The Rest of the Snazaroo Day

I got permission!  I promised photos, and photos you shall have!

First, we were asked to paint princesses to be photographed at a princess party.  This was my pretty model.  It was really cute.  They all had tiaras and dresses, plus magic wands.

Next were the pirates at the pirate party, who were given sword bubble wands to play with for the photo shoot.  I want a sword bubble wand!

For the Halloween trick-or-treating shoot, I got to have some fun creating a monster.

And then I had a little down time in between painting, so I took some requests from the model kiddos and created a zombie, plus did a quick arm butterfly.

For the July 4th picnic shoot, I got to paint two models, a sister and brother.  How cute!

I was especially happy when I was asked to do a tribal, as I'd just taken a class with Jay Bautista, who's known for 'em!

And last, but definitely not least, an Easter chick, a design I've never attempted before that I made up on the fly while there!

Now I just need an Easter gig come spring...

Snazaroo Step-by-Steps

Remember when I mentioned that I'd face painted for Snazaroo?  I've noticed that the step-by-steps are up on the site!  So now I can post some (but not all, so keep checking!) of the photos from that day.

First, I was asked to do two sport-related cheek art step-by-steps.

The soccer ball step-by-step is here.

And the #1 Fan step-by-step is here.

And then I was asked to paint this flower mask (pursuant to the Snazaroo step-by-step instructions already in place) on a fellow artist.

The flower mask step-by-step is here.

And I got painted too!  This sugar skull step-by-step, painted on me by another artist, is here.

So much more happened that day... I can't wait to be able to show you!

Not a Typical Start to the Week

This past Monday, I took a day off from my day job... to face paint!  It was one of the best days ever.  Three other face painters and I went to a beautiful Tudor-style house in Shrewsbury, NJ, owned by an employee of ColArt, the art supply company.  ColArt owns United States distribution of Snazaroo, a well-known face paint made in the UK.

They're looking to increase their marketing of Snazaroo, especially in social media, so they hired us to spend the whole day in the gorgeous backyard on a beautiful day, painting a bunch of very photogenic and well-mannered kids over and over in different faces for their pro photographer and videographer.  It was a blast!  At the end of the day, in addition to all the photos taken of my work, I also got to face paint a video tutorial... and get painted in one too!

ColArt has asked that we not share our work until they've got the official photos out and about, so although I took photos I cannot yet post them here.  I will in the future, though, so you'll have to keep checking!

Meanwhile, the next morning I got an email for a last minute party that same evening.  A young lady was turning four, and her mom suddenly thought it'd be fun to have a face painter.  She was right!

Lots of princesses and butterflies.

A couple of boys who loved their hulk and puppy.

And my favorite... a woman who just wanted me to do something pretty and let me do what I wanted!

She was so happy!

North Jersey Face & Body Art Guild

I'm a member!

In joining this guild, I've pledged my commitment to the maintenance of hygiene and safety in the profession, as well as a desire to improve my general face painting skills.

Tonight was fun, with about fifteen of us gathering at our very first meeting to discuss some basic housekeeping issues and get some demonstrations of rainbow/split cakes of face paint and some one-stroke instruction.

I got to try out my new Snazaroo rainbows, that I made.

I also used my Wolfe Brothers rainbow to paint this butterfly on my friend Ricki.

And I got painted up as a rainbow kitty.

I now have lots of ideas for more rainbow cakes, so I'll be making a bunch in the near future. This is great news for you, because you as my clients will reap the benefits of my cakes, and the wonderful designs for which I can use them. At fairs, they'll save a ton of time. At parties, they'll let me add some serious wow to my face painting. Just wait and see!

The Truth About Face Paint Safety: A Follow Up

I've received some new pieces of information regarding face paint safety.

The first is the most recent MSDS sheet (dated 2008), from Snazaroo UK, the company that makes Snazaroo face painting products. It's located here.

The second is a statement released by Ben Nye Company. Ben Nye is a professional theater makeup company whose products were "tested" by the CSC. Here's what they have to say:

Ben Nye Makeup has been committed to the highest standards of product quality and safety for over 42 years. We adhere to responsible manufacturing procedures to meet the rigorous safety standards set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Several reputable organizations and experts have issued opinions regarding lead in cosmetics. As the CTFA states below, lead is unavoidable. It is present in our environment, in foods that we eat and even in water that we drink. There is no conclusive evidence to confirm how much lead is actually absorbed through contact with cosmetics. Further, there is not one single recorded case in U.S. medical literature substantiating lead poisoning through cosmetic use (SNOPES, NOVEMBER 2008).

CTFA Statement regarding Lead and Cosmetics (from the CTFA Website):

It is impossible to live in a lead-free world. Lead is ubiquitous in the environment. It is in the air, water, soil, in short, it is unavoidable. However, compared to the amount of lead a person would ingest from eating and drinking ordinary foods, the amount expected from the use of cosmetics would be extremely small.

