The Makeup Insider
The Makeup Insider is a fortnightly one-on-one podcast exploring the life and career of makeup artists, hosted by freelance mua Vanessa Barney.. Finding your community of other likeminded mua’s – the creative, artistic, talkative, flexible, adaptable with a good eye for colour kind-of-people, can often be daunting. Like, where do you start? The Makeup Insider is designed for just that. To build a collaborative online community of artists to build their confidence, connections and help drive their career to the next level.If you’re just starting out or have been in the industry for a long time, tune in now, check out the key takeaways in the show notes and subscribe so you never miss an episode. Find Vanessa @vanessabarney @the.makeupinsider
The Makeup Insider
Condensing Your Makeup Kit: Streamlining for Elegance with Susan Lilian from Smith Kit
Explore the process of transitioning from clutter to clarity in your makeup collection, including depotting techniques, the debate over repressing powders, and the significance of a tidy workspace.
- Navigate product selection and organisation with Susan's expert guidance.
- Explore depotting techniques, the repressing powders debate, and the importance of a tidy workspace.
- A must listen if you are considering condensing you kit.
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Hi and welcome to the Makeup Insider. I'm your host, vanessa Barney, makeup artist, hairdresser, educator and all-round beauty junkie. If you've ever felt lost or lonely in your makeup career, this podcast is for you. I'm here to interview makeup artists and other industry professionals, to give guidance and be the mentor I needed early in my career. With a new episode every Tuesday, don't forget to hit subscribe so you don't miss a trick, and if you like what you hear, please rate and leave a comment. I hope you enjoy. I'm joined today by the fabulous Susan Lillian and we are going to talk all things kit condensing. Thank you for joining me again.
Speaker 2:Thanks for having me back. It's like we never left it is.
Speaker 1:So you have the fabulous brand Smith Kit. Tell me about that tell me about that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so Smith Kit came about three years ago and it is a really high quality. I'll reach for them as I explain to you. So it's a high magnetic palette. It has a strong magnetic base. It has a really gorgeous glossy, high-end acrylic finish just on the front and they lay flat. So so you know, I really wanted to make something for the industry that people were really happy to decant and ruin their beautiful Chanel products or their, um, you know, high-end Dior products and and have them lay on the table.
Speaker 2:And you know, it came from the frustration of just not having palettes in front of me that were high quality and I just couldn't lay them flat on my table and be proud to show them and showcase them. So this is why I wanted to make really high quality. I just couldn't find anything that was of quality. Yeah, so that's my Creative Smith gift.
Speaker 1:Beautiful. Now also, while we're on the topic of the products, there's the two different size pens is that what you'd call them that go into the kit. Yeah, yep, two, two different size. So let's just when you, I'm just gonna get them out. There's the little, the little baby ones, and then the other is is the other one double the size, pretty much, yes.
Speaker 2:The other one is double the size, it's a little bit longer. So I use the baby ones for my lips. But you can do whatever you want. That's the beauty of customization. Yeah, so the larger ones. So these are the little ones. But to give you an example, I have a concealer in one palette and then I have my lipsticks in the other, and then for the larger pan I use for my blushes. But really do what you want. You know there's no wrong. And then they have a beautiful latch to the front so they'll never open in your kit. Their strong, magnetic base won't let them come out.
Speaker 1:So I want to just talk about an experience I had when it came to kit condensing and I'd love to hear about how you could help like to make this work better. So I kit condensed and I bought all these palettes right and then when I got them and I was condensing, I realized I needed more, like I realized I didn't plan it out. So I would love to know have you got any approach to kick condensing and, you know, planning it out so it can run smoothly, cause it's it's quite, it can be quite a tiresome like it takes time, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure. So once you do it, you're going to be so happy. You did it and took the time. Like any like any good thing, it takes time to condense your kit and you might do it slowly so that you don't feel so overwhelmed, and that's why I have many people actually ordering one palette a week.
Speaker 2:This is how it works sometimes yeah, so they use it and they go oh my God, I need another for another thing. But you know and that's the beauty about being an Australian brand and that's why I wanted to bring a really high quality palette to australia because if you wanted to order the following week or you know, and you need all you needed at the next day, as you received it the next day, yes, you could just order again, so you didn't have to wait for international shipping. If that was the case that you kind of thought I'm missing something, but the best way to go about it is, if you're someone that's quite organized, you'll lay out all your lipsticks, you'll lay out all your you know your favorite lipsticks that you think you'll use. You'll color coordinate them first, and then you'll do the same with blushes and and so on, so forth, and then you order the palettes that you want them to fit in. So, for example, I knew that I always wanted my medium palettes to have my blushes and my lipsticks and these were going to go into my kit that's my case kit, which is just that little suitcase that you put onto the table that opens up and I knew I wanted them to be easily accessible versus my larger palettes are going to go into my suitcase in a bag. So you know, anything that I wanted to reach for I would lay out first, I would plan that and I would color code them and then I would, if I was you, order based on on that.
