New to face painting - Which products should I get?

I am completly new to face painting, but I want to start. However, I don't want to spend like 300$ on face painting and makeup and then realize that it wasn't really for me. I just want to buy a few products to see if it's something I'm into, get a good feel for the paint you know. If I see that it's something for me (which I hope and think it is) then i'll buy more products and start with it for real. What are some cheap products out there that could help me get started with face painting and see if It's something I enjoy and should invest in? My budget is about 80$. It's pretty low, but I also got to think about shipping fee to my country (Norway) which can be pretty high.

Everyone is different in how they like to paint and what they want to paint.  I have a friend who recently started painting and this is what I recommended for her as a start:

1 black Wolfe or DFX ($7-$
1 white Wolfe or DFX ($7-$
1 carnival cake ($13)
1 iridescent glitter poofer ($3)
1 berry one stroke cake ($12)
1 3D-leaf one stroke cake ($13)
1 Fantasy Tiger cake ($14)
3 sponge (cut in half = 2 halves) ($3)
paint brush set from craft store ($10)

This gave her a good start with a variety of colors and the ability to do one-stroke painting and sponging.  She can use brushes on individual colors too.  If she wants to do more, she can invest in a basic or sampler palette with more solid colors.  She could also expand her variety of one-strokes or rainbow cakes.

-Wolf/DFX/Tag Black and White are pretty staple for line work.
-A rainbow cake, probably a neon one.
-The first thing I got was the Wolfe Essentials Pallette which wasn't bad to play around with. It does have Wolfe black and white in it. Got me a lot more interested in face painting. It might not be a fantastic addition to your full kit if you decide to start putting one together, but who knows? That's $36 via that link, for 12 colors, so not bad for messing around. It's not very good for sponging on a full face though, the pots of paint are small and a sponge doesn't fit well on it. There's not just Wolfe that has these kinds of mini pallettes, check out other brands as well. Paradise by Mehron maybe?
-A few sponges
-A little squirt bottle to spray your sponges!
-A few round paint brushes (what people use the most) in different sizes. With practice, you might find that bigger sizes are more versatile. Anything with synthetic bristles, really.
-A filbert brush and a square brush are both great to have, especially if you buy a small pallette that makes using a sponge on those tiny pots of paints difficult. You can get more coverage than a round brush, faster, with either of these.
-Glitter makes everything better.

Everyone is different so you'll hear a lot of different suggestions! It's like asking people, "I want to get into cooking, what food should I buy?" Hope these replies give you a better idea though (:

I also have a question regarding some things for my kit. Do you all bring a chair to your events? if so, what size 24" or 30"?

hey Whuttie, i started a few months ago (so, very fresh!)
i bring 2 fold-able chairs that weren't too expensive. I had them for my balcony at my apartment but i take them with me when i go paint. My back hurts a little sometimes depending on how many kids i've done, and i'll have taller kids/older people sit in the chair and i stand.

I have seen/heard people getting their "faces" to sit in director chairs and they stand. I dont know if i could stand the whole time though, i'm young but i have weak knees

You can always ask if the birthday party can get 2 chairs for you. I do markets too and some of them will provide the table/chairs or i just ask if they have extra chairs.

hope this helped!

Whuttie:

Back in my hometown, I actually never brought a table nor two chairs to birthday parties or events. The company I worked for simply requested them from the client nicely. I'm not too sure if that is professional but the clients don't seem to mind.

From reading this forum, I've noted that face painters like the director's chair as MomentumFP stated and they stand. I too am young at 24 years old and can't stand for too long because I'm perpetually tired but I just bought a Director's chair. Here's to hoping I survive standing haha. I plan on bringing a tiny fold up black stool to sit down in between when there isn't a continuous line. But if its  a corporate gig, I personally would have them provide two chairs if you don't have them yourself. I would want to sit at a corporate gig since those gigs last for HOURS vs a 2 hour birthday party. Only concern for Director's chairs is for short gals like me. I'm only 5'1 and I fear that the director's chair will make the child too tall for me to paint lol

PoopityPants: off topic, but, oh cool I saw you on reddit in r/facepainting! I go by ichigo21 on reddit in case you recognize that screen name

xSerena:

I think since you aren't doing birthday parties and events yet and are simply testing out face painting as a whole, I wouldn't invest even in 1-strokes at all unless it's just 1 of them.

I personally would buy a 12-color mini palette ($30-45) and a pack of synthetic brushes from the craft store($10) and literally start small from there.

I used to use the TAG 12-color palette (I will warn you TAG Orange and Dark Blue aren't very good and the white can be slightly sheer) but it was a good starter palette to see if I like the brand and I didn't feel guilty using the paints practicing around versus using a full $105 palette.

I get the feeling that you want to so far only test things out to see if you even like face painting at all and test out some simple designs to get the feel for it and then invest later.

I worked gigs without a sponge for the longest times and survived (though it wasn't ideal) but since you aren't doing events, from my understanding, you don't need to worry about extra things yet. But that's just my opinion

Hope that helps!

Gracie, I'm 5'0 and I thought a director's chair would be the death of me too, but it's working out pretty well so far! Don't know how tall it is, got it cheap off Craigslist, but I actually find that I'm still bending over for the itty bitty ones. "Big kids"/adults get to sit on my little chair while I stand (:

Another option for seating though that I've done and liked, was for ME to sit and the child to stand between my legs. I just gave them a warning that we were about to get up close and personal, and painted away, and boom! Back was fine. It's also easier this way because there's only one chair. Down side is the kids are sad they don't get to sit.

hi xSerena,

as a former newbie, I recommend not buying regular Snazaroo palettes or colors at your local craft store.

snazaroo regular colors are not that bright, and they have a sort of clay pudding texture, and sometimes uneven coverage.  the black & white make terrible lines and details when you are just  beginning to perfect your technique.

it will make you feel like you are not good at face painting.

however, most of their sparkle and metallic colors are good for bases.  

go with wolfe or dfx black & white, and their other colors, for lines and details. wolfe paints have a smooth, liquid texture when moistened, have good pigmentation, and make clean lines and details. (i have not used dfx yet).

also, one stroke cakes will give you truer colors and edges than trying to blend individual colors next to each other.

do a google images search for face painting designs. pick some you like, representing various things (princesses, butterflies, flowers, lizards, superheroes, skulls, etc).

do a search of different face paint shops/suppliers websites and look at the colors and split cakes of various brands. buy a small palette or a few cakes and split cakes of colors you love, that work for the designs you want to practice.

most painters recommend brands such as these for bases (background colors and objects) and blending - tag, mehron paradise, fab, kryolan, snazaroo, a new brand called ruby red.

and these brands for clean lines and details - wolfe, diamond fx (dfx), and also tag.

get some good, but not too expensive, synthetic bristle brushes.

practice with your good paints and brushes from the beginning. the cost of them is worth the investment.

I made the mistake of trying to get better at face painting using cheaper brushes and difficult to work with paint. it gets you nowhere.

practice on yourself and friends.  when you are good at the designs, volunteer to face paint at local youth event or community events.

face painting at your leisure on yourself is nothing like painting real, squirmy kids, with the wind blowing their hair in the paint, as fast as you can because there are 8 others standing in line waiting, and this goes on for 4 hours!

have fun getting started and practicing

j lirie