Using makeup?

Hi - I've only done face painting on occasion at my kids' birthday parties and a couple of events around town and I've always used either homemade face paint (using cold cream and food coloring) or craft store/halloween face paint.

Can I use regular makeup that you can get at a drugstore too? I'm thinking eyeliner for outlining designs, not for use around kids' eyes, and lipstick for some detail work. Is eyeliner safe to use?

For facepaint you have professional water based face and body paint, not any paint or product can be used on kids skin, some craft store paint has latex, and some kids are allergic to it, also some people are allergyc to make up products, specially the kids,you can go to your local Michaells or AC Moore store, they usually have small face paint sanazaroo brand kits, to beguin is ok with that and little by little you can find some more professioinal face paint, Metina have good products here in the forum that you can chec, the face paint small kits are not expensive, and is even cheaper than to buy a combo of make up from the drug store, I hope this helps you

I can't even imagine what kind of a mess you'd get from cold cream and food colouring... let alone how horribly food colouring stains. Store makeup will not give you the vibrant colours that face painting should have.

Make a trip to Michael's and get a Snazaroo palette, you will get much better results.

Lipstick is meant for lips. It makes a mess otherwise. Not recommended at all for use anywhere else. It also tends to stain badly.

You can use liner pencils for use on the skin - they are simply oil based cream make-up in a pencil form. I use them often, but NOT for face painting on children as they require powder to set them just as regular cream make-up does. I use them for a lot of extremely detailed work (My avatar was done with liner pencils.)

Don't use liquid eyeliners on kids... messy. And the waterproof stuff doesn't get on well with other products I've found.

You can use eyeshadows and blush - they are pressed powders and therefore work like anyother pressed powder (i.e. Starblends) I've done designs in them often - works fine. Remember that the cheaper the eyeshadow the less pigment it has so the colours won't be very bright or long lasting.

As the others have said - the best idea is to actually go and buy the PROPER products which are water activated make-up labelled as FACE PAINT - Snazaroo is available at most craft stores and Kryolan at most dance shops.

The homemade face paint actually was not bad - certainly better than the face paint I just bought from a big box store, but it peeled when dry. I will get Snazaroo face paint next time, but right now this is what I have (the big box store face paint) and I have to make it work somehow!

Is this for real?

Homemade face paint = trouble


I would stick to advice from people on here and go for water based paints Specifically made for body and face.
Everyone on here post from their experiences and this is where we all learn.
I would def invest in a starter kit

Rockie wrote:Is this for real?

Homemade face paint = trouble

I know, which is why I only used it one time! I've only done face painting on a small scale at maybe 4 (very small) events total. So don't worry.

Thanks for the advice!

Welcome to the forum!

You are going to LOVE professional face paints. There are amazing, beautiful, brilliant colours out there!

Definitely check out the forum shop. There are tooons of topics on which paints each person prefers, but there is a general consensus:
1. Wolfe/DiamondFX is great for black and white line work - dries quickly
2. TAG Pearls are beautiful.... I love them so much! I'm in the process of replacing 75% of my kit with TAG Pearls. They're similar in consistency to Wolfe, as they dry quickly and aren't as creamy as other paints.
3. Paradise, FAB, and Kryolan are creamier paints - better suited to blending
4. Snazaroo is great for sensitive skin and many people begin their face painting career using this brand
5. TAG also comes in a huge variety of "split cakes", "rainbow cakes" and "one-strokes", which are all combinations of different colours in the same cake. They really speed up designs and add that 'oooh' 'aaaah' factor to your designs. I couldn't live without them!

I hope that helps a bit. All the choices can be intimidating, but you'll quickly see the huge difference between professional vs. craft store.

Remember also that the craft store face paint or the papers than are incredible cheap it tend to fade, peal, crac or stain, professional face paint it is a little more expensive, but it last longer, it doesn't stain, are non-allergic, the color are gorgeous, and of course you can paint faster than regular make up or craft store brand paint, reeding the post about paint in the forum will help you, good luck

Welcome to the forum! You've come to the right place to get the help you need.

I agree, go to the craft store & pick up a small Snazaroo Palette (you'll love it). You can also get a Klutz Book on Face Painting from any book store (in the kid's section). The paints are Wolfe (the best on the market) & the designs are good easy starts while you learn. Also, getting a few good tools will help, some sponges for covering large areas quickly & some good brushes (American Painter are inexpensive & good).
Welcome to the world of face painting, enjoy the journey

I didn't buy the face paint that I had to use so each time I had to do it (volunteer at family fun events) I dreaded working with the paints. I'm a little disheartened that some responses here have been a tad harsh. The time I made my own I got slightly better results than the cheap face paint that I was provided with. I had to work with what I had and so I thought that maybe using something I had a little more control over (the eyeliner) would help make something that I knew was crap (the face paint) look ever-so-slightly better. I really appreciate the posts from those of you who gave very helpful advice about what paints to use. Now to convince those buying the face paints that you get what you pay for!

I'm sorry that you feel the responses you've received are harsh. I don't see the harshness, but you know what they say about the eye of the beholder.

The responses are in fact, truthful and unsugar coated. You've come to a forum of professional face painters and as such, we use professional products. I'm sorry that we can't give you the thumbs up if that was what you were looking for.

I totally understand having to do with what you have been given. But I also understand in taking a stand for what you believe in. if that means that I had to go out and purchase a $12 set of real pro level face paints from Michaels in order to show the powers that be the difference...well, that's what I'd do. You will never convince anyone until they can SEE the difference and going with the status quo will only serve to thwart your attenpts to move forward.

