Lip Tattooing: How to Pick Colors For Melanin-Rich Lips

hi i'm tess marty or test tattoo if you follow me on instagram thank you so much for watching first we're going to go into color theory and then we're going

to be doing a live model demonstration [Music] what is dark lip neutralization dark lip

neutralization is a tattooing technique where we use neutralization and color correcting techniques to neutralize darkness and even out the lip color here is an example of a lip neutralization

that i did and at the bottom you can see the healed result of the tattoo and how all the darkness is eliminated and how the lips are now even in color dark lip neutralization is for any client who has

a fits four to six on the fitzpatrick scale and sometimes even fits patrick three these types of clients will come from a heritage of high sunlight environments

these are places like asia africa south america etc and you will notice that they do have darker skin they do have more melanin in their skin which

can sometimes show in their lips which is why we have to use the neutralization techniques so that they can get the effect that they want [Music]

when working with dark lip neutralization you need to know color theory so first we're going to start with the basics this is the color wheel

and it's split into warm and cool colors when you look at the color wheel the cool side is more related to winter and you can see that those colors are cold

dull and dark the warm side is more brilliant and vibrant and warm related to summer and these colors are more light

when you compare yellow and blue it's really easy to see that yellow and orange or more on the warm side and blue and purple are more on the cold side

it is important to note that there are cool and warm colors for each hue so if you look at this diagram you can see that the bottom layer is red but

these are all cool reds and the top layer is still red but they're all warm reds and then the middle layer is all reds but they're neutral so they have some cool and some warm if you look at

this picture you can see that there is blue yellow green and red in each color family there are cool and warm variations of that color with

yellow it is predominantly a warm hue but there are cooler and warmer versions of it just like there are in any other color in order to learn how to work with dark

lips you need to know how to identify colors this is something that i talk about in all of my online courses and all over my instagram and that is hue

saturation and value hue saturation and value help us identify colors and also help us distinct colors from one another hue is basically a color on the color

wheel and that can be like yellow or red or blue saturation is how bright pure and intense a color is if a color is lowly saturated it usually

looks really dull and muted if a color is highly saturated it usually looks really pure and bright value has nothing to do with color or hue at all it's how light or dark a

color is so if you look at a deep dark purple that's going to have a dark or low value if you look at a light baby pink that is going to have a light value because it's

more light now we're going to talk about complementary colors and how they work complementary colors is the most important color harmony in dark lip

neutralization because this is the kind of color harmony that we use in order to neutralize dark lips these are complementary colors complementary colors are colors that are

opposite of each other on the color wheel when you mix these colors together like yellow and purple they cancel each other out and they neutralize each other

[Music] now we're going to talk about what colors do not work for dark lip neutralization cool and dark colors do not work for

neutralization why because melanin which is what we're working with already has a dark value and it is also a brown dark color

now imagine that you mix a cool color with brown let's take purple you get a darker purple so if you have your client coming in she's a fits five she has dark

deep lips and you're tattooing a dark deep red onto her lips she's going to have a darker purple as the outcome for her lip tattoo

this is why i recommend to only stick with warm colors for dark lip neutralization let's look at another demonstration this time with blue

if you mix blue and brown melanin together you get black so imagine you're using a very very cool color with a high concentration of blue in that pigment

and then you tattoo that onto a client who is a fits five that kind slips are going to go darker and they are going to have an undesired result if you're curious about what you're

using or what's in your pigment bottles you can always check the material safety data sheets of your pigment and check the ci numbers for blue violet or black

[Music] now we're going to talk about how i determine what shade of orange to use or what warm color to use and disclaimer this is just my technique

and how i do this and what works best for me so let's take this client for example she's about a fits five so the first thing that i know is that

she's a fits five with lots of melanin i know that i'm going to have to use warm colors so my options are from red to yellow next i'm going to identify the hue of

her lips so if you look at the center of her lips i can see that her lips are kind of pinkish and they're a little bit brownish so

usually when a client has a pink center i know that i'm going to have to use orange if a client has a purple center i know that i'm going to have to use yellow because that's a complementary color but

when a client like this usually has a pink center i always use orange colors next i'm going to look at the saturation of her lips her lips aren't very

saturated they're a little bit muted and the value of her lips is i would say about medium to dark so just with those three things i know that i have to use orange

i know that i'm going to have to use a light and bright orange because her lips are lowly saturated i want to use a brightly saturated color and because her lips are dark in value i

want to use a color that has a lighter value so i'm going to use a light orange on this client i'm just going to go over this again because it's a little bit confusing there are a lot of different methods out

there for choosing colors for dark lip neutralization i'm going to show you mine there is a lot of discrepancy in the industry when we talk about undertone for me when i pick colors for

dark lip neutralization i do not look for a blue or brown undertone when i pick colors for neutralization i simply look at the center of the client's lips

and i either see pink or i see purple when you look at the center of the client's lips it shouldn't be a guessing game you should be trying to find a blue that you don't see or a brown that isn't

there for example when i have this client come in who's about to fit five i look at the center of her lips and what do her lips look like they look pink they don't look blue

i see pink which means i'm going to have to use an orange color now let's take a different client for example this is a client that you may have often

as well this is about a fits 6 client and if you look at the center of your lips you don't see pink you don't see blue you see purple what is the complementary color to purple is yellow

