Glitter/Mica Tattoo applicators

Ya'll may already know this, but I fell upon something tonight when I was practicing... my daughter will be doing the glitter tattoos for me while I facepaint, but she's been complaining that she doesn't like the poofer bottles because they're just not very accurate and the glitter goes all over the place. So... I had bought some of those large sponge applicators a while back- they look like overgrown eyeshadow applicators- and I didn't know what to do with them, since I don't have any shimmer powders yet. So I tried using one of these for a glitter tattoo and it works great! Works the best when the tattoo is just going to be one color, but I hauled out some small eyeshadow applicators and they work even better for getting into tight spots. The glitter sticks to both sizes without making a huge mess, and you can just pat it on the glue. Works great! Now I have to get over to Sally's Beauty Supply and get a ton of the small eyeshadow applicators!

I am glad you discovered a method that works well for you. Does this mean you will be working with lots of pots of open glitter? If so, try and come up with something that can cover it all or most of the colors at once because of wind and little fingers. I don't know why kids like to stick their fingers in everything!

That's one of the reasons I bought the poofer bottles, was so that my daughter wouldn't tip over the glitter and spill it everywhere- she can be a mite clumsy, especially when she gets in a hurry!

I had bought a set of glitter a while back in tiny pots, but they were held in a clear acrylic container the same depth as the pots, with a lid. I think if she does it this way, she could take all the lids off the individual pots, then close the big lid in-between working on the tattoos. That way, if anything spills, at least the glitter will be contained to the big container, and she can close the lid down to keep out the wind and little fingers. We'll have to try it next weekend on a birthday party we have booked and see how it works. It's indoors at a bowling alley so we won't have the wind problem anyway, but the party is for 6 year olds, so we'll definitely get to test out the "little fingers" thing LOL!

She's also trying to be more creative and draw more freehand designs. I got her some eyeliner pens and she's having a ball drawing on the design then filling it in with the glue and glitter. She's not quite up to that yet for paid events, but at least she can start practicing now with the pens until she feels she up to that level. Right now she uses the 3-part stencils but really wants to branch out to more freehand drawing.

The brush and poofer methods both work very well. When using the brush method the biggest tip is to make sure that the adhesive is totally dry. When using the poofer method the biggest tip is the opening of the tip. Make sure that the glitter flows, almost spills out...I find using a hardy tack usually makes the right size hole.

Keep in mind that if you are using a poofer on the face, the hole is much smaller for poofing. For facepainting you want the glitter to poof out, for glitter tats you want it to run out in a much more controlled flowing way.

Jenny