Hey professional makeup artist are you using this and that high end brand? WTF?!

This article is dedicated to all professional makeup artist that get clients asking a legit question “Do you use this and that HIGH END BRAND? and when they find out that you are not using that brand they usually respond with this facial expression “No?? Oh My god you must be using crap then!!”. Ignorance is bliss until you figure out the truth, so you cannot be angry or even insulted with anyones legit question, because this is what the media is “feeding” them that these and only these brands are the “good ones”. Thank God I haven’t had these problems but I do have a hard time understanding why people would even assume that a professional makeup artist would use anything but the best on their clients face? All schooled makeup artists know what they can and cannot use. Some brands are better on some skin types and vice versa. People don’t know that most high-end brands are not in most professional makeup kits. Why you might ask, read on.

A common question that any professional makeup artist’s client will ask is “what brands do you use?” To be honest this is a legit question and I understand to a point why some clients (a small few to be honest) might ask this, but there is another problem with this question. The problem occurs when clients do not understand that makeup, like most things in life, get divided into “quality”. So, before you answer this question let me explain how most qualified professional makeup artists divide makeup.

Professional makeup artist divide makeup into a few groups:

• Drugstore
• High-end
• Commercial
• Exclusive professional brands – used on HD TV, film, theater, special effects, print, media, photography, red carpet events, celebrities, super models, runway shows,….

As you can see this is a very rough definition as to how most makeup artists divide makeup. The type of makeup, which a makeup artist will use, depends where they got their qualifications. If someone got a degree as a makeup artist at a makeup brand’s school, these artists tend to use “high-end” and “commercial” friendly makeup. If you got your degree in an actually makeup school, that is not part of a makeup brand, then you tend to use “professionals only” makeup. These schools get makeup artists ready for working with celebrities, TV, theaters…etc. So they tend to use the best makeup in the industry, but this makeup is not known at all to the general public and it’s not consumer friendly. When I say that it’s not consumer friendly, I mean that usually this makeup requires knowledge on how to use it correctly so that it looks beautiful, natural and like second skin in HD photos and on TV. If your makeup artist is a self taught they tend to use drugstore makeup and some commercial or high end brands. If your artist got her degree from another makeup artist, they tend to use high-end and consumer friendly makeup. I would like to mention that these “rules” do not apply to all makeup artist. The point that I was trying to make is that just because it’s high-end and expensive it doesn’t mean that it’s the best thing in the industry and usually there are much better brands out there but they are only known to professional makeup artist. This makeup requires excessive knowledge of makeup and makeup ingredients in general and most important thing how to use it correctly.

Now back to the original question “what brands do you use”? If you did a good background check on your makeup artist you wouldn’t be asking anything about what makeup they are using. Most makeup artist avoid writing what brands they use since this changes with experience and personal liking. I think that the only reason you should be asking this is if you have allergies to specific brand or in general allergies (food, ingredients, latex, silicone…etc). All professional makeup artists will ask you if you are allergic to anything before they apply makeup, this is honestly a must to avoid allergic reactions and as a makeup artist you must know what products you are using and what client will they suit best.

The moral of the story is that a professional makeup artist tends to carrying an exclusive line of makeup products that are used by some of the world’s best makeup artist in the fashion, film and bridal industry. This is a combination of high-end, commercial and mainly exclusive professionals only brands. This doesn’t mean that all makeup artists will only use these exclusive brands, but there are also many makeup artists that use only high-end brands.

My personal opinion, based on my work experience, is that exclusive professionals brands are better than most high-end brands, especially when it comes to foundation. A combination of high-end, commercial and professional brands is always a best bet but not mandatory. So never judge your makeup artist if they do not use high-end brands but rather choose to use professional brands that you never heard of. Your makeup artist uses brands that s/he finds to work best for them and their clients. You can ask your makeup artist what they are using but if they aren’t a high-end brands that doesn’t mean that they aren’t using HQ (high quality) makeup.

To complete this article of thought, I would like to mention that I would personally use professional brands that international makeup artist use for all occasions than use a brand which makeup artist know people have heard of. I choose quality over “well advertised brands” that cannot meet my professional needs and demands.

Celebrities that use EXCLUSIVE professional makeup artist brands: 

• Lady Gaga
• Kelly Clarkson
• Madonna
• Fergie
• Eve Torres
• Beyonce
• Lorde
• ….etc

International Makeup Artists that use exclusive professional makeup brands 

• Kevin James Bennett
• Maurice Stein
• Sam Fine
• Eve Pearl
• Mario Dedivanovic
• Tate Steinsiek
• …etc.