41
===
[00:00:00]
Hi everyone, it's Angie. Welcome back to The Artist to Artist podcast. I just looked at my notes. This is episode 41, which I cannot believe the last few episodes have been a lot of career focused stuff, but today I wanted to just give you a peek inside my kit, talk through some of the products that I've been reaching for a lot so far this season.
This isn't like a hall or anything like that. These are things that I have tested and used. On set with my clients, whether it's bridal, e-comm, commercial work creative shoes. I've worked with these products for a couple of weeks now. So for every product that I talk you through, I'll let you know what I use it for, who it's good for, how it performs, and what to think about if you're a newer artist.
Looking to build your kit or possibly purchase some of these products. And then at the end of this episode, I'm gonna do another makeup artist question. I got a really good question about how to keep things interesting when you're mostly doing natural makeup looks. So I'll save that for the end of the episode.
But let's get into some of my favorite products right [00:01:00] now.
I wanted to start with one of my favorite things to include in my kit, which is a good drugstore mascara. This is the Maybelline Lash Sensational Firework mascara. I've been using this for a few weeks now in my kit and on myself personally, and I like to keep a tubing mascara in my kit, which this is for clients with hooded eyes or oily lids, or both? I am someone that has both. This one has been a really solid performer. The price is right. It doesn't transfer on lids. It's very easy to remove for your clients. You get good volume and good length, especially once the tube or the product in the tube dries out a little. I pretty much hate every single mascara.
The first couple of times I use it. I just like my mascara for myself and for my kit when they dry out a little. This particular mascara, I liked it probably more the second week that I used it versus the first week I mentioned good volume and length. I would say for myself, it's giving me a lot of length, just the right amount of volume that I like for myself, and I've been [00:02:00] essentially using it on jobs that.
Really cannot tolerate any smudging. So long days on set. E-commerce stuff, a lot of switching of clothes, a lot of movement on set. And I have been using it for personal clients, brides, bridesmaids wear. Everything transfers. And when your clients tell you they are used to using a waterproof mascara and it still transfers, you may wanna switch to a tubing.
Now, tubing mascara are not waterproof, but you need to do a lot to get them to run. you kind of have to choose your battles with your bridal clients. With this, for me personally, I don't see myself on any kind of special event.
Not wearing a tubing mascara, because every single mascara transfers on me personally. So tubing mascara for me are pretty much the only thing I wear. Now, if you're new to tubing mascara, they're, the formulation of them essentially wraps around each lash in what's called a polymer tube. That's why they're called tubing.
So they resist. Smudging even on oily eyelids and they remove very easily with just some warm water. You don't need to rub you don't need makeup remover. So there's a lot of [00:03:00] advantages to having something like this in your kit. So this one, the Maybelline Lash Sensational Firework mascara. I've just been using black, I think it comes in a black brown as well.
Really enjoying this one.
This next product I definitely was influenced. It's something I had seen on Instagram. It's the Dessa Myx Yummy Skin water powder serum. This is a primer I've actually been using a ton of, and I'm not even really a primer person. You guys know that about me. But this particular primer works very well for acne prone skin combo or oily skin clients.
People that have visible texture or really large pores or any kind of texture on the skin may be from some sort of isolated breakout. They had maybe, as I mentioned, acne prone skin, and they do have large pores with acne. The application of this primer is very smooth. I like to apply it with my fingers to my client's face, and when a product goes on this smoothly, especially with a primer, that usually means the makeup over top is probably gonna lay better as well.[00:04:00]
And this particular primer works well under a range of products. I don't find it's been pilling at all with anything that I use. I've tried it with face at, which is silicone based. I've tried it with my makeup forever. More cream based. No issues with it. This is one of those. I think very beginner friendly products, and I think this is a good investment to have in your kit.
It's not a crazy amount of money. It's not something that I would recommend decoding at all. There is kind of this, um, when you get it, you'll see it's a smaller size, so it does fit in your kit really easily. You don't shake it even though. It's very tempting to shake it. There's a sticker on the product that says, do not shake, and you just kind of flip it upside down and push through the bottom, and that's how the product comes out.
