How do you become a great personal color consultant? PRACTICE. PRACTICE. PRACTICE.
That’s right—take advantage of every opportunity to do someone’s colors.
Volunteer to do a demo, or better yet, do an actual color consultation!
Practice highlighting the benefits that would be most helpful to your potential client, including the benefit of working with you right now.
Share that you are offering a discounted rate while you’re in training. And, as part of this service, you’d like to have a model release of the client, so you can take photos during the color consultation and use them for your website, marketing, and social media.
You can also practice with your teachers. For example, you can bring models, friends, or clients and do a supervised session with your instructor.
This is a service I provide for color consultants as well. And, for today’s blog, I thought I’d share what I do to help them learn.
HERE’S AN EXAMPLE OF JUST ONE OF THE TOPICS OUR PRACTICE SESSIONS WILL COVER!
Color consultant Lori Vogel recently met at my studio on a Sunday for a practice session. We recruited my studio mate’s husband, Bob, to be our model.
Lori took the lead in the consultation, and I provided help only when she needed it.
The first step in the process was determining the color of Bob’s eyes. Lori first made sure that the light that she was using to assess Bob’s eye color was appropriate. The way this was done was to take photos of Bob—photos help determine the colors more accurately vs your eyes which will try to correct the colors.
WHO SHOULD TAKE THIS WORKSHOP?
This training workshop is for:
Students and consultants who have the ColorPROFILE system
—OR—
Consultants who have trained under the Suzanne Caygill method or any of the below:
- Sharon Chrisman’s appearance design system
- Coralyn Lundell swatch training ColorStyle swatch system
- StyleCore system
- And more!
No matter what system you use, you’ll find that many of the lessons will still apply!
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
Sign Up a for session! Only $195!
Sessions are held on the first Saturday of every month, 1–4 pm – Starting August 2025
Where: ColorINSIGHT Studio, San Mateo CA
Register today to reserve your spot by emailing Mary Lou Manlove at info@colorinsight.biz
TESTING THE LIGHT
Test 1 - Check the light
The first test was the lighting in the studio. The white wall was too blue, which was a sign that the lighting was bad. Lori needed to see Bob under more light.
Test 2 - Test the light again
After moving to another spot, the second test still revealed a tinge of gray on Bob’s face, which was a clue that the lighting was still too dull. Lori could either move to another spot or add lighting that simulated daylight at 5500K.
Test 3 - Now the light is just right!
Lori had Bob move to an area of the studio that was more brightly lit, and that switch did the trick!
Once we had accurate, good lighting, Lori identified all the colors in Bob’s eye.
She went even further, picking out his best eye color, and saving the other colors for use in Bob’s fan as his shirt colors, alternate colors, a dark neutral, or as his subdued color.
Use artwork to see what colors complement your client.
Another trick is to place your client in front of art work and see what resonates. As you can see, Lori’s chosen colors for Bob’s palette includes elegant hues of blues, greens, purples, reds and peach. The artwork behind Bob also has the aqua blue tones that work with Bob’s skin tones, hair and eye colors.
Last but not least, Lori practiced presenting the palette to others and telling them what she did.
Lori showcased the palette alone.
.
Practicing Your Presentation
Lori demonstrated her color choices for Bob, paddle by paddle, explaining her method along the way.
Teaching Your Audience
Keep in mind that teaching others is an important part of the process—it helps Improve your communication skills.
Remember, you are the color consultant, but your main job is to show people how uniquely HANDSOME or BEAUTIFUL they really are!
If you’re a color consultant who would like to hone your skills and attract more clients, come join us at a practice session on Sunday afternoons!