We are pretty sure that every permanent makeup artist who offers lip treatments has been handed a lipstick or lip liner by their client at least once and asked to recreate that exact colour on their lips. Killer Beauty Sponsored Artist Gabrielle Rock experienced this request countless times and found that a lot of clients were asking for the same shades, from popular makeup brands.

Instead of using guesswork and custom mixing pigments for every treatment (which can be very time-consuming and wasteful), Gabrielle tucked herself away in her clinic and tried and tested multiple pigments and measurements until she came up with the winning formula for every popular colour her clients were requesting!

Gabrielle was kind enough to share these formulas on her social media, with an overwhelming response from grateful technicians who had been unsuccessful in recreating these shades for their clients. So, we thought, why not collaborate with Gabrielle and put all these winning formulas together for you in a blog post? We also wanted to do a full interview with Gabrielle to ask where her inspiration for this project came from, as well as find out her top tips and tricks for lip artists!


Please note that these formulas have been shared for personal use only and not for any training – please be respectful of Gabrielle’s wishes.  



Interview with Gabrielle Rock


We caught up with Gabrielle to chat to her about her top lip pigments, her client’s favourite shades and how she came to uncover these secret formulas! Check out our exclusive interview below.



What inspired you to find these formulas, to replicate these lip shades?


Finding the perfect match for your client’s lip pencil can be an extremely daunting process, especially for those who are new to the industry. I also had so many artists asking me what colours I used to recreate certain lip pencils, so I decided to sit down and recreate these shades.

A few weeks prior I set up an Instagram story asking my followers what their go-to or favourite lip liner/lipstick. Once all my votes were in, I tallied up the most popular answers and went out and bought them. I then spent around 7 hours playing around with all my different pigments with different ratios and dilution agents to create the perfect match to these colours.

Originally, I created these formulas to be exclusively available to my masterclass students. However, I understand how time consuming it can be to match a lip liner colour (and not to mention how much pigment is wasted) and what can I say… I’m a sucker for helping people. Once I had my formulas, I decided to share it all for free by posting it onto my Instagram. And then by tagging Killer Beauty I knew I could reach even more artists! 


What are the most popular lip colours clients ask for?


By far, the most popular shades with my clients and followers are Mac - Spice, Whirl, Soar and Boldly Bare and Charlotte Tilbury - Pillow Talk and Pink Venus.


What formulations & brands of lip pigments do you prefer working with?


I’m the type of artist who is quite versatile with my treatments… which means I don’t really have a specific preference. Being versatile suits me perfectly as I find that each set of lips are very different from the next.

On some lips I may not be able to use the same needle cartridges as I did with the previous client, on others I need to add a little bit of Goldeneye PUSH or change the speed of the machine to implant the pigment better.

Sometimes I change the aftercare slightly for specific individuals so that they can obtain the best possible results. So, when it comes to pigments I don’t have a preference of brand or formulation as it completely depends on the individual client. 

However, Perma Blend pigments and their collaborations would probably be my favourite if I had to choose. I know that these pigments are a combination of organic and inorganic components… so once again, all about that versatility!



How do you feel about mixing different brands, e.g. mixing organic and inorganic pigments?


I mix different brands every day! My go to brands are: Perma Blend, World Famous Ink, Evenflo & Ever After pigments. I know that most of these pigments are either from the Perma Blend family or similar in formulation - meaning they all have a similar cocktail of ingredients.

Personally, I see no harm in mixing brands. I know so many artists prefer to stick with one formulation or one brand… and that’s absolutely fine. It’s a very safe practice to avoid mixing colours you are unfamiliar with, especially if you are a beginner. 

But I have found that, after around 2-3 years, the PMU on the lips will have faded to a different shade to the original colour used anyway. They may be a little duller, sometimes even more vibrant... they may be cooler or warmer… it completely depends on the strongest undertone that is present in the pigment, which is the tone that will last the longest and be more prominent years down the line.

Due to this, I feel that it doesn’t matter if you used only 1 pigment or if you used 3 pigments from 3 different brands because the colour after a couple of years will be different from the original anyway. Plus, your client is probably due for a colour boost at that stage regardless! I mix and match because I’m confident in these brands individually. I have used them for years and can trust that they don’t fade to anything strange or with unwanted tones.

Despite me being an artist who isn’t afraid of trying different things … I am always careful when it comes to adding the right modifier or corrector to the pigments. Ensuring they aren’t going to pull too cool or warm is overall my main focus. If I wasn’t careful of that then my lips would definitely heal to something strange regardless of the brand or brands used. 


What advice would you give to PMU artists trying to achieve their client’s favourite lip colour?


Follow my swatch sheets ?

Just kidding! 

Always try your best to imagine how the colour you have mixed will look once healed. To help me do this, I have all my pigments on display in pretty glass bottles, which are filled with distilled water and 4-5 drops of pigment. This allows me to see undertones when the pigment is not only outside of a labelled bottle, but also stripped down to its true colour.

I find that, when I get a really good colour match, I don’t overcomplicate it by trying to ‘deepen’ or ‘intensify’ the colour that I have created, to allow for fading once healed. I simply let the client know that I have a really good match, but I can’t achieve the purity of the colour and the final result until they have the touch-up appointment.

If I try to make it darker to compensate for fading, I’m only jeopardising the outcome because the undertones will change. I always feel that it’s better to apply 2 layers of pigment (1st treatment and then touch up) rather than 1 layer of a darker version.



What shades are lip client’s asking for?


As mentioned above, Gabrielle found that the most popular shades include colours from MAC cosmetics and Charlotte Tilbury, with a mix of lipstick and lip liner products being requested.

These shades include:

            •           MAC Spice

            •           MAC Whirl

            •           MAC Soar

            •           MAC Boldly Bare

            •           Charlotte Tilbury Pillow Talk

            •           Charlotte Tilbury Pink Venus



What pigment brands do I need?


These are the brands that Gabrielle has used in her formula to achieve the shades listed above. That isn’t to say that you wouldn’t be able to create very accurate replicas using different brands or shades but using these specific pigments in the specified measurements takes all the guesswork away and allows you to replicate these colours quickly & easily using Gabrielle’s formals.

            •           Perma Blend Pigments

            •           World Famous Ink

            •           Ever After Pigments

            •           Tina Davies Professional

            •           Evenflo Colours



The Formulas



Pigments required: Nutmeg, Cinnamon Stick & Tea Rose.




Pigments required: Cool Peach & Cheeky.




Pigments required: Nude, Valkyrie Fleshtone & Cinnamon Stick.




Pigments required: Cheeky & Malina.




Pigments required: Sweet Melissa, Nude & French Fancy.




Pigments required: Flora, Tender Caramel & Sweet Melissa.


There you have it! Gabrielle’s winning formulas for recreating some of the most popular lip colours in the world, using pigments you may already have in your kit or that you can easily order from Killer Beauty. We hope you have found this blog useful! Don’t forget to let us know if you’d like to see more exclusive artist interviews on our blog.