to add glitter tattoo's or not?

OK, I know this doesn't actually have to do with facepainting, but I've been thinking of adding glitter tattoo's to my services. Do any of you already offer these? If so, I need feedback on pros and cons of doing them.... I just checked, Matina doesn't sell these kits

They are an investment that some people see a return on and some people don't. Although I rarely do them, I get a lot of bookings just because I offer them and balloon twisting. My glitter tattoo kit consists of ten stencils I cut myself, sallys beauty $0.99 cosmetic glitter, and one tube of glimmer glue. Total investment of $12 dollars and haven't replaced anything all year. I toss the stencils in alcohol after every use.

you cut your stencils yourself....interesting! I don't know if I'd be that talented or be able to hold them still when applying the glue. I would probably be better off buying a kit and see how that goes. Out of curiosity, how much do you charge for them? (you don't have to answer if you don't want to) Thanks for responding.

I charge the same for glitter tattoos as I do for face painting which is $60 and hour with a two hour minimum. I know some people charge more for them because they are more expensive to replace. I just like keeping it simple and no matter what people want, it's always the same price.

I've been thinking about doing these also. they are just so pretty!! Thanks for the info Whitney that sounds like a cheap enough investment. What exactly is "glimmer glue"? Is if found in the stores?

Glimmer glue is the adhesive. It comes in like a lip gloss tube from sillyfarm. I think it's at other places as well, but that's where I get it from.

I use glitter tats. It depends on the crowd if you sell them. The investment can be pricey if you are uncertain. Well to me it was anyway. The problem that you have is that you will inevitably run out of the super sellers and be stuck with the lesser wanted designs. Then you have to reorder the individual replacements...(try to do this early as that peak time means they are sold out sometimes too) So, I would get a small kit to art with. The other thing is that the tattoos look so simple to apply and they can be. But, sometimes you have very intricate designs and the cut outs are difficult to pull completely off....for example eyes that stay on or line twists that do not want to stay twisted. I bought an entire batch of adhesives that just DID NOT want to come off the paper. They were just faulty. Also, weather can effect the glue and its drying time. Usually it is really fast, but if the weather is dry and cod it seems to slow the process. I keep toothpicks and tweezers in my box so that I can get the stencil off with those overly intricate ones.

There are some good brands out there and lots of choices. I think making your own is a fabulous idea and several people on here do that with cricut machines and other templates. I am not able to do that. I just buy what is available through the wholesale market. But you would save yourself a lot of money if you could do make them.

I personally think they are great add on items. I would recommend a small kit with simple designs to start with before I invested in a $200 or more kit. They sell small sets for $25 to about $175 I think. Then you can see how well they will go in your area too.

I got a small $30 kit from Glimmer Art just to try them out... and I found putting them on me or my daughter had people asking about them.
I'm in Australia so here people still don't know what they are.. that said when they see them they are sometimes more popular then the airbrushed tats.
We do a lot of combinations... airbrushing - glitter - and gem powders.
Teenage girls love them, and the fact they stay for so long helps the sell factor a lot. We now have about 100 stencils just for glitter tattoos, so as an add on they are great.

I offer glitter tattoos and also nail art. The only time I've done a party with glitter tattoos was at a party at the beach and I also did hair beading to go with it.

Whitney, I use the 99 cents glitter too what do you use for making your own stencils? don't have to answer that is you don't want to

Hi there,

I offer both Glitter Tattoo's and Face Painting. I have over 160 stencils and use Glimmer pretty exclusively. I highly recommend the tattoo's as an alternative to face painting. I have had some parents thank me because they did not want to have to deal with cleaning their child's face. Also glitter tattoo's can last from 3-7 days.

I don't re-use my stencils as I don't feel that is sanitary, however one pot of glitter lasts 60-80 tattoos so it does go a long way.

I have offered both at a festival face painting and glitter tattoo's. They were equally as popular. Metina doesn't sell them in her shop but there people on this board that do, so just check around. You can spend as little as 30 to get started and as much as 200 and you'll have more than you will ever need.

