Luminess Air Airbrush Foundation

Good Morning lovely ladies!!

I thought I had better start writing some reviews about products that I use in most of my bridal work. The first thing I thought I would write about is the airbrush make up I use. I originally saw Luminess Air on QVC and was a amazed at how quick the application was and the coverage it gave. I immediately started to Google search it and came across a mixed bag of reviews. Some people loved it and some people really didn’t take to it.

photo taken from www.luminessair.co.uk

In case you don’t know what Airbrush Make Up is, think of the gun mechanics use to spray paint cars. It’s a very similar process. You pop a few drops of a special airbrush foundation into the gun. It’s special as it’s very very watery and is fine enough to be delicately sprayed through a needle onto the skin using pressured air and with a trigger you can gently spray a fine layer of foundation onto the skin. This layer dries into 3-4 secs in which you can apply another layer, and then keep applying layers until you have reached the coverage you want. As you use so little foundation (we are talking drops) it’s very economical. As the foundation is so fine, it gives flawless results that’s virtually undetectable in photographs and is used a lot in HD work.

I took the plunge and ordered the professional kit to try out, as the machine has a 30 day money back guarantee I felt comfortable knowing if it didn’t live up to its claims I would send it all back!

When the set arrived it came in a very well presented box with cute silver butterflies all over. In the box was the machine with the attached airgun, 4 starter shades in light, a primer, a bronzer, a blush and glow highlighter, a water bottle and a CD which shows you step by step on how to clean and how to apply.

So the first go was a complete fail! Not only did I overfill the gun and ended up with foundation spilt all over me, but I spotted loads and was way too heavy with myself. The foundation looked patchy and awful and I thought really emphasized my blemishes. Booooo

Now after using this gun for almost a year I have learned exactly how to manage it. I realised after the next few tries that it was going to take a while to get used to it and I watched lots of you tube videos and tried various different primers and concealer and now I wouldn’t be without it for bridal work.

What I quickly realised with the foundation is that every other product you use in conjunction with it needs to be water based as well. Such as primers, concealers, highlighters, powders. Anything else (such as silicone) doesn’t mix well with the foundation and eventually separates! Some great products I know work well are:

Primers: Laura Mercier Oil Free primer, Mac pre+prime primer, No7 oil free primer,

Concealers: Luminess Air Concealer, L’Oreal True Match Concealer, Mac Pro Longwear, Vichy Dermablend, Mac Studiofix Concealer.

Powders: Laura Mercier loose powder, Mac Prep+Prime loose powder, Ben Nye Banana powder, Silkcorn, Clinique loose powder

Highlighter: Mac Shapewear in Emphasize, Mac Vanilla Pigment

The finish the Luminess Air gives is beautiful. It leaves skin glowing, natural, flawless and even. Certain tricks I’ve found gives a better finish such as applying concealer first where needed, not airbrushing on the eye area as this sits in fine lines around the eyes and makes the area look dry and wrinkly and not using airbrushing on more mature skins. Again it makes lines and wrinkles more emphasized. Also allowing the Luminess Air to dry completely before applying powder really makes all the difference. I usually apply the foundation and then move onto the eyes before coming back to the skin to powder. Also you need to only apply the lightest pressure on the trigger and always, always keep the gun moving. The finer the mist and the more you move the gun, the better the end result.

The application time is increased in my view from traditional foundation by around 10 mins, but it’s cleaner and more hygienic as the Luminess Air gun never touches the skin and it photographs so well that it knocks all my other foundations out of the water. It’s also water based which means that its not clogging your skin the way silicone foundations do and it allows your skin to breath, which is great for girlies with problem skin.

The only downsides to the gun with me is that i still cannot apply the eyeshadows, blush and bronzer correctly, but this isnt such a big dealbreaker for me as I would much rather use traditional powders as I believe they would give a better finish, but I guess some people would want the whole hog with this.

Due to the application times, I just wouldn’t have the time to apply this to myself every morning (but wish I could!) so I use this for nights out or special occasions so please check it out and if you want to see some of the end results using the Luminess Air check out my gallery on my website www.herefordbridalbeauty.moonfruit.com or here is an example of a vintage look done on myself!

I bought the kit from the UK Luminess Air website but ive noticed that the make up itself is very expensive (£34 per foundation) on there, so I buy the make up form the US Luminess Air website www.luminessair.com. The shipping is $10 which is about £6 when you spend over $50 (about £30) on the site, which is great. The foundations on the US site are about £12 and they always have some sort of promotion on which is also great. Overall I’m very pleased with adding this onto my bridal work and I know my clients love it.