Here we are at part 2!! I'm Hoping Part 1 has given you a better idea of what a kit should contain, while giving you options to choose from. Again, these post are intended to assist you with building your first professional kit or revamping your current one. I'm still going to dish out on the best ways to build cost effectively.
I just can't stress enough that this is no easy task and may take you a little time to get everything I talk about. But if you stick to this guide line you'll have a very nice pro quality starter kit.
Lash Kit
If you're going to have a lash kit, please ALWAYS use PROFESSIONAL products. A lash kit should contain a variety of lashes, small scissors, & professional grade LASH adhesive. I always recommend human hair lashes, the synthetic hair lashes do not work well with applying mascaras and can come across on camera as really artificial.
Lip Colors
This should be easy as pie. I'm currently de-tubing (removing lipstick from the original tube & melting them down into a palette) 39 lipsticks!! Save yourself the trouble and get a lip palette with the primary shades you'll need. DON'T waste you money buying those palettes that have those tiny circles of lip color. They have a lot of colors but not a lot of product. You'll be out of your favorite shades in about 6 good uses and the other shades will expire from not using them. Yes, expire. Every makeup product has an expiration date, just check the package for the cosmetic symbol.
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| Makeup Expiration symbol. This means from the day you open/ break the seal, you have the said amout of months before the product is expired. |
Coastal Scents has 4 lovely lip palettes that I love playing in. My favorite of the four is the "Sun Kissed" palette. The perfect nude palette I've come across. Just like the eyeshadows having a neutral set and a color set will work for starting out just be sure to grab staple colors that clients may ask for in red.
Off hand I suggest you keep the following red lipsticks in your kit, MAC's Ruby Woo &Viva Glam 1 and the Coastal Scents Power Play lip quad. With these you have reds covered in my book for a beginners kit.
Blushers
Highly pigmented and worth every penny these blushers I'm going to suggest have been the only blusher I have been loyal to. I'm not saying that I don't own other brands of blush that I love, but these have been a staple in my kit always. La femme Cosmetics blush are my hands down favorite. You can get them in palette form or as singles and build your own palette. I personally get my refill pans from
CameraReadyCosmetics. Because there are so many colors to own I started out with what I figured would be my basics. Those shades are Peach, Dusty Rose, Sienna, Coral, Pink Velvet, Plum Passion & Heather. I know that's a hefty list of colors, but when you can get them all for the price of one MAC blush, yup I said ONE MAC blush! I'm not complaining at all! You could splurge and get 14 of them for $40! That's amazing considering the quality of the product is AWESOME and they seem to last forever.
Brow Kit
Framing a face is of course important in any makeup application. The brow struggle is crazy these days, I see so many women sporting horridly shaped brows. Please do your brow shaping research and practice proper brow techniques. No Joke! To do this you'll for sure need the right brow products. I have to be honest and admit that I love MAC's brow pencils, but have found favorites in more affordable brow pencils from Kiss Cosmetics and NYX. A snazzy brow kit is a must have as well. My starter brow kit was a combination of MAC's Spiked and Strut brow pencils (Kiss has a Spiked & Black Brown that work great) , angled tweezers, Smashbox Brow Tech and a brow brush that had a spool attachment. Some clients may require a brow powder and for that reason I keep all 3 of Milani's Brow Fix Kits around.
Eye liners & Mascaras
Keep it simple, starting out you'll need the basics. Cream liners and pencil liners in black and brown. From there the colors and formulas are limitless. Get the basic and grow, this holds true for all items in your kit. It would benefit you to get waterproof cream formulas for long wear. But any great quality liner will do the trick. Makeup Forever has the best cream Aqua liners and they carry their waterproof formula in pencil form as well. Liquid liners are cool but aren't mandatory. Glitter liners are really fun to have around for prom, birthday, or junior bridesmaid or flower girl makeup.
Mascaras have the same rules in the case of building a pro kit. You'll need the basics, black and brown in waterproof and non-water proof. The reason muas have so many mascaras is because of the different formulas. The key formulas to have starting out are lengthening and volumizing. Makeup hygiene is super important and there is no way you should be using the wand that comes with your mascara on clients. Try getting disposable mascara wands that mimic the original wand. You should be using disposable wands on every client! Please keep in mind that there are tons of great mascaras but these are my personal favorites. L'oreal Paris Voluminous Carbon Black, Maybelline Falsies Volume Express, & Maybelline Lash Stiletto.
Lip Liners
Not the easiest of products to gather, but can be made very easy if you start out with neutral, red, pink, and plum tones. I have never had a main brand of liners I love or hate. I buy, try, keep, or replace. However, I will let you in on some of my "keepers". I found a site
Cherry Culture one day while roaming the web for beauty buys. They have an amazingly affordable products. Not everything I recommend from this site however, the NYX & Amuse long pencil liners are great buys and a beauty steal for the price tags they carry. Grab them all!
Here's the heartbeat of you kit. Your supplies kit will be a tad massive as there are a lot of things to have. Just remember makeup hygiene is no joke and it's best to have everything on hand. I think this would be easier to breakdown in a list. These items can be found in places like drug stores or online.
Makeup remover wipes- My all time favorite are from Neutrogena. They don't come with a lot in the package so for my kit stock I love Walmart's Equate brand. If ordered online you can get a jumbo double pack for under $7. They are great dupes of Pond's wipes.
Disposable mascara wands- These are a MUST!! If your lucky you can find disposable that mimic the original mascara brush.
Makeup sponges- There are so many to choose from! I personally love the original latex-free triangle sponges for setting powders. And the ever popular Beauty Blender for super flawless and quick foundation and concealer blending.
Small Scissors- These will serve as a big help when needing to trim lashes and brow shaping. I would suggest having 2 pair and that they are sharp. It's also a great idea to keep them in a safety case too.
Beauty puffs- Keep your finger prints and hand made smudges to yourself. These puffs come with an attached band to slip around your fingers so its close by when you need it. It allows you to touch the client's face without actually touch them.
Client Cape- This is a key item to have. Using a cape assures that their are no makeup messes on a client. Translucent powder on a client wearing black can be a disaster, a cape will help you avoid that situation.
91% alcohol- When it comes to keeping your supplies clean 91% alcohol or higher can do that. Just tote some around in a labeled spray bottle.
Paper Towels & "soft" tissues- Nothing like being prepared for a spill or a teary eyed bride.
Cotton Swabs- I have only 2 uses for these. The 1st is cleaning up lipstick smudges around the corners of the mouth. The 2nd is cleaning out the inner corners of a client's eyes. The worst thing is trying to apply liner to the water line and a glob of eye boogie is sitting there waiting for you. A simple dab of a cotton swab can handle that problem allowing you to keep your fingers out of your client's sensitive eye area.
There you have it, a full professional quality starter kit. I hope I've made this process of kit building a stress free and simple task for you. Just remember that building a full kit takes true investment and a dedication to quality. Please feel free to comment and share you kit building experience as well.