The forum can provide some pretty compelling evidence to back up your request for the right products and there are several articles about adverse reactions the cheap party store version of face paints and even recalls. You have to go get it though and you have to WANT to get it.

I guess my question to you is do you want to move on to using better products or are you looking for some form of approval from us? We can help your immensly if your goals are the former, but I fear you've come to the wrong place if you're looking for the latter.

Nobody here desires to hurt your feelings or belittle what you're doing, but it is what it is and the wealth of knowledge here is the culmination of decades of knowledge and try-its. If it seems harsh, that's only because reality often is.

That being said, welcome to Face Paint Forum, we're ready whenever you are!
J

Well, when someone responds to a genuine question with a "Is this for real?", I think it's safe to say that is pretty harsh or judgmental. I wasn't asking for everyone's blessing to use the eyeliner, I was asking if it was OK (ie, safe) to use.

I keep saying that the craft store paint was crap and that the homemade paint that I used ONCE was slightly better than the former, but nowhere did I say that I was still using the latter and yet responses kept pointing out that homemade face paint=bad and craft store face paint = bad. I know that already!

I am but a lowly newbie volunteer. I am NOT a professional face painter so perhaps this was not the appropriate forum to ask my newbie questions, but I am interested in safer products and techniques for any future events I might happen to volunteer at. You all started somewhere, right? Think back to the very first time you face painted. I'm sure many of you started out with the crappy stuff. The fact that I asked if it was OK (read: safe) should tell you that I have a burgeoning awareness that widely-used methods at various local events are suspect in terms of their safety.

I'm very appreciative of the helpful and non-judgemental responses (which were most of them) that I received here and I do want to learn more from the experts (all of you).

This look was created entirely from drugstore and department store makeup for my halloween makeup years ago at work. It's fine to use on full-face looks - but I would NOT recommend using it at an event like a fair or a birthday party for no other reason than it's time consuming and can be a pain in the butt to work with. You've already receive a bunch of advice on better products, but I wanted you to know that yes, it can be done even if it's not ideal for traditional face painting looks.

Hi teapot100!
This is my story of how i started face painting;
I bought a $20 face paint kit from a toy store for one of my kids parties (early on) and thought how on earth could anyone use this stuff to even paint let alone make a living out of? I must be missing something, right?
So i looked up youtube and after a few video's found sillyheatherb (sillyfarm.com) and I have never looked back!
Professional paints are no match for the cheap stuff not even in the same league, it's like comparing dirt with gold.
So, I suggest (if money is an issue) a few well selected professional paints
Say
TAG 2-spilt pink/white metallic
TAG 2-split green/dark green regular
TAG 2-split orange/yellow metallic
WOLFE black & white & red
some face paint sponges
Minimum 2 round brushes, say WOLFE #6
1 x 3/4 brush
all up about $100

I dont know where you are from, but there are lots of good online paint stores, you will pay more for your paint in Australia that you will in USA.

!!!WARNING: Real face paint can be addictive!!!

I started with a Snazaroo palette from Micheal's in the basic colors. Around here they cost $13. With that and a few brushes you are good to go. The lack of mess alone would prompt me to buy it, for you and the parents. Really it would be less expensive than buying regular make-up and better quality/easier to work with.
Just my 2 cents.

One bit I will throw in is to stay away from Palmer's, Tulip, and the really cheap Halloween makeup. Palmer's is a lot like tinted Elmer's glue. Anything but Tulip black, white, and silver will stain and the quantity of paint versus cost is poor. The Halloween makeup can be of questionable quality unless you can find some made by Wolf Noveleties, Mehron, etc.

I probably watched the same youtube video that you did and I tried to do homemade face paint before I knew any better. Made a mess and looked yucky! Wasted money on Palmer's as well. Tried it on my arm at home and it is still on the shelf. As for the makeup, it is safe BUT so much more expensive and time-consuming. You will be so much better off starting with a small Snazaroo palette from Michael's or Hobby Lobby (especially with a coupon). I still pick up items with coupons i.e. brushes, gems, and paint whenever I am in the stores. Good way to try stuff without breaking the bank.

Some of the absolute best paints can be purchased right in the forum shop if you decide that you truly love face painting.

I apologize if you found our first comments a little harsher than you were looking for... I use cold cream to remove makeup and it is a MESS even for that, I can't imagine leaving it on someone's face, it's so greasy and gross.

Spending $5 on ONE half decent eyeliner pencil that you'd have to be constantly resharpening and whatnot would be more expensive and time consuming. Professional face paints are made to be fast, quick to apply and easy to remove. They are tested to be as safe as possible with as little staining as possible. There is always a chance of allergic reactions or someone's skin being more apt to stain than another's, but the chances of those things are FAR greater with homemade, untested chemistry experiments. I can't even imagine the liability if something were to happen mixing cold cream and food colouring and cheap halloween makeup and random brand cheap regular makeup....

The little packs of Snazaroo from Michael's will paint at least 50 faces or more for less than $20, you can't even buy enough regular makeup to do half that for the cost and this will look soooo much better.

You guys are too nice. I guess I'm just not feeling it today so I better Thumper it.

D.

I apologize if I sound hard on my answer, but I start with a $14 kit Wolf brothers brand (one of the best in the market), that I bought at Michaels, we just try to give you some trustable brand names, and to let you know about the difference betwen cheap paint and actualy real face paint , to let you know that the hygiene and safe use of products is the first in this bussines, because you are dealing with skin, and some people are allergic to some [products, face paint products actualy are non allergic, and has antibacterial, then is safe to use from people to people, something than not occurs with make up,because with it is easy to spray germs, anyway, we are just trying to help you because we know how hard is to beguin, this are just advices, to use them to learn from them is up to you, good luck and welcome to the group!!