Airbrush vs. Brush and Sponge?

Hi everyone!

So many of you have been emailing me-- wondering what is the big difference between using brushes and actually airbrushing the makeup on. I have been using brushes for my entire life as a makeup artist. Since I am primarily doing the face with the airbrush machine-- meaning the foundation, the bronzer, top coat (like a sheer Jlo-esque glow), and blush-- I have noticed a huge difference.

For standard application I typically do a layer of silicone-- this fills in fine lines, wrinkles, and pockmarks which essentially makes whatever goes on top of it-- flawless. I can do this "Spackle" so to speak, as a prep for both standard and airbrush application-- seeing as it not only makes the foundation look that much better, but silicone also blocks your sebaceous (oil-producing glands) from producing oil.

After the silicone dries down there are two ways I can apply the foundation-- either by brushing it on (sponges suck up all the good stuff) or airbrushing. In both cases I am using MAC foundation however when you are running foundations through a compressor they have to be thin enough to be micronized and sprayed.

When you dillute the foundation, you have to break it down by its base. There are essentially two different bases a foundation can have-- silicone or water. Like I said before, silicone is a great agent for the resiliance of a foundation... so when you are dilluting a foundation with silicone, you are only giving it that much more "lifespan."

I am not saying this to downgrade the power of brushes alone-- I truly believe that the control and finish brushes give is unmatched-- which is why I don't airbrush eyes. I love to go into extreme detail with the precious lunettes'-- so why try to parallel a perfected method?

So back to the airbrush-- when the foundation is sprayed onto the face-- it is so extremely micronized that there is no need to go over it with brushes and push it around. Where is lands is where it stays. This allows for a much more flawless finish. In addition, with the now much higher percentage of silicone in the application the makeup stays on that much longer.

The main reason airbrush was introduced into the makeup world was for HD feeds. With rising technology and the now extreme level of detail plasma and LCD TVs' offer in tandem with High Def. quality and feed-- makeup artists' have a whole new level to rise to. When your 52" wide screen is a close up of someone's cheek-- us artist's need to ensure that it is flawless.

So for your wedding-- if your gonna be dancing up a storm and having lots of detailed pictures taken... why not? If my standard application is considered an E class Mercedes-- my airbrush is a fully loaded S class... get it?

My regular is fantastic... airbrush is that much more fantastic.

And finally as far as "feel" goes-- every person I have done it on said they cant believe not only how well it stays on (like we are talking 1o hours later still totally in tact), but also how it feels like absolutely nothing is there.

So that's what I have to say about that... more to come. To bed, I said!

Glammy