Today we’d like to introduce you to Gretchen Kaltenbach.
Hi Gretchen, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I worked as a RN for 35 years, and though I loved being a Nurse, anyone who knows me, knows that I always wanted to be in the Beauty and Skin Care business. I sold cosmetics and did color analysis back in the late 80’s and early 90’s as a side gig but always hoped to go to Cosmetology school later in my life.
I eventually, at the age 58, after retiring from my nursing career, attended the Aveda Institute to study Esthetics, now I have fine tuned my color analysis skills by attended the Mastery Level Program with Karen Brunger at the The International Institute of Image Consultants in Toronto CA. Karen is a world leader in personal image transformation. I most recently became certified in the UK Tonal system with Colour Me Beautiful UK Style Educator Lindsey Edwards. After becoming certified in numerous methods, I have combined the best of each and created my own method of doing Color Analysis now that I call Color Match Method. I provide services myself to clients and I teach salon and beauty professionals my method in my Color Analysis BootCamp taught in person in Raleigh NC
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Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Color Analysis has been around since the 80’s, so have I, but only in the past few years has gained tremendous popularity because of it trending on Social Media. A recent challenge is that the market for Color Analysis industry is being flooded with AI Color Analysis apps. While sometimes AI apps get it right, more often it doesn’t, and you can’t replace the experience of an in person color analysis with AI analysis. The cost of a Color Analysis is comparable to a hair cut and color, yet it is a once in a lifetime service that will save you money ten fold. We spend a ton of money on our clothes, our makeup and our hair, only to be stuck in a constant cycle of feeling of wanting and needing more, or we find ourselves stuck in a trends, impulse buying and fast fashion. Having a skilled Color Analysis help you discover you Color Palette will impower you to feel confident in making better choices for yourself and your ability to curate a sustainable wardrobe. It is an investment into yourself and the way you present yourself to the world.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Color Me Beautiful Raleigh?
Nature provides a color palette for everything around us, and did so for YOU, too. Your natural coloring is in your eyes, hair and skin tone. I provide Seasonal Color analysis services by which we will discover that palette mother nature intended for you. A seasonal color analysis reveals your personal color characteristics and your personal Seasonal Color Palette.— Color Analysis is based on art theory, not fashion. When doing a color analysis I examine the hue, value, and chroma of the coloring in your skin, eyes, and hair. It’s about finding harmony and balance with your own natural coloring. These are the colors that make you look and feel your best!
What I am known for is being able to tell a person the color of hair, clothes and makeup that will look best on them. I am also known for training other salon professionals to perform a Color Analysis using my Color Match Method.
Color Me Beautiful Raleigh, combines my knowledge of art, my passion for helping others, my love of colors and my understanding and years of studying skin care and applying make up. In my experience, I have done in person Color Analysis on nearly 2000 people. Color Analysis is a great memory to do together with friends and/or family. It is a once in a lifetime service that you will use everyday of your life. It is the experience gift that truly never stops giving.
My business is in a brick and mortar professional salon, not in my home. Many analysts do it as a home based hobby type business, this is a real career for me, I have invested a lot of time and money into my advanced trainings and into my salon. I charge a professional fee of $250 per person for my service, my customers deserve to be seen in a professional setting by a well trained person. I offer Individual, small group analyses, 2-4 people, in my salon, but I do offer larger groups and events off site for Corporate Team Building and Marketing events. I also teach my class in my salon in Raleigh NC, but I offer to go to you to teach as well. I will travel to other states to teach my BootCamp for a minimum number of participants.
Do you any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
Long before there was anything like a Hobby Lobby, in the 1970’s , there was Joanie’s Arts and Crafts, my mother’s shop. A shop where women gathered to take various classes and socialize. I can vividly remember the patchwork shag carpet at Joanie’s.
I was raised with artists and crafty people all around me. my after school routine was to go to Joanie’s where I took classes for acrylic and oil painting, paper tolle, twilling, decoupage, making bread dough ornaments and all things crafty people could imagine. Arts and crafts, colors and paints were a huge part of my childhood. I also have fond memories of going with my mom to the “Beauty Shop”. In the 70’s my mother, and all her friends, went to the “Beauty Shop” once a week to get the latest hairdo’s, which then were large beehive styles and up-do’s. I remember watching intently as the different women came and went noticing the transformations that happened in the “Beauty Shop”. Back then it was in and of itself a community, the “Beauty Shop” . We saw the same women come and go getting their hair done while catching up on the local gossip I dreamed of some day owning a beauty shop never realizing that the arts and crafts, I was also immersed in, would someday be combined with that passion of owning the Beauty Shop to what has now become Color Me Beautiful Raleigh. It’s the perfect combination of my childhood memories and passions. I have created my dream job.
Pricing:
- $250 for an Individual Color Analysis
- $25 discount pp for groups of 2 or more
- Special Pricing for large groups and events
- Color Analysis BootCamp Course available
Contact Info:
- Website: www.colormebeautifulraleigh.com and www.colormatchmethod.com
- Instagram: @colormebeautiful_raleigh @colormatchmethod
- Facebook: Color Me Beautiful Raleigh
- Other: https://www.colormatchmethod.com
