Ruby Red face paints

I bought a bunch of new paints that got here yesterday! I got about twelve colors of Ruby Red brand paint pots. When they arrived, they were left on my porch for an hour or two in 100 degree weather. When I opened them they were mush....luckily they solidified overnight once in the house. They arestill softer than any of my other paints. But the colors are gorgeous! They take very little water to activate and the colors blend well. They wash easily and don't stain. I wouldn't use them for line work, but the colors are so vibrant and beautiful. Overall I'm happy with my purchase.

Let me know how the dark/royal blue is, I've been looking for something better then what i have.

did you get any of the pearl colors?  if so, are they any brighter than snazaroo sparkle colors?  they look identical in online pics.

thanks,
j lirie

I just bought some from a lady on here--I am so excited to try them-

she said to stick them in the fridge for a few hours and they go back to normal consistency.

I will try to post some of the color swatches on here when I get them.

was reviewing different face paint ingredients and noticed the ingredient list for ruby red face paints included the word "shellac".

wikipedia says shellac is excreted by the lac bug on trees in the far east, harvested and purified, which includes the demise of some of the bugs. this i did not know (ew).

if that's the case, ruby red paints are not vegan and not "animal-friendly", for those who count any living critter.

Let me know how the dark/royal blue is, I've been looking for something better then what i have.

Forest Fairy, give the dark standard blue by Global a spin. It's a very hard consistency (like brittle) but still repottable (with patience) and is the darkest, most saturated blue I've used to date (And that includes DFX blue, which is high pigment)... the best thing I've found about Global's blue, aside from the saturated color, is that it washes off and doesn't stain. That's rare for dark blue. Globals take a little time to get used to unless you paint on the water-logged side of the cake (I love me my water, so Globals and me are like peas and carrots)

I agree with Tanya - LOVE the Global dark blue.

For those of us who like to claim that we use products made with FDA-approved ingredients, this is appalling! Who would knowingly put shellac on anyone's face, let along a child's?

jlirie wrote:was reviewing different face paint ingredients and noticed the ingredient list for ruby red face paints included the word "shellac".

wikipedia says shellac is excreted by the lac bug on trees in the far east, harvested and purified, which includes the demise of some of the bugs. this i did not know (ew).

if that's the case, ruby red paints are not vegan and not "animal-friendly", for those who count any living critter.

Just out of pure curiosity, I dug a little deeper than Wikipedia. This is what it says:

Shellac is composed of hydroxyaliphatic acids and alicyclic acids. Shellac has been used in the pharmaceutical industry as a tablet coating, often for enteric coating on tablets. In the cosmetics industry, shellac has been used in mascara, hair spray, nail polish and eyeliner.

And also this:

Different Uses Of Shellac:
Fruit Coating
Confectionary Glaze
Pharmaceutical Applications
Cosmetics
Wood Polish
Shellac Wax
Abrasives
Bulb Capping Cement
Food & Food Packages
Printing Inks
Pyrotechnics

This is all from this website where it specifically says shellac has a multitude of uses, even in food products. So it is safe to theorize that Ruby Red face paints are perfectly fine.   http://www.dmshellac.com/shellac_uses.html

thanks, debbib, i should have mentioned the food use as confectionary glaze, it is the shiny glaze on some chocolate covered candies, among others. it is actually rated as a very safe product.

my objection is that it is a product which results in the death of many bugs, if that matters to someone (it does to me, as it seems unnecessary), and that it is an "animal" derived product (insect in this case).

in the ingredients list, the word shellac actually occurs at the end of a long chemical name, which i googled but could not find (i have a science background, so i'm used to chemical nomenature). so i wasn't sure if it was true shellac, or perhaps a synthetic version or by product.

maybe i should email the company and ask about it.

I was just making sure no one interpreted it to mean that if we use Ruby Red (I don't have any, currently) we are essentially slapping a coating onto a child's face that is the same stuff as what is used on furniture. The origin is the same, but after the necessary steps, it's totally different.

