Temporary tattoo paint

Whitney, I know you were curious about these too so as I experiment I will post. I thought they might have been a little darker/brighter, but they are pretty light I guess like a tattoo would be. Even the black that I got, the Harquus Platinum is light and it says it should be dark. It says to shake well and I did that, maybe I need to shake it more. I did manage to blend the yellow and red a little on first attempt to get some orange on that butterfly. All the colors would need to be mixed to make them lighter or a different color. I am going to play with them a little more this evening since I took that butterfly off. it wasn't as easy to get off as I thought with alcohol so I used some lotion too since I don't have any baby oil and that is what is recommended. It didn't leave much trace on my arm but my fingernails are black since I got some on my fingertips. This will definitely be a learning curve.

How much of the body do you want to color, and do you really want it to stay? For straight out body painting or for use on the face, there are liquid makeups and airbrush body makeup that work great. I use Ben Nye magicolor and Mehron liquids mixed with about 10% mehron mixing liquid for airbrushing with an iwata eclipse top feed airbrush. I think other people covered the tattoo inks...

I just want to do small(ish) tattoos, no large area body painting. These inks are like paintng with some kind of tinted superglue. I really think I need to find the 99% alcohol, I think it might make a difference in being able to work with the paints. I have customers that want the tattoo style painting but would like it to last a few days even through showering, swimming, etc, which obviously means I can charge quite a bit more for them.

I think I am approaching them as I would face paints though, and need to learn to paint each color separately on the skin instead of trying to layer them, which does not look right. Until I get the right alcohol I am not going to mess with them again because I don't want to waste them.

I am disappointed with the bottle of what is being called Harquus Platinum by Temptu. I think they might have sent the wrong product, I am not sure. It does not paint black, just sort of a weird gray color no matter how much I shake up the container (it does say shake well.) They say you should not have to go over your work twice, but this stuff is so sheer you have to go over it several times and it never looks black.

You must shake the harquus before use. Can you hear those little beads on the bottom? That helps to mix properly. You are just using the top which is why that is happening. If you find it a bit liquidy, put a couple of drops in a super small container and let a bit of the alcohol evaporate...it will give a better consistancy. If you look earlier in the thread, you can see how black it is on the bikers. I like the palletes ok, but I really prefer the liquids for better coverage. I have a client coming in tomorrow to have his black and grey work tattoo colored to see if he wants to actually get color put in permanently...I'll post you the results on sunday!

This information is so helpful in my search for this kind of paint. I'm really curious as to how the inks work in comparison to the palettes.

Does anyone have experience with either the Kryolan BIC palette or the Temptu palette. I would like to see a pic of how they look (if you have one available) to see just how well the colors show up. I want to get one of these but would like to see before making the investment.

Kim,

I contacted Tap Dancing Lizard where I bought the harquus platinum and they told me that they have had bad batches before and that this one sounds like a bad bottle. I have shaken (shook? shaked?) the bottle even continuously for like 10 minutes and it is still bad. She said even without shaking it forever it should be black. I am impressed with their customer service.

I got the Temptu hard palette of paints because I could get more colors for a little less money (I think). I just need to find some 99% alcohol which I should have ordered while I had them on the phone with me so they could ship it together.

I think I will like these, though based on what I have done with them so far. I posted that butterfly which is pretty awful because I just unpacked the stuff and sat down with no idea what I was going to do or how the paints work. It is a little like painting with colored super glue, so I think I need the stronger alcohol and I need to approach the whole process differently than with face paints where I can layer and highlight. I will continue to work with them and post my progress because a few more on here have wanted info on these type of paints than just myself. They definitely come off easily with alcohol and a cotton pad.

Any pics or advice would be helpful as well. I wanted to learn some henna designs to do with the black, but I will have to wait until I get my replacement.

I didn't love the temptu palette. The black is really faint, and I've found them difficult to achieve any painting effect other than for FX. I'd like to try the body Illustrator palette, I've heard good things. The best way to blend and mix is to blend colors BEFORE application. The pigments dry very, very quickly with 99% alcohol, and they do not reactivate well once they have hit the skin and almost immediately dried. There is limited layering ability because it will crack and flake if it's too thickly applied. Hope this helps! I did painted tattoos in combination with airbrush for someone who wanted to be Kat Von D for halloween...I used the Temptu 99% alcohol activated palette for that and some FX...I think it was better for making realistic cuts, I don't have pix of Kat Von D, I forgot my camera, but here is what it looks like on a cut- I haven't done much FX work, so if it sucks, just look at what the color does (I also used a bruise wheel around the skin)

You're right, I guess the black in the palette is kind of pale but the black of the harquus platinum is supposed to be pretty great and Kim has shown pics of her use of that and likes it. I ordered the 99% alcohol so I will know more about how the paints work when they come in the mail. The shipping for the stuff was more than the product itself, but still cheaper than getting even a pharmacy here to order it. It would have been like $36 for 16oz. I got 2 8oz bottles for $12 and the shipping is, well almost as much anyway at $11.50, still cheaper. Should have ordered it when I ordered the paints but thought I should be able to find it locally.

