Paradise Lover Opinions Wanted - Warning Long!

The mango is nice for monster bases & looks good blended with orange & red. Try spraying your sponge for the white. It should make a solid base(for me it makes the best base out of any brand). The yellow on it's own is kindof lame, but try blending it with red or green. It makes a great split for flowers OR for leaves & lizards.

Great tips! I will make my own splits one day when I'm better at using them. I tried Tash's ladybug over the eyebrow for my practice head's inaugural face - it turned out stunning. That is such a fabulous design for my skill level. It is vivid and cute and easier to execute - don't laugh but I'm really struggling with Princess crowns. There's a flow to those designs I find awkward. I'm glad you like Paradise white as a base and looking forward to trying it that way. I'm starting to line up children to practice on ....

FYI... MSDS for all brands are available and you just need to carry a copy in your kit. Therefore it is NOT that big of a deal to use more than one brand even if you are worried about being able to tell people the ingredients and other details. A few more sheets of paper which add nothing to the wieght of your kit.

Glad you're happy with your purchases! And I do admire the Paradise colours - but from far far away!!

I've been doing what Tash (I believe) recommended - and leave the caps off overnight while they dry from my practice session - my black is now nowhere as near as strong as the new ones. But IF you don't like the smell I can see where even a whiff can throw you off. It will be interesting to see what my experience with them will be.

Well I just got some Paradise in I ordered the tropical palette and a prisma cake (flash), and I could not take that scent. It is a little much for me. I left the palette and the cake open to see if it was just the newness of it being packaged up, and see if it wil dissipate some. If it doesn't die down it will end up in the FPF Swap

I won't add a lot since it's probably already been said =). I started with Snaz but quickly converted to Paradise. At one point that is all I was using, but I started trying other brands (thankfully!). I like Paradise metallics, but they do take some practice to figure out how to work with them. My favorite is the blue metallic, but I also use Wolfe metallic blue when I want a darker/bolder color. Wolfe red is also a more vivid red, so I stopped using Paradise red (it does make good blood drips though!).

As far as the yellow/orange - they are not as vivid as I like so I cut the pot in half and use half neon wolfe yellow with the paradise yellow, and half paradise orange with neon wolfe orange... what a difference!!!!!!!! I drag my sponge down the middle to pick up both colors.

I used to use only Paradise white and black for line (still use the black - it works great for kiddos as wolfe is harder to remove) but I was going through it sooooooo fast. I switched to Kryolan white which I swore by until I tried the Wolfe/DFX/Tag white -- wowsa! I had a hard time with teardrops and always thought it was me/my brush. Turns out it was the paint! I always buy it in the 90g pot - lasts longer/better value.

I will always use Paradise as I love the colors, but I am slowly switching brands for certain colors.

Changing Faces ... I hope you will find the paradise smell lightens enough for you to use it. I have had my black for a good month and I find the scent is just barely present now. Course I like the scent - for me it transports me to that tropical island I've only seen in movies - LOL! But I leave it open a lot as I practice almost nightly with it and always leave it out at least overnight to dry properly.

But you know I'll be watching the swap shop just in case...LOL...I have some slightly used dfx arty cakes to put up when I get some photos.

jumpers4you - I am going to give in and try the dfx white when it is available again in the smaller sizes. I should look and see if Metina has the Tag white in and give that a go. I didn't think about that when I was doing my ordering.

I also do not mind the smell of the Paradise paints. I can barely smell them, in fact, even from the first time I opened them. It must be just my sense of smell. I can smell a little bit of "coconuttiness", but that is it, very faint. I've had no comments from anyone I've painted either. The black is a little softer though than the DFX black I've noticed and I think I will go through that quicker but it still makes nice lines. I do have a mixed kit of paints though, from Snaz, to Paradise, DFX and now some TAG.

I like the scent of the paradise paints. Especially in the summer months...I feel tropical LOL!
I use all different brands of paint. I have yet to order DFX and try them or TAG. But, I want to try them out, I just haven't ordered. I use the metallic green for paradise, it can sometimes stain a little. I put it on my eyes last weekend (Sunday) for a Holly face swirl design. It is Wednesday and I have a faint hue of green eyeliner still. But, it washed right off my daughter and she usually stains. All green paints even Snaz tend to stain my skin in particular though. I just tell the parents to use make up remover on darker colors.

I do not use paradise to line with...I use Wolfe. I have never tried to use it to line with because I was just happy with the Wolfe so, why fix it right? As far as the paradise goes in general, I have used it in a pinch when a color has run out of one of my wolfe split cakes.I had a rainbow to lose blue. I am heavy handed I guess. I used the paradise blue and the color is just as bold in the rainbow.

Well I have a make-up party tomorrow for about 15 6 & 7 y/o little girls. I will be using the paradise specifically for this party. It got postponed because of the first snowstorm...so we are ago tomorrow. I have left the paints open since I got them.....so we will see how it goes with the smell when I activate them with water.

Hopefully they will perform to my expectations otherwise swap shop here they come.

Good luck! I look forward to hearing how it goes.

I did end up picking up a large pot of TAG white. I didn't find that it performed that much better directly on my skin than the Paradise, but I will say that it didn't allow colors to bleed so much when used over another color - so a detectable improvement there.

I just got the Paradise gold today and love it. It is not as sheer as the silver and is very pretty and bright. Mixing the powder in it changes it to a much more realistic gold...and it clumps a little so not as smooth to paint with. I think I'll reserve the gold powder to use with the mixing liquid, but I'm looking forward to getting the silver powder (on its way) to brighten up the Paradise silver which was just a little too sheer for my taste.

