Some may call it vanity, but to Lorrane Rano it’s all about self-confidence.

Rano, 71, drove a couple of hours from her home in Berlin, N.H., to have permanent makeup – a blend of organic and in-organic pigment specially formulated for the face – applied to her lips. It wasn’t her first trip to have work done by Diane Dubois, owner of Cassiel’s Day Spa in Lewiston.

Rano’s brows had become so sparse after many years of plucking that she had to pencil them in every day before she left the house. But she could never seem to get the arches symmetrical.

It bothered her so much that she started avoiding eye contact, afraid others would notice her brows.

She began to consider permanent makeup when her daughter in California tried it. Then one day, she was eating lunch with her husband and noticed an advertisement for Cassiel’s.

“When I found the ad, I started ripping it out, and my husband asked me what I was doing. I told him I’d been waiting for this for a long time,” said Rano.

She made an appointment and had her brows done.

“It’s a great thing to have done. It really boosted my self-confidence. People can look at me now and I don’t care,” Rano said with a laugh. “I get a lot of compliments on my brows.”

Dubois sees an average of two to four people a week for permanent makeup. Most of them are not there for cosmetic reasons. Her clients generally suffer from poor eyesight, makeup allergies, or illnesses.

And while the makeup is tattooed on, a client can add to it so it matches their outfit. The pigment will also fade and lighten over time, but the person can still expect to have it for several years.

“It’s a big accomplishment,” said Rano with a smile after having pink pigment tattooed on her lips. “I feel so much better about myself. It really gave me lift!”