Under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has the responsibility to take action if it finds a product to be unsafe and has abundant legal authority to do so.

Cosmetics are safe products that millions of consumers use and enjoy every day. It is alarmist and irresponsible to suggest otherwise.

Below are links to websites with useful information that specifically address and invalidate the concern that lead content in responsibly manufactured cosmetics are at hazardous levels.

cosmeticsinfo.org
U.S. Food & Drug Administration

In addition to the statements from the face paint companies the Chief Scientist of an independent group, the Personal Care Products Council has the following to say, in part:

... parents can enjoy Halloween festivities with their children without unnecessary worry about the safety of these novelty products.

Although CSC is recommending to parents that they should mix up their own children's face paints, parents should note that since heavy metals are ubiquitous in food, water, air and other consumer products, there is no guarantee that homemade face paints are safer or as safe as those that may be purchased in stores.

You can read the full text of his statement, which has even more information, here.

Face Paint Safety

You may have seen an article published by an alarmist activist group, "The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics," which has been cited at MSN Health & Fitness and even on NBC-2 News in Chicago. If you have seen this article, I'm sure it's raised questions for you, as well it should. It certainly raised questions for the face and body art community!

Well, we're lucky. Snazaroo, one of the leaders in face paint production and the mainstay of my own body art kit, and one of the companies named by CSC, is produced in the U.K. but distributed in the United States by Gary Cole, owner of Snazaroo U.S.A, Inc. Mr. Cole, a face painter, body art instructor, and competition judge himself, who has had many years in the cosmetics industry before his ownership of Snazaroo U.S.A., Inc., makes himself accessible to body artists around the world and to the public itself via his Snazaroo-hosted Google discussion group, FacePaintHQ.

When we as body artists got wind of this alarmist article, we went right to the source, and questioned Mr. Cole.

Mr. Cole notes that the group from which the article comes is "The Daily Green - The Consumer's Guide to the Green Revolution," a group that has a political and financial stake in producing work such as this.

That aside, however, he read the article, and had the following response, in pertinent part:

Snazaroo offers you "The World's Safest and Easiest to Use Face Paint Brand." We still do. Our safety page ... goes well into the safety policies of Snazaroo.... If you go online ... you will find an MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) from Snazaroo in the UK. It is from testing of the face paints sent out to an independent lab called SGS. In the report, you will see that Snazaroo face paints are fully compliant with the cosmetic laws of the E.U. and the U.S. FDA. This particular test was done in 1995.
...

You will also see that the metals levels are WELL BELOW the FDA requirements and found acceptable for use on the skin. In fact, the metals content reported could be sixty times its current level and still be within the cosmetic standards of the U.S.A. and E.U. It is safe as a cosmetic product.

One might scoff that none of these ingredients are listed in the formulation. Well they are not included as ingredients in Snazaroo and therefore not listed. So where do they come from? They come as trace ingredients in the other ingredients formally listed. Most of the metals are coming from two specific colored pigments, black iron oxide and yellow iron oxide. These are natural ingredients used widely in the cosmetic industry.
...

Because these come from natural ingredients, by nature, they have these minerals in very minor quantities.
...

In the Snazaroo MSDS, you will see that the metals content from these trace elements are also compliant with the ASTM F963-95 which is the Standard Consumer Safety Standard that is specific to meet the Child Toy Safety rating.

The bottom line here is ... Snazaroo has and still does lead the world in its quality and safety. No other brand can beat the safety of the Snazaroo brand. It remains the standard despite skeptics and their reports.

He also spoke to a news reporter from NBC news in Chicago, who responded to his email regarding her comments about this story. She said she spoke to an officer at the FDA with regard to cosmetics regulations and they confirmed that the metal levels in Snazaroo were WELL WITHIN THE LEGAL REQUIREMENTS FOR THE U.S. COSMETIC INDUSTRY. She confirmed that Mr. Cole's email was very consistent with what they received from the FDA. She agreed the “Daily Green” report was "a lot to say about nothing."

Snazaroo in the UK is also expected to issue a press release in response to the article in question, so expect a follow-up post from me detailing their statements.

For some of my other supplies, also cited in the article, you can find the Mehron MSDS here and the Wolfe FX MSDS here.

A fellow body artist had the following to say regarding the issue:

I am a scientist. Specifically, I am a physicist. I have taken many graduate classes in statistical analysis and can state that the sampling methodology [described in the article] is seriously deficient. This is not the first time I have seen poor analysis and sampling and it (unfortunately) will not be the last. I am grateful that some of us use common sense when considering reports like this. To say that the face paint contains lead is as informative as stating that it contains hydrogen and oxygen. So what?

Donna

If you reread the article by CSC, please note that the group's real gripe seems to be with the FDA. They're not actually claiming that the face paints in question don't meet FDA standards; they're claiming that the FDA doesn't go far enough to regulate the cosmetics industry as a whole. Well, you can take that up with the FDA if you like, but the bottom line, very simply, is that professional cosmetic-grade face paints are perfectly safe for use on you and your kids.