so i know that for this client i'm going to have to use a yellowy orange just a disclaimer this is just how i do my dark lip neutralizations and how i pick my colors from my clients if you do

something different it doesn't mean that it's any worse or wrong this is just how i found what works best for me for dark lip neutralization over the years that i've been doing it now i'm going to show you a client

comparison and how that there is not just one neutralization color that can be used for all clients because every client is different and unique here is our first client she's about a fits

three she does come from asian descent and she does have a teeny teeny bit of visible melanin in her lips if you look at the center of her lips her lips are pink

the saturation is very low and the value is very light her lips are very light they don't have a lot of color but they are pink

but they do have a little bit of melanin when somebody has less melanin i know that i can play more with color but because she's a fits 3 and she comes from asian descent i still want to use

something warm so if she wanted to use a warm pink a warm pink would be great because the warmth in the pink still neutralizes and is safe but the pink will show up on her

lips because her lips are more like a blank piece of paper now let's take this client this client in comparison is a fit five she's a completely different look she

has much darker skin and if you look at her lips they're much darker as well if you look at the center of her lips they are pink so i know that i'm going to have to use orange and if you look at

the saturation they are a little bit more saturated than the last client so she has about a medium saturation and the value of her lips is very dark so immediately i know that she needs

neutralization she is a fits five she comes from african descent and second i know that i'm going to have to use orange because the center of her lips are pink because her lips have a medium

saturation i do want to use a still a pigment that has a very high saturation and because the value of her lips are very dark i want to use a pigment that is very light

i'm going to show you when you need to use yellow pigment there are two instances where you need to use yellow pigment the first instance is when you have a client who has purple lips if you look

at the center of her lips her lips are purple now this client is a fits about six she has very very dark lips and the center of her lips is purple so i know that i want to use a color that

is yellow because yellow is complementary to purple which means it'll help neutralize her lips better i don't always like to use yellow i don't like to use yellow if i don't have to

and i never like to use yellow alone so if i'm going to use yellow for a client like this i'm always going to mix it 50 50 with a little bit of orange the second instance where you want to use yellow

is when you have a client who has got very high melanin count and her lips are extremely dark what is the lightest color on the color wheel the lightest color is yellow so if you

have a client who comes in and their lips are very dark what do you think is the opposite very dark it's yellow because yellow is the lightest color

and that is why you need to use yellow in these two cases [Music] when should you add pink

when i use pink for dark lip clients i only like to use pink when all the neutralization has been done another instance where i use pink is if it's a warm pink strictly a warm pink

and the client has a light value to their lips so say you have a client who comes in there fits three they're from asian descent i know that they have melanin in their skin and i know that they may need some

neutralization i'm going to stick with a warm pink if their lips have a light value so if their lips don't have a lot of melanin that is visible i never recommend to use cool pinks i

never recommend to use dark pinks even after the neutralization has been done if you ever go in with target color and it's cool or dark even after neutralization has been done it will

bring back that darkness and that's from my experience so whenever you're using pinks always make sure it's warm pinks i'm going to share with you my top used

neutralization pigments by color so first we're going to start with orange these are my top top used pigments in neutralization this is bora bora peach in my right hand

and in my left hand is maximus peach blossom these are both from world famous ink these are tattoo pigments they do have a lot of coverage which is good for neutralization

bora bora peach is my top used color for dark lip neutralization these are the yellows that i like to use this is eternal orange from eternal ink which is another tattoo pigment and this

is canary yellow from world famous ink i like to use these in scenarios where the lips are purple or they're very dark now i'm going to show you the reds that i like to use i like to use paul rogers red by world famous and this is

tangerine by eternal ink tangerine is a little cool so you have to be careful when you use it on dark lips i would recommend to use this on lips

that have a lighter value and paul rogers red i also recommend to use on lips that have a lighter value these are the warm pinks that i like to use

in my right hand is eternal ink this is papaya and rose satin you can see that these are warm pinks over here i have oleg blush and 80

poncho peach these are by world famous ink and again these are warm pinks [Music] healing for dark lips can be a little scary i'm going to show you a client of

mine when i first started dark lip neutralization and her healing process here is her lips from week one to week six as you can see at six weeks her lips have evened out lightened and brightened

but during the six week healing process you can see that she has some active hyperpigmentation and some active hypopigmentation this happens when the melanocytes inner skin either overproduce melanin causing

the darker areas or underproduced causing the light pink areas we can't predict who this is going to happen to but it can be a normal part of the healing process for dark lips so if this happens to your client just assure

them everything is fine and to wait six weeks this is another client of mine who had a minimal trauma healing process as you can see she has no active hyperpigmentation or active

hypopigmentation and at the end of the six weeks she has a light bright even result this is the very reason why many artists stay away from dark lips this can happen to you and it can happen to

your clients we can't always predict who this is going to happen to it is active hyperpigmentation and active hypopigmentation active means it's temporary and it usually happens within the six weeks of

healing ninety-nine percent of the time it is going to be temporary sometimes if your technique is too traumatic it can be permanent so always be careful when working with dark lips and make sure

you're very gentle with your clients [Music] these techniques i'll discovered myself through trial and error so i hope these

techniques and my teaching to you has helped you avoid mistakes and help you find success in your business when tattooing ethnic lips