How to Become a PMU Artist in Nevada
In Nevada a basic course certificate is not enough to work as a permanent makeup artist. The state requires a six-month apprenticeship under an artist who holds a mentor licence, after which you are issued a Body Art Card. You arrive with your basic course certificate and a valid Bloodborne Pathogens certificate, and the paperwork runs through the Southern Nevada Health District.
Most people finish a basic course holding a certificate and assume the hard part is behind them. In Nevada it is not: that certificate is training, not permission. What stands between it and legally working on clients is a six-month apprenticeship — and one detail inside it decides whether those six months count at all.
The certificate is not the licence
Nevada does not let a certified artist start working the day their course ends. Before a Body Art Card can be issued you have to complete a six-month apprenticeship supervised by an artist who holds a mentor licence for instruction. The certificate proves you were taught. The card is what lets you practise.
What you need before you start
- A basic course certificate, completed before you apply. An apprenticeship is not a beginner course and does not replace one.
- A valid Bloodborne Pathogens certificate. This is not optional and not something to sort out later.
- An intention to work in Nevada. The whole path is built around this state’s requirements.
Why the mentor’s licence decides whether your hours count
This is the part worth slowing down for. The apprenticeship only satisfies the state requirement if your supervising artist holds a mentor licence for instruction. Without it you can spend six months learning a great deal and still have nothing the Health District will accept. Practice and credit are not the same thing.
Before anything is signed, ask one question: do you hold the mentor licence? If the answer is anything other than a plain yes, the six months will not count.
Maryna B. Turner holds a Nevada Mentor Body Art licence, which is why an apprenticeship at MB Beauty satisfies the state requirement rather than simply adding hours of practice.
How the paperwork moves
It runs through the Southern Nevada Health District, and it brackets the six months at both ends. At the start your mentor signs Form 1B, naming who is supervising you; you take it in, sit the district’s test, and are issued an Apprentice Card. Work begins once you hold it. At the six-month mark your mentor signs Form 2B, and that is what you exchange for your Body Art Card. The step-by-step order, with what happens between the forms, is set out on the apprenticeship page.
What fills the middle is the actual training: your existing skill is assessed first — including whether you have worked on skin at all — and from there you bring your own model in once a week and carry out the procedure with guidance, alongside practice on latex and skin simulation.
What to ask before you commit
- Do you hold the mentor licence for instruction? Everything else is secondary to this.
- How often will I work on a live model, and who brings the model? Weekly work on your own model is a very different apprenticeship from occasional observation.
- Which techniques will I actually be trained on? Ask for the list, not the category.
- What happens if I am not ready at six months? Better asked before Form 1B than after.
Microblading: a straight answer
People search for microblading apprenticeships constantly, so it is worth being plain rather than vague. MB Beauty does not offer microblading and does not teach it. Brow training here covers ombré powder brows — a machine-shaded technique — alongside lip blush, lip neutralization, eyeliner and lash enhancement, with a separate track for paramedical work. If microblading specifically is what you want to learn, you want a different mentor, and that is a straightforward thing to say.
If you trained in another state
Licensing rules differ from state to state, and everything above is the Nevada version. If you are licensed elsewhere and plan to practise elsewhere, check the requirements where you intend to work — they will not necessarily look like this. If you plan to work in Nevada, this is the path regardless of where you trained.
Apprenticeship questions, answered in person.
Bring your certificates and your questions. Suitability, track and timing are worked out before anything is committed to.
Questions on This Topic
No. The certificate shows you completed training; it does not permit you to work. Nevada requires a six-month apprenticeship supervised by an artist who holds a mentor licence, after which you become eligible for a Body Art Card issued by the Southern Nevada Health District.
Whether they hold the mentor licence for instruction — without it the six months will not count toward your Body Art Card. Then how often you will work on a live model and who brings it, which techniques you will actually be trained on, and what happens if you are not ready at the six-month mark.
It is what the Southern Nevada Health District issues after your mentor signs Form 1B and you sit their test. Work begins once you hold it, and it covers you for the six months until Form 2B is signed and exchanged for a Body Art Card.
It applies if you plan to work in Nevada, whatever state you trained in. If you intend to practise elsewhere, check that state’s own requirements — licensing rules differ and this is the Nevada version.