New Mexico Esthetician Practice Test

State law is its own exam segment in New Mexico; all 60 answers rest on the Act and 16.34 NMAC.

How are towels, sheets and robes handled after each use in a New Mexico salon?

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Unofficial practice questions, not affiliated with the New Mexico Board of Barbers and Cosmetologists or the NIC. Bank checked October 14, 2026.

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All 60 questions

Scientific concepts: infection control and safety 19

  • A used wax stick touches the counter during a waxing service in New Mexico. What must be done? 16.34.7.9(B)(19) NMAC
  • After a makeup service in New Mexico, what happens to the makeup brushes and spatulas, disposable or not? 16.34.7.9(B)(10) NMAC
  • Before disinfection, New Mexico's rule has multi-use tools washed with one of two things. Which pair is it? 16.34.7.9(B)(2) NMAC
  • Before preparing towels for the towel warmer, what must a New Mexico practitioner do? 16.34.7.9(A)(34) NMAC
  • Besides a dressing, what is handed to the injured party in the first steps of 16.34.7.9 NMAC after blood is drawn? 16.34.7.9(C)(1) NMAC
  • By New Mexico's definition, a tool or supply is porous, and so single use, when it is made of anything other than which materials? 16.34.7.7(H) NMAC
  • Cups and jars that held product for one facial are wanted for the next client. What must be done first in New Mexico? 16.34.7.9(B)(7) NMAC
  • Debris is found in a wax pot, or the wax has been contaminated by double dipping. What does New Mexico's rule require? 16.34.7.9(B)(19) NMAC
  • How are towels, sheets and robes handled after each use in a New Mexico salon? 16.34.7.9(A)(34) NMAC
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Scientific concepts: infection control and safety, continued

  • How must creams, waxes and powders be kept in a New Mexico establishment? 16.34.7.9(B)(15) NMAC
  • How must wax pots be kept in a New Mexico establishment? 16.34.7.9(B)(19) NMAC
  • Porous articles are soiled with blood in a New Mexico salon. Where do they go? 16.34.7.9(C)(1) NMAC
  • Used tweezers and other multi-use implements wait to be cleaned in a New Mexico treatment room. How is their enclosed container marked? 16.34.7.9(A)(33) NMAC
  • What does 16.34.7.9 NMAC bar a New Mexico licensee from doing while under the influence of alcohol or drugs? 16.34.7.9(D)(4) NMAC
  • When does New Mexico's rule call for protective devices to be used with a product? 16.34.7.9(B)(24) NMAC
  • When may an applicator go into wax more than once under New Mexico's rule? 16.34.7.9(B)(19) NMAC
  • Which of these does 16.34.7.9 NMAC prohibit in New Mexico establishments, along with UV light boxes? 16.34.7.9(D)(4) NMAC
  • Whose responsibility is it to see that infection control requirements are followed in a New Mexico salon? 16.34.7.9(A)(17) NMAC
  • Why must a New Mexico establishment keep adequate ventilation, in the words of the infection control and safety standards? 16.34.7.9(A)(1) NMAC

