The Basics of Air Brushing
I am no expert in this field nor do I pretend to be but the following information is just stuff that I learn through use and via videos. If I like something, I try to find out more about it and also experiment with the process.
Airbrushing is all about the air pressure or PSI (pound per square inch). I don't know what the PSI is on this Temptu Airbrush Makeup System but I am guessing for the face it would be about 12PSI or less, any higher and it would be ideal for body makeup. Full body would require a more rugged machine, this one is just a face and spot covering on the body.
Airbrushing forces a mist of air to spray out little dots of color out of the nozzle. Low PSI makes a soft mist; higher makes a stronger mist. (shown in pictures and illustration).
When applying onto the face, you want to point the airgun downward (which it is already designed but make sure your hand isn't pointing upward) because you want the mist to drop onto the face, then go in a circular motion to ensure coverage. Yes, there is a little hole in the middle but once you do it many times it gets covered up.
You also want to the gun, at least, 4" to 6" away from the face. Once you get used to this, you will know how far to place it by the feel of the air pressure.
The Trigger and The Dial
You can see from the pictures (above) that the Dial is what controls the amount of air that comes out and the Trigger is the fine tuning mechanism, kinda like fine tuning a channel on a television. Determine what you are using first. Let's say it is a foundation. Pretty much the dial should be set at the "start" mark. The PSI is enough to allow a sheer to close to medium coverage. Remember, less is more; it is better to do a sheer layer and build up than to start with one full coverage layer because you can always add but subtracting means starting all over. Less air pressure would be used for blushes and highlighters; mostly when you want that touch of color or glow and more would be used for coverage of a tattoo.
Like I mentioned, the Trigger is the fine tuning mechanism of the airbrush, it will control short bursts of air for times when you need just that little adjustment within the air pressure that you are using. For example (I learned this from JP McCary's Temptu tutorial on MUAtv), let's say you have a blemish and want more coverage; you can stipple by moving the trigger back and forth. You are basically doing the same stippling method of bouncing the sponge onto the skin only here you are doing it with air. You are allowing short bursts of color to layer onto the skin for a more natural coverage. If you just let the airgun go and concentrate on that area with one continuous flow of color, you would have a large opaque dot of foundation which could easily be seen by human eyes and not to mention digital and HDTV cameras.
Here, I show the difference with a blush instead of foundation so you can see the difference more clearly.
You can see clearly that the stippling does disperse the color more evenly and the edges fade out. In the non-stippled pictured, it just looks like a huge glaring dot which would bring more attention to the blemish that you are trying to hide.
I am going to have to cut this post into another part since it will get quite long. The next one will concentrate on tips for a better application and to make the finished look more like your skin.
*Air Pod Foundation were gratis
**Airbrush Makeup System were bought by me
