Click Here to return to Retail Airbrush BLOG

For us, Halloween has become one of the most busy money makers we would never have imagined. I know, I know… what does “Halloween Make-up” have to do with running an airbrush shop? Well, on the surface it has nothing to do with it, but if you take a minute and explore further you will discover that the airbrush and the makeup industry have a lot in common. With the rising popularity of make-up shows such as Face Off and Skin Wars which feature the use of the airbrush in doing special effects makeup. These shows and others like them have just pushed the airbrush into yet one more “main stream” segment of society that has allowed artists who are willing to apply this to their business to take advantage of yet another money maker.

Lets take you back for a second to how this connection started for our studio 30 years ago…

In the Fall of 1994 We had been in business for barely 3 years. At the time one of our artists Jodi Morgan-Byrne was also working as a make-up artist at “Glamour Shot” in one of the local Malls. Glamour Shots was a photography studio that any person could walk in and get the “Model Treatment” by getting make-up, wardrobe and professionally taken photographs. On this particular day Jodi answers the phone and it’s one of the local newspapers calling various places about ideas on Halloween makeup. So they asked her if they ever get anyone in Glamour Shots doing Halloween photoshoots. She said yes, but even better, proceeded to tell her about Anything Airbrushed and how we do Airbrushed Halloween make-up. When the conversation ended she immediately called us to tell us that the newspaper will be calling to ask questions.

Now keep in mind that up to this point we only did make-up on ourselves and close family and friends….not the general public as a whole. However that all changed when the article hit the paper and our phone has been constantly ringing at this time of year ever since. Over the years we have been featured in numerous newspaper articles, have appeared on local TV numerous times, been featured on the radio numerous times and social media has made it even easier to promote.

Offering this service has not only made us money over the years, more importantly it has given us exposure we would never have otherwise gotten and therefore has put our name out there for people to hear not only for make-up but for all things airbrushed and therefore has helped increase our everyday business.

One of many newspaper articles about our Halloween Make-up

So you are probably wondering how did we know what to do? The short answer is we didn’t, but with Jodi being a make-up artist she showed us the basics and then it was all practice, trial and error, research and repeat. These days its extremely easy to google “How to’s on Halloween makeup. Back in 1994….not so much.

Your next question is, How do I get started doing this? The first thing you are going to want to do is check on any local or state regulations on doing make-up. While we believe that no state has any regulations about a person doing halloween makeup, most have laws about making money from doing halloween makeup without some sort of license. You can find out by calling your local Board of health.

Second you will want to have insurance to cover your butt just in case something should go wrong. Check with your insurance agent about whether or not you are covered for doing make-up or body painting. In most cases your general liability insurance will NOT cover you and you will need a supplemental insurance plan just for make-up and body painting. We recommend. https://www.insurebodywork.com/ they are very inexpensive at about $150 a year for coverage.

Artist Lisa Cai putting on final touched of a Zombie.

Now, what about supplies? First lets start with this one most important thing….DO NOT USE AIRBRUSH PAINT!!!…NO Createx, NO Aqua Flow NO ETAC…these products are NOT for skin. There, we said it, we warned you, now it’s completely up to

you if you want got do the right thing or not.

So what should you use?…Makeup…Duh!….NOT Acrylic paint. So here are a few brands that we recommend.

https://mehron.com This is the brand that we most highly recommend. The basic liquid make-up is inexpensive, water based, has good staying power and is easily washed off. Most local theatrical supply stores will at least carry the basic colors.

https://performancemakeup.com/ EBA or European Body Art is our second favorite brand. They have a water based liquid makeup called VODA and an alcohol based makeup called ENDURA(which is for more longer lasting situations like temporary airbrushed tattoo). This brand became popular with the TV shows Face Off and Skin Wars.

http://www.michaeldavy.com/ This is our favorite brand for longer lasting temporary tattoos and make-up/body art situations.

https://sillyfarm.com/ Is a good one stop place for most of your makeup/body art needs.

As far as actually getting started, we are not going to go into a step by step in this article. That is something that has already been done for us in the ways of YouTube and Google. So do your searches for the simple(and not so simple) “How To’s. on Halloween Makeup. What we will cover is some of the most basic things you need to know.

First….DO NOT USE AIRBRUSH PAINTS!…as was explained above.

Second, Air pressure, You will want to reduce your air pressure when using the airbrush on skin to no more that 35psi….in most cases you will probably shoot between 15-25psi. Do NOT shoot at the 60-80 psi that you would normally paint a t-shirt or a car.

Squeezing the hose to reduce air pressure helps not having to adjust the every day pressure on your compressor.

Now, here is a “pro-tip” Since we have multiple artists working at the same time during the Halloween Makeup craziness and we are all running off the same compressor, and since 2 may be doing make-up and another may be finishing up a t-shirt order or panting a prop. Both of these situations require different air pressures. Depending on you set up, you can ether run separate lines that have their own regulators at the end so one line may be set to put out 20psi and the other is putting out 70psi…or…We teach our artists how to airbrush while also “crimping” the hose to reduce the air pressure.(see picture) This allows the compressor to be set at 70psi(which is our normal, everyday setting) but each artist can reduce the pressure by just squeezing their individual hose thus reducing their pressure only. This takes practice but is a very good way to temporarily control your air-pressure when needed.

Third, practice, practice practice. This is the fun part. Find family and friends that are willing to let you experiment on them. Start with the basics like zombies, skulls, clowns etc… then move into some more intricate make-ups.

Fourth, Not everything has to be done with an airbrush. Do not be afraid to pick up a paint brush for finer details. Its OK to use a paint brush, it’s not cheating…lol. Also, stencils are allowed, do not think that having stencils for teeth, fur, eyebrows etc…is cheating, its not. They are just more tools to help get the job done in the best way possible for the best results.

Lastly, What should you charge? As with all things pricing, this may depend on your area. However, we are firm believers that most artists can get MORE than they think no matter what part of the country you are in. If you are in a more “lower income” area yet are the ONLY airbrush artist, then you can set the price as high as you want(to a degree) and people WILL pay. On the other hand, if you are in the same “lower income” area with a lot of competition then it is the quality of your work compared to the others that should set your prices. Better yet, you should talk to the other artists, compare prices and work out a price system that benefits ALL and does not cause any “price wars”. In reality this holds true for ALL things airbrushed…not just make-up. Listen to your customers, compare the number of times you hear "$15.00?…is that all?”…compared to “$15!! are you crazy?” and adjust accordingly. We guarantee from years of experience you will hear more of the “is that all?” then you will “are you crazy?”.

Once you get comfortable enough, you should be able to knock out a basic skull, zombie, clown in about 10-15 minutes. at about $15-$30 each. More intricate make-ups can take 30-45 minutes at about $25-$45 each. Face and upper torsos can go from $50-$100 taking about 30min-1hour. Full bodies about an hour or two at about $100-$300.

So, you now have some of the most basic information you need to decide on offering make-up or not. As was mentioned above, while adding halloween make-up to your services WILL make you money, it’s not the only thing it will do for you. It will increase everyday business by exposing your business to more people.

Be sure to check out our Halloween Make-up and Body Art pages on our website.

So get out there and mess with some faces this Halloween.

As always please leave any questions or comments or feel free to contact us at 513-671-0758 artist@anythingairbrushed.com