Skin care and services: what the license covers 19

  • A New Mexico esthetician needs moisturizer from a jar during a facial. How does the rule have it taken out? 16.34.7.9(B)(16) NMAC
  • A New Mexico esthetician performs a service that 16.34.5.12 NMAC does not list. What may follow? 16.34.5.12(B) NMAC
  • A person in New Mexico offers nothing but eyebrow threading for pay. What does Section 61-17A-5 say about a board license? NMSA 1978, Section 61-17A-5
  • An esthetician at a New Mexico dermatology office is choosing a title for her business card. Which one does 16.34.5.12 NMAC say is not allowable? 16.34.5.12(C) NMAC
  • By what means may a New Mexico esthetician apply massage and manipulation techniques? 16.34.5.12(A) NMAC
  • The first prohibition in New Mexico's safety standards keeps certain products out of every service under the Act. Which products? 16.34.7.9(D)(1) NMAC
  • For what does the first item of New Mexico's esthetician license permit cosmetic preparations to be used on the skin? 16.34.5.12(A) NMAC
  • For what purpose, by the Act's definition, does an esthetician use cosmetic preparations and massage, clean, stimulate or manipulate the skin? NMSA 1978, Section 61-17A-2
  • How are "eyelash extensions" applied, by the definition in New Mexico's rules? 16.34.1.7(Y) NMAC
  • How are esthetic machines and steamers treated after each use in New Mexico? 16.34.7.9(B)(11) NMAC
  • How does the Barbers and Cosmetologists Act describe eyebrow threading? NMSA 1978, Section 61-17A-2
  • One New Mexico license covers both nail services and esthetics. Which is it, and what size of course stands behind it? 16.34.4.10 NMAC
  • To what part of the body may a New Mexico esthetician apply cosmetic makeup preparations, powders, oils, clays or lotions? 16.34.5.12(A) NMAC
  • What may a New Mexico esthetician use in applying facial treatments, by the words of the license rule? 16.34.5.12(A) NMAC
  • Which eyelash and eyebrow work is inside a New Mexico esthetician license? 16.34.5.12(A) NMAC
  • Which facial treatments does New Mexico's rule name inside an esthetician license? 16.34.5.12(A) NMAC
  • Which hair removal service is outside a New Mexico esthetician license? 16.34.5.12(A) NMAC
  • Which layer of the skin may a product or preparation used in a New Mexico service not come into contact with or penetrate? 16.34.7.9(D)(4) NMAC
  • Which waxing product is on the list of prohibitions in 16.34.7.9 NMAC? 16.34.7.9(D)(4) NMAC

New Mexico law: the license, the examination and discipline 22

  • A client at a New Mexico spa asks the esthetician to show identification. What does 16.34.2.10 NMAC require of the licensee? 16.34.2.10(D) NMAC
  • A foreign-trained esthetics applicant fails part of New Mexico's examination. What comes before re-examination under 16.34.3.13 NMAC? 16.34.3.13(F) NMAC
  • A New Mexico esthetician leaves one spa for another. How soon must the department have the name and address of the new place of business? 16.34.1.10(B) NMAC
  • A New Mexico esthetician lets the renewal date pass. What does Section 61-17A-20 say of the license during the following year? NMSA 1978, Section 61-17A-20
  • A New Mexico esthetician license is issued today. What is the longest it can run before renewal under Section 61-17A-20? NMSA 1978, Section 61-17A-20
  • A New Mexico esthetics graduate works in a spa on a student permit while waiting to test. What may she not take on there at any time? 16.34.4.14(B) NMAC
  • A registered nurse cleans and treats a patient's skin while discharging her professional duties in New Mexico. How does the Act treat her? NMSA 1978, Section 61-17A-22
  • The Act writes a cosmetologist's course hours into the statute. Whose requirements does Section 61-17A-10 have an esthetician applicant show compliance with? NMSA 1978, Section 61-17A-10
  • An applicant for an esthetician license has a felony conviction that is not among the disqualifying convictions of 16.34.2.15 NMAC. What does the rule say? 16.34.2.15(B) NMAC
  • An esthetician knows that the New Mexico spa employing her violates the board's sanitary rules, and she goes on working there. How does Section 61-17A-21 treat that? NMSA 1978, Section 61-17A-21
  • An esthetics candidate reaches the minimum on two segments of the licensing examination but not on the third. What follows under 16.34.3.9 NMAC? 16.34.3.9(C) NMAC
  • An esthetics school agrees to send in a graduate's examination application and fee, and sends them late. What does 16.34.3.8 NMAC say? 16.34.3.8(A) NMAC
  • An owner leaves a licensed esthetician in charge of a New Mexico salon while haircuts are being given. What does 16.34.7.11 NMAC require of a supervising licensee? 16.34.7.11(B) NMAC
  • As a right and privilege of licensure, which initials may immediately follow a licensed New Mexico esthetician's name? NMSA 1978, Section 61-17A-10
  • Before her first shift at a New Mexico day spa, what must a newly licensed esthetician have actually seen? 16.34.7.12(B) NMAC
  • Besides the course, the fees and the examination, 16.34.5.8 NMAC asks an esthetician applicant for proof of a minimum age. What is it? 16.34.5.8(A) NMAC
  • By whom are the board's members appointed under Section 61-17A-6? NMSA 1978, Section 61-17A-6
  • The heading of New Mexico's esthetician license rule states the size of the course behind the license. What is it? 16.34.5.12 NMAC
  • Two segments of the licensing examination for estheticians are national. What is the third, under 16.34.3.9 NMAC? 16.34.3.9(B) NMAC
  • What do New Mexico's rules mean by a "license in good standing"? 16.34.1.7(JJ) NMAC
  • What does Section 61-17A-23 make of obtaining a license by fraudulent misrepresentations? NMSA 1978, Section 61-17A-23
  • Whose responsibility is it to monitor when a working graduate's student permit expires, under 16.34.4.14 NMAC? 16.34.4.14(B) NMAC

