I like women to wear their makeup into my studio the way they like to wear their makeup on a daily basis, or at least as close to that as they can get on their own. Some gals have trouble with their vision to be able to see close enough to get their makeup on evenly or in a fluid line. Some have shaky hands and can’t put their eyeliner or brows on the way they would like it.

Nine times out of ten, when a women comes into my studio for permanent makeup, she will tell me that she wears “black” eyeliner. She will often bring her liner with her so that I can see the color on her skin tone. I often see eyeliner colors in gray, black, brown and even metallic shades of all of the above. I gently let my clients know that permanent makeup doesn’t come in metallic, just so there are no surprises afterward. In my humble opinion, I would like to say that black eyeliner is not the best choice for most women.

A younger woman can often get by with a truly black eyeliner because she has youthful skin and flush to her cheeks that draw the observers eye to her whole face and not just to her eyes. For those late thirty year old women and beyond, I encourage a variety of brown’s but prefer to stay away from the darkest black of color. Black can detract from one’s own natural beauty because it is so stark, so absolute and so severe. It is my opinion that we are designed by our Creator in varying shades of brown from the lightest of browns in our skin tone of fair to deep brown to the deepest of browns in the richest, darkest, natural hair colors. Most of us do not have black eyelashes and brows, but rather varying degrees of brown with cool or warm undertones. Even the darkest of color heritages such as Italian, or Asian, really have the darkest of brown in hair and lashes, not black.

Black permanent eyeliner can often turn a bluish-gray in the skin. I encourage the darkest brown pigment for those gals that want to wear a “black” eyeliner. And the pigment industry often disguises the darkest brown in colors named for black such as black bean, licorice, black suede, black silk and black cherry. Tones that reflect your natural coloring are the best for long term satisfaction, even if your colors are changing at the salon. If after a consultation, in looking at her skin tones and eye color and after looking at varying shades of brown to black, the client truly wants black, then that is what I give her. I do believe in giving to the client what they want in the end, be it the blackest of black or wings that stretch an inch beyond the corner of their eye.