How to build your kit (without going broke.)
“Help me, I’m poor.” Annie Walker
Whether you’re just starting out or need a simple restock,
Here’s 5 things you can do to cut costs without sacrificing quality.
If you’re an old-timer like me, you might remember those obscene makeup sets with dozens of powders, cremes, and lipsticks for $19.99. They smelled like me-maw’s house and usually came packaged in a pink, metallic, “caboodle” of sorts.
They were awesome. You couldn’t tell 9-year-old me I wasn’t a celebrity with 9 shades of lipstick on my eyes.
Sadly times have changed, and probably for the best. Even if I could find those old sets I personally wouldn’t use them, let alone on a client.
Nevertheless, here’s a few things I do to manage product cost without compromising my services.
#1 YOU DON’T NEED EVERY SHADE OF FOUNDATION.
The average consumer only needs to buy “their shade” of foundation for obvious reasons, like cost and convenience. Therefore, beauty companies are obligated to create those wide range of shades to accommodate their customers.
However, most pros only carry the shades they need to create the same full range of tones. Not only is it less expensive, it’s a lot less to carry around. Especially when using high end foundations packaged in glass bottles. Oh the back pain….
When I’m working with background extras, I tend to use less expensive products. Some days we have 100’s of them, and a $40 kit fee isn’t going to cover much of my re-stock.
RCMA makes great crème foundations built for performance. All their shades come in individual pans, and you can even build your own custom palette. The foundations are buildable in coverage, so they can duo as concealers when used directly out of the pan. Otherwise I use a mixing medium to thin out the crème, until I reach my desired level of coverage.
The mixing medium I use is by TEMPTU.
While TEMPTU is an airbrush makeup brand, I’ve found it incredibly useful for a variety of purposes. It also allows me to transform most standard foundations (including my RCMA cremes) into airbrush foundation, with just a few drops.
If you find you’re having trouble matching every tone with just a few shades, invest in adjusters. RCMA has a primary tone adjuster palette for under $20 (with pro discount) that will give you all the range you’ll ever need.
#2. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF PRO DISCOUNTS.
Most major professional brands like MAC and Makeup Forever offer a pro artist discount upwards of 40% off retail. Shout out to those guys for the helping hand-some brands don’t offer us anything at all. SHAME!
You don’t have to put in the legwork to check out “who-offers-what” anymore either. Major retailers like Naimies, Frens, and Camera Ready Cosmetics, carry tons of beauty brands under one roof.
The best part? They have their own “pro-discount” program that basically gives you whatever discount that particular brand would offer if you went direct.
For a full list of brands that offer pro discounts, (and how to get them), click HERE.
#3. CUSTOMIZE YOUR PALETTES
Remember the Urban Decay “Naked Palette” craze? Pretty sure if you didn’t own the entire collection, you were shunned. Back in the day I was proud to cart them around, but I quickly realized it was the least cost-effective item in my kit.
Why? No matter how much I worked, I was never going to use those “throw away” shades.
Fine. I’ll just run down to Sephora, buy the “high value” shades I ran out of, and de-pot them. Oh wait, those shades are palette exclusive? I have to purchase the entire $60 set for 3 tones? Can’t do it friend.
So I switched over to MAC and built my own collection based on tones I actually used. With my pro-discount each shadow costs under $7, and better yet, they’re full sized. When I run low, I just pop out the old and replace.
Now instead of spending $60 for 3 useful shades, I can get twice as many for less.
#4. CONSIDER BUYING USED
Years ago I was moving out of state and had no idea what to do with the endless bins of makeup I acquired over time. After a little research I found Glambot, and sold my haul for a few hundred bucks. Woo hoo!
Glambot is an online company designed to buy and sell quality, used makeup and more. Brands include big names like Pat McGrath, YSL, and MAC to name a few. They carry brushes, shadows, skin care, tools, and even perfume.
Unlike E-Bay or Poshmark, they have high standards when it comes to resale. They don’t sell products with potential for contamination like lip stick. They also ensure the product is authentic, and not expired.
It’s a great way to pick up tools and brushes at half the price or purchase high end products otherwise out of budget.
#5. CHOOSE FLEXIBLE FORMULAS + INVEST IN A MIXING MEDIUM
There will come a time in every Artists’ career when you’re stranded on a job without your sh*t. If you’ve never experienced the utter panic of leaving your lip products at home after a kit clean out, trust me, you will.
Luckily those situations lead to “quick fix solutions” you never thought of (until you had to pull it out of your a$$.) That cream blush starts looking a lot like lipstick, and let’s be real, it pretty much is.
As I mentioned earlier, customized palettes are the way to go. You can source a variety of crème blushes that also serve as lipsticks and vice versa. Many popular brands label their products as “multifunctional” now, so there’s really no shame in it.
Another helpful tool is one that’s not mentioned much, and that’s mixing medium. It’s a kit staple for me, and allows artists to transform products for a variety of reasons. You can thin out foundation coverage, or turn eyeshadow into a long-wear liner. I highly recommend TEMPTU’s version, but there’s several to choose from depending on your process.
TLDR + TAKE AWAYS
Buy only the foundations you need to customize blends for tonal range.
Use adjusters and mixing mediums to make your products more versatile.
Look into gently used products and tools on websites like Glambot.
Take advantage of pro-artist discounts when you can.
Customize your palettes so you only stock colors you actually use.