Makeup Championships: Professional Insights from Award-Winning Artist and Judge Svitlana Levytska
By
Alyona Yemets
‘In permanent makeup, victory at a championship begins long before the artist steps onto the competition floor,’ says Svitlana Levytska, an international expert whose practical experience includes more than 10,000 satisfied clients.
According to her, victory is born in daily practice – and, at the same time, in a holistic vision of the face, in the discipline of the hand, and in the understanding that beauty is not a loud effect, but first and foremost balance and respect for a person’s individuality.
Some may perceive Svitlana’s words as a tip or a secret that the expert is happy to share with colleagues. In reality, however, this is the core principle she has applied in her work since 2015 – the year she began her journey in the field of permanent makeup.
A competition work demonstrates not the artist’s hand, but the artist’s thinking
A trainer, educator, judge, and speaker at international championships, Svitlana Levytska’s career has become an example of how mastery is shaped not only by talent, but also by international practice, the constant renewal of professional perspective, and systematic training with leading industry specialists, including Illina Yesenieva, Sviatoslav Ochenash, Viktoria Kushnir, Anton Bartenev, and others.
From 2022 to 2024, Svitlana worked extensively in Italy, Austria, and Poland, where she provided professional consultations and trained artists. In 2024, she served as an official judge at the VSELENNAYA International Championship and as a speaker at the BROWISTA Championship held in Ukraine. After relocating to the United States, she continued developing her educational work by organizing master classes for artists in the U.S. and Europe, as well as preparing specialists for professional championships.
‘For me, a championship is not simply a competition for a trophy,’ says Svitlana Levytska, winner of WULOP and ETALON in the ‘Lips’ category. ‘It is a test of an artist’s professional maturity, and in that test, everything matters – from model preparation and technique selection to the cleanliness of execution and the overall aesthetics of the result.’
The strongest works are not brighter, but more precise
Levytska specializes in modern permanent makeup techniques with an emphasis on natural results and aesthetic harmony.
In eyebrow permanent makeup, she works with powder brows and hairstroke techniques. In the lip area, she performs lipstick-effect shading with a 3D effect, ombre, and watercolor techniques. However, the artist emphasizes that the name of the technique is not the most important thing. What matters is how well the chosen technique suits the specific face, skin type, and client’s request.
Drawing on her personal experience as both a participant and judge at international championships, the expert notes: ‘In championship-level permanent makeup, brightness may attract attention, but only for a few seconds. The professional level of the work is defined by precision.’
According to Ms. Levytska, this is not only about a perfect line or a symmetrical shape: ‘Precision is the artist’s ability to correctly assess the face and such elements as skin type, natural pigment, facial expressions, and proportions.’
The artist warns younger colleagues against a common mistake: ‘The desire to ‘outshout’ other participants with color usually leads to random and incorrect decisions. Instead, I always encourage my students to think and answer these questions: which shape will truly enhance the facial features, which technique will be appropriate for this specific skin type, and which shade will look natural not only immediately after the procedure, but also later – after healing.’
The work should not be maximally noticeable, but maximally well-considered, Levytska believes.
Working with complex cases provides an advantage
Working with complex cases, such as alopecia and vitiligo, is a separate area of Svitlana Levytska’s practice. This also includes the correction and cover-up of previous works, working with different skin types within one permanent makeup procedure, and other non-standard tasks.
This is where, the artist believes, professionalism reveals itself most clearly: ‘In such cases, an artist must not simply ‘draw’ a shape. They must understand pigmentation and skin structure, have a strong command of color correction principles, and precisely sense the client’s individual aesthetics.’
Ms. Levytska believes that, in a championship context, this provides an important advantage: a specialist who is not afraid of complex real-life projects is better able to control the result under standard competition conditions.
The reverse side of a championship
As a judge, Levytska sees championships from the other side – not emotionally, but professionally.
When asked which mistakes, in her personal opinion, most often cost artists high scores, Svitlana answers immediately: ‘The five most common ones are a poor choice of model, excessive decorativeness, unclear symmetry, color overload, and the inability to adapt the technique to the skin or face.’
‘Do you want to make permanent makeup flawless? Instead, make it flawlessly appropriate,’ Ms. Levytska urges. This is the key insight for colleagues from the award-winning artist and judge.
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