Speaker 2:But it's just it's. That takes a lot of time in itself. So I would just recommend you buy a bunch of palettes. Start somewhere, because it's really daunting and it can actually hinder you even doing all that planning. To start to make a start, just buy a couple of palettes, see how you like them, touch and feel the quality in your friend's kits, promise you'll love it and then just buy a couple and then, if you need more, a hundred percent, just order, and if you're around sorry hills area, I drop it off for you okay, um, can I just look at your ones again?
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah please, for sure so so can I look at the lip and the cheek one to start with? Yes, yes okay, because this is just questions I would have okay. So we've got the little bubble ones is lip, yeah, and the bigger ones blusher, all right these are my key lipsticks, so I have a few ones. Okay. So how many little bubble ones, the little, the little baby um pans fit into that large one?
Speaker 2:uh, okay, so it is one, two, three, four.
Speaker 1:Sorry, give me a no, that's okay, let me go on the website just to give, just to give a bit of an idea I just don't want to get it wrong.
Speaker 2:Oh my, my mistake is 24 24.
Speaker 1:Okay, so so 24 of the little bubble ones.
Speaker 2:Yes, 24 into the small. I'm just going to go on the website because I just want to get it right for you.
Speaker 1:Oh, so you have all that on the website. Yes, yeah, oh, amazing, just so you know exactly what to get.
Speaker 2:So in this, yeah, just to make sure, because otherwise you don't know what to order and you don't know, yeah, it just. It really takes the pressure off having to count yourself. So if you're getting the small bubble ones, the small palette holds one pack. The medium palette holds two packs. So this palette here holds 24, this palette here holds 44 and the large palette holds 96. And it tells you how many packs you have to purchase to fill that in.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you've got that on the website. And then the little packs.
Speaker 2:I didn't want to get one number wrong for you.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's all right and then the packs that you. They have the numbers on the back.
Speaker 2:Yes, and that's for me really as well, because how am I going to tell the difference? But yes, it says 24 and it tells you small, and then it tells you 12 for the large. But yeah, it's super straightforward on the website. It tells you how many packs that you need and what sizes they are. Okay.
Speaker 1:So just go to the plans, and then you can put eyeshadows in these as well, yeah, or you can even put eyeshadows in these ones.
Speaker 2:Right, I've just depotted the brand new makeup forever hd powders into them. Oh, okay just fabulous. So let me just pop that open for you. So again, you know I made them so that the latch uh was so you want to actually open them from the side.
Speaker 2:Yeah that's good and that will pop open easily every time. But yeah, these are the powders inside, and then I have filled my large kit. This is for Fashion Week, actually, so I've already been using it and abusing it, but these are all the shades that I'm going to predominantly be using for the shows. We've got our sculpting powders and our blushes. So this is how I've laid it out, and I'm going to just lay it out on the table and I feel really confident because it's like a high-end looking palette.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they do look great actually. Yeah, I think they look beautiful and they feel really sturdy as well.
Speaker 2:That's it. Like, no flimsy, like you just want that stunning, glossy packaging. You don't want this part here to be thin, you want to have a little bit of girth to it and that really will help any scratches. It just will help continue that glossy, high-end finish and then you can actually just label at the front if you want.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then when you've got them, then you can actually just label at the front if you want, yeah, and then when yeah, when they've got them, then you can see it up upright. Now you did mention something, I don't know. I don't know if we've talked about it um to like in this episode, but about the fact that they lay flat yes, yeah, um.
Speaker 2:So as I was speaking in our other podcast, I was telling you about how it was really such a struggle to speak to the factories and get them to make me a palette to lay flat, because the other palettes that I've used before don't lay flat. So what happens is when you have a palette that doesn't lay all the way flat, you actually have that sun and light going through it because it's sitting up and it showcases all the scratches and that to a client, it just doesn't look fabulous and of course you don't want to highlight the scratches, um, and of course you want to save some space, so you're going to actually stack them on top of each other, um, like so yeah, that looks great, yeah, and they'll lay flat onto the table. So just save space and it looks really curated and looks stunning um with?
Speaker 1:have you got any tips for when you're um decanting your cream products? Do you? Oh my gosh?
