Makeup Application, Client Consultation, and Salon Business Practices
Consultation and documentation
Open with an intake form: medical history, medications, allergies, prior reactions, and goals. Patch test where indicated, obtain informed consent, and record products used, observations, services rendered, and home-care recommendations. Keep records confidential and retain them as the Board requires; good notes are your defense if a client reports a reaction.
Face shapes and color
Oval, round, square, heart, oblong, diamond, and pear shapes guide contour and highlight placement. Undertone - warm, cool, or neutral - drives foundation, blush, and lip selection; match foundation along the jaw in daylight rather than on the hand. Use color theory to correct: green neutralizes redness, yellow cancels purple, peach warms sallow tones.
Sanitation in makeup
Never double-dip. Pump or squeeze product onto a palette, use disposable mascara and lip wands, sharpen pencils before and after, wipe powder surfaces with a clean tissue, and launder brushes regularly, drying them flat. A mascara wand that touched a client's lashes never goes back in the tube.
Business and ethics
Display your license, state prices clearly, advertise truthfully, and never promise medical outcomes. Build retail recommendations only on what the client's skin actually needs, and refer out when the request exceeds your scope. Track inventory, keep appointment records, carry liability insurance, and treat rebooking and follow-up as part of the service, not an afterthought.
Traps
Reusing a mascara wand, recommending products by diagnosing a condition, quoting a 'cure,' and ignoring consent documentation for a first-time peel or wax.
Rule of thumb
If you cannot disinfect it, do not touch two clients with it. If you cannot document it, do not do it.