Glitter tatts VS Mica Tats VS Airbrush?

So I'm still in the researching phase with glitter tattoos that I want to add to my booth this year.

1) I'm considering the Ultimate starter kit from Amerikan body art, for the $450 it seems like the best bang for my buck. Since it also comes with Mica as well especially.

2) Glitter Vs Mica Vs Airbrush... They all seem to be the same thing, just different mediums, is there an advantage of airbrush over the other two? I can probably pull together an airbrush setup, but it just seems like another thing to buy stock for. I know there are people that do both, can someone weigh in on the pros and cons and how you market them? I like the thought of being able to offer different options, but the startup seems a bit daunting.

Also can I use the same stencils for airbrushing that I would for the glitter tattoos? or do those need different stencils?

I've never done airbrush before... but yeah, glitter and mica are the same process.

I got my mica here and here. It's about $10-12 per 2oz bottle... the ones you get with that starter kit are only .3oz. Just something to keep in mind.

As for stencils, I got mine at FakeToos.com and they rock. I personally like being able to choose the designs I want, which is why I wouldn't go with a kit. But that's totally up to you. The nice thing about a kit is that you don't have to search around for all the individual things you need, too.

I've been looking at the faketoos website, love some of their designs!

Making sure I have all the basic stuff, is kinda why I wanted to go for a kit. I need something to grab and go basically as once the season starts I probably won't have time to order anything I've missed, and before then I won't know enough to know what I've missed LOL. I've got my first two festivals back to back, and then two weekends off, then four in a row, so I'm hoping to have enough stuff on hand to get through those first two weeks, then I should be able to reorder or tweak anything I'm missing.

I'd rather have a larger variety of smaller amounts than just a few colors and wish I had more. The colors I find I use a lot of when I re-order I just order bigger sizes

If it was me I wouldn't do that huge investment in only glitter tatts. I will get the basic $50 dollars kit it comes with 5 bottles of glitter, 1 black mica, brushes, some stencils and glue, buy the other stencils you want and get the air brush, in those kits you get stencils that no body ask for, and I don't know why mica colors don't sell as good as glitter, and airbrush are the "top" in the temporary tattoos scale but I can't use the compressor inside the mall where I have my permanent gig.
Another thing you can think about is buying a dye cutter (I have silhouette) so you are able to do your own stencils and control everything about it - it cost $260.oo but if you are gonna invest more than 200 in stencils you better buy the cutter, I cut 3 of each design and after the gig I now which I need to replace or make it bigger or shorter etc. I love the option of make my own stencils.

We have the kit you are talking about... just got it in January and have already turned a profit. At large events my partner does the tatts and I stick to the painting... As a matter of fact, this weekend, both of our lines were non-stop. There is NOW WAY I could have done both by myself.
We use Faketoos as well. They really are nice, but we will be buying the Silhouette soon.

I'm low tech - I just can't face the thought of lugging airbrush kit along with everything else, let alone having to work with the noise/ smell especially if its added to a generator!

I only do freehand tatts, as all the wasteage of the stencils/ lack of creativity annoys me - I use fine-tipped screw-on special bottles and liquid cosmetic adhesive. A little goes a LONG way, in glue or glitters, it lasts!

Mica/ glitter tatts are the way to go I'd say, far less to carry / less to go wrong.
I had origignally just the glitters & black mica dust, but was just given the 'mica' range from Y body/ Facade bosy art. It actually has a slight sheen to it, interesting, almost looks like sugar... will try soon!

Cat x

Cat your body painting/glitter stuff is amazing

I'm getting a couple of those little bottles with the metal tips for my hubby to practice with, I can defenitely see him going that way as he gets used to the medium.

Hey another question for you Cat, what gauge are the syringe tips you use? I dug up an old thread with this link:

http://mehndi911.com/HENNAAPPLICATORS.aspx

Just wondering the gauge size

Trina

I have no clue -all too small to fit a standard needle and the orange super-fine 1 too small to fit even the superfine pins I ordered ...

As said elsewhere, in the UK I pay a bomb for a 'set' of all the 100 odd tips/ tip styles available which weren't labelled, then had to order inboxes of 100+. Yes its worked out much cheaper than buying from Henna shops but I do now have 100's!

Its the pink & purple shorter length ones I liked the best. TBH the guages didn't seem to make much diff in the patterns you could make (width of glue lines etc) but DID mean glue poured out faster or had to be really forced out in wider/ finer ones. The pink & purple are v similar and 'flowed' best speed with best pressure if that makes sense... Just not sure from those photos linked to if mine are the same colours for the same size as not...

Cat x

Ok, so I'm trying to start doing my glitter tattoos right and investing in some black mica. I am more interested in matte mica. Does that even exist?

The black mica from amerikan body art is very matte. Looks just like a real tattoo, I'll have to see if I can get a picture.

coastalscents.com has it too.

Myself and my partner do airbrush tats and glitter tats.
I paint and he tats...lol That said the two do go hand in hand - the glitter tats and the airbrush. You don't have to use different stencils but we do. You can reuse the airbrush stencils A LOT more then the glitter ones. Sometimes with the glitter tats you only get one go at it - sometimes more..... ***** PLEASE all the people that swear by only using the glitter tat stencils once please don't start up on this again - I have weighed the whole sanitary v's price thing and I'm reusing them every chance I get - lol).
Your airbrush set up while more expensive will give you more bang for your buck.
After you factor in all the costs involved after set up the airbrush is cheaper to run, faster to apply so you do more of them, and is more popular with the boys - lol.
There is no way I would ever take airbrush and face painting supplies to a party on my own - waaaay to much set up.... I will bring glitter tattoos with me though as it's a smaller set up.
Hope that helps.

I was just given a bunch of coloured micas from Facade Glitter Art in the uk -very different to the black almost powdery, matt mica I have. Lots of brown/ red colours, looks almost like fine sugar? Slightly shiney but not if that makes sense? Interesting, will try soon...
Cat x

I'm coming late into this (as usual) but I find that all 3 market to different crowds. We've been doing them for years and do well across the board.
I find that older crowds like the shimmer of mica while the younger like the glitter and all are happy with airbrush.

However, I do a lot of freehand stuff as well. When I started I bought those kits and found that I was left with unused stencils which means I wasted money. I've since streamlined and have spreadsheets that track the successful ones.

I actually don't recommend a Cricut or Silohuette machine. They are HUGE investments and the "software" and dies are also expensive. Keep in mind that while everything is fine for painting stencils, that glitter tattooing is very different and there may be lots of "floating pieces"- parts of the stencil that are not attached and have to be laid down individually and removed again. This means all of your stencils are one use only and more time consuming than those with attached bits. It also means any stencil packs you purchase have a low percentage of useable designs on them (again, more wasted money).
I've spent the past 3 years looking into these and unless they can be purchased on a huge sale and the software for Silhouette somehow opened up to the Cricut and specialized designs (like it used to be), it's simply not worth the time or money- unless you plan to sell them as some have done.

Just got my Silhouette cameo cant wait to use it!