Speaker 2:yes, yes, it's all about your tools. So, okay, tools, but everyone's tools are different. So, yeah, you have to just search for the tools that are thin enough to, um, you know, reach in and between and like little scalpels and things like little tools. The z palette um. The z palette one is phenomenal, um what's it called?
Speaker 2:like a spatula spatula, sorry I don't know that name always leaves my brain it's a spatula, okay, uh, yeah, so that one is, I find, the best to actually wedge into um, you know, getting the creams out or getting your products out of their packaging. But my biggest recommendation for creams is not to melt them it really messes with the integrity of the product but to actually press them in, and you always keep the product as it was intended. But, of course, if you're someone that melts them, that's fine. It's really up to you. If you don't see the difference, but I've melted some of mine and, yeah, they've never been the same since. And you know what With customising your kit, like there's no rules, there's just suggestions and trial and errors that maybe another artist has made.
Speaker 1:Yeah, any um tips for when it comes to getting like those powders out, for example, the ones, the makeup forever ones that you've just done.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, so the makeup forever ones like we're lucky to be, you know, uh, to have beautiful brands like makeup forever, natasha, denona and they actually are made for makeup artists. So they know makeup artists are going to depot and put into magnetic palettes. So they actually either have holes at the back where you can just put the pin through and the so they know makeup artists are going to depot and put into magnetic palettes. So they actually either have holes at the back where you can just put the pin through and the product easily comes out. There's no glue and Makeup Forever actually had I've got them over there. It's too far from me to reach, but they're new products for blushes and highlighters. They open up and they have a second lid that you easily open up and it's not glued. So you can actually just you know, I think that's a megabyte of stream, especially time poor. Oh my gosh. Just get brands that will just easily come out.
Speaker 2:Otherwise, get yourself a Z Potter, it is the best investment you will make. Or if you need to borrow, just hit me up. Borrow mine. I'm always lending mine out anyway, cause you know, I think it's a I don't know, I think there they're about like 200, I can't remember. But um, it's an investment. If you don't want to make it, just borrow a friend's. But it is a hot plate that is made for melting the glue from a palette, so you can actually easily pop it out, depot it and put into a palette okay, because I've um, I've done the oven thing a little bit and, uh yeah, ruined a few products yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, and that's the thing.
Speaker 2:Like you start doing it rogue and you're like fuck, and I started tried the hair straightener no, like I've burned myself like it's and some people have great success doing it still, but I think they're a little less clumsy than I am perhaps, yeah, actually, I forgot about the hair straightener.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I wish, I wish I had just invested in the um, the Z, the hot plate.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, no, you can use mine anytime, it's just in the room, oh cool Now.
Speaker 1:have you had any experience repressing powders?
Speaker 2:yeah. So I personally haven't repressed and I'm not going to repress. Yeah, but however so I have, I have um arguments for and against. So, yeah, do what you want. There is no rules. If it works for you, that's all that matters. That's what's beautiful about kit condensing and having a kit. Each kit looks so different for a reason. That's what pleases your eye and what works for your jobs. So I have a few friends that swear by repressing, and if you need any tips on how to repress, I'm actually going to create a mold for her. She's obsessed with the Smith Kit palettes and I said all right, I'm just going to make your mold so you can just start. She's like I need to repress, I need to repress. All right, I'll get a mold made. And if someone else wants a mold, hit me up, let me know, I'll send one to you. And so she is really a queen of pressing. She swears by it, she saves her time.
Speaker 2:I spoke to another friend. He is so upset with himself that he did it, because all his powders break along the way. Again, it is dependent on the formulas that you use. But he said he's ruined all his high-end products. And you know, the big teller for me was when I spoke to I had training with Grishan for condensing If you don't know who Grishan is, she's like the queen of kid condensing she is and so I spoke to her and asked her you repress, what's your take on that? And in her office she actually only represses broken palettes and broken products. She doesn't repress otherwise. So, um, I think the variables are so high that if I'm in risk management, I'm not taking the risk with my beautiful products. But again, it's worked for so many people. Some people swear by it.
Speaker 2:So take the risk if you want to. It's up to you.
Speaker 1:I'm someone I'm not going to go down the repressing route only really just due to laziness. I don't know if laziness is the right thing.
Speaker 2:No, I just would never dedicate that time. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:But good on you if you do Like some of those repressed palettes they're sexy they are. But one thing, because I've been flying a lot for work. The one thing I have found is that products that are in the palettes that they're originally in they don't tend to shatter, whereas something that's maybe out of their original packaging does. So I figure I'm just like, oh, if I had all this repressed stuff, would it be a little bit more risky? Look, that's just me making things up.