That being said, not only does it work really well for some of those tougher, problematic skin types. It also is friendly size for the kit. You don't have to spend extra money on decoding. And I have just been finding it has made a huge difference with oil production throughout the day. It makes things go on very [00:05:00] smoothly over otherwise very textured areas on the face, and it's just something I really like.
And there is this kind of cooling texture that when you apply it, your clients will probably feel that. So it's just like a nice sensory thing as well for your clients. This is something I've been using a ton of, again, I'm not a primer person and with this it's, it does really just feel like a serum and something that is easy to apply and makes things that go over it.
Very easy to apply as well, which is half the battle when you are dealing with textured skin or acne prone skin or oily skin clients where nothing sticks. This product is definitely a huge help with that.
Next is a blush that I picked up. I picked up two shades during the Sephora sale. It's the Nessa Myx yummy skin, blurring Bomb. So the, uh, I think it's called flushed. It's just the blurring bal for cheek color. It's for cheeks and lips. The two shades I've added to my kit are it Girl, which is a bright pink.
Perfection for deeper skin tones and for more fair skin, but for deep skin. I love this color and rose and brunch, which is a [00:06:00] rose tone, and I would say this is great for fair to kind of medium to deep skin. All SSA's products work on a variety of skin tones, so you don't have to worry about that. The rose and brunch, though, is the one I've been reaching for more because it does make a beautiful lip color and the cheek color, it goes on the skin and creates this really nice natural flesh.
I picked up these products because I have been very devoted to the rare beauty liquid blush, and I love that. I love a lot of the shades. I love the mini size. I have been finding. It's requiring a little more work for me to apply it to get it on the skin really evenly.
I find it tends to clinging to texture, especially dry patches and especially people that have more acne prone skin. The pigment is amazing, but sometimes it can be. A little bit too much for what I need, especially when time is tight and I find for me, with the rare beauty, not that I wanna go off on a tangent here, but I've actually been applying the rare beauty on the palm of my hand and then priming my synthetic brush [00:07:00] with it on my hand.
That's the only way I can get it evenly through the bristles before I apply. To the face and it's just feeling like a little more work than I like. These Nessa blushes, however, they blend very easily. They're buildable. They don't really grab at the skin, especially if you're applying it over. Skin with large pores, skin with breakout.
They work amazingly well on oily and combo skin, thanks to that kind of balmy powder texture. And it's hard to find a cream blush that does work on those skin types, and I love the effect of a cream blush. But when you have an oilier skin, some of the creams just make the skin look oilier. This one does not.
And I think this is a really great product for new artists because the shade selection is really smart. The finish is very versatile and they're easy to work with across a lot of different skin types, and of course the pigmentation is there, so it's kind of a no brainer. I'm keeping these products in their original container. They're kind of in a round container, fairly sleek. I think you could de pot these. I haven't gotten to that point yet. I'm [00:08:00] kind of very much over depoing, but this blush is another product from Nessa that I think is much needed in the space, and I think it's that perfect product that has pigment easily.
Blendable works across different skin types. You get the advantage of having a cream blush, which gives you a very skin like finish, but you don't have to worry about it making the skin oilier or going on weird, especially with those combo skins. Or acne prone skins or oily skins altogether. So two thumbs up for this blush.
And again, the shades I got were it Girl, which is a bright pink and Rosen brunch, which is a rose tone, which is something I've been using a ton of recently.
I have another Nessa product that I like. I used to use a ton of Nessa and I'm getting back to it now just because price is right. Uh, packaging is right. And these I've had in my kit before. It's the dewy cheek and lip palettes. I use the two of them. So I have the do it flirty and the Do it undercover palettes, I think they're called, and I have to be honest, they're for lip and cheek.
