Airbrush & Compressor

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Emily9

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Hi Everyone,

I'm looking for abit of help and advice on the above, after searching it and reading the threads i'm still baffled but don't feel i've found the answer.

Is there a particular airbrush anyone reccomends? There seems to be alsorts of choices on english & american websites, i'm looking for one just to use on nails. If some one who knows there stuff on this i'd be very greatful for any insight.

What are the best quality airbrush paints brand? As i'm sure like when choosing a polish brand quality is eveything.

What do you reccomend using as a topcoat? I'm not sure if there's specific top coats for airbrushing rather than using topcoats for polish or if you can use top coats like Lumos etc. :confused:

I've been looking up airbrush courses and the only one i've found is a home learn dvd and i would much prefer hands on training so if i have any questions like the above i can have them answered. can anyone please point me in the right direction?

I like to do all my research on things before i start so any help anyone could give me would be wonderful.

Many Thanks

Emily
 
Hi Emily

there is a wide choice of airbrushes out there and i can understand your confusion.

Airbrush

First of all you need a double action airbrush as opposed to a single action. The reason is that it gives you better control over the paint.

I would recommend these companies as their airbrushes are quality made, reliable and spray evenly.

Iwata
Richpen
Harder and Steenbeck

There are many other popular makes but the inconsistencies in their engineering mean that there are differences in performance with each model when used straight from the box for the first time. With the three companies above, the quality and performance should always be the same.

The Richpen AB200 airbrush would be my choice as it is reasonably priced I think £63.

You will need a 0.2mm needle for spraying normal paints. For spraying pearls and irridescents you will have to dilute the paint a little with water but it's achievable.

This is one of the companies i know of that offer courses in nail art https://airbrushes.com/index.php?cPath=195_196

I'm sure there are plenty of others nearer to you, but you have to search the internet.

Paints

The paints used for nail art are basically water based acrylics.

However there doesn't seem to be much specialised paints. Createx used to do Nail Ease many years ago and they had a great selection of colours. But they have stopped making this paint. Apparently their new range of Auto Colours can be used for nail art but it's not certified for nails as yet and it's expensive.
Feed back for Medea and Sudo nail paints don't appear to be very positive, but i havent had a chance to try them so i can't be too sure.

Compressor

This will be your biggest and most important investment when you are airbrushing. If you have a shop and are not offering a mobile service then i would invest in a decent silent compressor with as much (CFM) as possible. That will mean you have enough supply for a number of airbrushes and if you want to expand into airbrush tanning, body art and make up you won't have to upgrade.
Here's a recommended link Ultra Quiet Air Compressors - Machine Mart

The smaller the compressor the more work it has to do. This means that it is constantly running Hot which creates alot of moisture. So when you're airbrushing, instead of air coming out of the airbrush you will have a mixture of air and water, which is very frustrating and can ruin your work.

If you do have to use one of those small mobile compressors. Make sure it has a moisture filter and possibly an 'Air receiver.'

If you need further advice, drop me a PM and i'll give you the contact details of someone in the airbrush industry who can help.

Hope this helps :)
 
Whatever happened to the Aztek airbrush and their fabulous paint?

No one ever had better paints than Aztek. You never needed to lay down white to get opacity and you could spray white over black and get complete coverage in the thinnest coat!! They were amazing.

The Aztek airbrush was fantastic too. You never had to clean it. It had screw in nozzles and all you had to do to clean was un screw it pop it into som cleaner for a wee soak and screw in a clean one. Needle was ultra fine for narrow spray pattern especially for nails. I never used a better brush.

I have several airbrushed. Yes you need dual action and the rest ofthe advice from johnD is spot on.

You also need to find a great teacher ... Elisabeth Anthony was amazing !
 
Hi Geeg, Aztec are still going, however because of their inherent problems they are not as popular as the mainstream airbrushes. The idea behind the Aztec is a good one, with the interchangeable heads and life time guarantee.
I had one which I used alongside my other airbrushes until an internal spring dislodged. At that point I had to send it back to their factory to be repaired as it is a sealed unit. Even a small problem like an internal air leak will mean a factory return. If it’s the only airbrush you have in the shop, you have to wait for it to be returned to you, before you can resume your airbrush services.
Also the needle housing is a sealed unit and expensive to buy. So if you are spraying irridescents or pearls and pigment builds up inside the head, you may not be able to flush it through. If that’s the case you have to remove the housing and let it soak for a while, which is more down time unless you have spare heads which again are expensive.
With a normal airbrush you can easily access all parts for cleaning and needle and nozzle replacement is much cheaper.
Of course I wouldn’t dissuade anyone against purchasing one because like yourself, you were very happy with yours. But I thought I’d mention some of the minuses against this airbrush also :)
 
Hi All,

Where have you purchased your airbrushing kit?

Thanks xx
 
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Thank you so much for the advice, i will probably be PMing you soon to pick your brains even more if you don't mind.

I looked at the aztek website i could only find an American website and there contact box wasn't working, do you have any other contact details or do any other companies sell the items aswell?

Can anyone else recommend fabulous quality airbrush paints?
 

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