I Wanna Be An MUA: Kevin James Bennett Edition Part 3! *pic heavy*

Earlier this year I set out to condense my kit and I was pretty happy with the results, but I didnt stop there.  As you see in that earlier post I had my eye on the prize, fitting my kit into the ZUCA Artist Backpack and guess what?  I DID IT!  Check me out:

So this is everything I can fit in my kit (you cant see everything in this pic though)

in this pic you see the open front of the ZUCA which houses my disposables and skin prep items, the silver spray bottle is my brush cleaner, next to that is my lash kit, below that is my roll up where I keep all liners, shadow sticks, odd shaped lip products, mascaras, peeking in the corner are the removable ZUCA pouches (LOVE!), my Graftobian foundation palettes (LOVE!), rounding back up is my mirror and on top of that is makeup setting spray, Altoids, liquid bandage, first aid kit, aloe vera gel, and face wipes, and you can see some of my brushes peeking also

so here in plain view are my 2 ZUCA pouches that came with the backpack, in one I keep face powders including bronzer, blush, and my Graftobian foundation palette (which got major use in class by KJB himself, yay me!), the other pouch houses eye shadow, pigments and palettes, under that you see my Graftobian lip palette and correcting wheel (LOVE) and again my Graftobian foundation palettes (as you can see I have all three, definitely recommended to my fellow MUAs)

close up of the flap with the disposables and skin prep stuff

packed all up again, the right flap is where I keep first aid stuff and my hair stuff.  That right side has a thermal pocket where I keep my Solano flat iron, you can put it in there and not worry about it melting anything, awesome.

another view, now with the brushes, and mirror in place

the left bottom pocket is where I keep my Graftobian face palettes and corrector wheel.  I put lip products in the top pocket.

See?

All packed up!

This is the only other thing I take with me (other than my chair which is always in the car, but in case you are wondering its simple a wooden director's chair I picked up from Pier 1 imports), its my Ott-Lite that can clamp onto my chair and I keep it in my awesome bag I got from The Artist Summit (shout out to the Powder Group!) about 2 1/2 years ago.  I only take it if I know I will be in an area without a great light source because it mimicks natural light.  I got my Ott-Lite from Michael's Arts and Crafts.

So here I am all proud that I got everything in this little backpack.  Its so much easier to get around now, yada yada blah.  I go to class with Kevin James Bennett and people have these massive kits so I am feeling good about my condensing efforts...that is until I see this:

This my friends is the ENTIRE kit of the amazing Kevin James Bennett *cue Joe Cocker belting out 'You Are So Beautiful'*

 Here are his brushes and when you fold the top flap back it props it up for easy access to the brushes (dont go trying to find this baby just yet, believe me I grilled him about it and I have spent way too much time trying to locate it-the company is no longer in business BUT I hopefully convinced him to try to get it duped-are you listening Kevin?  I didnt forget!  LOL)

And THIS is what he fits it all in!  Yes I know, pick your jaw up.  Its like a lap top bag...for a working artist...who travels constantly...working on celebs, doing film, tv, magazine covers, keynote seminars, teaching classes, yes my friends, this is what he keeps his kit in.  *smh*

So you know what this means right?  This is now my quest, to be able to fit my kit into a laptop bag.  Kevin explained to us that most products are multi-functional.  You dont need to carry 10 blushes, 10 different shades of brown shadow, 15 different pink and red lipsticks.  Less is more, and when a client sees you walk in with that tiny kit but you bang out the talent like you had a massive rolling case, you will look like a rock star.  No one cares about your MAC this, your Smashbox that, your NARS this, your MUFE that - they just want to know you can do the work.  Also, not bragging about the names in your kit can cut down on kit theft.  

Hope this helps!