Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Review: Nurturing Force, The Best Airbrush Cleaner Ever!

Let's face it, cleaning your airbrush is never going to be much fun, but does it also have to be hazardous for your health? I am so glad to have found an answer to this question in this product.

Nurturing force is an American company with a very simple, no frills philosophy of developing products with natural ingredients without compromising the high performance standard expected by professionals. If this wasn't enough of a good reason to perk our interest, they also focus on airbrushing at the core of their product line, which in my immodest and very biased opinion, is exactly where it should be. I originally picked up a small 1 oz bottle of their NF (Non-Flammable) airbrush cleaner on my first visit to CRC MakeupI was attracted by the claim that it works on Water Based, Silicone based and Alcohol based makeup. So one product instead of three already sounded like a very good deal. I went on to read the label description: "no artificial fragrance, no colorants, no preservatives, no volatile chemicals, no Dangerous poisons, no animal products and no animal testing. Ingredients are food-grade quality".
The product is also a concentrate, so you only have to use a few drops at a time and dilute it with water, making the 1oz size much more sensible than it looked at first (2 and 4 oz sizes are also available). In short this product seemed cheaper, healthier, and more versatile than anything on the market.
Only one question remained. Does it actually work? I am pleased that the answer is a resounding YES!  Nurturing Force cleaned water based makeup as efficiently and as fast as my trusted Dinair cleaner. Unlike Dinair, which is also made of natural based ingredients but which is irritant and makes you cough if inhaled, Nurturing Force has a very pleasant peppermint scent and has no adverse effect whatsoever. It proved just as efficient in cleaning my airbrush from alcohol based makeup, and it even did very well on silicone, which is the toughest of them all. Where silicone is concerned, it may act a little slower than 244, but it does the job just as well in the end, and I personally value my health (and that of my customers) above a few seconds spared.

Nurturing force produces several different airbrushing complements, like the very popular Blot Out Offensive primer, which I will review in future posts, a priming/moisturizing mist specifically formulated for airbrush, and a very interesting series of "airbrush makeup safe" blotting papers which I cannot wait to try. In Europe, you can find Nurturing Force also available at Gruru Makeup Emporium.

PRO TIP: For your safety and comfort, please remember to avoid spraying any kind of cleaner into the air. Cleaner should always be discharged in an airbrush cleaning pot or in a tissue.

Thursday, March 6, 2014

TEMPTU PRO S/B 37 STARTER PACK: SWATCHES AND AIRBRUSH MAKEUP DEMO

Please scroll down for swatches photos

Last month we published an in-depth review on Temptu Pro's best introductotry package, the 37 S/B starter set, and now it's high time for some demos! The swatches were airbrushed on my own skin (fair, NC 20 in the Mac scale or 04 in the Tempty SB range), and photographed in natural light. 2-3 drops were used for each swatch, in order to give a better idea of the pigment. Of course they wouldn't normally be applied in such high concentration on such a small area All color groups in the 37 Starter Pack were swatched except for the base color Group.  As for the two sample eye makeups in the next photos, they were made using exclusively colors taken from the starter set, in order to show you how versatile these colors can be. Again the photos are 100% unretouched and taken in natural light. While I am waiting to shoot a proper video with a model, I used a Mehron practice head for practical reasons for the sample eyeshadow combination, and there is no pretense of anatomical precision or tonal subtlety here, but like I said, my first priority was to demonstrate the potential of the shades. .

EYESHADOW HOW TO: The equipment used to achieve these designs is esclusively Temptu, namely the 2.0 compressor (Starter System) with the SP-35 Temptu airbrush. I airbrushed the eyebrows first using a stencil and two base colors (n. 6 and n.12) to achieve a slight ombre effect, then I worked my way through the eyeshadow starting with the lightest colour and ending with the darkest. The colors blend instantly and beautifully. After I applied the eyeshadow I retouched the eyebrows somewhat to get rid of any overspray. I sprayed very lightly and I  let each color dry before applying the next. Setting powder can be used with care to speed the process, but I find it takes away from the beautiful glossy effect that is typical of silicone, so I prefer to dry by just spraying air with the airbrush. For the eyeshadow I kept the dial of the compressor at 12 o'clock (low setting), then moved it to 3 o'clock to apply the base and blush. I did not clean the airbrush at each color change, I just sprayed out each color and let the next color flush out the residue, spraying on a tissue until the new colour appeared pure. This wastes a bit of product but saves a lot of time.  With a little practice the process can be very fast. The second eyeshadow took less than 10 minutes to apply, drying time included. The makeup is beautifully waterproof, and if applied respecting the proper drying times, will last all day unchanged. Newbies to Temptu airbrush makeup maybe surprised at how different the colours look when actually sprayed. That is why I have used base colors for eyebrows, and adjusters, shimmers and colours from the HI DEF series for eyeshadows indifferently. Like we said in the review, everything mixes with everything else and the possiblilities are endless.

Well, this is just the tip of the iceberg of course. Please let us know if you would like to see more swatches, and have fun with your S/B colors!
 
Pls click on any picture to enlarge it.




Please refer to our in-depth review to identify each colour referenced here