The choice of pigment color for permanent makeup: basic principles

There are 3 color types of appearance and they can be determined by the following features:

Cold color type - snow-white, slightly pinkish, bluish or grayish skin, which, when tanning, acquires a brownish-yellowish color. For people with a cold color type, colorists recommend using warm tones of permanent makeup pigments.

Warm color type - skin shades of peach, ivory, beige, sometimes with freckles. When tanned, it becomes brown-reddish. On the contrary, cold shades of tattoo pigments will be appropriate here.

Mixed - there are cases when the skin equally has the characteristics of the two previous types. Then the colorist advises to select shades for the color of the hair and eyes.

But this is far from all the rules of color. If you think that, having determined the color type, you just need to choose a vial with a suitable pigment, then you are mistaken. After all, in practice you rarely use only one color, but you achieve the required tone by mixing the basic colors in the right proportions. And again, knowledge of color helps to clearly determine which colors are formed when mixed, which complement each other, and how one color overlaps due to another.

How to recognize skin type?

If you look at the wrist and the inner surface of the hand, you will notice that the skin tone can be cold (bluish) or warm (yellowish or golden). The skin is given color by three substances synthesized in the body: brown melanin, yellow carotene and the red blood pigment hemoglobin. Their combinations make up all the different colors and shades of skin and hair. The skin is like a thin light filter, so the tone that prevails just under its surface and shines through the skin determines the color type - a very important characteristic of appearance. Hair can be dyed, the face completely covered with a thick layer of cosmetics, and yet the skin tone will be visible, and it cannot be changed, even by sunbathing in a solarium and taking carotene. The great advantage of the master is the experience in the field of cosmetology, make-up and make-up, which helps to find the right solution in finding harmony between the colors given by nature and make-up. An experienced makeup artist knows that the right choice of color depends not only on the skin tone, but also on the overall appearance of the client. Temperamental bright clients are likely to choose different colors than calm, discreet and reserved personalities. So, first of all, you need to carefully examine the skin of the client. What is the skin tone? More warm or cold? As a rule, this is not without painful doubts. How can you determine skin tone using simple means? There are a number of distinguishing features that facilitate the process of recognizing the type of skin - this will then be useful when choosing a color for pigmentation.

Distinctive features of a bluish (cold) color type

Natural skin tone :

1. "Bluish".

2. Often very white, fair skin.

3. No natural blush.

4. Skin intensely pink or light to dark pink.

5. Extremely fair complexion with rosy cheeks.

6. Tans quickly to brown without burning.

7. Tan tan.

8. The skin is rather oily or mixed.

Natural hair color :

1. Often dark.

2. Brown tones with an ashy tint.

3. Ash blonde.

4. Blue-black.

5. As a rule, it turns gray early, so the hair is often gray or gray.

Possible eye color : shades from dark brown through green to gray-green. People of the dark subtype with intense hair and skin coloration often have large dark eyes with very bright whites. People of the light subtype, in contrast, often have gray-green eyes, which may be dotted with small brown spots, or green eyes of a cool gray tint. In general, the color of the eyes of people of the light subtype does not seem so deep, rather soft and a little blurry. The area under the eyes of people with a light subtype often looks bluish.

Distinctive features of the yellowish (warm) color type

Natural skin tone :

1. Ivory.

2. Ivory with freckles (redheads).

3. Peach colors with freckles.

4. Golden beige.

5. Pink-peach (often the skin on the folds of the fingers is red).

6. Rosy cheeks.

7. Turns red easily.

8. Tans only to red-brown.

9. Easily burns in the sun, tans badly.

10. Sensitive skin prone to redness.

11. The skin is rather dry or normal.

Natural hair color :

1. Red.

2. Copper brown.

3. Chestnut.

4. Golden brown.

5. Golden blonde.

6. Red blond.

7. Golden gray.

8. Cream.

9. Linen blonde.

10. Yellow blonde.

Possible eye color : an extensive range of transitions from dark brown through green to blue. In people of the dark subtype, chocolate brown or blue-black with a dark rim around the pupil is very common. People of the light subtype often have green eyes with a yellow tint. If the eyes are blue, then it is a gray-blue or a very intense radiant dark blue with bright whites.

Mixing pigments correctly

We are so accustomed to the multicolor of the world around us that it is even hard to believe that there are only three primary, basic colors: red, yellow, blue.

All other colors and shades are formed by mixing them in different combinations and proportions, and this must be taught in any basic permanent makeup course.

The best way to understand the interaction of colors of pigments for permanent makeup is the Itten color wheel used in coloring. It was created by the Swiss artist Johannes Itten to help painters, but it is also relevant for tattooing, as it very clearly and clearly explains the theory of mixing colors, transitioning one into another and separating into cold and warm tones.

In the coloring of permanent makeup, there are other rules that allow you to get the desired shade, for example, the use of black and white. They not only give, when mixed in different proportions, a gray color of different intensity. Adding white will lighten and matte the color of the pigment for permanent makeup, and black will darken any tone.

Permanent makeup paints sometimes have tints that need to be covered up so they don't show up as unwanted tones on the skin. This can also be done, guided by the basics of color.

In lip tattooing, coloring allows you to neutralize the unwanted manifestation of blue-violet shades by adding a gray-brown pigment.

In eyebrow tattooing, the use of an olive tint will help prevent orange from protruding. Blues and grays are neutralized with orange, while yellow helps make brighter browns look lighter and more natural.

Coloristics includes many different tricks, and the master must improve in this matter, literally, every day of his practice, combining the repetition of theory and applying practical knowledge in the procedure.

Read also

Color Theory for Permanent Makeup Artists