I offer them, especially when I am doing a festival or large event. I was doing an event last Saturday and all of the mom's wanted to get glitter tattoos while their kids were getting painted. It was a great way to make some extra money.

Thank you all so much for your feedback. I've been looking around online at kits and I think I will invest in one and see how it goes. Since I've never done them before I'm definitely going for the stencils that stick instead of making my own. Maybe that will come at a later time. I've watched videos of doing them, and it looks pretty easy. 1 more question tho.... at a PPF event, what would be good rate to charge for the tat? Thanks again for all the input!

Just start small and see how things go Peggy. I have a kit and offer glitter tats, but only use them once a year at a company picnic that needs two artists. (My daughter will do tats but refuses to paint, so they get a painter and a tattooer. LOL) I've tried them at festivals with no luck, because people think they just look like stickers. Keep trying to sell it for country clubs and water parks, but no luck so far. They are SO beautiful that I don't understand it!

When I first started offering them, I got this kit from Silly Farm. If you sign up for their emails, they send you coupons and discounts every week. I used a $5 coupon, and it was on my doorstep five days later.
As far as kits go, this one is great. It has a wide variety of stencils and includes a great DVD to show you how to do the tattoos properly. The only con in my opinion was the lack of color variety, but you can order glitters from Metina at a great price, so that doesn't really matter.

I offer them at festivals and also as an add on for parties.
At PPF I charge $5 and $6. I tried $7 for the larger ones, but people just were not willing to pay that here, but will do $6.
They are beautiful and I get repeat customers at PPF that rave about how long the last one stayed on, which others in line hear and that spurs them to ask about the tats.
Both my kids can do the tats. Usually it is my 17 yr old son helping me out though and he is so good with them, that I have started sending him out for birthday party bookings. (I have gotten rave reviews from clients about him)
He also attracts a lot of teenage girls to the booth......so we sell a lot of tats I think because of that also! LOL

I started with a kit from SF, but over the last couple of years have restocked from various sources. There are a lot of great designs out there.

so if it is unsanitary to reuse the stencils, how do you get 100's of tattoo's from 50 stencils? That's what they advertise anyway.

I reuse my airbrush stencils.. bu they are made of a better quality medum.
The adhesive glitter tat stencils are only good for one or two uses, unless you clean them with alcohol and use the sticky spray to make them adhesive again.
I honestly don't think it is un-hygenic as you always clean the clients arm with alcohol before applying the stencil, but others will argue otherwise.
I find the glitter tat stencils expensive... because you have to get mulitples of the popular ones and always get stuck with stencils you can't move.
Consider that you will need a way to display and store your stencils which will be an added cost.

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so if it is unsanitary to reuse the stencils, how do you get 100's of tattoo's from 50 stencils? That's what they advertise anyway.

I wondered the same thing myself LOL. The adhesive backing on the glimmer tats really sticks pretty well, so, I don't see how you could reuse them if you wanted too. But there is enough glue and glitter left over from one of the medium to large kits to do 50 more if you had the stencils.

As far as pricing, I charge cheek art prices for small and when I first started to do them I charged just $5 for them all. But, the larger more complex ones I charge a full face design for now. They are pretty quick to do. I think it is a good add on. Plus, if it rains then you have something to offer without having to completely pack up. The sun picture in the glimmer demo is one of the swirly ones that sometimes sticks for me. Then other times it comes right off??? I hate the eagle design...it has little pieces that are a pain to get off the skin...but like I said before just keep toothpicks and tweezers handy!

Some people use those little hand held dryer things for the glue cause the weather can effect its drying time. I have thought of buying one of those before the fall season this year. The glitter tats do well with teens.

Thanks again for the input ladies. With everything that has been said, I think I will "build" my own kit. I can choose stencil designs I think would be popular and easy to work with, probably 8 or 10 glitters to start off with, and the glue and stay under 50 bucks which seems to be the amount of a starter kit. Only other thing I would need is the alcohol swabs and brushes, which I have plenty. OH, I guess i need the customers also!
If the tats fail, then I guess I'll have plenty of glitter to use for my face painting, and only be out a small amount of money......now, thinking of how to display the stencils....hummmmmm