Among the vast array of items in a professional makeup artists kit is one of the more powerful tools in any form of artistry – the color wheel. In June 2017, 28 year makeup artist veteran and owner of Dallas, based Makeup Training Academy, Terri Tomlinson, launched a one-of-a-kind Flesh Tone Color Wheel. The new Flesh Tone Color Wheel takes its rules and guidelines of color theory and applies them to skin. The wheel provides color references for skin color, highlight, correction, shadow, and makeup colors. “I’ve been working with color theory since I opened Makeup Training Academy in 2010. My understanding of color and theory has deepened so much in that time, that it now affects every part of my makeup application. I am obsessed with Color Theory!” said Tomlinson.
The wheel is used as a guide behind the science of color theory, and has also become the foundation to any makeup application, from matching foundation, to concealing blemishes and imperfections to selecting complementing eye shadows and lip shades or to creating realistic Spfx wounds, bruises and character traits in general.
The basics of color theory in general teaches us what the primary colors are, what colors are complementary, which color cancel out the other and so on. Any makeup artist will tell you that it’s crucial to understand the fundamentals of how color works, in conjunction with makeup. But, as crucial as it is, color theory is at times hard to wrap our minds around. Because face it we don’t come across clients with red, blue, yellow, green or purple skin for that matter, and we find ourselves at times struggling to grasp the idea of color and how it applies to skin tone. This is where Terri Tomlinson, comes in. Terri saw a huge gap between teaching color theory on a traditional wheel and how it applies to skin, therefore she saw the need to develop a new tool to help her students. “I saw students and even established artists struggling to take their knowledge of color theory and apply it to skin. I wanted a way to show them how powerful it is to makeup artistry.”
During the development process it was important for Terri to create a wheel that showed skin and flesh tones instead of vibrant hues. The project taking almost a year to complete, displays colors based on actual makeup, as the wheel needed to mimic real skin tones, but also still follow the rules of Color Theory. The color also had to be specially created in a digital format for print. “I believe the Flesh Tone Color Wheel can be a huge benefit to anyone who works with skin and neutral color, whether it is makeup, tattoo art, painting, or even interior design. It is so simple and yet so completely unique.” said Terri.
Since it’s release, The Flesh Tone Color Wheel is quickly becoming a professional makeup artist’s kit essential. It will help makeup artists change the way they approach every aspect of makeup with every client. “Thank you for creating an innovative tool for expanding on and for further understanding the knowledge of color relating to makeup – you are a genius. To create something that’s never been done before is astounding – kudos to you for your hard work, passion and devotion to your craft – being able to teach and share your knowledge is a virtue.“ – Eugenia Weston, Emmy nominated artist, brow guru and owner of SENNA Cosmetics.
To celebrate the launch of the Flesh Tone Color Wheel, Terri will be hosting Color Theory classes during the entire month of July. Starting with CTI: Using The Flesh Tone Color Wheel, a 2-hour demo style class, $50, and CT2: Creating a Color-Balanced Makeup, a 4-hour hand-on class teaching students how to manipulate color for foundation, correction, highlight, and shadow, $175 or $200 when both classes are purchased together. For more information about these classes visit makeuptrainingacademy.
The Flesh Tone Color Wheel, $20 available online at: makeup101.com/product/flesh-tone-color-wheel