Tickled Pink Airbrush Cosmetics is a family owned and operated company based in Oregon with a very simple mission: to provide an affordable airbrush system that the average person can purchase and to keep the makeup prices reasonable without sacrificing quality, all the while treating customers the way we ourselves would like to be treated.
Having read this, I was expecting a nice experience with this company. What I wasn't expecting is that I would find one of the best water based formulas I ever had a chance to try, and as you know I have tried many, if not all of them. Let's get started...
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| 100% Tickled Pink Airbrush Makeup |
Ticked Pink was founded in 2008 by Kathy and Patrick Tope. The company has office in Salem and a lab in Portland, and employs pretty much the whole Tope family in various capacities. From their start as a local business, Tickled Pink built a growing online presence thanks to their website and Amazon store. The family business approach still pervades their policies, and hopefully always will, as it offers customers some unique advantages: this is the only brand I know of to offer a lifetime warranty on their airbrushes and a two year warranty on their compressor. A licensed esthetician is also on payroll to assist the customers indefinitely with any concern they may have about the product. In 2018 Tickled Pink started a general re-branding an an update of their website that is still ongoing at the time of writing, and that will doubtlessly allow them to reach an even broader audience.
The Makeup
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| 100% Tickled Pink Airbrush Makeup |
Tickled Pink started out by offering a water based line of airbrush foundation. As the company grew, more colors and products were added to the line, from concealers to blushers and eyeshadows. Today they offer a comprehensive catalogue of skincare, traditional makeup products and tools together with an airbrush tanning product, however my curiosity peaked when I heard of the addition of a whole line of Aloe Vera based airbrush cosmetics. This product is unique on the airbrush makeup market. While other brands offer natural based formulas, none of them as far as I know has Aloe Vera as their first ingredient. I received an extensive sampler of foundation shades to try, together with some blush, bronzer, highlighter and eyeshadow colors which are also all Aloe based, and you can see them all being used in the enclosed video tutorial. I have already given away my verdict at the beginning of this review, but it bears repeating: the foundation formula is extraordinary. Its finish is so soft that you can hardly see it being applied. It almost literally fuses with your skin with zero texture, not even in the finer lines around the eyes, yet it covers unevenness and blemishes very efficiently and once set it is as durable as the any of the best airbrush formulas. The Aloe base gives it a wonderful intrinsic glow that recreates the appearance of supple, healthy skin rather than makeup. If you are a fan of matte formulas however, all you need to do is apply a thin veil of HD powder and you will inhibit any unwanted dewiness. The finish of the product is so natural that it looks perfectly undetectable even on a man, and its "softness" makes it particularly easy to use for beginners as it less prone to creating hot spots or visible accumulations on the face. Such a high presence of Aloe makes this foundation a hybrid between makeup and skin care, leaving your skin actually better than it found it when you take it off. As for other ingredients, the formula is 89% organic and totally animal free. It actually reminds me a lot of my favorite airbrush foundation of all time, the legendary OCC line which was discontinued several years ago to everyone's dismay. The names of the foundation colors are all inspired by different kinds of coffee, but the website doesn't yet offer a clear guideline for shade selection, something I am sure will be fixed as soon as the full site update rolls out. In the meantime you can use our swatch photo at the bottom to have an idea, and I would suggest getting sampler packs (available in Fair, Light/Medium, Medium or Dark) to have more mixing options. Another amazing feature of this product is its price. At a very honest U$ 19.95 for one ounce, you simply must give this a try.
As far as the other products in the Aloe line, the bronzer, blush and highlighter colors are all very subtle and help creating a perfectly natural to undetectable makeup. When it comes to eyeshadows, the colors are again lightly pigmented and very easy to blend, but in this case the aloe element renders them a little unstable, with a glossy finish that has a very interesting editorial aspect but does not necessarily help stability. You can still have lots of fun with them by taking a little care: spray very lightly, dry with air after application, and apply a light veil of HD powder to set.
The Kit
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| Tickled Pink Airbrush Cosmetics Kit |
Tickled Pink kits come in several reasonably priced kit combinations, all offering the same compressor and airbrush with a De Luxe option also offering a tanning airbrush. The compressor is very light and quiet, and features three pressure settings. Its maximum output is 18-20 PSI which is what is needed for the Tickled Pink formulas. It is very easy to use and very suitable for a beginner airbrusher, especially for personal use. The continuous flow Airbrush all stainless steel and once again works great with the Tickled Pink makeup. Buildups are very easy to clean with minimal maintenance, and as I mentioned earlier the airbrush benefits from an incredible lifetime warranty by the company. All the kits come with samples of Airbrush Cleaner, Water Proof Sealer and Airbrush Moisturizer. I would definitely advise you to buy a full size bottle of cleaner as an add on from the start. Another complement you may not want to miss is the Flawless Finish setting powder, a very fine HD powder made up of cosmetic silica only, unlike others which often feature needless ingredients.
I look forward to working some more with this line, and I look forward to the complete update of the website. In the meantime the Aloe Foundation will take a very prominent spot on my busy desk...
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| Tickled Pink Airbrush Foundations Swatches |
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| Tickled Pink Airbrush Colors Swatches |
