TIL those cheap plastic color swatch books can actually be pretty accurate

I always thought you had to buy the expensive brand name ones or your mixes would be off. My boss at the salon in Phoenix got a set from some online beauty supply place for like $20, and I rolled my eyes. But we've been using them for 3 months now, and I've matched every single client's request perfectly, even that tricky ash blonde. It's saved us so much money on test strands. Has anyone else found a budget tool that actually works as well as the pricey version?

4 comments

4 Comments

emmaking2mo ago

That "tricky ash blonde" comment got me. I had the same doubt about those little paint sample cards from hardware stores. My friend swore by them for her art projects, and I thought no way they get the color right. But she mixed this perfect muted sage green from one, and now I grab a stack every time I'm near the paint aisle. What's a color match you were sure would fail but actually worked?

ericw932mo ago

Oh man, that's so true about the paint cards! I totally wrote them off as just cheap advertising. My big surprise was trying to match a weird coral-orange from a faded old t-shirt. I scanned it with a phone app as a joke, fully expecting a neon mess, but the home store's machine actually nailed it. I was shook. Now I trust that little scanner way more than my own eyes.

xena5822mo ago

My bathroom's weird peach tile matched perfectly with a paint card.

jordan_hill15d ago

That "tricky ash blonde" line is basically my whole life story, just swap hair for trying to match the weird beige in my living room that no paint chip could ever figure out.