Hey beauties, welcome back to Creative Contour By Carla™! Today, I am discussing the importance of having global skin tones available in every professional makeup artist's kit. Now one thing I've noticed in my 11 years as an artist is that not every makeup artist accommodates all skin tones. And in my professional opinion, this is wrong. You cannot call yourself a professional makeup artist, if you cannot accommodate everyone.
If you've ever had your makeup professionally done before, then you understand the vast collection of products that makeup artists carry. We have to be prepared to accommodate anyone who sits in our makeup chairs, and create makeup looks that are adaptive to the environment the client will be in after leaving the chair. And to be quite honest, that does take time to learn in our careers. This is a skill that will literally take years to learn. Being able to correctly match all skin tones and undertones is one of those skills.
Above is one of the foundation palette examples I carry in my professional makeup kit. This palette alone can accommodate quite a large range of skin tones alone. I have two additional foundation palettes that can accommodate remaining skin tone and under tone ranges, as well as various colors for mixing. This makes my job incredibly easy, because everything is at my disposal, I just have to take a look at the client's skin tone and undertone to create the perfect match.
From the viewpoint of a professional, every single person who wants to be a makeup artist should be this accommodating, because there are times when we don't meet the client until they sit in the chair. Especially my personal clients. The only time I've had people offer to send a photo of the client is when I've worked on local productions where the talent has a headshot that is submitted to the team. Everyday people do not and should not have to ask you if you can match their skin tone. You should already have the colors available, and the education around how to see colors in different skin tones.
While a lot of us had to learn on the job, 2024 and beyond has so many resources available to every level of makeup artist out there. There are complexion classes, color theory classes, and the like. If you are considering the field of makeup artistry, you should take these classes right at the beginning, before you invest a single dollar into a makeup kit. Learning how to properly match clients' skin tones and undertones makes you the most professional of makeup artists. And once you learn what to do, practice on as many people as you can, until you're so strong at matching global skin tones, you can do it immediately.
And for all of the makeup artists and enthusiasts out there who want to be makeup artists, here is your call out: make it your professional purpose to understand and correctly match global skin tones. Make sure you are carrying the correct professional grade products to be able to match any person who sits in your chair. It's well past the time to make excuses as to one skin tone being hard to match.
So beauties, this is why it is so important for any professional makeup artist to carry global skin tones in their makeup kits. A true professional can match anyone who sits in the chair, just like they can accommodate any skin type, or unique makeup look that the client wants. If you are a true professional, this entire mindset is implied. Clients are paying us for a service, and they deserve to have the correctly matching complexion color for them.
Lots of love, lipstick, and a proper makeup kit,
Carla
CREATIVE CONTOUR BY CARLA is a trademark of Creative Contour by Carla, LLC. All Rights Reserved.