As far as bugs go, I will kill a spider, roach, fly or any other creepy, crawly, nasty critter that comes close enough to me to get a swat with the fly swatter.

In that case, my bad. Good for you for doing your homework

DebbieB wrote:Just out of pure curiosity, I dug a little deeper than Wikipedia. This is what it says:

Shellac is composed of hydroxyaliphatic acids and alicyclic acids. Shellac has been used in the pharmaceutical industry as a tablet coating, often for enteric coating on tablets. In the cosmetics industry, shellac has been used in mascara, hair spray, nail polish and eyeliner.

And also this:

Different Uses Of Shellac:
Fruit Coating
Confectionary Glaze
Pharmaceutical Applications
Cosmetics
Wood Polish
Shellac Wax
Abrasives
Bulb Capping Cement
Food & Food Packages
Printing Inks
Pyrotechnics

This is all from this website where it specifically says shellac has a multitude of uses, even in food products. So it is safe to theorize that Ruby Red face paints are perfectly fine.   http://www.dmshellac.com/shellac_uses.html

monelle, have to say i had the same reaction as you when i first read the ingredients.

imagining a kid getting into the chair - "hi there, how about if i shellac your face today?!"  

lol I know most people think of shellac as something you coat your wood furniture with lol, but there are many different types and grades of this stuff out there.

finally got around to contacting Ruby Red about the shellac. turns out they only use it in their uv face paints, not in the others.

Has anyone had any luck with the white? Or the green? The white is like powder mixed with some water. It gops on with almost every brush I have tried. I am so disappointed. And the basic green is very, very transparent. So both of these colors are getting relegated to bases. And I'm not sure the green will even be worth me carrying around.

i have the ruby red lime green. it is well pigmented and goes on nice and opaque. sort of a leaf green/grass green color. i did notice last summer it got gooey in warm weather.

it is decent for line work, (better than snazaroo, not as good as wolfe) especially if painting directly on skin, vs over another layer of face paint.

at some point, i want to try a few of their pearl colors.

you might try contacting the company, i emailed them with a question once and the owner replied right away.

thanks for the reply! I did just send a question out to them and will let everyone know what they have to say.

I did receive a note back from Gary, the owner, very quickly. I had expressed my dissatisfaction with the white and the green and he sent me a long email about how he is not exactly marketing to face painters, but to moms who want a safe, easy to remove product for face painting their children/grandchildren. How Disney and some cruise lines are using this brand exclusively because of that. He mentioned that he doesn't have "bad batches" like Wolfe and how all of his products are made with a different type of base, here in the USA. He also offered to send me a couple of samples (Which I did take him up on! )

I guess my only irritation is that he never really addressed the consistency of his white - which, as I told him twice, was of powder - mixed with water. And everytime I go to load my round brush, I just get globs.

His suggestion was that if I was loading CORRECTLY with the right BRUSH and the proper amount of WATER - I would get perfect teardrops and swirls. OKAY, that irritates the bejeezus out of me. I've been working professionally for over 12 years...done well over 600 PAYING gigs, and I have to learn how to handle his paint CORRECTLY?? where's the emoticon for smoke coming out of my ears??!

Oh well, I just ordered my Wolfe white...

lol! he probably thought you were a mom. beware, though, people on the forum have been saying wolfe has lost it's mojo.

it is good to know that about ruby red, that it's geared toward casual users, so you don't get your hopes up.

that powdery feel would be the, wait for it..powder, in the ingredients. talc, in fact.

