Matching brow pigment to hair colour is where most artists start. Skin undertone is what decides how that pigment actually heals.
Pigment sits under the skin, not on top of it, so every healed brow is pigment seen through a layer of skin. That layer has its own colour. If you ignore it, a shade that looks perfect in the bottle can heal ashy on one client and too warm on the next.
Here’s a practical way to read undertone and turn it into a shade choice.
Skin tone vs undertone
These are two different things, and they’re easy to mix up.
- Skin tone is how light or deep the skin is. You can use the Fitzpatrick scale to describe it.
- Undertone is the colour underneath. It doesn’t change with a tan, and it’s usually cool, warm, neutral or olive.
Skin tone mostly tells you how light or deep to go. Undertone tells you which direction the colour is likely to shift as it heals.
How to read undertone in the chair
No single test is foolproof, so use two or three together:
- Veins on the inner wrist: blue or purple usually points to cool, green to warm, and a mix to neutral.
- Jewellery: clients who look best in silver often lean cool, and clients who suit gold often lean warm.
- How they tan: skin that burns and turns pink tends to be cool. Skin that tans easily to golden tends to be warm.
- Natural light: look at the jawline and neck rather than the face, which can be affected by redness, makeup or skincare.
If the signs conflict, the client is probably neutral or olive.
Matching undertone to pigment
Cool undertones (pink, red or blue)
Cool skin can push brown pigments towards ashy or grey as they heal. Choose a warm shade, or add a warm corrector, so the brow holds its brown. Avoid going too ashy, even if the client’s hair is cool-toned.
Warm undertones (yellow, peach or golden)
Warm skin already adds warmth to the healed result, so a very warm pigment can heal redder or more orange than you planned. A neutral brown is usually the safer starting point.
Neutral undertones
Neutral skin gives you the most freedom. Match mainly to hair colour and the result the client wants.
Olive undertones (green-grey)
Olive skin is the one that catches artists out. It’s often mistaken for warm, but its green cast can pull brows ashy. Treat it more like cool skin, and give the pigment enough warmth to stay brown.
Where Brovi Essential fits
Brovi Essential is a range of eight organic hybrid brow pigments with up to 90% retention. Each shade has a defined base and colour temperature, and they’re designed to mix, so one kit covers most of the clients you’ll see in the chair.
Warm shades
- Cinnamon Sticks: a light warm brown with a yellow-orange base. Use it as the first, base colour for hair strokes on Fitzpatrick I–III, and it’s suitable for shading too. On cool skin, add an orange corrector.
- Ripe Wheat: a warm blonde with a yellow base for Fitzpatrick I–II. Ideal for clients with warm or neutral hair colour.
- Roasted Chestnut: a versatile warm brown with an orange base for Fitzpatrick III–IV. It gives a natural result in both powder and hair-stroke work.
- Flat White: a warm, orange-based brown. Use it as a deeper accent shade on Fitzpatrick I–III, or as the main shade on Fitzpatrick IV–V with an orange or yellow corrector. Also suitable for powder brows.
- Freckle: a reddish brown with a red base for Fitzpatrick I. Made for very fair and freckled skin and natural redheads, and it can also be used as a corrector.
Neutral shades
- Gray Harbor: a neutral blonde with a yellow base for ash blondes and clients with cool hair colour. Designed for Fitzpatrick II, and it performs well on mature skin.
- Bitter Chocolate: a saturated dark brown with a yellow base for Fitzpatrick IV–V. Use it on its own or mix it to create custom shades. It can also be used for eyeliner.
- Pepsi-Cola: the darkest shade in the range, with a yellow-orange base. Use it mainly for accents and as a secondary colour in hair-stroke work, or for shading.
As a quick guide, reach for the warm shades and correctors when skin is cool or olive. Lean on the neutral shades when skin is warm.
Adjusting depth with diluent
Undertone sets the direction. Depth is a separate decision, and Brovi recommends using Brovi Diluent with the Essential range. You can adjust intensity without switching shades:
- (100%): full depth, for dark brows or dense powder work
- 2:1 pigment to diluent (around 75%): slightly softer, and a good everyday strength
- 1:1 (around 50%): a noticeably lighter, more diffused result
- 1:2 (around 25%): a very soft, sheer tone for fair clients and blondes
A few rules that apply to every client
- Go a shade softer than you think. Pigment looks more intense straight after the procedure than when it’s healed, and it’s easier to build at the touch-up than to correct.
- Swatch on the skin, not the palette. Hold the pigment against the brow area in natural light before you commit.
- Factor in old work. Previous PMU can change how your new shade heals, so assess it first and correct if you need to.
- Work very lightly and superficially. Dense implantation can push some shades cooler as they heal, including Ripe Wheat, Gray Harbor and Bitter Chocolate.
- Consider the skin type. Essential performs best on young, normal skin. For mature skin look at Brovi Plus
Healed colour comes down to the skin, the pigment and your technique together. Read the undertone first, and the shade choice gets much easier.