Dark Ink on fake skin

This is the cheapest thinnest fake skin there is but still figure I should be able to get decent color. This is so dark and blah. Any suggestions?

Get some better fake skin , that cheap stuff will just hold you back

That drove me crazy forever - even on the good skin. It took too long to figure out, but, it's your outline.
What happens is your color goes on great and then when you start working in next to the line like you're supposed to, you pull up some of the black and mix it into your tube. Now you're muddy and gross. It also happens from wiping your black over the color.

You still have to be careful, but you can alleviate a lot of it by putting a good coat of vaseline over the spot you're working on, being sure to cover the black too, which will help keep the black from leaching up. You'll still get a little bit sometimes, so be ready to frequently give your tube a complete rinse if you see it darkening at all and be sure it's clean before dipping into your ink or it will all be dark again. I also mix up a brighter value of my color to account for any small amounts.

here's a bad one before I learned (before I learned a lot of things) on ReelSkin. Then a couple of good ones to show the difference, especially right up against the black.