'Tis the Season

Eric and I had such a great time at holiday parties this year!

We had a repeat performance at a corporate holiday party - our third year! - with face painting and temporary tattoos.

And then I had the best time ever on Christmas Eve, where I was hired to face paint at a family party ... dressed in elf!

The family was terrific, and I had such a blast. 

I got to play the character the whole time, which was hysterical when one of the kids asked how I'd gotten there, and I told him the truth - Santa had let me borrow one of his spare sleighs.  The boy wanted to see it, so I explained to him that Santa's magic disguised the sleighs, so that when human eyes looked at them, they looked like regular cars, and showed him my Ford Escape out the window, which he understood was obviously proof of Santa's magic!

On top of that, I was so good this year that Santa let me hand out his gifts to the kiddos in his stead.  I honestly teared up at the honor.  It made my night.

For New Years, I was at a country club with friends, face painting at a blacklight glow party, and got my first ever request for a ram!

Nothing says New Year's Eve, though, like a glowing zombie!

Absolutely nothing.

New Brushes

I was contacted by someone who distributes a brand of face painting brushes I'd never heard of before, Artacts brushes.  She asked me to do a video review in exchange for receiving the brushes, so I agreed.

I received them the other day, and first tried them tonight.  All opinions are truthful and my own.


They really are terrific, and the next time I need new brushes, I'll be ordering them myself, from here.

Purim Party

I recently got to paint faces at the Chabad Center of Passaic County's Purim party.  It was imoji-themed, and a blast.

 

This is the same group that had the glow-themed Chanukah party, and I really like these kids.

My one lament?  One boy had the really awesome idea of a Spidey imoji and my only photo was blurry!

Boo!  In my defense, I'd forgotten my good camera, and was using my phone for all of these.  On the other hand, his brother followed suit and got a Hulk imoji, and I got a cool shot of that.

Aren't they fun?

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.

First Birthday

Last Saturday, I face painted and did glitter tattoos at a really fun first birthday for an adorable little girl.  She didn't get painted, but her family and friends sure did!

Oddly, I think this may have been my first ever Wonder Woman!  She insisted on the wristbands, which I loved doing.  She was such the superhero once she was done, calling for the little Spiderman I also painted, so they could save people together.

The Colombian flag was a hot ticket at this party - I'll never forget what it looks like! - as were flames and soccer balls.  Fun!

Yin yangs were popular too, most of which I painted.  But one boy was upset to see I didn't have a yin yang stencil for a glitter tattoo... so of course I did it freehand!

Another fun one was this My Little Pony, "Midnight Sparkle."  According to onlookers, she looked "just like" the pony, which made me happy!

And last, but definitely not least, was this "do whatever you want, I don't know" request.  I was happy to note that I had the exact aqua that matched her dress, which she loved.