Thursday, April 30, 2015

Kit Review: Divine Airbrush Makeup

100%  Divine Airbrush Makeup
Divine Airbrush Makeup is a family run company based in Boca Raton, Florida, and one of the newest airbrush makeup brands on the market. We always love discovering new airbrush makeup lines, and we were attracted by the elegant look that Divine has chosen for its operation, with a marketing style geared towards consumers with a taste for luxury. The makeup offered by Divine Airbrush is water based, proudly produced in the USA, cruelty free and FDA compliant. The line offers 12 foundation colors divided in four groups of three shades each. Each color is named with a letter indicating the shade group (Fair, Medium, Dark and Tan) and a number 1, 2 or 3 indicating the color intensity within that group. So for example the lightest color of all will be F1, while the darkest T3. There are also 13 colors divided in 10 matte and 3 shimmer shades to be used for eyeshadow, blush or contouring. Divine airbrush also offers its own airbrush makeup kit with variable speeds and a stated maximum pressure of 30 PSI. We used this very kit and all the products it came with to create the look you see in the video tutorial posted at the end of this article, and in the photos that accompany it.

Divine Airbrush Makeup Kit
100%  Divine Airbrush Makeup
The Kit comes in a nifty little box that efficiently contains all the equipment. The first thing you see when you open it is the box airbrush box, the underneath is the mini compressor, the rubber hose, the power unit and the airbrush holders, one for each side of the compressor so you can keep the airbrush where you find it most comfortable. There are some basic instructions with the unit but everything is very simple and intuitive. When you push the ON/MODE button, the compressor starts on its maximum pressure output, then you simply push the "Mode" side of the same button to decrease the pressure to your desired strength, which will be marked by the led indicators on top. The unit is very light and surprisingly very quiet, which makes it ideal for travelling. While I don't have the technical equipment to test this, the compressor strength does not quite seem to match the stated 30 PSI. I have other compressors that do and they seem quite a lot more powerful. This output seems closer to a maximum 15-20 PSI, which is still perfectly adequate to apply the Divine makeup and other water based brands of similar consistency, and makes the compressor more than viable for personal use. The same can be said for the airbrush, which is very easy to use and has a nozzle wide enough to make the application fast but still easy to control, and to make cleaning it a breeze. 

100%  Divine Airbrush Makeup
The Divine Airbrush foundation is of a light/medium viscosity, its consistency feels smooth and rich, comparable to that of leading brand Kett, and you could apply it with a sponge or brush and still get a great finish. It is very comfortable to wear, provides very good coverage and good staying power with no transfer and no sinking in fine lines even after many hours. It has a decidedly matte finish, but does not feel tight and looks quite natural. The shades are mostly on the neutral side, with subtle leanings towards warm or yellow tones. Neutrality means it will be easier for most skin types to find a good match, and very little mixing will be needed. Like we said at the beginning, the makeup is FDA approved and contains natural ingredients (Aloe, Chamomile, Cucumber). Another characteristic we appreciate is the total lack of fragrance, not even when first sprayed. [Please scroll down for Swatches]
The matte eye shadows are very pigmented and blend very well, making it easy to achieve great smokey looks even for less expert airbrushers.  The shimmer colors are much runnier and less dramatic, so you will need to apply them in thin layers and then dry each layer thoroughly to achieve a good finish that will last. A good thing about this type of shimmers is that you can mix them easily with the matte shades to make them sparkly without compromising their color in a noticeable way. 
We loved creating the look in our video tutorial, but we feel we just scratched the surface of the possibilities that these colors offer, and look forward to experimenting more. 

100%  Divine Airbrush Makeup
As for the makeup packaging, all the products come in very elegant looking, real glass bottles with golden plastic toppers that enclose a glass dropper.  This is in line with the overall luxurious image of this company, and it does allow for a totally mess free application, with no cap cleaning necessary at all. The downside of glass, however is of course its very breakable nature. While the bottles will arrive packaged very securely, but once they are on your table top you will have to be extremely careful not to drop them on the floor, or they will inevitably shatter. Because of the large opening required for the dropper, toppling an open bottle will also cause you to lose half its content in the blink of an eye which is of course very frustrating. 

We hope to see this friendly, elegant company flourish in the future and expand its product line even more.  As the brand becomes more well known for its quality we are sure that the price of its products will fall in line with the best of their competitors, and become appealing to an ever wider audience.


Divine Airbrush Makeup Fair and Medium Foundation Swatches
Swtches of some of Divine Airbrush eyeshadows
Swtches of some of Divine Airbrush eyeshadows









Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Review: Flawless Face Airbrush Makeup -with video tutorial and DISCOUNT CODE

2016 UPDATE: Sadly the Flawless Face brand is no longer operative.

Based in Texas, Flawless Face is a new airbrush makeup brand offering an extensive line of water based foundation and eye shadow colours. The company's mission is to offer airbrush cosmetics that would allow users to achieve a "flawless and beautiful look without breaking the bank", and the website started out by offering its makeup in attractive 1.5 oz bottles at a fraction of the price charged by most other companies for smaller sizes.
After the price, one of the things that made this brand very interesting to me was the color choice: 12 foundation colors, 29 matte and 22 shimmer colors that can be used as eye shadow but of course also as blush, highlighter and contour shades. The foundation colors are also available in generous samples of .5 oz (15ml), or as a set of 12 colors for an even more convenient price. 
We were very happy to try these products, and you can see the result of our experiments in the video tutorial below, while we will continue here sharing our experience with the product.