I hate them on the cheek. They're just super glossy, tacky. I find that they can destroy a good makeup in two [00:09:00] seconds, and they're not really there for longevity. They're more for probably shorter shoots, creative editorials, but not for. Things like longer shoot day, so I don't use them on the cheek at all, but for lips, they are fantastic, especially if you're somebody that struggles to find lip shades that work on deeper complexions.
The undercover one is a no brainer for deeper dark skin. The tones are really bold, they're rich, they're very versatile. I tend to always. Um, mix them down. I was gonna say dilute them, but I mix them down with something like a lineage lip balm, because I find they are so pigmented and I like a very natural lip.
But they've just been an easy kind of go-to, in my kit right now, and they're just colors that are usable. You can mix them easily. You can again shear them down if you want. They last a while. They do give that nice fresh finish. I'm kind of. Getting away from, or I haven't used a lot of matte lipsticks in a long, long time.
I'm almost done with them all together 'cause I don't get requests for them all that [00:10:00] often. So something of this texture with this pigment, there's tons of product in each of these palettes, so you have 'em for a long time. They can be de potted if you like, and the shades are great. So that's the Nessa, myx, Dewey cheek and lip palettes.
Back in my kit. I have the Do it flirty and do it undercover. So happy to welcome those back into the mix. Now next up, this was another product I picked up at the Sephora Sale. It's the makeup by Mario Soft Blur Setting powder. This was another one where I saw it definitely influenced. I have been a Laura Mercier fan forever, especially for deeper skin tones.
I don't think I'll be replacing the loose powder for deeper, darker skin, but I found the translucent shade. From Laura Mercier doesn't always work on fair skin. It can sometimes leave a little bit of a cast. It's dark, it's a yellow cast that it leaves. So I picked up two shades from Makeup by Mario, the neutral peach and the neutral light, and they have been really impressive.
They definitely [00:11:00] blur the skin. They add, I would say, a touch of coverage. So I think not that loose powders are there to add coverage, but I really think. It's the blurring effect that these powders have that give the illusion of adding more coverage. And maybe they are, but that is kind of nice, especially in that under eye area or along the T-zone.
They control shine very well, which is impressive, and I think when you apply them correctly, I found way less increasing under the eyes than I do with my Laura Mercier and. The other great thing about these products is that they de pott really easily.
I put my loose powders in a 15 milliliter dropper bottle and the makeup by Mario, the two shades of the loose powders that I picked up, the sifter cap comes off very easily. So you can just kind of dump them into a smaller container,
which is one of those things that is becoming more important to me as I am kind of streamlining my kit, refreshing my kit a little bit. I don't wanna spend hours decoding and repackaging, and I don't wanna [00:12:00] waste product during that process. So the makeup I, Mario has been great for that. There's a bunch of shades.
I can't remember how many offhand. I would definitely be interested in trying the deeper shades. If you're curious for loose powders, I have the RCMA No Color, the Two Shades of the Makeup by Mario Soft Blur Setting powder that I mentioned. So Neutral Peach Neutral Light. I've got the Deep from Laura Mercier and I have, I think it's called Honey from Laura Mercier.
So those are all the loose powders I carry in my kit right now, if you're curious. But I would say this is definitely new artist friendly. If you're looking for. A soft, um, fairly reliable setting powder that you won't have to do much with. So two thumbs up for this product as well.
Last product. This is one that I was gifted, but I am so confident in talking about this product with you. It's the YSL Make me blush. 24 hour buildable powder blush, my goodness, what a beautiful product this is. Now, I do wanna say I haven't used this a lot on deeper skin 'cause I have other powders that I [00:13:00] prefer for deeper skin that I'm just more comfortable with at the moment.
That doesn't mean they're not gonna work for deeper skin. I just can't tell you if they work or not. I feel pretty confident in the shade that I'm gonna talk about. There's only one shade that I absolutely love. It's shade 37.
It is kind of a warm, peachy nude, which I didn't think I was gonna use a ton of. But this one is just a beautiful color. It's very pigmented, but it blends out so softly, and if you need to blend it down when you go in and there's too much pigment, you can do that very easily.