Thanks everyone who inputs into this thread. Info on this stuff is rare, at least I haven't found much on the actual use of it so maybe we can all help each other.

Client today had a tattoo done in black and white with a touch of color, and wanted to know what it would look like in color. This is a color 'wash' with temptu. His tattooist said that she couldn't 'see' it in color and he wanted to show her so that is why he came. I think it didn't need color, but I think it also looks great with color. I'm 50/50. Wonder what he will end up doing. What do you think? Should he or shouldn't he? Ah well! Here it is! Done with Temptu Liquids. Blue, gold, red, brown.






Don't know if this helps you...but it may!

That's awesome. You guys are great!

That looks great, Kim. I am kind of wishing I would have ordered the liquid paints but my wallet wouldn't let me. You have been so helpful with your posts and I hope to post more when I can about working with these.

I didn't get the 99% alcohol yet but I just can't help playing with these paints. I did this butterfly a few minutes ago. It looks pretty good in person but not so great on camera. the antennae look awful, I should have used a much thinner brush. At this stage it is all experimental anyway.



Kim, any help on shading and highlighting with this stuff would be a great help. I kind of hate to say I need to look at a lot of tattoos because I am not super familiar with them, don't have any etc.

It looks awesome to me. You're really making me want them now. I just put in a large order for paints so it will be a little while.

Thanks, Whitney. I like it. I haven't taken it off yet, like I have the other tries. I ordered paints too, I had to wait for income tax refund and was able to spend around $200 so I split it up, half on this and half on fp.

Well, I got the 99% alcohol from Temptu today and I am very happy with the difference it makes in using these paints. It made them paint on so much smoother and with the 91% I was able to get around here it was like painting with shellac or colored superglue. I just wish now that I could find a place to buy the alcohol locally.

I will post more pics of my attempts at using this paint because I already have alot of people asking for them, so on my next few days off I will be painting more. This way any of you who are curious about the Temptu paints can get an idea of how they work and look.

Awesome, can't wait to see the pictures.

I've been sick for a little while so I haven't been painting or posting. I am totally amazed at the difference the 99% alcohol makes in these paints over the 91% I was hoping to work because I could find it locally. I actually went out of town last weekend (only about 50 miles or so) and they have a Meijer store and they had 99% alcohol on the shelf. Needless to say, I stocked up! and I know where to get it now for $1.59 for a 16oz bottle instead of the $12 plus shipping I paid Temptu. Here is a pic of what I painted today. I got the design somewhere on the internet, but I can't give due credit because I am not sure whose it was, it could even be one of Kim's.




I still need practice but I am getting better. I showed this to a few people where I work today and I already have two tentative appointments and a guy wants me to design part of his tiger tattoo. This also really does look much better in person, it's like the camera just picks up every flaw and also makes it reflect light even though I didn't use flash.

That is so beautiful!

Thanks, Whitney. I am really having fun with these paints. Now that I have the right alcohol to activate them properly they are great!! I have always had more of a demand for this type of work than general face painting, although I love painting the little kiddies. There is just not much, well, not anything I've found online about how to work with these paints, so hopefully as I learn about them, I can help anyone else who is thinking about trying them out. I am pretty sure the other brands work pretty much the same as these. I just put the alcohol a little at a time in the color, let it sit for about a minute and it works great but the alcohol evaporates very quickly and you have to keep adding a little at a time to keep the paint workable. It does not paint like face paint though, it has a resin in it that makes it stickier.

The next time I paint, I am going to try using some glitter on top or even some mica powder instead of the baby powder I have been using to set the paint. I don't think the glitter will last as long, but I won't know until I try it.

It just seems like these companies that sell these would put out some real info about how they work. I guess my first palette will get used up just learning about it.

I was lucky enough to snag the Kryolan BIC palette and BIC liquid from Jacana aka Laurie.......(Thank you Laurieeeeeeeee) Well I looked at it and looked at it and looked at because I wasn't quite sure what to do with it. Well tonight I dove in and gave it a whirl.

First thing learned you only need just a dab if that much of the liquid to activate the color. Using too much you only get a very washed out look. Using less gives a more intense color.

I did an outline of a design in reg DFX black then filled it in with the BIC colors. I wiped off the DFX and outlined in the BIC black. I outlined 1st in DFX so if I made a mistake or wanted to change something I could fix it. Here is my first attempt with the BIC palette.

I am sooooooo glad I got this. Now that I know how it works I'll just work on my speed, start out with offering just a few designs to start with and go from there.

2nd thing learned don't apply too much. If layered on too thick it will tend to flake off or crack a little.

Now to see how long it last and how easy the removal process is.

So excited this is working out for you!!!

I'm glad you like it, Changing. I love my Temptu palette. What I started to do is I got some tattoo marking pens so I can make transfers of the more complex designs. I haven't really had time lately to do much with it, but they work great. The disadvantage is that the lines are purple, but unless you are using a very light paint color, you can't see it.

You can make transfers just with the palettes/inks - paint onto tissue paper or transfer paper, then when applying, spray the skin with alcohol and place, then spray the paper till it comes off clean onto the skin. Only thing is if you are doing multi color layering you have to do it in reverse.....