What brands do professional makeup artists use ?

This is a question I get asked often. What do I think of this brand over this other brand?

The general answer I give is it isn't considered a professional makeup artist brand. Things professional makeup artists look at when shopping are completely different to what the average buyer is thinking about when buying products. Not to mention a lot of the products I use on myself and the products I use in my kit are completely different.

As a makeup artist, I am mainly concerned about 2 things the weight of the product and the size of the product. As someone who has had to carry my makeup kit upstairs and down small passages. I am always thinking about how to make my kit lighter and smaller. Over the years I have managed to compress my kit quite significantly and any product which doesn't require depotting (the process of putting makeup into a different container for storage) is essential. I know many makeup artists out there are happy to depot products into

smaller containers but for myself, this is a time-consuming process that can often (more often than you would think) result in breakage or loss of product completely.

Products I love because they are small and lightweight are:

Viseart eyeshadow palettes

Face Atelier foundation

Mac eyeshadow palettes

Then I will start to think about things like coverage and pigmentation, not to mention the ease of replacing the product. There are some products I choose to carry over others just because they can be bought from a physical store rather than waiting a week or two to be shipped from America. Like the Anastasia Beverley Hills eyebrow pomades over the Senna brow products which can only be bought online.

Some products I am happy to carry even though they are bulky and awkward to pack are:

Huda Beauty Liquid lipsticks - these colours are awesome

Cardo False Lashes

Maybelline Superstay liquid lipsticks

What I choose to carry in my kit and what you might decide to use are really two different things. Although there are some products I can't part with others are only used because they do the job.