Another Good Evening

I painted at a restaurant again tonight. I've been there several times, but only saw one of my "regular" customers, a little boy who gets a race car on his arm every single time I paint him. Before, it was red. Tonight, I changed it up and did blue, convincing him that he didn't want a black one. Trying to get decent definition on a black car would just not be easy. It's like when kids want to be painted as Darth Vader. I can do a kickin' Darth Maul,

but Darth Vader? Not so easy, what with the all black. I made the mistake of attempting it once. Calling the result a "blob" would be generous.

Most of the evening was spent painting my usual... rainbows with butterflies, rainbows with dolphins, flowers, a tiger, and yes... a Darth Maul.

I did get one little girl who wanted Zoe. It took me a minute and some help from mom to place the name: They'd recently gotten back from Sesame Place, and Zoe is Elmo's orange friend. In fact, the girl's sister got Elmo.

They looked cute together, though while the girls were posing their arms, some Elmo transferred onto Zoe, I notice in the photo.

One boy was truly original. He's the first ever, in all my years of painting, to sit down and say, "Can you do an alien?" Can I do an alien?! Of course I can do an alien! An alien means I get to run free!

I see things I'd add or define more, but I honestly like the result. And he was quite the happy customer.

More Challenges... and Teenagers are Loons!

I painted at a restaurant again tonight, and the kids were great. I had to be meeting the most articulate, fun children who were just SO excited to see me there with my face painting kit!

It was a new kit, too. I am now the proud owner of a Snazaroo Pro-54... because, you know, I didn't have enough colors. Ha! It's great, though, so compact and organized, and it made my setup, especially in a small space, so incredibly easy. My entire kit tonight was contained in this case:

Which contained this pallet of colors...

... as well as glitter, shimmer, and all my other necessary supplies.

I love painting without my sample books, because it encourages the kids to come up with new ideas, and yet again they didn't disappoint. My first young victim wanted to be Tinkerbell, but also wanted Tink painted on her. How to accommodate? I think I did a pretty good job!

Apparently, so did the three other girls who asked for the design in other colors. Another girl in this group, a little older than the rest, decided to stray from the pack... and be a cocker spaniel. Now, I've painted dalmations, a face painter's standard. I've painted hound dogs, bulldogs, and shih tzus. I have never painted a cocker spaniel, which was requested in brown to look like my model's own dog. I was afraid it looked too much like a poodle, but she loved the result...

On the other hand, if I ever get called upon to paint a poodle, I think I've got a great start.

There was, of course, in amongst the several Spidermen, the requisite arm painting. I think these fish came out very cute, though, and my model loved them.

Then came the teenagers, a bunch of very fun nuts who wanted each other's names and goofy drawings to go with them. One boy got a very pink and flowery "Biff." And no, I have no idea why.

And another got a pineapple (a pineapple?) with his friend's name underneath.

Hey, who am I to fault anyone with a sense of humor and a willingness to be painted?

My, How You've Grown!

So... the first face painting kit I used, the one I suggested my friends purchase, was this:

And then when I went professional, I splurged on this:

Nifty, right?

Since then, things have changed. I've discovered and become part of a worldwide netowork of body artists, who have directed me to a plethora of other products to try. The key, readers, is that every single one of the products I use is FDA-compliant. While I say "face paints," because that's what is commonly understood and known, I do not, under any circumstances, at any time, use actual paint.

In my kit, you will find no acrylics, no temperas, no watercolors, no oil paints (A mom actually recently asked a friend of mine if this is what she used! On faces!), no markers, and no craft glitters.

[OK, to be accurate, there are two Sharpies in my kit, but they're for sign-making, numbering, and other administrative purposes, not for use oh humans. I also have scissors, plastic ties, clamps, packing tape, and other things I may need while working at a fair. But we were talking about my face painting supplies.]

Never, and I do mean never, should you allow anyone to use craft products on you, your children, your friends, your neighbors, or anyone else. Want to know why craft products are such a bad idea? Go here and here.

I still use Snazaroo face paints, albeit in greater quantities than when I began. Don't get me wrong, I still have that original 18-color kit, that I've refilled many times over the years. In addition to that, though, I have three larger palettes filled with Snaz. What you see here, though, are also Wolfe Brothers, Kryolan (not to be confused with Krylon, which makes the well-known spray paint), Mehron (both Paradise cakes and Starblends powders), and Fantasy WorldWide creams. I have cosmetic loose glitters from Modern Magick Body Art and Amerikan Body Art. My glitter gels are also from those two companies. My cosmetic shimmer powders, housed in those brushes in the tub, are from Modern Magick.

The kit's grown a little bit, huh? I go nuts over new colors, and I find that different products work best for different circumstances. And so it just keeps growing... and growing...