It's great for a quick kind of natural glow on the cheek that still looks like it's applied effortlessly. Some of these more pigmented blush shades, they just, you can't get that nice soft finish and they're very hard to blend in with the rest of the makeup, but not this formulation. The texture is a little more unique, I would say, to like a traditional, think of a Mac powder blush, and it may take a couple applications to figure out.
I don't know if it's the first product I'd reach for as a beginner, but if you're [00:14:00] looking for something that looks luxury in your kit, but is still. Relatively easy to use. This is, this would be a solid upgrade if you were looking to upgrade some of your blush shades. I have used it in a couple tutorials in the membership.
There was one tutorial where I over applied, and I have done this a lot with this blush, especially when I was first starting to use it. And my trick when I get to over-applying blush is to just take a loose powder. Brush, take some of the loose powder that you've been using on your client already and blend it down.
You can also blend it down with a powder foundation a little bit on a brush, and then blend it out. With this YSL blush though, the make me blush, I feel like if you just take a brush that has nothing on it, you can kind of blend things out very quickly. It's just a very unique formulation for me. I am not very adventurous when it comes to blush shades. My favorite blush shades, my favorite blush brands to use are Mac and Anastasia. To be quite honest, they're the most reliable. I can get them [00:15:00] anywhere. The shades are great and I love the Julius Place, so I'm pretty set for blush, but this just showed up.
I got a couple shades in a PR kit and the Shade 37. That is just the blush for me. I just really love using it. I reach for it very often. I've used it a couple times a week since I got it, for sure. And the packaging is so pretty on this. The color of the blush is on the outside of the packaging, so you can see what it is very quickly, which is nice when you're reaching for things in your kit.
And as soon as you put that YSL on your station, of course clients are gonna notice. So I think. If you are trying to upgrade and you're getting into using more luxury products in your kit, this blush works really well, applies very easily, this blush is a nice upgrade.
I think that's definitely where I'll leave it. So an a nice luxury upgrade. We'll call this. Anytime I share anything about products that I like, products that I've been gifted, I always get a bunch of follow up questions, so I figured I would end this episode on some of those questions and then we'll get to [00:16:00] that artist question at the end. A few things I always get asked, should I buy all of this or do I need these products for my kit?
And the answer from me will always be no. When you're hearing about product recommendations from anyone, even if it's me first, you need to ask yourself, does this artist do the kind of work that I wanna be doing? Is this product in my budget? Like actually in your budget, is this something you can restock easily?
You don't wanna be spending a million dollars on shipping. You also don't want to be spending a million dollars decoding and buying excessive pallets and all of this other stuff. And you also have to think about, do you have something in your kit that's a similar color? Can you maybe just try a couple different application techniques to stretch that product more or improve how it's working for you?
You do not need to buy every single thing. There are amazing products now at every price point, and you can always build certain elements of your kit slowly. The other thing you have to remember, some things that I absolutely love you might not. A lot of our [00:17:00] shopping is influence. I think most of our shopping is influence these days, but think through what's really worth it for you. If something costs more but saves you time, photographs better, or helps your confidence, that might be worth it.
I also get asked if, when I talk about adding a product to my kit, am I using the full shade range of these products? No, definitely not. I only buy shades I know I'll use and when I'm trying new products, I buy a shade that will work for the majority of the clients that I'm working with at the time. In this episode, I've listed all the exact shades that I've added, , and I'll make sure to put those in the show notes for you as well.
Next question I get is, how do I even test these products if I don't have clients yet? And you test them on yourself. You test them on your friends, you test them on anyone that says yes to sit in your chair, even if it's for 10 minutes. You always start with your immediate network and you offer. Free makeup applications for content.
That's how you get your hands on more skin tones and textures and how you build [00:18:00] skill and confidence at the same time. So start with your immediate network. Tell a friend to tell a friend to tell a friend. You get the idea. That's how you're gonna get more people in your chair so you can test different products.
