Cracking Paints

On Saturday I painted a gorgeous lady in a band at an outdoor fest. She had me do watercolor-esque daisies up each arm and across her back, connected with vines. She warned me that she had on gads of sun block spray because she was fair and the stage was in the dead sun, so she didn't want it washed off...understandably.

I used Wolf white and Paradise greens. The Paradise went on beautifully. The Wolfe cracked like an old oil painting. I was mortified. It was flaky and kinda bleh. I managed to go over it and then spray it with hairspray which got it to stay well.

The Paradise went on and stayed perfectly. I painted other people with the white, including my hub's face and the white on him was fine.

Anyone else have this happen?

When I painted my fishbowl belly I used both Snaz and Wolfe white, and both cracked/flaked like you wouldn't believe. It SUCKED. My next belly - the snow-family/snow globe - I used DFX Metallix white and it stayed like a dream.

I don't wear a lot of half/full faces myself, so when I put white on it's usually wolfe/DFX and linework, not a base. Put some on yesterday at 9am and at 11pm it was faded but hadn't cracked.

Any rhyme or reason? ...not that I can see. Wish I could crack the code though!

Herm Kristal. That does suck! I only used the white for the petals, not really any large base work but this was sooooo disappointing, especially after having awesome luck with it at FABAIC. Like I said though, it stayed fine on my husband for about 7 hours. I don't get it but it makes me nervous to use it again.

Wolfe white is NOT good for bases or anything other than lines, dots, etc. Unfortunately. I also had flower petals cracking and falling off my face...

That was the odd thing Shannon, it worked perfectly on my husband (I painted horns on his monster eye). It was only on the girl that it happened. I also used it as the white on my face for the profile pic, and it was fine for what I wanted (light, not thick and fully opaque).
It's very confusing.

I'm disappointed. I talked to the bandmate of the woman I painted and he said the hairspray helped and it lasted through her sleeping so she could wear it for a gig the next day. It faded just enough that people thought she had a real tattoo. So that's good. Flaky but good.

When I went to fabaic i saw most body painters use Paradise (yes even those that arent paid to). When I asked why I was constantly told by EVERYONE that b/c paradise is creamier than wolfe/dfx (wax) it moves with the body and lasts longer for actual body paints... HENCE my amost $200 purchase from metina for paradise b/c this is what I will use when i body paint. I had used dfx before and found it does start to crack

I usually use snaz for full face bases (like skulls etc.) and haven't had a problem... so far.... :S

After reading what you've written I'm thinking that maybe it'd be just as well to have some paradise on hand 'just in case' for the future..

I *LOVE* my paradise...

I originally got it cause it was cheaper, more bang for my buck. But I gotta say I really like it, even the smell, which I don't' find overpowering, just smells like makeup! Which, figures, cause it's made by a company specializing in makeup.

Someone, I forget who, posted a comment about the difference between wolfe/dfx and Paradise, is the difference between face pain made by a makeup company, and facepaint made by... well, a paint company.

Recently got some DFX, a rainbow cake a white and black, and I hate the way they feel on my skin. The paradise goes on nice and light, and you don't have that "cakey" feeling. Love it for linework and such though and details!

I've used Snaz as well but I find the coverage just doesn't compare.

I've used Paradise for 3 years now and I swear by them. LOVE them...except the metallics. Those are just not as robust as I want so I use DFX metallics.

At FABAIC I took the Wolfe Demo with April and Kurt and thought I'd try the black and the white, since everyone raves about them. I agree that they are great for line work.

Overall, I'm sticking to the devil...er...paint I know so Paradise it is.

When my white cracks, it is because I have made it too thick, or painted over it more than once to make it more opaque if I had left it a little watered down the first time. Never had a problem with random cracking though, only cracking that I caused LOL

I body paint with Fardel creams... so I don't have any cracking. At all.

I pretty much only use DFX for body-painting as i found most of the other paints cracked. But prefer paradise/ grimas for faces as comfier/ easier to get good sponge-work with.

And i agree Paradise white is the best for bases etc, though Grimas is close. And sadly Paradise metallics SUCK I have never yet had a good batch but I keep buying (then swapping away) as I love the shades. But the cakes are always crumbly and refuse to be reconstituted, so get wee grains into my finish...

Cat x