So today I completed a one day training course in the use of airbrush make up... basically a system of applying a silicone ( or it can be water based) liquid make up foundation to the skin using an airbrush, traditionally used by graphic designers and artists, with paint. The pressurised airgun blows a fine mist of make up particles onto the skin , giving a finely blended,' flawless' looking finish - well I say that but it takes a bit of practice to get it flawless, and actually some of us who were 35 plus, found that it actually sits on the skin and enhances wrinkles..especially round the eyes, so its best to avoid that area and use a combination of airbrush and traditional make up techniques for the best finish in the eye area. Using a special gel-primer prepares the skin first and improves the finish.
Its popular with the bridal make up market, as its a long lasting , photographic finish that needs little or no touch ups over the course of a day. You can apply highlighting, contouring, blush and /or bronzer colours in the same way and it needs no powder to fix ( unless doing tattoo coverage )
Not being someone who does a lot of bridal work, I dont think i will be investing in one just yet, although it is great for speedy tattoo and scar coverage, and character / SFX work.. but other brands would have to be purchased for body art colour work, as Airbase ( the brand that trained us ) only do 7 base colours and are all skin tones i.e no ' colours' as in red, blue,green etc.. for body art etc...brands like Temptu and OCC do colours, and I may be looking into these kits before I commit to buying, as Im more interested in that SFX side of things. It would be handy to be able to offer it during makeovers and model portfolios, but I would want to charge people more than normal, to cover the cost of the kit and materials , and as its quite a specialised technique.. not sure people would opt for it at the mo, when they know the photographers probably do an airbrush or ' beauty light' filter in digital post production anyway...They use it a lot in HD film and TV , so if I got some work in TV or film again I would probably invest in one... but I need to know my costs are gonna be covered first.... hmmmmm what to do.. what to do?? .. The airgun by Airbase was easy to use but the ones we had to practice with were a bit temperamental and we kept having to clean them out and sort out the pressure every 5 minutes, which was a bit annoying and wouldnt look very profesh if you were with a client - maybe its a case of well maintained kit and more practice, but im dubious about the Airbase kits now and would like to test different kinds ( such as Iwata ) before I commit to one. Its a lot of money to shell out, so you need to know the kit is trustworthy and hard wearing, with a long life span and not to difficult to maintain. Cleaning it out was a bit of a palarva -LOADS OF TINY BITS to take apart, clean and reassemble! it was like taking a rifle apart in miniature! remembering which bits went where and trying not to lose anything! But all in all a good training sesh - mind you health and safety left a lot to be desired - JEEZ!! no fault of the Airbase rep.. mainly the fault of the venue manager - it was at Sally's Salon services ( a wholesalers ) and they have training rooms, but they had put us in a totally un ventilated room with no windows - this is pressurised silicone particles spraying into the air... and into our lungs!!! HELLO!!! it DEFINITELY needs to be in a ventilated room! I left after a 6 hour day, feeling like my lungs had turned into Silicone Valley.. I think, proceed with caution with high usage of silicone based make up - OCC do a water based one which is supposed to be great - I may look into this brand as it would be much safer for client and artist!
Theres many pros and many cons but its the way things are going so I think Ill be getting one at some point.. just not sure whether it will be Airbase or not yet !
Now I m gonna go and scrub it all off my face and go to bed!
