For a long time now it has been common practice for freelance makeup artists to consolidate their makeup kits for no other reason than to lighten the load they have to lug around and to have everything as neat and organized as possible.

Those cute packages that may draw our eye to a particular product  may look harmless, but many of them grouped together give off some considerable weight, and ounces can seem like pounds when hauling a makeup kit. This is where magnetic palettes come in. There have been a number of palettes put on the market geared towards makeup artists that serve the purpose but skimp on the style department, but now UNII Cosmetics have come out with their own fun version for consumers and artists alike.

UNII Palette in Twilight

Is that an empty palette you ask? Why yes, it is! Not only is it empty, but it is magnetic, and it’s purpose is to cling on to the metal pans that lie within those pretty packages. This method is known as “depotting”. The metal pans that contain the makeup have a glue backing which adheres the product to the outer casing. Using techniques to warm up that glue loosen the pan, and voilà, the pan pops out and can then be stored onto a magnetic palette! The amount of product you can store in one palette depends on the size of the pan and palette itself, but there is no question…palettes are a great for consolidating your many products into one slim, easy to carry case.

Eve Pearl Magic Salmon Concealer Wheel

Ok, admit it, how many of you knew I would be posting about this particular product any day now? Many people that know my artistry in any way know that I am a “Salmon Concealer-a-holic” but it’s with good reason! For those of you not in the know about this dream product yet, let me have the honor of introducing you to one of my “Kat’s Kit” specialty items:
Eve Pearl’s Magic Salmon Concealer.

I first learned of salmon concealer when sitting in a workshop at the International Beauty Show years ago, before getting into freelance makeup full time. As the esthetician of my family’s spa, I was in gear to pick up some extra makeup education during my trip to the show. I sat in on an incredibly in depth and inspiring makeup class and it wasn’t until after I became a fan of the presenter that I realized she was 5 time Emmy Award winning makeup artist Eve Pearl herself. I would go to see her present every year and was amazed at all the new tricks I would learn each time I went. I also became very impressed with this special Salmon Concealer she talked about during the demo that just seemed to whisk away darkness under the eyes.  Every year I would vow to buy the salmon concealer by the end of the show day and every single year I would get back to her table to find the concealer was GONE. Snatched up. Sold out before I was able to get my own hands on some!

Skinprep FX Primer by Cover FX

In yesterday’s post I mentioned I used an extra primer for skin that needed a bit more help in the texture department. I sometimes find myself finding my moisturizing/primer in one (Embyolisse) is just not enough for my mature clients. That is when this stellar primer steps in: Skinprep FX by Cover FX.

I ran into this gem at the Chicago Artist Summit I was teaching a workshop at. I was asked to do a class on “Makeup for Mature Women” and I ran right over to the Cover FX booth to find a particular foundation but ended up talking to the reps at the booth about this baby. I started to play around with the consistency on my hand and added it to silicone based makeup to see how it could thin some of my favorite products out. Kevin, from one of my favorite lines, even came over (his booth was across there’s!) and started showing me why this primer was considered “Liquid Gold” in the makeup artist community. I mean seriously, when you have people coming from competitor’s booths to show you something that says a lot!

I’ve found through reading various blogs that there are different types of product reviews. There are reviews of products that one has thoroughly tested for wearability, texture, coverage, and all the other elements that goes into making a beauty product great. It’s tested for the day and then decided upon whether the product is fantabulous, okay, or something you give to your kids to do art with. There are also the reviews that have come from the writer truly knowing the product thoroughly and who has fallen in love with it enough to use it on a daily basis. Those are the beauty products that will be featured in “Kat’s Kit Spotlight” . I have a number of products that I have used and abused on every shoot or event because of it’s reliability. When I use these products I know that it will do precisely what I need it to do which makes the job that much easier. I’m sure over time this section will be condensed more and more to being affectionately known as a “KatKit” product, but for now I introduce you to my first official product spotlight.

There is no better place to start than with one of my basics I use to prep most the skin I work on for print and events: Embryolisse Lait-Creme Concentre also known as 24-hour miracle cream.

For anyone who knows me in the industry, you already know I rave about Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics (OCC) foundation and loose pigments, see post on NFL shoot I exclusively used OCC products on,  but today I wanted to really profess my undying love for OCC Lip Tars and let you in our new exclusive color designed for Clothing Designer and TV Personality, Indashio.

When asked by On Makeup Magazine to do a beauty story with lips as a focus I immediately thought of showing off the then brand new Lip Tar collection which only consisted of about 8 colors at the time. The moment I tried the first color I knew there was something very different about the texture, finish, and wear of this product. To say that the tiniest amount of product is all that is needed to cover the entire pout is an understatement. I lightly touched the very tip of my lip brush into the NSFW (That’s Not Safe For Work folks!) color and I was soon finding the entire mouth covered in intense pigment. It’s always been hard for me to describe the texture I get but the way I have come to think of lip tars is a vinyl finish without the bulk of traditional glosses. It has shine to it without gloppiness, and their is intensity in the colors that I has not come close to anything I have ever tried.

OCC Lip Tar in NSFW for On Makeup Magazine Photo by: Luis Aragon Makeup by: Me

Those who take that extra step to preserve their makeup brush hair, or those like me who have a slightly unhealthy obsession with their brush health overall, will appreciate this product from “The Brush Guard”.

I first ran across this product at The Artist Summit by The Powder Group in New York.  I know of a number of artists and brush consumers alike who have run into instances where a favorite brush has gone flat or just become wonky and warped from being placed in the wrong spot. This product offers a simple solution to keep them intact. Some of my own brushes have fallen victim to fraying bristles when I’ve rushed to pack my stuff up after a job and left it unprotected. I’ve even had to sacrifice my XL “aDesign” powder brush to the abyss that is the inside pocket of my makeup kit due to lack of room in my brush roll. I pray it is still intact every time I go into the abyss to reach for it!

So, between a combination of a forum post asking about this product and the fact that my 3 year old has been running around with it on her finger all day, I figure it’s time take a closer look at The Brush Guard to see what it can do for me and my brush set.

CVS Essence of Beauty Wedges/ cvs.com

I wanted to thank each and every one of you who participated in my poll on the very first post. It has definitely shown me what you look for in this blog and I will try my best to deliver. With that being said, if it’s products you want to know about, it’s products you are going to get! Let me do you one better. I’ll start right in by recommending some of the cheapest items in my kit that don’t lack in the quality department, whatsoever. If that sounds good, let’s get started!

This first item was something I hadn’t originally planned to talk about right away since it is admittedly random but I ran into some funny odds yesterday during  the Cabinet shoot and took it as a sign to confess my undying love for CVS’s Essence of Beauty Wedges.

As I was making up a lovely Cabinet member yesterday I was applying some foundation and blending it down with my favorite Essence of Beauty Wedges. She commented on how she liked the sponges and asked what kind they were as I didn’t have the bag out that showed the name. I told her “Believe it or not I only used CVS’s Essence of Beauty brand and have never been able to find a brand that compared to it in quality. I can be at a beauty supply store and decide not to buy sponges there and I’ll go ahead and make the extra run to CVS. I even pass up bulk prices for these things.”