Client Consultations
Step 2: Client Consultation
At the beginning of the appointment, I like to hold a client consultation to get to know my client and her desired beauty goals. I believe that this is an important step to ensure client satisfaction and a quick and smooth procedure. Your client most likely has been waiting for this appointment for a long time, she can’t wait to show you her inspo photos and tell you all about her desired results, so take the time to listen to her beauty goals. This seems like an obvious step but many artists skip this step and jump right into drawing and shaping. Getting to know your client and her style can save you so much time during the brow mapping step. Having an idea of what your client wants makes your job a lot easier. Failure to understand what she wants out of this appointment could lead to a longer shaping process, a longer appointment, client dissatisfaction, and shape/color change requests at the touch up appointment.
When discussing beauty, it is easy for miscommunication to happen. My definition of “natural”, “bold”, “thick” and “thin” may be different from another person’s definition. To avoid this miscommunication, I like to ask my clients to show me photos of:
- How she loves to draws in her brows (A selfie of the client)
- Her favorite sets of Ombré Powder brows done by me
When she shows me her selfie, it allows me to assess her style and what she likes. What I look for in this photo is:
- Does she simply draw in her brows where her natural hairs are?
- Does she draw them differently than her natural brow hairs? How? Does she draw her brows in longer than her natural hair? Does she draw the front in closer? Is it thicker than her natural brows?
- Does she fill them in bold or natural? Does she just use a little bit of brow powder or does she use dipbrow and conceals them very precisely?
- What color does she use to fill in her brows?
All of these questions will allow you to plan how you will shape her brows, what color you will use, and what kind of style Ombré Powder brows you will do (natural/medium/bold).
Asking her to show you photos of Ombré Powder brows you’ve done that she loves allows you to further confirm what kind of Ombré Powder brows she wants. I like to compare the selfie she showed me with the photo of my work she loves in order to help clarify and solidify her desired goals as well as manage expectations. If the two photos are completely different, for example, if her selfie has dark and bold filled-in brows while the photo of my work she loves is soft and natural, you want to acknowledge and point out the differences and discuss what she wants. You could also ask her what she likes about each photo since the two are very different in style. If the photo of your work that she shows you is a set of very straight eyebrows and her natural brow shape is very arched, you want to manage expectations. Managing expectations in this business is very important, it avoids disappointment and client dissatisfaction. In this example, you want to let her know that her existing brows are very different, and although you will try to soften her brow shape and make it left arched, you can’t guarantee that they will look that similar. You want to explain why she won’t be able to achieve those exact results and give her your best, expert recommendations. You want to manage your client’s expectations and you never want to over promise results. As mentioned in our “Ombré Powder Fundamentals” module (Chapter 3), as the artists we cannot guarantee results. There are several factors that contribute to the results of the shape, density, and color of the brows. If your client’s face shape is different from the client in the photo of your work that she has showed you, the results will not be the same.