Quick Review: AJ Crimson Artist Kit Warm/Deep + Swatches on Dark Skin

Celebrity makeup artist AJ Crimson has been slaying faces for yeaaaars and has had his namesake makeup line for quite some time now as well. I was recently sent the AJ Crimson Artist Kit in Warm/Deep for review consideration and here’s my quick thoughts on it…

So first let me stress the fact that AJ Crimson is a luxury professional makeup line (because otherwise you might clutch pearls when you scroll down and see the price). Of course folks who aren’t professional makeup artists can buy products, but you’ll see especially with this AJ Crimson Artist Kit that it’s made with a makeup artist in mind. The Warm/Deep kit includes Shades – #4.5 #5 #6 #6.5 #7 #8. As you may have guessed from the name, these shades tend to lean on the warm side. I’ve noticed that when I’m going to be on camera that not only do I need more makeup than what I’d probably typically wear, but that some lighting conditions can wash me out and I need to sometimes compensate with a slightly warmer foundation so the shades in the kit worked out well for me (for regular day-to-day but also for being on camera). Plus, these can be manipulated easily—makeup artists can use other products to alter the shades and undertones.

These foundations are so creamy and dreamy and many makeup artists will tell you they love having cream foundations in their kits because you can manipulate them so much: sheer ’em down for lighter coverage or layer ’em for more coverage. You can very lightly powder them for a more dewy finish or go a little extra with the powder for a more matte finish. You can do SO much.

I used shade #4.5 for my highlight, #5 for my brow bone, and a mix of mostly #7 with a teeny bit of #8 for my contour. I used to use shades closer to shade #8 for my contour but now I mostly lean toward deep browns with red undertones like shade #7 for my contour (I also contour more with powders now—see more about that here). Shade #6.5 would be the closest match to my skin tone. See which shades I wear in other foundations here.

I tested these on a humid summer day out in NYC and even by the end of the day, my makeup still looked amazing. But the durability will of course depend on how you set it—if you left it a bit more dewy it may require more touching up than if you made it more matte. See How to Stay Beat in the Heat.

I also want to point out that this isn’t a contour kit—you could use it as one, but it’s not technically a contour kit.

Overall I love the formula and the shade range—you can also easily mix the shades to create other shade options that fall on the deeper end of the spectrum which is perfect for makeup artists (because MUAs typically are not trying to carry individual foundations of every shade and a kit like this is much easier to carry and travel with for work).

Now one thing that did give me pause at first was the price ($150) but you can use promocode AJCRIMSONPRO for 30% off at checkout which helps some. The full set which includes all three variations of the AJ Crimson Artist Kit is $450 with 40% off with promocode AJCRIMSONFULLKIT. I also haven’t tried a ton of professional foundation kits personally to compare (back when I did makeup), but pricing for them can be typically around the $70-200 range. One thing I have seen with some professional kits is they may have more range selection, but the foundation wells are so small so if you have clients that fall more on one particular side of the spectrum, you’ll go through that side super fast. These are bigger (and also refillable) and contains 7 grams of product each. In comparison my long-time fave cream foundation from Cover FX contains 10 grams of product and is $42 each. So the AJ Crimson refill is about $3.57/g and the Cover FX is about $4.20/g. When I broke it down like that, the price didn’t seem so pause-y…lol. Plus not to mention if you’re an MUA beating faces, you’ll get pretty good use from it.

If you aren’t a makeup artist, these also do come in consumer compacts.

Bottom line: I LOVE AJ Crimson Artist Kit—the formula feels like a dream, looks good, is durable, and can be manipulated in a number of ways. I would say try to source this out at a makeup artist store or makeup convention to see if it would work in your kit. If you’re not a makeup artist and just a foundation junkie, these come in compacts for consumer use and I’d go for it.

Price and where to buy: AJ Crimson Artist Kit is $150—use promocode AJCRIMSONPRO for 30% off at checkout which helps some. The full set which includes all three variations of the AJ Crimson Artist Kit is $450 with 40% off with promocode AJCRIMSONFULLKIT. The refills are $25 each. You can buy at www.ajcrimson.com.

The consumer compacts are $35 each here.

AJ Crimson Artist Kit is also sold in select makeup stores around the world