Imagine your skin as a vibrant canvas, already rich with its own unique hue. When you apply permanent makeup, the pigments interact with those tones. This means the final healed color will not only be determined by the pigment you choose but also how it blends with the natural undertones of your skin.
In permanent makeup, you want your artist to have a complete understanding of skin undertones and color theory to choose the best pigment for your skin. This blog covers the key components like skin undertones, color theory and selection of the best pigments that will ensure your permanent makeup is stunning, natural and uniquely yours.
Skin undertones play a crucial role in how pigments settle and appear over time.
The majority of people (around 99%) have cool undertones. These undertones lean toward blue, red, or purple hues. If someone has a lot of coolness, you'd typically choose a pigment with a warmer, yellow base to counteract the coolness and neutralize the cool tones and give a more natural, warm appearance.
Warm undertones tend to have yellow, peach, or golden hue. People with these undertones represent a small portion of the population. Their undertones often have a softer or warmer skin appearance. For this group, it's important to choose pigments that are more neutral to avoid over-correcting with too much warmth.
Someone who has a lot of redness or visible capillaries in their skin may appear warm but in fact, have a cool undertone, as blood and blood vessels are inherently cool in tone. In such cases, neutralizing the redness is important.
Less common as the skin that may be olive or golden and can have peachy or yellow undertones. The tones they choose can either cool or warm pigments, depending on personal preference.
In permanent makeup, the most used pigment groupings are browns, blacks and blondes for eyebrows and eyeliner, then pinks and reds for lips. The mixture of pigments to achieve these colors also has undertones. As seen in the color wheel, all colors are divided into warm and cool, with their opposite colors. When opposite colors interact, the original color can be neutralized.
The foundational colors of red, yellow and blue exist in all pigments, and when mixed you get orange, purple and green. Even more complex blends of pigments might produce magenta, violet, amber and chartreuse.
Unlike traditional art, where you're working with a blank white canvas, the skin is already colored, and the pigment has undertones as well. By testing a few different formulas and colors before application, we can visualize how the pigment will absorb and react based on that skin color.
The finished color will heal and settle creating a seamless blend of the surface color, the pigment undertones and your skin undertones.
Given that most people have cool undertones (reds, blues, or purples), selecting the right complementary color based on undertone is crucial. It’s essential to choose a pigment that counteracts or balances out those cool tones. Cool undertones require pigments that are yellow or golden-based pigments to balance the hues and avoid an ashy or overly pink appearance.
Warm undertones are rare and typically found in people who are very young with a peachy, fresh complexion, often with lighter hair, like flaxen blonde. Choose pigments that are more neutral to avoid over-correcting with too much warmth.
Neutral undertones have the flexibility of either cool or warm pigment, depending upon personal preference.
Understanding how the pigment interacts with the skin’s undertones is crucial for creating natural, flattering results in permanent makeup. We carefully evaluate your skin’s undertones and experiment with various formulas then check with you for your choice before application. Thus, we craft a beautiful custom color palette that works harmoniously with your natural complexion. This personalized approach ensures that the final result will enhance your natural beauty rather than clash with it.
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