Colorado: Permanent Makeup & Nano Brows Licensing and Regulation

Source status: this page relies in whole or part on reasonably credible secondary sources because a usable current official source was unavailable. The material is attributed, the review date is shown, and the conclusions are qualified.

Secondary material alone is not used here to make a definitive minor-eligibility statement or to assert that any named provider has acted unlawfully.

Reviewed as of 2026-11-11. Evidence tier: secondary-only.

How can you check Nano Brows providers in Colorado?

No online lookup located: As of 2026-11-11, we did not locate a public online lookup. You may ask the provider for the credential's name and issuing agency.

A lookup result reflects only the information shown by the issuing agency. Directory inclusion does not certify a provider's credentials or legal compliance.

Who regulates it

CDPHE promulgates statewide sanitation rules for body art (6 CCR 1010-22) under C.R.S. §25-4-2101; NO state license exists for artists or establishments — enforcement and any licensing sit with local public health agencies (Denver licenses both artists and establishments)

Does it cover permanent makeup / nano brows?

Coverage: covered-as-tattoo

Rule 1-102(aa): "TATTOOING means inserting pigment under the surface of the human skin or mucosa by pricking with a needle or other means, to permanently change the color or appearance..." — plainly covers PMU/microblading/nano brows; 1-102(d) body art definition EXCLUDES "practices conducted under the supervision of a physician" (a physician-SUPERVISION exemption, broader than most states' physician-performs exemptions). No CDPHE document expressly naming 'permanent makeup' was located (explicit-naming UNRESOLVED — hence covered-as-tattoo).

Artist requirements

License required	No individual artist license at this level
Training	no state license; rule duties: demonstrate knowledge of Universal Precautions/disinfection/sterilization (2-201); hepatitis B vaccination or written declination. PUBLISH-HOLD: the no-state-artist-license absence is rule-side verified (full official rule text contains no licensing provision) but statute-side rests on CRS mirrors — hold any published absence statement until the official statute text is re-sourced
Exam	none (state); Denver licenses artists locally
Bloodborne pathogen	yes — universal-precautions knowledge + HBV vaccination/declination (6 CCR 1010-22 §2-201)
Minimum age	no state artist age rule identified; clients: minors need express parental/guardian consent (§25-4-2103, mirror-sourced) — no absolute age floor
Fee	n/a (state); local fees where local licensing exists (Denver fees UNRESOLVED — pages render empty)
Renewal	n/a (state)

Facility requirements

License required	No
Inspection regime	no state license, but establishments must meet 6 CCR 1010-22 and admit CDPHE/local inspectors during business hours (10-1001); report furnished by end of next workday (10-1003); penalties ≤$250/day (§25-4-2102); LOCAL licensing regimes where adopted (Denver: establishment license, temporary ≤14 days)
Fee	set locally where local licensing exists
Renewal	per local agency

Local variation

County-level variation: Yes

State sets minimum sanitation standards; locals may adopt standards "at least as stringent" (§25-4-2101, mirror-sourced) and run their own licensing (Denver licenses both artists and establishments).

Reciprocity

Not addressed in Part 21 or 6 CCR 1010-22 (full TOCs reviewed); Denver-licensed artists are exempt from Denver temporary-event permits.

Pending / recent changes

Active changes: None identified

None identified: SOS rule page shows one current version, no proposed filings (current through 2025-06-10); no 2025-26 body-art bills surfaced (leg.colorado.gov bill search not directly fetchable — residual uncertainty).

What this means before you book

Colorado has statewide health rules for cosmetic tattooing but no state license for artists or studios, so verification runs through your local public health agency. In Denver both the studio and the individual artist must hold city licenses; ask to see them, and note that physician-supervised PMU is exempt from the body-art rules entirely.

Statutes & sources cited

C.R.S. §§25-4-2101–2103 (Body Art Act — rulemaking authority, penalties, minors). SOURCED FROM SECONDARY COPIES, and this page says so. Colorado's codified statutes are published by LexisNexis; the free public-access portal the General Assembly provides could not be read on 2026-11-11, every entry point returning "Unable to Complete Your Request", and no Colorado free source carries the codified section. The text here therefore rests on two independent secondary copies that agree, both read in full on 2026-11-11: Justia's 2025 Colorado Revised Statutes and FindLaw, current as of 2025-01-01. Both give §25-4-2101 the heading "Powers and duties of department — rules" and the same two sentences: the Department of Public Health and Environment "shall promulgate rules governing the safe and sanitary practice of body art", the physical environment in which it is performed and the sanitary condition of the equipment used; and local boards of health and county or district public health agencies may adopt body art ordinances, resolutions or rules so long as their standards are at least as stringent as the state's. §25-4-2102 is penalties and §25-4-2103 parental consent for minors. The REGULATION behind these citations is not secondary: 6 CCR 1010-22 was read in full from the Secretary of State's official Code of Colorado Regulations
6 CCR 1010-22 (Body Art Establishments — 10 sections; current through CO Register Vol. 48 No. 11, 2025-06-10) — read in full 2026-11-11 from the Secretary of State's Code of Colorado Regulations, which is the official free publication; the earlier note that a re-fetch was blocked no longer applies. Sections 2 to 10 run from minimum requirements for body artists through to inspections