Ruby Red Paint: 

INGREDIENTS: Talc, Water, PEG-32, Propylene Glycol, Propylene Glycol Ceteth-3 Acetate, PEG-8 Stearate, Glyceryl Stearate, C-32-36 Isoalkyl
Stearate, Polyhydroxystearic Acid, Stearyl Behenate, Cetearyl Alcohol, Polyglyceryl-3 Stearate, Polysorbate 60, Phenoxyethanol, Capryl
Glycol, Potassium Sorbate, Hexylene Glycol.

got the ruby red pearl pallette to try out, includes 8 colors - pearl red, pearl pink, pearl orange, pearl yellow, pearl green, pearl turquoise, pearl blue, and pearl purple.

they are more pearly than shiny, i.e. a subdued shine.

similar colors mix well together - purple & blues, green & yellow, red & orange & yellow, red & pink.

paint has a soft, slightly creamy feel when dry on the skin.

here's my impression of the colors -

pretty shade of color, saturated - pearl green, pearl purple, pearl orange (bright light orange)

pretty shade of color, but sheer - pearl yellow, pearl turquoise (pearl turquoise makes a pretty, opaque color mixed with pearl blue)

pretty shade of color, moderately saturated - pearl red (pretty when mixed with pearl pink), snazaroo sparkle red is more saturated,
pearl pink (warm shade of light shell pink, pretty when mixed with pearl red or pearl orange),

ok shade of color, moderately saturated - pearl blue (makes a pretty color mixed with pearl turquoise),

here are all the colors (blended in the rainbow), plus snazaroo sparkle white. blue flowers are pearl turquoise mixed with pearl blue, with snaz sparkle white highlights.  

colors are brighter in real life, cell phone camera plus kitchen lighting dulls them a bit -

I got this off their Material safety data sheet. To me, these seem like the most unhealthy of paints out there. I can't believe he's trying to bill these as a "healthy" choice. Face painters need to be aware of what's in their products, not only because of the exposure to the public, but because you're always practicing on yourselves, and getting paint on your own skin while you work. Skin absorbs everything you put on it.

Contents: Talc, Water, PEG-32, Propylene Glycol, Propylene Glycol Ceteth-3 Acetate, PEG-8 Stearate, Glyceryl Stearate, C-32-36 Isoalkyl Stearate, Polyhydroxystearic Acid, Stearyl Behenate, Cetearyl Alcohol, Polyglyceryl-3 Stearate, Polysorbate 60, Phenoxyethanol, Capryl Glycol, Potassium Sorbate, Hexylene Glycol. MAY CONTAIN: Glycerin, Bis(glycidoxyphenyl)propane/Bisaminomethylnorbornane Copolymer, Aluminum Hydroxide, Diethylaminomethylcoumarin, CI 77019 (Mica), CI 42090 (FD&C Blue 1 Al Lake), CI 47005 (D&C Yellow 10 Al Lake), CI 19140 (FD&C Yellow 5 Al Lake), CI 17200 (D&C Red 33 Al Lake), CI 77491, CI 77492, CI 77499 (Iron Oxides), CI 77891 (Titanium Dioxide), CI 15850 (D&C Red 7 Ca Lake), CI 15985 (FD&C Yellow 6 Al Lake), CI 77510 (Ferric Terrocyanide), CI 77007 (Ultamarine Blue), CI 16035 (FD&C Red 40 Al Lake), (CI 45410 Red 28, CI 45380 Red 22, CI 47000 Yellow 11, CI 60730 Violet 2 External, Benzoxazole, 2.2'-(2,5-thiophenediyl)[5-(1,1-dimetyl)-,Shellac). PLEASE RETAIN THIS INFORMATION

those are actually common ingredients in cosmetics (i have looked up some but not all of them). so you could use the argument that face paints are actually cosmetics, not paint.

at some point i am thinking of trying to look up all of them to see what they are, but what i found so far is they function as skin softeners, emulsifiers (to mix oil and water based ingredients), thickeners or thinners, smoothing ingredients, binders, and anti microbial ingredients.

I would suggest instead of looking into each ingredients usage, goggling each ingredient for health hazards. I looked into just three of the ingredients and found:
• Carcinogen
* Strong eye and skin irritant
* Can affect one when breathed in, and may affect the liver, kidneys and nervous system

That's only 3 of the ingredients. My point being that this is not a "healthy" choice for consumers or to put parents mind at ease. There are other paints on the market with much shorter ingredient lists, not laden down with nearly as many chemicals, and much less toxic.

I love the global dark blue, I will never change.