I know many more MUA are airbrushing these days.

I use Temptu SB and most times it is perfect but recently I used it on a girl that had icky skin and although she liked it, I didn't feel like it was the best it could be overall.

I have been doing mostly bridal work lately (as that is the most profitable for me in my area) and of course they always want to the 'no makeup' makeup look. I think that I have become so used to doing natural makeup looks that now when its time for me to kick it up, its like its not enough(where's my mojo?). I am thinking about getting back into more hand applied so I can really be sure that I am perfecting techniques to get maximum results.

At this point do you exclusively use airbrush or do you go back and forth between airbrush and traditional? How do you decide when to use airbrush or traditional makeup on skin? Any thoughts?

I don't know anyone who uses ONLY airbrush. I've seen brow and lip stencils, for instance, but hand applied product always looks better to me for most of these applications. I know for my work I use a variety of tools, I'd hate it if I were limited to just one or the other...and I'm an airbrush artist by trade.

I also use both airbrush and traditional tools.

However, I also use more then one kind of product..... Temptu SB would not be my first choice for a face with lots of skin texture.... (course, I'm not a fan of the "dewey look" to begin with)

OCC is Jesus in a bottle! It has helped me so much! The skin looks amazing, the coverage is fantastic, and the staying power is really good.

But I use both as well, it helps a great deal with just basic things like foundation and blush, but I am still only learning.

I concur with the skin condition issue when it comes to using traditional or airbrush make-up. I had a lady with planter's wart on her face and I did not have my airbrush at that time. Yeesh. Don't ask me how it got on her face, I have no bloody clue! I just used a powder foundation over it and I went through a LOT of Q-tips.

Meekeyo… I use both traditional and airbrush now… and I love both… each has it’s place in my repertoire…  that said I find myself migrating more and more to airbrush…  as you have noted it’s perceived worth is higher with many client’s… due to marketing campaigns no doubt… and I always endeavor to meet their expectations…

However I never exclusively airbrush… as Rich eloquently noted for lips and brows it’s a solution in search of a problem… traditional still works far better in those venues in my humble estimation…

Airbrush’s forte is it’s ability to gracefully accommodate those with challenged skin conditions… especially textural irregularities… as the “spin” goes… it lays weightlessly on the surface as a semi-opaque veil allowing one’s natural beauty so shine through…

Guess I’m more into Temptu S/B for the most part right now… but I love OCC… it is far easier (at least for me) to achieve beautiful flawless coverage… and it certainly is more user friendly… aqueous solvents   so I need to embrace OCC more…

My inference would be for a paradigm shift away from traditional… especially now since the barrier to entry is much lower owing to falling equipment prices… 

Bottom line is I would truly feel compromised without airbrush empowerment…
I’ve become that fond of it at this juncture…

I too live in an area where high fashion is the exception rather than the norm. I do a lot of bridal and prom makeovers. I've expanded my business to airbrush tattoos and fantasy face painting for children's parties and fairs, festivals. I will also use traditional makeup techiniques to enhance them so that they are completely unique and have a hand painted look.  My customers love them!

I totally agree with the OCC recomendation I love it I do both airbrush and use RCMA with a beauty blender for foundation applications I do not have a real preference I like air ush and by hand application equally and both RCMA foundation and OCC feel nice on the skin and have a more natural look when applied properly

Airbrushing offers me so many advantages, some of them have already been mentioned (sanitary way of doing a bunch of peoples make up with just one tool, speeds up application, etc). To me, if you ask me if I prefer my manual tools or my airbrush, if I had to trade one for another (wich I haven't done) I would keep my airbrush and hand in everything else for it just from a profit point of view bussiness reasons only, it saves me money and also guarantees me more income, I need to explain this further:
1) a lot of jobs for wich I used to hire an assistant I no longer need to thanks to the speed of this tool (I can do everything myself)
2) I can charge more than other artists who only do traditional make up
Now, this said, I carry both Temptu S/B (full line including hi def colors and airbrow kit..this actually saved my life during the last nollywood movie I did make up for three of the girls had NO BROWS AT ALL) and OCC water based full line in my kit (all in the little sample bottles to save space and avoid the big bottles to dry out from opening it repeatedly), I normally do eye and lip makeup by hand, I also own a beauty blender, brilliant for under-eye concealing, and then I do the whole complexion, blusher, highlighting and sometimes eyebrows with the airbrush...If I had to do foundation manually on someone who couldn't tolerate airflow on their face I would apply either Temptu or Occ with my beauty blender...only other foundation I carry is Yaby powder foundation in mediums...You should see how compact my kit is thanks to those little tiny botlles and how broad my choice of texture and colors is (almost infinite) ;-)

One thing about airbrush - I've found people that only know makeup by airbrush training are missing out on the fine art of hand applied and the training of the eye. Blending is also a fine art that can be rushed by a novice - if you can't blend traditional makeup, you may not be able to handle airbrush lightly and perfectly either. 

There is a nuance/advantage that hand applied/traditional has over airbrush - especially in the hands of a new artist.  I personally like OCC ab too, not liking dewy - and I use all kinds of different products for hand applied (which I prefer as I'm a painter) looks most natural to me.  I like a little porosity personally.  I do foundation airbrush, but hand apply eyes, lips, and sometimes washes of blush and bronzer instead of airbrush that.  Depends.

It's in any artists' best interest to know all tools of the trade.  I charge the same amount for either choice - airbrush or traditional - I charge for my time.  I also like the beauty blender as it gives the finish of some airbrush techniques.