How to choose a colour for lip blush

A Professional's Guide To Choosing Your Perfect Lip Blush Colour!

Do you have a lip blush appointment booked or are you thinking or booking one, but don't know how to choose the colour you want? As professional permanent makeup artist based in Vancouver Canada, I am here to help walk you through the process that I use with my clients to choose their perfect colour!

First things first...What is the colour used in the lip blush process?

Simply put the colour created by lip blush is a semi permanent tattoo ink, tattoo ink, or a blend of both. Both of these inks are mainly comprised of pigments, which can come for many sources both organic and inorganic. Semi-permanent tattoo inks are a blend of multiple pigments (smaller particles) Semi-permanent inks are usually blended into tertiary colours (aka, a blend of primary and secondary colours together). Semi permanent inks are great for clients who want natural looking results. Tattoo inks are generally comprised of more concentrated pigments ( bigger particles ) Tattoo inks can give great coverage and vibrant results.

Now that you understand how the colour is created... how do you decide what colour is right for you?

I always suggest clients bring their favourite every day lip stick or gloss to the appointment. Doing so gives me a good idea of your desired results. As your artist I will also give my professional opinion on which colours would compliment your natural skin tone and features the best. It is important to know that healed results tend to be around 50% less intense than the immediate results, this can vary depending on the ink blend and the clients skin type as well. Below are 3 key factors that I always consider when helping a client choose a colour.

1: Skin Undertones: There are two main undertones when it comes to skin, warm and cool. Warm undertones tend to be present in those with a level 3 or higher on the Fitzpatrick skin type scale and 2 or lower tend to be on the cool side (if you don't know what this is, look it up and find out what skin type you are). Features such as hair and eye colour can also help identify someones skin undertones. Those with natural darker hair and eye colours tend to have warmer undertones and those with lighter hair and eyes tend to have cooler undertones, there are exceptions to this as well. As a general rule of thumb warmer skin undertones suit warmers colours and cooler skin tones suit cooler pigments.

               WARM VS. COOL

From these two photos of Rihanna you can see how warm makeup looks on her skin tone vs the cooler tones. Rihanna has a warm undertone to her skin, which is complimented and enhanced when the warmer makeup is used on her versus the cooler makeup which stands out more and does not blend with her features making it look less natural.

2: Colour Vibrancy: Vibrant colours are generally less blended inks, like bright red, magenta, bright corral, or hot pinks. If the client likes to wear a vibrant colour like this on the daily I may suggest an ink blend that is comprised of more tattoo inks and mix in a shading solution to ensure the results still maintain a level of naturalness. More muted colours are inks that contain a high content of white pigments or brown pigments. Giving them a soft natural finish, think pinky nudes, mauves, earthy colours or dusty rose. Semi permanent inks usually have a great selection of these colours.

Example:

Immediately after. VS. Healed

Vibrant Colour Example: This client loved wearing a bright and vibrant colour daily, so we opted to use a red ink from World Famous Ink blended with some shading fluid resulting in a vibrant high coverage pinky red finish.

Muted Colour Example: This client wanted a muted mauve colour and a more natural day to day medium coverage. To create this colour we used a blend of World Famous Ink, and two Perma Blend lip blush inks.

3: Coverage: Coverage refers to the opacity of the healed results. Pigment choice plays a big part in coverage but technique also is a part of the equation when it comes to coverage! Clients who have a more uneven colouring on their lips may benefit from a higher coverage pigment to help camouflage the unevenness. Tattoo inks as mentioned above have bigger particles ( more pigment ) making them a good option for high coverage results. Clients with paler and more even toned lips who are looking to add just a hint of overall colour may benefit more from choosing a more blended down ink with lower pigment quantity such as a permanent makeup ink. The example above also shows the healed results from both choices, the first being higher coverage and the second being a more medium coverage. It is also possible to create even less coverage than the second example so if you want almost undetectable results don't worry I've got you!

Colour Blends Unique As My Clients...

I always do my absolute best to choose a colour that suites my clients skin tone, desired results and coverage needs. Because of this I often end of using a blend of pigments. In this example below I used a blend of 3 inks on my client. One tattoo ink by World Famous Inks, a semi permanent ink by Perma Blend, as well as a semi permanent brow pigment by Tina Davies. Blending these three pigments created the perfect cool toned natural pink, the blend was similar to the lipstick she had brought in and complimented her cooler skin tone and light features perfectly.

PIGMENT + PIGMENT + PIGMENT. =. CLIENTS BLEND

Congratulations, you now understand the basics of color selection!

 If you’re considering lip blush, I encourage you to book a consultation, either in person at my studio located in Yaletown Vancouver, Canada or online via Zoom. Head to my services page and select your consultation type or if you feel ready go ahead and book your appointment!