Getting Started with Colour Management

5-10 minutes

Introduction

Luminate offers three ways to record colour work, from a simple notes field all the way through to structured formulas with automatic overage billing. This tutorial is the orientation: read it first, decide which mode suits your salon, then follow the rest of Section 20 to configure it.

Who this is for: Owner, Admin What you'll learn:

The three colour modes: Notes, Formulas, Full
What turns on in each mode
The key benefits and trade-offs
A decision guide for picking the right mode

Time to complete: 5-10 minutes

Prerequisites

Logged in as Owner or Admin (changing the colour mode lives under Salon Settings → Services → Colour, which both roles can edit)
Your salon has at least one colour service (or you can add one — see Tutorial 7.1)

The Three Modes

You pick the mode from the Colour Formula Mode card under Salon Settings → Services → Colour:

The Colour Formula Mode selector under Salon Settings, showing the three options — Notes only, Structured formulas, and Full — each with a short description

Notes mode (default) — the Notes only option

Freeform colour notes on customer profiles. The Colour note type is available on the customer's Notes tab, and you type your formulas in natural language:

Root: 6N/6A 40g + 20 vol 60g
Ends: 8A + violet pre-lift, process 35 min

Pros: Zero setup. Works from day one. Matches how many salons already work. Cons: No structure, no reporting, no stock deductions, no billing — you're still trusting each colourist's handwriting and memory.

Pick Notes mode if: you're new to Luminate, colour work is a small part of your services, or you want a light-touch rollout before committing to structured formulas.

Formulas mode — the Structured formulas option

Structured formulas: bowls, product rows, gram targets and actuals. Formulas are tied to customers (and optionally to appointments) so the next colourist can reproduce the recipe exactly.

Customer profile gains a Colour tab, with a Formulas sub-tab alongside Skin Tests
Appointment detail page and calendar sidebar show any formulas for the booking
The Products page gains a Colour tab — your colour catalogue, and the only place you can add a gram-tracked colour product (Tutorial 20.4). Catalogue fields only in this mode: no Stock (g) column and no stock take
Services gain a Colour Service card with a This is a colour service tick box
The Colour Bar tablet flow becomes available for weighing and mixing
No automatic overage billing

Pros: Predictable, searchable, gram-accurate. Great foundation before flipping Full mode on. Cons: Stock on hand and overage billing stay manual.

Pick Formulas mode if: you want consistency across colourists and a proper colour history per customer, but you're not yet ready to wire up overage billing.

Full mode — the Full (formulas + stock + billing) option

Everything in Formulas mode, plus:

Gram-level stock tracking. Every finalised formula decrements stock from your colour catalogue. The Colour tab on the Products page gains an editable Stock (g) column and becomes your stock-take surface. An append-only stock movement log records every change.
Automatic overage billing. When a formula uses more grams than the service's Colour grams included in service price threshold, an emerald Extra colour used line is staged automatically on the appointment's transaction, priced by your salon's Colour Charge Rules.
Colour Charge Rules appear as a section inside the Colour Formula Mode card, directly below the three mode options, for pricing overage.

Pros: Full visibility on colour cost, protects your margins, reduces under-charging. Cons: Needs a stock take to bootstrap, needs services to have Colour grams included in service price set, and needs at least one charge rule defined.

Pick Full mode if: colour is material to your revenue and you want the system to bill overage without stylists thinking about it.

Feature matrix

Capability	Notes	Formulas	Full
Freeform Colour note type	Yes	Yes (but redundant)	Yes (but redundant)
Structured formulas (bowls, grams)	No	Yes	Yes
Formulas sub-tab on the customer's Colour tab	No	Yes	Yes
Colour tab on the Products page (the colour catalogue)	No	Yes	Yes
This is a colour service tick box on services	No	Yes	Yes
Colour Bar tablet flow (weigh & mix)	No	Yes	Yes
Gram-level stock tracking and stock take	No	No	Yes
Colour Charge Rules section in salon settings	No	No	Yes
Automatic overage billing	No	No	Yes

A short decision guide

Answer these three questions to pick your starting mode:

Do your colourists already record formulas in writing today?
- If no → start with Notes
- If yes → go to question 2
Do you want to charge customers when they go over a standard included amount?
- If no → start with Formulas
- If yes → go to question 3
Do you have time to run a stock take and set up charge rules this week?
- If yes → start with Full
- If no → start with Formulas, plan to switch to Full once the stock take is done

Switching between modes is non-destructive — existing Colour notes and formulas stay in place.

What to do next

Decide on a mode using the decision guide above
Follow Tutorial 20.2 to configure the mode and (if Full) set up charge rules
Build your colour catalogue with Tutorial 20.3 (Brands) then Tutorial 20.4 (Colour Products)
For Full mode, run an opening count with Tutorial 20.5 (Colour Stock Take) so your gram balances are real before anything bills
Train your stylists using Tutorial 20.6 (the formula dialog) and — if you want to use an iPad at the mixing station — Tutorial 20.9 onwards (Colour Bar tablet flow, available in both Formulas and Full mode)

Common Pitfalls

"We switched to Full mode but nothing's billing"

Check four things: (1) your colour services have This is a colour service ticked and Colour grams included in service price set (Tutorial 7.1), (2) you've created at least one charge rule and marked one as Default (Tutorial 20.2), (3) the formula is attached to an appointment — a formula recorded straight onto a customer profile has no service to price against, (4) the formula has been finalised — drafts and plans don't trigger billing.

"We need to go back to Notes mode — will it delete our formulas?"

No. Switching modes is non-destructive. Historical formulas stay, but the formula UI will no longer be visible. If you switch back to Formulas or Full later, everything reappears.

"Some stylists are still using Colour notes"

Once the salon is in Formulas or Full mode, recommend they use structured formulas (Tutorial 20.6) for colour work. General notes (allergies, concerns, preferences) still belong on the customer's Notes tab — Colour notes are simply redundant in Formulas/Full mode.

Tips and Best Practices

Start conservative — Formulas mode first gives you structure without the billing overhead. Flip to Full when the team is confident.
Pilot Full mode on a subset of services — set Colour grams included in service price only on your highest-margin colour services initially; leave simpler ones blank so they don't produce overage lines yet.
Book a stock-take afternoon before going Full — overage calculations are only as honest as your gram balances.
Brief your front-desk team — make sure receptionists recognise the overage line in POS: an emerald row with a beaker icon, reading Extra colour used (Tutorial 2.4).

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I switch modes more than once?

Yes. Switching is non-destructive. You can start on Formulas, try Full, switch back if it's not right, then move to Full again later. Historical data is preserved each time. Stock and billing only run while you are on Full, so any time you spend on another mode leaves your gram balances where they were — count again before you rely on them.

Do I need the Colour Bar tablet to use Full mode?

No. Full mode's overage billing works from the main web app too — the formula dialog on an appointment finalises the same way. The Colour Bar is an optional tablet-first interface for the mixing station, and it's available in both Formulas and Full mode.

Who can change the colour mode?

Owners and Admins — the mode lives under salon settings, which both roles can edit. See Tutorial 1.3 for the full role matrix.

Does changing modes affect customers' booking experience?

No. Modes only affect how your team records and bills colour work internally. Customers see the same booking portal either way.

Last Updated: August 2026