A couple things Iv picked up from cosplaying characters with body paint for two years!!
First and foremost prime your face. Usually something that minimizes pores is best. This helps set your paint longer.
Types of body paint:
Water based- Activated with water and applied in a stippling motion with a sponge. I find beauty blender works best for applying this. Pros: Great for oily skin, streaks are almost non existent when applied correctly, easy application. Cons: Sometimes flakey, even when set correctly sweat and rain can take it off, color payoff is iffy on lighter colors, water to makeup ratio takes a little practice.
Cake/ creme paint- Great for people with dry skin. Applied with a foundation brush or sponge. Pros: easier to come across than water based, easy to take off, build able color pay off. Cons: sometimes streaky, very hard to set with spray, sometime smudges even when set.
Airbrushing- A fine spray of body paint comes out of an airbrush gun to form even coverage. Pros: smooth application, alcohol based ink can be used, mixing colors of paint is easier.
Cons: expensive, not travel friendly
PAX ((pros-aide))- A mixture of pax body adhesive and acrylic paint. Mix in a 50/50 ratio and apply with a sponge brush. Powder in between layers. Please for the love of all things holy do not put this on your face. This is meant for your neck down!! Pros: waterproof, sweat proof, weather proof, you can go swimming in this paint, it doesn't rub off at all, one application can last three days. Cons: very very difficult to remove, expensive, messy application process, sticky.
Painting your arms and legs can be time consuming and can still end up streaky. I find armsocks are the way to go with body paint.
Tutorial here: Armsocks
Tights in colors that you would need: we lovecolors.com
Don't forget to contour your face and collarbones. Applying face paint is half the battle, making your facial features stand out with eyeshadow can make the paint look like your real skin. Contour with a matte eyeshadow color two shades darker than your body paint.
Setting the paint- Probably the most important step. Dust your face with setting powder, or baby powder. You can use setting spray or even hairspray works in a pinch. Set EVERYTHING you painted.
Good luck and remember cold cream can take off any body paint!!
Comments (10)
I personally like water based paints. I used TAG for my Sapphire cosplay and it was relatively easy to apply and lasted for a pretty long time before flaking :)
I'm a student in a special effects makeup course and we use PAX to paint bald caps, large prosthetic pieces, and masks. I can't stand the stuff and even if you have Prosaide remover or isopropyl myristate it's still a pain in the ass to get off. If you wanna use PAX for anything I recommend keeping it to bald caps etc
Reply to: GuardianCosplays
I work with a bunch of face painters who absolutely hate on Snaz, but I've found with practice it can be amazing. Good coverage for a base colour when done properly. And I don't get streaks like some other brands tend to leave
Things id add - water based liquids aka Fardel Creme, Ben Nye etc go on far smoother and opaque and are best applied with foundation brush.
Good quality cream makeup can go on very smoothly...Ben nye cream pots for example, a little goes along way. Also you can set it very well with a pro quality setting liquid like Green Marble spray. Thin layers of cream then spray, details like powders then spray again. Can last as long as alcohol makeup this way.
Cons also of airbrushing - long removal time..dont rush unless you want skin that hates you. :-)
Disagree with people dissing Snazaroo. With the correct application, I've found it looks best of most paints. I dislike the majority of creme paints too because they're very hard to remove sometimes and make my skin break out B(
Airbrushes also can be travel friendly if you buy a portable air compressor. I take mine to cons :)