Bayleaf Botanicals Face Paints: A Review

I so love trying out new face paints and body art products.  Well, I got to  last night!  I was recently contacted by Bayleaf Botanicals, a small family-owned American business, which has among its products a new face paint.  Based on the copy, I could see it being popular, as it's FDA-compliant, which you know is a requirement of mine, plus made in the USA, vegan, and free of parabens, nuts, fragrance, and latex.  It's also child-toy safety rated.  In my world, that means these face paints are about as safe as they come.

The set is comprised of 28 2 ml colors, which is enough to paint a lot of faces.  I spent years, even as a professional, using this size before moving up to the larger "professional size" face paints that I use now.

I tried them first with a sponge, and found that they blend very well.  This is a creamy style face paint, great for blending, rather than the "hard" type face paint, but I found it was still nice and sharp for linework.  It works up quickly and easily without a ton of water.

Then I had a little fun with a funky bee (of course a bee!), a little tribal, and a quick Spiderman.

 

These face paints hit the key points I look for in my products - the colors are bright and dense, the white has good coverage, and the black can achieve a nice sharp line.

You also may notice that I painted all of these on my left arm.  In between, it took me literally seconds to wash off each design; these face paints are removed incredibly easily, which is a huge plus.

For professionals, this size is on the small side, but for moms and volunteers, this set is absolutely perfect when paired with some good brushes from an art or craft store and some good face painting sponges (not makeup wedges; those are impossible with face paints of all sorts, get actual face painting sponges or a tack sponge to cut up).  It's easy to use, with good pigments, and a wider variety of colors than most "mom" sets contain.

Overall, I highly recommend, which makes me especially happy since I believe we should all support small business where we can.  So I suppose I ought to let you know that you can buy them at Amazon here.

I was provided with a 28-color set of Bayleaf Botanicals face paints in order to complete my review.

And Halloween Rolls Around Again

My favorite holiday has come and gone again, and I was busy!  I'm actually kind of happy for November, because I've been crazy this October, culminating in the last two weekends.

First, one very cool friend with a birthday close to Halloween threw herself a Halloween themed 40th birthday party.  So... I brought out the zombie version of me.

Then on Friday, I cohosted a Halloween party for nearly 100 people, so out came a Day of the Dead version of me.

It was pretty cool, because in addition to my face, I got to wear the gown I wore as my sister's maid of honor again, with some roses added.  No shots of that, unfortunately.  And sadly, I handed my Spanish fan to Eric when we were carrying food into the house, and I completely forgot to take it back from him, so it spent the evening in his jacket pocket.  Boo.

And then on Halloween itself, I went easy on myself and was just an '80s rocker chick.  Everything except my jeans were legitimate '80s vintage and every item (except the Aquanet & scrunchy) was out of my own closets and jewelry box, so I'm not sure when my own clothes became a Halloween costume, but it made life easy!

And in between all of that, there were the appointments.  On Friday, a mother and son got done to go to a Trunk or Treat.

My Paul Stanley was ecstatic with his face (which when you're dealing with a 12-year-old boy already was huge), and then even more so when he won best costume at the Trunk or Treat!  Woohoo!

On Saturday, in the afternoon I had a couple I'd painted back in 2009, the last time Halloween fell on a Saturday!  They initially came that Friday morning, for a pre-work painting.  They were so happy that they came back again that Saturday, and brought a friend too!  We've stayed in touch all these years, and each year they've made appointments for Halloween paintings, only to be forced to cancel for various reasons.  But not this year!  This year, not only did they come back, but one gave me ideas with her Medusa headband.

And her husband!  Her husband actually shaved half his moustache, beard, and head for this painting!  Seriously!

That was just awesome!

And then in the evening, a new couple came over so I could paint the husband in a skull face.

He was so happy with all the compliments he got when they went into the city, that he sent me this photo!

Spooky!

And then on Sunday I painted at a restaurant, but I'll need to tell you all about that soon.

Another Busy Weekend: Cherry Reds, Chapter Three

First Friday Fun Nights at Cherry Reds continued this past Friday night (yes, I know it was the second Friday, but I had the Zoo Do last week).

A blast, as always!

It's Finally Spring!

Or at least it is as far as I'm concerned.  There may still be snow on the ground, but the clocks have changed, so I drive in the evening in daylight, and yesterday even drove home with the window open and rock on the stereo!  That's spring in my world.

Plus, last week was the first annual FLOW Green Fair (Franklin Lakes, Oakland, and Wyckoff, NJ), organized and hosted by the three Environmental Commissions, with participation from a lot of terrific groups, like the Northeast NJ Beekeepers Association, the Shade Tree Commissions, the Green Teams, Princeton Hydro, Hackensack Riverkeepers, the NJ Audubon Society... you get the idea.

It was pretty awesome.

And I got to face paint!  I'm on the Franklin Lakes Environmental Commission, but since they and the Green Team had all the organizational stuff well covered, we figured I could better serve by doing what I like most and do best.  And I was a pretty big hit - kept busy all day long!

Then again, so was everyone else!

If you're in the area and didn't make it this year, definitely make plans to come next year!  And if you did come?  Well, bring the family again!