Work on your application techniques, your skills, your social media. That's how this all works. Another question that I receive, and this is a really good question, how do I know if a product is actually good if I don't really get to see the final photos? And I think the reality is you, you can't really rely on pro photos for your work.
Sometimes we work in strange environments, right? Sometimes we'll do a creative and we'll see how things look on the monitor, but then you never see the final photos. Or sometimes you're working on a big job and there is no monitor and you're never gonna see the final photos. They'll just end up going up on a website somewhere and no one sends them to you.
This is like all normal stuff. You can't just rely on the end product of jobs that you're doing for photos of your work for content. , and sometimes photographers are bad and lighting is bad, and that's not a fair judgment of a product or your [00:19:00] application skill or the level of your skill, I would say.
When you're working with products, whether they're new, whether you're trying to get them to work for you, make sure your lighting is good. You need lighting in your kit, really good lighting so you can see what you're doing. Take your own photos and videos and watch how the product behaves in different lighting, different angles.
Review those photos and videos once you finish the job or the gig or whatever it is, or working, you know, doing a wedding makeup application. Get content of your work not only to share on social, but just to review what you're doing and how the products you're using are looking on camera. And then if something is.
Consistently working, keep it. If it's a fight every single time to get a product to work for you, it's really not worth it. And there is a cost to learning, right? You should be paying for training and education, and part of paying for training and education is paying for products to see if you like them or not.
That's an expense that's totally normal in our job, within reason, of course. Just remember that. It's kind of up to you sometimes to assess how you're doing, how a product's [00:20:00] working for you, review photos and videos of your own work, and then you'll kind of get a better understanding of what application techniques are working, what's not, what products are good for you, which ones aren't.
I am gonna finish up this episode with an artist question, and the question for this week was, how do you get variety when you're only doing natural makeup looks? And I have been asked this a few times over the years, and the thing that I think is important to remember is that not every job is going to be exciting.
This is still a job. Like anything else, a lot of the jobs that we do and the work that we do, and the makeup looks that we do, they are repetitive. That's just the reality of. Working as a makeup artist.
A lot of artists get into this industry thinking that they're gonna be creating something new and exciting every single time they work. And sometimes that might be true, but for a majority of us, it's not. It's definitely not true for me. Even when I'm doing my TFPs or creatives, I still choose to do natural makeup looks because I want the looks to benefit my book.
I wanna show work that attracts the kind of clients that I want. I [00:21:00] focus on skin tone, diversity, really subtle things in the makeup application that just get the models looking their best. But what I think is important is to not confuse natural with easy. Every single job is different. Every face is different.
You're gonna be navigating time constraints, the skin in front of you, the mood of the shoot, the mood of the person in your chair, your client's preferences, the lighting, and then what you can realistically do in the time that you've been given or the situation that you're in. And that's really the variety.
And what keeps things interesting for me is that I'm always tweaking things. I try different techniques. I test how products work together, how they look under different lighting. I change the order that I apply things. I'm always trying to keep my approach fresh , your makeup applications always have to be responsive to the situation that you're in, even if the final look still reads as natural.
There's a lot of different things that happen every time you work, and it is a skill to get someone to look natural on camera and, and really look [00:22:00] their best. And to be honest, I still find it challenging. Every job asks something different of me, and even if the idea for the makeup is the same and I see the same inspiration photos.
There's so many variables every time I work. If you're doing that clean, natural makeup like I am every day and wondering if it's enough for you,
trust me, it is. There is so much variety in the nuance of very natural makeup looks, and it is something that will test your skills.
Okay, that's everything for this episode. If you are enjoying this product talk. If you wanna know more about the strategies that I use for application, or you just wanna see some real behind the scenes of how I actually work, check out the Artist to Artist membership.
I will link it for you. In the show notes, I share tutorials, product breakdowns, actual job scenarios where I explain how I made certain decisions and why this kind of content doesn't readily exist on social, and it's really designed to help newer artists build confidence. By learning what really matters.
You can join [00:23:00] anytime through the link in the show notes. Thank you so much for listening. I will talk to you next week. Bye everyone.
