I am closing out the year with approximately 80 Private Makeup Lessons under my belt, and right before the Holidays I like to take a bit of time to reflect and highlight common questions asked during these personalized one-on-one sessions. One of the most important questions asked during each booking is “What is the most important factor when it comes to Makeup applications-tools, techniques, or products”?
All three components are ESSENTIAL for ultimate and ideal Makeup applications. If you own the right tools, but don’t know HOW to use them, tools are essentially useless. If you know the best techniques, but don’t use them with the correct products or apply them with the proper tools, the same conundrum ensues.
When prioritizing the order of importance of investment, tools are #1. Tools consist of Brushes and Sponges. There are several Brush styles out on the market, and they all serve there own unique purpose based on their design. I have designed my own Brush Line (13 brushes) for clients that want to be able to achieve any look they desire on themselves. Each brush style has a different color handle for easy identifiability (as opposed to a sea of one color/monotone brush handles) as well as familiarizing the brush styles to the client. Sponges are equally as important as brushes. I retail the “holy grail” of sponges-the Beauty Blender & Micro Mini Beauty Blender. They control coverage of the products that need to be applied and buff out any lines of demarcation.
Next in line- techniques are #2. Once an investment in tools have been made, the techniques will work hand-in-hand with application. There are SO many trade secrets I learned in Makeup School, that I love to teach to my clients. Once they learn specific movements and angles of holding brushes and sponges, they realize how crucial these detailed edit are to the Makeup application.
Products are #3. Most clients are usually surprised that products are last on the hierarchy of Makeup. This is why: I have my own line of Makeup (eyeshadows, blush, lip products, etc), but I am not one-brand loyal. There are SO many great brands on the market in all price ranges. I LOVE my line, but it does not include foundations, concealers, mascara, or gel or liquid mascara. That is because I love other brands better for those product options-some of them are drugstore brands like Maybelline’s Great Lash Mascara, or Loreal Tru Match Foundation. Clients can shop in person at my studio for my line, order through me for bigger brands (Smashbox, Makeup Forever, MAC, Bobbi Brown), bop over to Ulta for various price points, or hit up the local convenience store. Products matter, but they’re useless without great quality brushes and knowledge of proper application techniques. Products can be manipulated with the right tools and techniques.