Freelance 101 - The Kit.

Hiya loves, last time we covered the basics elements to starting up your freelance make-up artistry, ranging from photos to basic advertisement. This post is going to be all about your kit, so brace yourselves for a long one (probably best to put the kettle on and grab some biscuits).

Brushes:

The one thing that I think you can absolutely not cut corners with is brushes. You can start with lower budget palettes and concealers ect but with the right brushes still achieve a desirable effect. However, having high-brand make-up means nothing when you have sloppy, cheap tools that won't do that job. Do your research, read reviews like your life depends on it! You wont regret it. Personally I used a mix of mainly Zoeva (holy grail, cheap and their sets are life. The website IS in German but my laptop translates that for me. Also sold on BeautyBay) and MAC (more expensive but the quality is there and they will last you for years) with a few random brands chucked in (Real Techniques, Eco Tools and Urban Decay). I am hoping to reach out and buy some Sigma brushes too. 

A brush belt makes you look professional and is SO much easier to use, don't bother splurging on this as a cheapy one from Amazon will do. Mines cheap, sturdy and has served my well! 

Hygiene: 

This is so important and many people who are just starting out, especially as self-taught, may not know and/or understand about the importance of hygiene, I know I had to go to the depths of youtube to find out about the more technical hygiene based around products and not just simple brush cleaning. This is the best video I have found so far on how to clean the products in your kit, honestly watch it, fave it and refer back to it often! As far as brushes are concerned, you have to clean them between clients. This means that you will need a fast drying brush cleaner, Cinema Secrets has a good one and you can buy it in a massive bottle so you wont have to worry about buying again for a while but you do have to order that online. More readily available is the one I use, the MAC brush cleanser. This cleans your brushes, leaves them bacteria free and dries almost instantly (a minute at most for a big brush) AND it counts for Back 2 MAC - holla at ya girl! Every night before a freelance you need to deep clean your babies, you can either buy special stuff online or use my home-made, already have the ingredients at home cleaner. Anti-bacterial washing up liquid deep cleans the brush, getting rid of any dirt and bacteria whilst the oil conditions and leaves your brushes soft.

~ home-made wash recipe ~
1 part washing up liquid (anti-bacterial)
2 parts sunflower oil.
(1 part = one tablespoon) 

Make-up:

Obviously, make-up will be a staple in your kit. You need to make sure that you have: Foundation/concealer for all skin colours (light, medium and dark to mix or a palette), Eyeshadow (of all colours), Eyeliner, Mascara, Falsies, Powder (Translucent or coloured), Blush, Bronzer, Contour powder, Highlighter, Lipstick, Lip liner, Lip gloss (clear will go with everything), Eyebrow products (powder, gel, pencil ect), Setting spray.

Palettes-a-plenty:

Forget diamonds, palettes are a girls best friend. Single shadows? heavy. 10 pots of foundation? breaking your back (and bank!), what's the solution? PALETTES. When you're just starting out if you're on a budget Coastal Scents or BHCosmetics do fantasic colours and neautral palettes (I still use my 120 BH one for if some fun client asks for blue). Morphe is a little more expensive but the quality is much better than the others (nothing wrong with the others though, that's not what i'm saying). They all offer brushes, brush sets (do your research, though. Morphe are the only brushes i'd trust for my kit out of these), eye palettes and blush palettes. The shipping to the UK is a little pricey but if you buy a few things it makes it all worth it and still less expensive than MAC ect. I'd say that the basics would be:
A foundation palette,
A colour eyeshadow palette,
A neautral eyeshadow palette,
A blush palette,
A contour palette.

This shrinks your kit size, weight and money spent if you're starting from scratch. You can incorperate some personal faves like Urban Decay Naked, custom MAC palettes (for founation, blushes, lip colours or eyeshadows ect) or Too faced ect. This isnt to say you can't pop some of your favourite singles in, i always do! It's just a great starting place.

Extras:
There's a few things that are always handy to have in your kit that arn't make-up. It's a few extra bob spent but it will save your ass at one time or another!

Hand Sanitizer: Saves the risk of provention, puts the client at ease about germs and makes you look like a professional
Q-Tips: Great for getting rid of a mistake due to the pesky liner or mascara.
Disposable Mascara Wands: If you don't want to sit and sanitize your mascara wand before and after every dip into the mascara (the product wastage of this makes my heart cry) then invest in some disposable mascara wants (new one per dip!)
Prep: Skin prep such as moisturizer, oil-creme (for oily people), colour correctors and primers will make your application apply smoother and last longer.
Mini Scissors: For customising the lash length to fit your clients eyes, it's so much less fuss than using clunky kitchen scissors.
Pencil Sharpener: self explanatory.
Spatula and Mixing Palette: The easiest, least messy and more precise way to mix and warm up cream and liquid products.

PHEW! That's a lot of contents, I hope you havn't fallen asleep on me! Next post will be up on Presentation, look out for that next week. If you have any questions about this or any suggestions for what you want me to write about within this series (or in general) just comment and let me know!
Would you guys be interested in reading my personal favourites for my kit? Let me know :)
Charleigh xo.