Can I leave the tops of the paints off??

Hi, I have a scrapbooking case, with pull out drawers where I keep my paints. Will they dry out/crack or have any problems if I always leave the tops of the containers off? Does anyone have any suggestions. I hate taking them off and on. Thanks again!

Yes, you can leave the tops off and no damage will come of it.

Yes you can leave the top off as it's actually better to leave it off then on. As leaving the top off and to let the paint dry completly will kill all germs and bacteria from your paints. So I always leave it off for that reason.

Thanks! Off they go!

If you will be using your paints regularly they will be fine, (weekly) but if left open for too long they will dry out and get hard; making it harder to work the paint into the creamy consistency.

X-Facion wrote:will kill all germs and bacteria from your paints

Not true. While decreasing the moisture content of the paints will make it more difficult for some bacteria, viruses, and molds to multiply (yay!), there is nothing in particular about drying out these paints which are going to "kill all germs and bacteria." Many fungi live happily in their little sporulated forms and bacteria in their encapsulated ones in the relative humidity of our houses.

The other post mentioning that extensive time with the caps off causing the paints to dry out is true. If you're using them regularly and keeping them somewhat moist, they do cream-up better. I leave the caps off of mine between gigs but if I know they're not going to be used for a long time (slow season, typically Jan-April), I will apply some cling-wrap over the tops of them.

I haven't had the covers on my makeup in uh...I think it's been 3 years. While the black, white, red, blue and green gets replenished often, I have many colors that only get light usage. All of my babies are fine and they activate well. I keep my makeup in a 2 sided jewlerly display case and they are held in place with magnets. They aren't exposed to open air in their cases, but there's still air in the case and they don't seem to have been affected. I have a bag someownere with all of my lids...somewhere. The paints that I am not using at the moment stay in a drawer with their lids on...only because I have stacks and I don't want my paints to have dirty bottoms.

loriken, would you tell us what kind of scrapbooking case it is, or show us a picture? i am trying to find a better way totransport mine

If you do a search on face painting kits you'll be exposed to more kit setup
Options than one should be allowed to see in a lifetime.

GildedCat, I have been doing this for 5 years and never had any issues with it. The reason I have to leave the lid off is for Health Regulation here in my city. For me to be able to get insurance I had to have some face paint regulation done by an health professional. But what I didn't mention is I do store my paint in a closed case.