100% Flawless Face Airbrush Makeup
Foundations: the Flawless Face formula is one of the least viscous available. It is designed to work with any airbrush, and it definitely will because of its lightness. The drawback of using a thin liquid in an airbrush with a bigger nozzle (.35 and up) is of course that you have to be very gentle when spraying, or risk forming hot spots very quickly. On the other hand the product is less likely to clog your stylus, and even when that happens it is very easy to clean by simply backbubbling and flushing the airbrush. The foundation shades have a light fruity smell (they contain essence of Lilac) that will dissipate quickly leaving no after taste, and contain many natural ingredients such as Aloa and Ginko Biloba leaf among others.  The formula wears comfortably on the skin, with  a matte and slightly powdery finish. The shade range offers many possibilities and caters to all ethnicities. As you can see from the swatches at the bottom of this post, there are shades with strong yellow and red undertones, so a little mixing to balance the some shades will probably be required to achieve perfect matching. The most neutral shades are Ivory in the fair range, Buff Beige in the medium range and Chocolate in the dark range. The instructions on the colors suggest priming, concealing and powdering before applying the foundation. The priming and mosturizing step is of course fundamental, as with any airbrush brand, and Flawless Face just came up with their own water based primer. As for concealing and powdering before airbrushing,  I am not sure that this is necessary, especially the powdering as the product is already matte enough, but it might be a good idea for less experienced airbrush users who may use the foundations to achieve a smooth finish easily and fast. Because of its light consistency, spot concealing will need a little practice: use the lowest pressure setting of your compressor and be extra careful to release as little color as possible, or the liquid will bead up very quickly and form hot spots. If this happens don't be discouraged, simply move on with the rest of the makeup and wait a little while before applying larger passes that will easily blend everything together.

100% Flawless Face Airbrush Makeup
Eye Shadows: for me, this is where Flawless Face gets really interesting. The eyeshadow formula is also quite thin but  pigmented enough and extremely easy to control and to blend, creating beautiful effects with very little effort. When applying the colors to the eyelid it is a good idea to alternate product and air, in order to help the color set faster. Again, care should be taken to layer the product lightly, or the whole makeup will risk cracking in the folds of the eye. If properly applied though, these eyeshadow will last all day without budging, and they have an uncommon resistance to water and rubbing, so much so that I was convinced they were formulated with silicone (they are not, as you can see in the ingredient list below). There are many colors to chose from, and these also come in the same generous 1.5 ounce bottles for the same very reasonable price. Basically, a 1.5 ounce bottles means only one thing as far as eye shadows go: it will last practically forever! In fact I hope that the company will make their eyeshadow range also available in the very handy .5 oz sample sizes, which would allow buyer to try out more shades and to build their collections more easily.

We used our beloved Temptu system with heir SP .35 airbrush to spray the Flawless Face colors and achieve the look you see in the video. Recently Flawless Face started offering their own airbrush kit with three pre set speeds, so first time airbrushers can buy everyhting they need right on their website. 

Flawless Face very generously decided to give our readers a 40% discount off the entire web store (except for the Beginners Kit, to which coupons do not apply). The coupon code is: AirGlam40 
The website ships worldwide and to the whole of Europe, and international shipping is a very reasonable flat rate of $20!

Pro info:

FLAWLESS FACE FOUNDATION INGREDIENTSAqua, Aloe, Viatmin D, Glycerin Humectant, Silica Mineral, Coco-Caprylate, Cetyl Esters Emulsifier, Potassium Cetyl Phosphate, Kaolin French clay, Cetyl Alcohol Emollient, PEG-40 Prunus Armeniaca, Kernel Oil,, Alchemilla Vulgaris, Silybum Marianum Fruit, Ginko Biloba Leaf, Equisetum Arvense Leaf,  Hypericum Perforatum , Helianthus Annus, , Caprylyl Glycol, Natural Fragrance – Lilac, Magnesium, Carboxymethyl Cellulose, Citric Acid, Disodium EDTA, Proprietary Blend
*May Contain (+/-): Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Iron Oxides (CI 77491/CI 77492/CI 77499), Chromium Oxide Greens (CI 77288), Ultramarines (CI 77007), Mica (CI 77091).

EYE AND BLUSH INGREDIENTS: Aqua, Aloe, Lemongrass, Chamomile, Comfrey, Cucumber, Ginseng Cellulose Gum, Propylene Glycol, Triethanolamine,  Diazolidinyl Urea, Proprietary Blend May Contain: Titanium Dioxide (CI 77891), Ultramarines (CI 77007), Iron Oxides (CI 77489), D&C Yellow 5 Lake (CI 19140), D&C Yellow 10 Lake (CI 47005), FD&C Blue 1 Lake (CI 42090), D&C Red 7 Lake (CI 15850), D&C Red 6 Lake (CI 15850), D&C Orange 5 Lake (CI 45370), Chromium Oxide Green (CI 77288), D&C Red 21 (CI 45380), D&C Red 28 (CI 45410), D&C Yellow 7 (CI 45350), Disodium Distyrylbiphenyl Disulphonate, Mica, Luminescent Zinc Sulfide, Talc 

PRIMER INGREDIENTS: Aloe Vera, mineral oil, fragrance, anhydrous citric acid, glycerin, propylene glycol, purified water, sodium hypochlorite, sorbitol, sucrose 

Flawless Face Airbrush Makeup Before & After
 

Flawless Face Airbrush Makeup Foundation Swatches

Flawless Face Airbrush Makeup Foundation Swatches

Flawless Face Airbrush Makeup Eyeshadow Swatches

Flawless Face Airbrush Makeup Eyeshadow Swatches