Choosing the Right Color
Pigment color is one of the most important choices to achieving the right look for Permanent Makeup when healed and over the long term.
But how are colors selected?
Skin type and undertone are two key things used when choosing pigment color. Skin type is determined using the Fitzpatrick Scale which was developed in 1975 and classifies skin type according to tthe pigment your skin has and the reaction of your skin to sun exposure. It was originally created to help Dermatologists make an assessment of skin cancer risk, but it is commonly used in the beauty industry to select the right treatment. Within the world of Permanent Makeup, it is a key step used to determine how dark or opaque a pigment color should be for any given client.
Skin Undertone
Skin undertone goes hand in hand with skin type (the Fitzpatrick Scale) and is a critical element in selecting the right color. Everyone has a tone to their skin that is either warm, cool or nuetral. There are several ways to determine skin tone; looking at veins in the wrist is one of the most common ways. If your veins appear blue or purple, you have a cool skin tone; if your veins look green or greenish blue, you have a warm skin tone. If you cant tell if veins are green or blue, you probably have a neutral skin tone. A good artist will take note of your skin tone and know the implications when choosing a pigment color.
Why is this so important?
Skin tone is important because the pigment used is deposited beneath your skin and will be seen as a healed color through your skin undertone. To further illustrate, consider a painting example: using two pieces of paper: one is white and the other is blue. What happens when you paint YELLOW on both pieces of paper? The yellow paint on the white paper will appear YELLOW. The yellow paint on the blue paper will appear GREEN. The blue tone on the base paper impacts the end result: blue and yellow tones (when combined) appear GREEN.
The same thing is true with your skin tone: if you have a COOL skin tone, the pigment chosen will heal cooler than it looks right after being deposited---in other words, the healed end result will be a cooler shade vs. the color you see right away. Many clients have a cool skin undertone --and it is important to select a pigment color that has a warmer base to off-set the cool undertones of your skin. I have many examples of this in my studio, based on work with actual clients. I use these examples to help people understand how color is selected and will change during the healing process.
Color over time....
It is important to choose the right color for a great healed result, but also for the color to look good over time. All Permanent Makeup is designed to fade, but it doesn't always fade to a desireable shade....blue, purple, red, coral, orange, violet, green: I've seen just about every color of brow. Your own skin chemistry will change the chosen pigment over time--and if the wrong pigment is initally chosen, sometimes these colors are not attractive. Pigment science, combined with Color Theory, are the best tools to ensure that color looks good after skin is healed and over time.
Summary
Color Theory and pigment science are very important for any Permanent Makeup artist to master --and many take advanced training to further thier skill in this area. Choosing the wrong color can have disasterous end result--one that can't be easily fixed or modified. I feel Color Theory is one of the most fundamental and important skills of my practice. The goal should be to achieve a desireable healed end result that ages well over time.
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