How this list was compiled: Outline: the National Esthetics Theory Examination Candidate Information Bulletin of the National-Interstate Council of State Boards of Cosmetology (NIC), effective September 1, 2025, revised March 1, 2026, as posted for New Mexico candidates by the Board's testing center (https://pcshq.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/2025-NM-Esthetics.pdf, linked from https://pcshq.com/cosmetology-barbering-new-mexico/): 110 items, of which 100 are weighted, 90 minutes, Scientific Concepts 55 percent and Skin Care and Services 45 percent; and 16.34.3.9 NMAC, which scores the New Mexico licensing examination in three segments: national practical, national theory written and state law written. Facts: the Barbers and Cosmetologists Act, NMSA 1978, Sections 61-17A-1 to 61-17A-25, in Chapter 61 on the New Mexico Compilation Commission's site (https://nmonesource.com/nmos/nmsa/en/item/4397/index.do); and Title 16, Chapter 34 of the New Mexico Administrative Code, Parts 1 to 5 and 7, on the State Records Center and Archives' site (https://www.srca.nm.gov/parts/title16/16.034.0007.html and the other part files). Each question names its section and links to the document it is in. Read 2026-10-14. Licence: Own work. Every question, wrong choice and explanation was written for this site from the public texts named. Nothing comes from a real examination, the sample questions in the bulletin, the Board's jurisprudence exam, a textbook or a prep course.

How it works

This unofficial New Mexico esthetician practice test asks what the State's Act and rules say about the license and infection control. Not affiliated with the New Mexico Board of Barbers and Cosmetologists, the National-Interstate Council of State Boards of Cosmetology (NIC) or the testing center.

Read the full guide

How the 60 questions are split

Nineteen questions cover infection control and safety, 19 what the license permits and leaves out, and 22 the law on licensing, the examination, renewal and discipline. Each comes from the Barbers and Cosmetologists Act or 16.34 NMAC.

  • Roll on wax is prohibited, and a pot contaminated by double dipping is emptied and disinfected (16.34.7.9 NMAC).
  • An esthetician removes hair by any means except electrolysis, other invasive techniques and shaving (16.34.5.12 NMAC).
  • A license not renewed is void, and may be restored during the following year (NMSA 1978, Section 61-17A-20).

Questions and answers

What exams does New Mexico require for an esthetician license?

The Board's testing center lists a 600-hour course and passing the NIC theory and practical examinations and the State Law examination. NIC's bulletin gives the theory examination 110 items, 100 of them scored, in 90 minutes.

What score passes the New Mexico esthetician exam?

The texts differ. 16.34.3.9 NMAC sets a minimum scaled score of seventy five on each segment; the testing center's page gives 70 for theory and practical, effective January 13, 2026. Ask the Board which applies to you.

Does this practice test cover New Mexico's state law exam?

It is written toward it: 22 questions on the license, the examination, renewal and discipline, and 38 on scope and infection control. The Board prints no topic list for the State Law examination, so no bank can be matched to one.

Are these the real New Mexico esthetician exam questions?

No. Every question is our own, written from the Barbers and Cosmetologists Act and Title 16, Chapter 34 of the New Mexico Administrative Code, and linked to its source. None comes from an examination or the bulletin's sample questions.

Is skin science on this New Mexico esthetician practice test?

No. Anatomy, skin disorders, chemistry and facial procedures are on the NIC theory examination, and no New Mexico text states them. This site's Washington esthetician test follows the whole NIC theory outline.

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