I recently bought a traincase and put together my makeup kit. And that's when I realised it can be very confusing to shortlist products in your kit. Many a times we meet clients for the first time and so we have to carry a number of foundation and concealer shades. But carrying extra products can make the traincase too heavy.
I am writting this post today to share with you what I like to include in my kit, and what I do to make it light and travel friendly.
I do not have a very big case, but it is bigger and more spacious than a regular traincase. It has a shoulder strap to carry it around. I would recommend everyone to go for a traincase that has wheels so you do not have to carry it around and break your back! The Zuca is a great option, but for me at this point, I do not need such a big case so the one I have works perfectly for me.
Here is that my case looks like:
I am writting this post today to share with you what I like to include in my kit, and what I do to make it light and travel friendly.
I do not have a very big case, but it is bigger and more spacious than a regular traincase. It has a shoulder strap to carry it around. I would recommend everyone to go for a traincase that has wheels so you do not have to carry it around and break your back! The Zuca is a great option, but for me at this point, I do not need such a big case so the one I have works perfectly for me.
Here is that my case looks like:
The essentials necessary for any makeup kit:
1. Foundations (liquid or cream, according to your preference, I use liquid) for oily skin
as they can be used on both oily and dry skin, whereas foundation for dry skin would not be suitable for oily skins. Carry the most popular shades instead of carrying 10-15 shades. Carry one dark and one light shade to mix them with any foundation colour to get the right shade you are looking for. The foundations bottle can be heavy at times, so you can transfer the product in smaller plastic bottles and containers.
2. Concealers are usually compact and easy to carry around so there is not much problem here. I carry 5-6 shades.
3. Loose powders are a very important part of the kit and people generally do not invest in different shades. It is not necessary to buy a very expensive powder, but its always a good idea to have 3-4 shades like translucent, yellow, natural beige-ish shade and a slightly darker shade. Benneye does good loose powders. Just transfer the powders in a smaller container so that its light and helps reduce the weight.
4. I carry around 12-15 lipstick shades. I mainly carry reds, pinks and neutrals which would go with all looks I plan for my brides. You can depot the lipsticks and make a palette of your own and also mix colours to get the perfect shades.
5. Lip pencils are a very important part of the kit as well. You may skip lipsticks, but never leave out lip pencils. Carry the basic colours- pink, red, nude, orange and a brown. You don't need 2-3 red shades or brown shades, one or two from each family is enough.
6. You can save up on lip gloss and carry only one transparent gloss, but if you want more options you can carry one from each colour family.
7. For the eyes, customized palettes are a better option than readymade palettes. The generic ready made palettes available in the market are god options for beginners, but we usually do not use all the colours in the palette. Hence palettes like Inglot and Mac, which allow us to make cutomized palettes are better as we know that we will be using all the colours in it. You get palettes for everything from eyeshadows to blush/highlight/contour to foundations and concealers.
8. For brides, I generally stick to black liner and kajal, hence I only carry one black smudge-proof liner pencil and a black gel liner. You may carry a liquid liner if you want. I love the Jordana liquid liner. Its jet black and matte, just the way I like it. I tend to avoid liquid liners that leave a glossy effect.
9. Around 5-6 shades of blush, two contour shades (light and dark) and two - three highlighter shades (golden, champagne and pink) are enough. With experience you will realise that we do not need too many shades of blush. Powder blush is a good option as it can be used on oily as well as dry skin, whereas cream blush would be better on dry skin. Hence it is generally better to carry products suitable for oily sensitive skin, as they can be used for all skin types. You could use different blush shades to highlight or contour or carry separate products.
10. Eyebrow grooming is very important but often neglected. I prefer using powder eyeshadow and transparent mascara to tame and fill the brows. You do not need to buy extra powders specifically for this. If you are not comfortable using powder, you could invest in brow gel or pencils.
11. As far as brushes are concerned, I go crazy when it comes to brushes! I definitely have more than required! You need only the basic brushes but that may vary from person to person. The main brushes required would be: foundation brush (flat top/buffing brush/traditional foundation brush),powder brush, small blush brush which can also be used as a contour/highlight brush, flat top eye brush, pencil brush, fluffy blending brush, eyeliner brush and a lip brush. You could also carry a fan brush, but I personally rarely use one. I will write a separate blog post on my favourite essential brushes going more in depth about them.
12. Miscellaneous things like moisturizer, eye creams, primers for all skin types,cotton swabs, setting sprays, water spray, alcohol spray for spot cleaning brushes, paper napkins to clean up any mess and business cards would be a few things to carry.
These are just the basic requirements for a beginner. As you go along you will add on more things according to your and your clients' requirements.
Let me know some of your favourite things to carry on set!
