Permanent Makeup License in Nevada: How the Body Art Card Works
In Nevada a permanent makeup artist needs a Body Art Card from the Southern Nevada Health District, not a course certificate. The card follows a six-month apprenticeship under an artist who holds a Body Art Mentor Card, the Health District sanitation exam, and proof of current bloodborne pathogen training. The first-time test and card fee is $175.
Search for a permanent makeup licence in Nevada and you will not find one, because the document is not called that. What Clark County issues is a Body Art Card, and permanent makeup sits inside the body art rules. Here is what the Southern Nevada Health District actually requires, in the order it happens, and what each step costs.
Five cards, and which one is yours
The Health District runs a mentor and apprentice system and issues five kinds of card: the Body Art Card, the Body Art Apprentice Card, the Microblading Card, the Microblading Apprentice Card and the Body Art Mentor Card. Its stated purpose is plain: to make sure everyone working in body art in Clark County understands how bloodborne diseases spread and how to prevent it.
For permanent makeup the card you are working toward is the Body Art Card. Microblading has its own pair of cards; MB Beauty does not offer microblading and does not train it, so everything below is the body art route.
What the Health District requires for each card
- Body Art Card. Issued to artists with at least six months of experience in body art practices. You must pass the Health District’s sanitation exam and show proof of current bloodborne pathogen training.
- Body Art Apprentice Card. For prospective artists who do not yet have six months of experience. You register with a mentor first, then pass the same sanitation exam and show the same bloodborne pathogen proof.
- Body Art Mentor Card. Every apprentice works under a mentor who holds this card, and the Health District issues it only to artists with at least four consecutive years of experience.
Read those three together and the shape of the path appears: a new artist cannot get the permanent card without six months of experience, and cannot legally gain that experience except as a registered apprentice under a carded mentor. The mentor’s card is the hinge the whole thing turns on.
The route, in order
- Your mentor signs Form 1B, naming who supervises you.
- You take it to the Health District and sit the sanitation exam.
- The Health District issues your Apprentice Card. Work starts once you hold it.
- For six months you work under supervision — at MB Beauty that means bringing your own model once a week and carrying out the procedure with guidance.
- At the six-month mark your mentor signs Form 2B.
- You exchange Form 2B at the Health District for your Body Art Card.
The step-by-step version, with what happens between the forms, is on the apprenticeship page. The one question to ask any prospective mentor before Form 1B is whether they hold the Mentor Card — without it the six months do not count, however good the teaching was. Maryna B. Turner holds a Nevada Mentor Body Art licence, which is why hours completed at MB Beauty count toward the requirement.
What it costs
Two separate bills. The Health District’s own fees, as published on its requirements page, are these:
| Health District fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| First-time test and card | $175 |
| Retest | $150 |
| Card renewal (card not expired, or expired more than two years) | $25 |
| Card renewal with late fee (expired within the last two years) | $50 |
| Duplicate or replacement card | $25 |
The apprenticeship itself is the second bill, and it is paid to the mentor, not the state. At MB Beauty the Permanent Makeup track is $3,800, the Paramedical Tattoo track $5,200 and Full Scope $6,800, each for the whole six months, with a $500 non-refundable deposit. Your basic course, completed before any of this, is a third and earlier cost.
The $175 buys the exam and the card. The six months are what make you eligible to sit for them.
Where the course certificate fits
A basic course certificate is training, not permission. In Nevada it is what you arrive with: MB Beauty takes on artists who already hold one, together with a valid Bloodborne Pathogens Certificate — the same proof the Health District asks for at the counter. The apprenticeship does not replace a basic course and is not a beginner class; it is the state-required stage that follows it.
How to check any artist’s card
The Health District publishes a public Body Art Card look-up. It is useful in both directions: an apprentice can confirm a prospective mentor’s card before signing anything, and a client can confirm that the person about to work on their face holds one at all.
If you trained in another state
Licensing is state by state, and everything above is Nevada’s version, published by the Health District for Clark County. If you plan to work in Nevada, this is the route regardless of where your course was; if you plan to work elsewhere, that state sets its own rules. Fees and forms change from time to time — the Health District’s requirements page carries the current figures and a study guide for the exam, and the Body Art Program can be reached at (702) 759-1099.
Hours that count.
The apprenticeship at MB Beauty runs under a Nevada Mentor Body Art licence. Bring your basic course certificate and your Bloodborne Pathogens certificate; track and timing are agreed before Form 1B is signed.
Questions on This Topic
No. Permanent makeup is covered by the body art rules, so the document you need is a Body Art Card issued by the Southern Nevada Health District. Microblading has its own card and apprentice card; MB Beauty does not offer or teach microblading.
The permanent card requires at least six months of experience in body art practices, which for a new artist means a six-month apprenticeship under a mentor who holds a Body Art Mentor Card. After that you sit the sanitation exam and show current bloodborne pathogen training.
The Health District charges $175 for the first-time test and card, $150 for a retest, $25 for a renewal and $50 if the card expired within the last two years. The apprenticeship fee is separate and paid to the mentor: at MB Beauty from $3,800 for six months.
The Health District issues the permanent card to artists with at least six months of experience in body art practices; anyone without it registers as an apprentice under a carded mentor. How prior experience elsewhere is assessed is the Health District’s call, so ask its Body Art Program directly before planning around it.
Yes. The Health District asks for proof of current bloodborne pathogen training for both the apprentice and the permanent card, and MB Beauty requires a valid certificate before the apprenticeship starts.