Makeup Application, Brow, and Lash Services
Sanitation in the makeup chair
Pump or spatula product onto a palette - never dip fingers into jars. Sharpen pencils and wipe them with 70% alcohol; spray powder surfaces with alcohol and let them dry; use disposable mascara wands and never pump the wand into the tube (it pushes air and bacteria in). Discard any product that touched a client with an eye infection. Clean brushes after every client.
Color and application
Use color theory: complementary colors neutralize (green cancels redness, peach/orange cancels blue-brown darkness, yellow cancels purple). Match foundation to the jawline in natural light, identify undertone (warm, cool, neutral), and choose texture by skin type. Face shapes guide contouring and brow design; brows are mapped from the inner corner, the arch over the outer iris, and the tail to the outer corner.
Lashes and brows
Tinting requires a patch test 24–48 hours ahead. Lash and brow services are contraindicated with conjunctivitis, styes, active blepharitis, lash loss of unknown cause, or recent eye surgery. Work with the client's eyes closed, keep products out of the eye, and know where the eyewash station is.
Traps
- 'Use saliva to thin mascara' and 'blow on the brush' are always wrong.
- Sanitizing does not sterilize; a mascara tube used on an infected client is discarded.
Rule of thumb
If it touches a client, it is either disposable or disinfected before the next face.