What if people are dancing thus sweat? How do you keep your art from dripping and smearing?

For those who've face painted adults at parties or nightclubs or mardi gras carnivales ... they dance, they sweat, the face paint smears all over their faces or drips. How do you keep it in place? Is there a spray or powder or something that will help hold it in place when someone sweats?

Thanks.

just getting into face painting for dancers or better said, looking into various options on what steps to take to make the face paint water, sweat and smudge proof.
So far I read a few interesting tips to look into:
1- setting your face paint with Ben Nye final seal (body and face) or hair spray (just for body) or Mehron "Barrier Spray"

I have the Mehron "Barrier Spray" and have yet to test it in a few interesting ways

more info on forum here http://www.facepaintforum.com/t5061-help-i-need-a-sealer

I use Ben Nye and it seems to work pretty well...

Dear copycat:
Ben Nye works really well with Ben Nye. Not as effective with other brands, to varying degrees.
Kryolan Fixative Spray is a good product.
I painted zombie body & faces for a Zombike-A-Thon in the heat of the Florida Keys, sweating with the exertion, and, they were going from bar to bar until they hit Key West. They all looked reasonably zombie like at the end of their 6 hour stint. I started with a coat of Green Marble SeLr on their upper body and lower legs. I used Rimmel Pro Fix and Protect primer on their faces. After I finished using StarBlends, Wolfe, TAG and Paradise, I set their body paint with the Green Marble SeLr. The sealant did slightly fuzz my linework, not enough so anyone else would notice. Two days later, my first two zombies came back to me and told me that their zombie look was comfortable to wear while biking, sweating, dancing and drinking, and, it lasted all night.

I know Ben Nye paints are used a lot for our local college products--lots of sweating on stage with the lights and nerves and they seem to stay in place---

This should (bump) there is alot of info in the General section and throughout the forum on this topic. Search the forum or my posts alone even and you'll find all the answers.

It's easy 105 degrees here in the summer, and I travel to work in varied environments, I paint faces and full bodies in every type of setting and I've tested it all over 12 years.

[/b] Hey Fess - you have an open HTML tag somewhere on your post or signature causing all the posts after you to have bold font, too.

Dear Julie:
What do I look for in order to close the HTML tag?

Do you think it is that?? I've seen the bold font all over the forum lately....

I have seen it all over as well... just didn't give much thought to it

Oh my gosh!
Could I be the cause of Bold All Over?!!!

Your are just one BOLD woman, Fesspenter!!

I don't think it is a Bold problem though...I think it is an entirely different font (as you can see I made Bold BOLD in my comment to Lisa, so if this was a "Bold problem" it wouldn't seem I could make anything bolder )

I put the tag at the beginning of my post. Like this, but remove the spaces
open tag [ b ]
closed tag [ / b ]

fesspenter wrote:Dear copycat:
Ben Nye works really well with Ben Nye. Not as effective with other brands, to varying degrees.
Kryolan Fixative Spray is a good product.
I painted zombie body & faces for a Zombike-A-Thon in the heat of the Florida Keys, sweating with the exertion, and, they were going from bar to bar until they hit Key West. They all looked reasonably zombie like at the end of their 6 hour stint. I started with a coat of Green Marble SeLr on their upper body and lower legs. I used Rimmel Pro Fix and Protect primer on their faces. After I finished using StarBlends, Wolfe, TAG and Paradise, I set their body paint with the Green Marble SeLr. The sealant did slightly fuzz my linework, not enough so anyone else would notice. Two days later, my first two zombies came back to me and told me that their zombie look was comfortable to wear while biking, sweating, dancing and drinking, and, it lasted all night.

So do you use Starblends powder as a base for painting? I was thinking of using it as a base (after a primer) for full face makeup. I have done this only on myself so far, I would first spray my face with my mehron barrier spray (covering mouth and eyes), then apply a primer and then paint. I was wondering except Kryolan Fixative Spray would you recommend Green Marble SeLr for the face which one is better? I want to invest in a good base for kids & adults (heard Starblends is excellent) and a fixative only for adults.

I wanted to buy a paint palette but not sure which one is best for more extreme conditions (humid & dancing) & HQ pigmentation for adults.
For adults full face makeup I read that these were good palette:

• - Ben Nye MagiCake Aqua Paints
  - Ben Nye Magicolor Liquid
  - Kryolan Aquacolor palette
  - The wolfe 12 colour essential palette
  - Mehron Paradise
  - TAG
  - (recently Superstar Aqua Paints)

I know everyone has their own personal favs which in your own experience were you please with most when working with people that would be dancing all night (not dancers) so sweat and smudgeproof. I want them to be able to take it off with water and soap.

What are the pros and cons of cream face paint?

Dear copycat:
Where do you live?
You may be able to meet with other face painters to do some testing out some products. If you post your locale in your Profile, it will be easier for you to meet with other painters.
I do not usually prime faces of children. I do not spray them with anything.
I have done UV/blacklight painting for clubs, and there was no sealant used. I painted on members of Circo de Bakuza (a Russian Circus) and they were sweating throughout their performances, and the paint did not smear. You will have to address the clowns on our Forum to ask for more specific questions regarding cream face paint. I have only used it when requested, paid for by client, and the client took all the leftover paint.

Denise Cold, one of our lovely moderators uses StarBlends. Others on our Forum have fallen out of love with StarBlends. I love StarBlends for the heat and humidity of our Toronto summers, and for painting around the eyes of boys, who seem to be too sensitive to the sensation of liquidy paint drying around their eyes. When StarBlends get wet, they tend to appear more intense in color. I love them for their staying ability in the summer. They seem to fade more in the winter. I still use them around the eyes for boys.

I would NOT use Green Marble SeLr on a face, only the body.
Ben Nye MagiCake Aqua Paints are very much like Kryolan.
Ben Nye Magicolor Liquid is exactly the consistency of Metina's Dippy Pots (Google this). It is also for use in airbrush, thinned out a little. I have used this for painting, and it has cracked if put on too thickly.
Kryolan Aquacolor palette. This is what I began face painting with 15 years ago.
The Wolfe 12 color essential palette. Great place to start.
Mehron Paradise. Great for body work. Loathe the smell. I bought them NOW to let them air out and lose the smell for the next body painting job.
TAG. I use TAG from the FacePaintForumShop for everything, except my Wolfe White and Wolfe Black.
SuperStar Aqua paints are also known as FAB. They are very soft in texture. Some are very sheer. I have found that FAB has the best silver ever. There are some colors I keep going for: Ziva Blue Shimmer, Glitter Glam, Magenta Shimmer, Glitter Gold.
Most of my kit is TAG. Then Wolfe. Diamond F/X, Kryolan, some FAB, Paradise. I used to have a lot of MAC, which I liked, it is just too expensive.

There are all different paints because there are all kinds of painters. Some use a brush exclusively, some use sponges, and there is a world of painter styles in between the two. You have to try out different brands/colors for yourself.

I have been pleased with the performance of Wolfe, TAG, Kryolan, MAC, Diamond F/X, and FAB in the heat and humidity of the summer. If you ask other face painters, they will give you different answers.

Happy Painting

Thank you so much for the info. I am going to start with a Wolfe palette and get a tag neon palette, no sweat sealer, Kryolan Fixative Spray, Wolfe Face Paint Sponges, and 2 or 3 more brushes, since I love brushes

Thanks... Will keep you posted and update to the site when I get my stuff and do a look