Speaker 2:No, it is a risk, but risk, but again, it has brought great reward to some artists, exactly. So if you want to try it and if you love and swear by it, hey, share your secrets. What are your secrets?
Speaker 1:oh, yeah, share your secrets and like, yeah, put a store, like, show us it. I love looking at people's kit condensing it's oh yeah, it's so fun to so great to look at other people's kits eye candy for sure. So have you got any other tips before we go into a couple of questions, anything else that you can think of to think about before condensing your kit?
Speaker 2:oh uh, in terms of like, what to order what to order to have a hand. Yeah, what to have in hand yeah, what to think about, All right. So you need a really nice, clean table, because the amount of products that you're going to have everywhere it's going to fry your brain.
Speaker 2:So you have a clean table, have a plan of action, do one thing at a time. So if you're going to do lipsticks, just lipsticks first you've color-coded them and don't freak out if you haven't. Don't have them all in a row from light to dark, whatever. Throw them in as best you can and then figure it out next time. What you'll see is that your eye will get trained anyway and it'll just it'll know where everything is, so you won't have to, um, you know, do the lipsticks first, take time, have a lot of uh wipes with you, have a lot of um, you know, put your gloves on so you're not um, I guess, fingers, yeah, exactly, yeah, uh, and then take a break. After that, come back and then you can do your blushes next and then you can set them up.
Speaker 2:What I love to do is actually have a marker and I mark the back of the pan with the name of the of the color. Yeah, a lot of my friends actually use the brother printer and they print on top here. Um, but I haven't. I haven't needed to do it. I know exactly what the products are by the texture, by eye yeah and by memory.
Speaker 2:So I haven't had that. But also that's a really nice way. If you want to show your client what your brand, what beautiful brands that you're using, you can do it that way Other than that. So just have a game plan and make sure you're really clean. If you melt your pan, try and melt the glue using the Z-Potter. Have makeup remover there. Do you know Parisian parian spirit? Yeah, so get the parian spirit and then remove the glue that way right away. That's the biggest tip, so it actually doesn't ruin your magnetic palette as you're popping it in there. I've, I've accidentally done that and thought, oh my gosh, I'm so, I like, I know the, I know what to do, but I just forgot. And it, you know it does ruin the, the magnetic base. Um, it, oh, it ruins the magnetic base, it just stains it. Oh, okay.
Speaker 2:It just marks it. Marks, that's all. But yeah, so that would be. My biggest tip is just to remove the glue. Make sure you have the parian spirit is like the best thing to have. It has beautiful oil. Um, that will break it down really easily, uh, and and straight in it goes if you're a makeup artist and you don't have the parian spirit.
Speaker 1:Another product I found that's similar is that orange cleaner?
Speaker 2:yeah that's a good one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you can just get that from the supermarket. So if you're like, oh, I can't wait for the delivery, you can. I mean, well, we're safe calls. I'm pretty sure they all have that. So yeah, it's a similar sort of thing. Yeah, what do you do? You decant your loose powders at all.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm actually trialling out a new brand called To Be Cleaned. I don't know if it's a new brand, but it's a new product that they've sent me and it's just beautiful. It's actually, um, it's a gorgeous pink, small, um, I guess it's tub. It's a tub like a little tub, almost how they would originally come in, but a mini size, mini size. I love that. It's pink, it's stunning and I think it's just that perfect size. However, I also do use a lot of the muji bottles to store powders and store creams. Um, for my friends also get cream, get the bottles from amazon and they swear by them. So it really depends on again you as an artist. Do you like them to be more opaque, less opaque, more translucent, easier to squeeze, harder to squeeze? What is your?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. What was the brand that you said that the powder palettes, the powder thingies are from? Oh, to be cleaned, to be cleaned, okay, yeah, cause I use, I think, something similar to what you mentioned, but I'm not sure where I got them from.
Speaker 2:Yes, and they make an amazing brush. I think it's like a brush holder. How would I describe it? You can use it as a bin, or how. I use it for both. So I use it as a bin on set and then when my brushes uh like when I'm finished on set and I need to put my dirty brushes somewhere, I pop them inside the bin liner and then I close it and it's just phenomenal yeah, I think I've seen them on Instagram.
Speaker 1:Now that you mention it, I'll have to have a look. Is it like a zip up soft?
Speaker 2:pouch. Yeah, yeah, it's like a pouch. How would you describe it? Yeah, I don't know what it's made of. It's like a PVC patch, so it doesn't actually crush your brushes or dirty anything else. And I used to just put my dirty brushes into like pencil case or you know, yeah, but just to make sure that it doesn't touch anything else. But, uh, they're amazing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, great tip. Now I did have another question about melting down foundation and concealers. Um, do you have? Is that the same for you as with your lippies and your um blushes? Do you feel like compromises them as well, or?
