The color scanning device from your local hardware store’s paint counter is getting a pocket-sized cousin. The Nix by Matthew Sheridan can grab any color you see, claiming to be “like the Photoshop eyedropper in real life!”

It sends the scanned color to an app that stores the data like a digital color sample. Its Kickstarter campaign claims “the Nix is perfect for interior designers, graphic designers, model makers, makeup artists, hobbyists, photographers, fine artists, crafters, hackers, makers, museum curators, painters, land lords, and even… engineers…”- a wide variety of industries for such a small object.

The Nix’s surprising origins are medical. A colleague of Sheridan’s worked with burn victims and those with severe skin disorders. The colleague manually created custom makeup colors to blend in perfectly with the patients’ natural skin tone. Sheridan and his team found this to be such a noble pursuit that they set out to make their design a reality.