Painting yourself for a gig...During the Summer months

I like to be painted for gigs, but in the Summer, my face sweats while I'm working and I'm afraid to ruin the design.

Any pointers for how to go painted but not look like a scary, smeary mess? Is there such thing as face friendly anti-perspirant?

Probably not, but I'm hoping someone knows a trick to this.

there is something called "No Sweat" for your face... it's ProFace by Mehron. Mehron also makes a "barrier spray" that you can put under or over.

Both of these are an extra expense, but up to you if you think it's worth it. I'm thinking about getting some no sweat at clown camp in a couple weeks to put under my clown makeup. The makeup doesn't really move with the sweat, but I hate that I'm constantly dripping wet and have to keep a towel nearby to pat myself down all the time.

Awesome, have you sampled No Sweat before?

I haven't personally, but I've heard from a few people who really like it.

Thanks for the tip, I'm going to give it a go.

I have both, and at least in this climate, it doesn't work at all- didn't make any difference. I sweated just as bad with it as without it. Sorry!

Bummer, I already ordered it...well, I'll give it a shot anyhow, nothing to lose at this point!

In your climate, it might be okay. It's just like a sauna here everyday during the summer so I sweat from the moment I walk out my door! The heat and humidity are usually bad May-Oct but it's worse this year for some reason. May have to do with the millions of gallons of oil right off our coast? LOL!

I have the Ben Nye Liqui-Set. It gets usually spritzed over top of the design, but I use it under and over the design when I do my face ...and it does help alot.

I paint my eyes & the corners of my eyes... not my forehead(I end up w/ drippy furrows if I do). I also don't face paint myself before setting up my tent or I'll just sweat it all off. Sometimes I'll just paint on a necklace which is less likely to run.

I just try to paint where the sweat doesn't run. A smaller eye design or something pretty simple.

Often I forget it will be hot and paint more than I intended. I just blot the sweat gently with a tissue while I work. I don't tend to touch my face so I don't tusually mess things up.

I'm going to give the stuff I ordered a try and if not go with the gentle blotting and smaller eye designs.

The design I like to wear the most is the butterfly profile covering one eye, but the body and antennae go from the bridge of my nose to my forehead.

I think maybe I'll paint a tiny butterfly at the corner of each eye instead, since it's my forehead and nose that perspire most.

I worked mainly in Hk for the last 5 years - always over 30 degrees, usually 100% humidity. I always paint myself and I never fixed it. You NEED to sweat if you need to sweat; blocking it can cause overheating and fainting. I didn't even use no-sweat etc on bodies - at most a light fixative spray over areas that would rub most.

A lot depends on how ntaurally sweaty you are, and what paints you have. Grimas is the best, follwed by W/ D FX.

Either you sweat a little and it gets a little messy, or don't bother. I generally do eye designs on myself which helps, avoiding the sweatier forehead areas. Aslo encourages customers to follow suit!

cat x

Another thing that might help is pulling your hair back. It keeps it from messing up the eye designs.

I agree, in the summer, I always have my hair up in a clip for gigs because it's long and if it's on my neck and back, it makes me that much hotter.

Thanks Cat for the warning, I appreciate what you're saying. I realize the physiological value of sweating, I've heard of models fainting that were too well covered with fixative during hot temperatures (though they were body painted, not just face)

Just looking to have my cake and eat it too I guess

Just as an update, No Sweat worked fantastic on my forehead, which is good news for painting there. I experimented with it on my upper lip and nose as I sweat there too and for some reason, it's not as effective.