7 Products Hollywood Makeup Artists Actually Keep in Their Own Kits

The name came up in five of our seven interviews before we even finished the question. Artists sheer it out for daytime press and build it under set lights; it photographs like skin because it basically behaves like skin. One artist told us she has decanted it into every kit she owns.

A muted rose that works on nearly every client, which is exactly why it lives in pro kits. The stick format means it can be applied with fingers in the back of a car — and, per one artist, frequently is. It melts in instead of sitting on top.

Pros warm the tube on the back of the hand for thirty seconds before brushing it through — a trick we heard from two separate artists. The hold lasts a full press day without the laminated look going stiff under flash photography.

The balm format is the secret: artists press it into smile lines and the forehead before base, and it keeps makeup from settling for hours. Several artists said it's the product they reach for first on clients over forty — and quietly on themselves.

The mist is so fine it reads as humidity rather than spray, which matters when you're setting a face that still needs to move on camera. Artists hold it at arm's length and let the face fall into it. One called it 'the difference between makeup and a mask.'

A tubing-style formula that comes off with warm water and nothing else. Artists love it for long shoot days because it doesn't drop pigment onto concealer, and clients love it because it survives tears at award shows. Both things came up, unprompted.

Goes on at the start of glam, gets blotted off right before lipstick. It smooths flakes without making color slide, which is the entire trick behind those perfectly worn-in red carpet lips. Two artists admitted they keep a second tube in their own handbags.