Now if only Mehron made a yellow powder I could mix in with the yellow - that's the only color I am truly unhappy with so far. I wonder...has anyone mixed their starblends into their paints? Or is that a bad idea....

I hated how dull my yellow looked. Ended up taking my Wolfe neon yellow and splitting it with my regular yellow. Now I love it... Much brighter and sunny =). The neon by itself is too sheer so it was a perfect combo.

Well the party has come and gone. Big Big success in the fact that all the little girls were happy happy happy, as to were the parents. Even a couple of the husbands commented how they liked it.

I was soooooooooooooooooooooo proud of my baby Angel. Guys I wish you could have seen her. She handled herself so so well. The children loved her. She was in charge of the bubblegun and doing all the balloon twisting, she even played games with the kids. I am a proud mama, and she earned every bit of her $25 and the compliments from the parents.

Now, as for the Paradise palette review.............well there isn't one. I did a special princess mask design on the birthday girl....................and mere make-up was no longer the flavor of the day. Good thing I brought my DFX. Never even touched the paradise. I am mad again because I didn't get to get individual pics of the girls, but I did manage to get a group shot at the end before I left. I will post in a lil while.

So as for the paradise back into my kit it goes until another make-up party opportunity presents itself.

I'm confused as to why you are saving it for a make-up party?
If they wanted masks and crowns and full faces you could have used the paradise.... I guess I just use whatever is on hand... DFX snaz paradise Tag, whatever color I prefer I use that... the only thing I won't do is use snaz for lines.
So wonderful to hear your daughter did so well, there is no feeling that compares to be a proud parent!!
Can I suggest maybe you try the paradise out on your daughter ( albiet with a bribe or whatever) just so you can see how it performs.
I guess it must be because I started with paradise that I see it as such a good alrounder... DFX and TAg both dry on my skin and feel like paint... paradise doesn't feel like anything.
Oh bugger it - just send it all to me! hahahahaha

I'm totally with Tash =). I started with Snaz and it was soooo hard to use. It got all goopy on me and while it was good for base, not so great for line or bold colors. Paradise is the brand I switched to and I still swear by it. I've since added Kryolan, Wolfe, DFX and Tag (whatever colors I like from each), but Paradise is still my trusty sidekick for the majority of my work.

jumpers4you wrote:I hated how dull my yellow looked. Ended up taking my Wolfe neon yellow and splitting it with my regular yellow. Now I love it... Much brighter and sunny =). The neon by itself is too sheer so it was a perfect combo.

I just wanted to mention something I have noticed with the paradise yellow.
It depends on skin tone to how nice the yellow looks.
I painted myself and you can hardly see it... I'm pretty pale, I painted my husband with it and you can see it but it looks terrible.... he is dark skinned, and I painted my daughter with it..... and she looks awesome, she has inbetween my pale and his olive skin.
So i think skin tone has alot to do with it... and the fact some people can't wear some colors... like I love love love to use gold... but I can't tell you how bad it looks on my skin! Ages me badly!
I mainly use mango instead. But I made a split with the yellow and the old paradise orange (darker) for tigers and it works a treat! They blend beautifully together and give shading on the base.
That said when my spit runs out which is soon I will have to find another orange as the new paradise orange is more yellow then orange... I always have to mix some red in....

I used mango for this....
I now usually do it in gold with real gems.... but you can see how the mango has a nicer shade then the yellow.

I must have skin like you Tash - the Paradise yellow fades to nothing on me. The snaz yellow is brighter on me - so looks like it might be a good fall back. It's good to know the Paradise yellow will work better on some skin tones. And yah, the gold shows all my lumps and bumps and wrinkles! But so pretty. What I'm still struggling with is the freakin' white - I picked up Tag white but just like paradise white it just fades into my skin. I was using the tag last night over light blue, dried designs, and it still was just fading into the blue. I really hate to spend more on Wolfe to try it when everyone says those three brands - DFX, Wolfe & Tag are basically all the same paint. But I watch Sparkling Faces videos for example and that white just pops on Vi. So is it the product or is it me?? Otherwise I think I am quite happy with my Paradise kit. Now if I could just say the same thing about my skills....

Pixie, I don't think it's you. I swear by Wolfe white. Wolfe, DFX, and TAG are all very similar, but I still say Wolfe black and white are the best ones out there for line work.

That's good to know ... okay - guess it's back to the drawing board again :-) I'll add that Wolfe white to the top of my list and see how that performs.

pixieface wrote:That's good to know ... okay - guess it's back to the drawing board again :-) I'll add that Wolfe white to the top of my list and see how that performs.

I would swear by mine! I have DFX and Wolfe white, and there is still a big difference IMO.

I read and tried to digest this entire thread before I purchased some colors that had been previously out of stock. I just bought a LOT of DFX, and I find them not worth the effort as bases. When seconds count, I'm thinking the Paradise is much quicker to get on and blend. I'm going to be ordering the rest of their colors now. I'm sure there are applications for which the DFX consistency is preferable, and I'll post them as I find them.

As for the smell...if it wasn't for this thread I would not have purchased Paradise again, after smelling the Fleur cake. It nearly made me gag - and I LOVE coconut! However, this last batch which included six pro size and a compact of metallics, had barely perceptible odor. The white, properly loaded on my Maxine's Mop, was superb for spidey eyes, compared to Snaz - as well as MUCH quicker and easier to load.

I'm kind of stingy with my product - plus, I used to paint houses and nothing ruins a brush faster than paint loaded up into the heel - so when I say "easy to load", I don't mean squidging the brush up to the heel. I mean, economically easy, and efficient time-wise, with a motion that saves brushes and paint and cleaning time.

Thanks for all the input - I'll check back again soon. Great thread.

I totally forgot to post a pic from the party Angel and I did..so here ya go