Speaker 2:yeah, it does anything. That's a cream and that you melt down like the heat, the efficacy of the product changes. Like that's my opinion anyway. There are so many people that say who cares, or I don't think so, and so, yeah, it really depends on you, but my personal opinion is that what I have found when I've done that is that it's never the same.
Speaker 1:Okay cool, and someone's asked me what's the new product that's launching.
Speaker 2:I was telling you, remember? I was telling you it was right behind me. On that count, shit get them out of there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're launching a new product on the 13th of next month and that is the week of fashion week. So you'll see, I had to launch it because I'm gifting my artists. So thank you for joining me on the teams, one each and so they'll be using it. So I thought, oh shit, I've got to launch it before you know they show it. So it's launching on the Monday and it is a product that I've always wanted to have, a long palette.
Speaker 2:So I feel like, at the same time, my apologies, that's all right. A little Roomba vacuum wants to. Oh, your vacuum, that was my goal. I was like when I move out, I'm going to get a little Roomba vacuum that does its own thing. So, yeah, the product is um, it's coming out on the 13th and it's something that I've wanted to launch alongside with the pallets, but obviously I just I had to save money and it's a long process.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, this is going to come out um either the probably the 14th. So if you're listening to this, head to smith kit and have a look at the new product. It's exciting, yes is it backstage?
Speaker 2:yeah? Yeah but yeah, I've got a photo shoot for it tomorrow, so I'm super excited. And of course, I get to shoot with my friends, um and claire from acid flowers. So lucy's shooting um shooting it I keep almost going to say what it is Lucy's shooting it, and then Claire from Acid Flowers is actually doing the design with it, so she's going to just do her thing. She's awesome, I'm excited.
Speaker 1:Amazing. Now have you got any advice for someone who's maybe wanting to start a brand or develop a?
Speaker 2:product. Yes, 100% yes. So I encourage anybody that has an idea, please put it to pen and paper, but go and try and make it a reality and just do it the way that I ensured that I reached my goal of actually going through with creating the palette, developing it and so many times I wanted to quit, so many times. There's always obstacles 24-7 with factories and working with design teams. They want to say no to everything. So you just have to push. But you know, I really found that it was so worth doing. I actually never used any other palette within my kit for three years. I didn't downsize it for three years. Do you know how hard that was? And that kept me accountable to then launch the product. So then go. Okay, that's my sweet, sweet prize is to actually be able to use it.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, I was torturing myself just to keep accountable and make sure I launched it, but I think there's so many incredible ideas out there and there's so much to be made and that we lack and we need in Australia, especially from Australian artists People. When they knew I launched this, all I could hear was people telling me their ideas of like I always wanted to launch this. I always wanted to launch that. You know, as soon as you launch something, people are like inspired. But I want to just urge you to do it and just take that from pen and paper and make it reality. And if you need any advice or if you need any contacts, just contact me. It took me a few. It took me a whole year to get a contact that would work for me. So if I can help cut down that time for you, I have all the info for you of sourcing agencies and stuff like that. But I think it's pivotal that we have people in this industry creating for us.
Speaker 1:That's so kind of you to offer your contact list.
Speaker 2:Oh, I wish someone did it for me, so I'll do it for you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure, for sure. Well, congratulations on Smith Kit. It is a beautiful product and I'm still in the planning process of what I'm going to put into mine. But I think now, after talking to you, I'm inspired, like, I'm like okay, so I'm like can you show me those ones again? Take the leap, take the leap.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, just throw yourself in there and even do one one a week. It doesn't have to be like, okay, I'm gonna give up my whole afternoon. Don't even put that pressure on. And also put us up. Put a show on, like behind me, I always have something I'm watching, um, and so it makes it less meticulous it's relaxing, it's relaxing see it yeah, see it as like some therapy rather than like a chore, I think.
Speaker 1:I think that's what I need to do. Thank you so much, susan. I'm excited to see what this next product is, and I'm excited to see you know where Smith Kit goes. So congratulations.
Speaker 2:You'll be getting one in the mail, so I'm just so appreciative of your support and that you had me on your beautiful podcast. Thank you for your time. Oh, thank you.
Speaker 1:Can't wait to see it.
Speaker 2:Great Thanks, girl.
Speaker 1:Thanks for joining me today on the Makeup Insider. I hope you've enjoyed the show. Please don't forget to rate and subscribe, and I'll see you soon. Bye for now.