Facepaint:
White
- This provides good coverage on porange but apparently no one else
- I used white Paradise for Maelstrom after borrowing porange's and it worked out really well. Nice to my skin also. --TimB
- Dylan and I used this for Ornithocracy. Good coverage on both of us, though slightly better on me (normal skin) than on Dylan (oilyish skin). Nice matte finish. ~Pia
- I used this for a while. Nicest smelling facepaint I've ever encountered, but had trouble getting good coverage. Possibly with more skill or more time (ie. when not rushing for an interactive) could get a better effect. -Hobnoblin
- Most people report this as having good coverage but I found it failed almost completely and make my face feel liek ti was falling off -Porange
- Good coverage, but doesn't apply evenly. Takes a while to get it the same all over. Slightly shiny finish. It also made my face feel numb, weirdly. ~Pia
- Good coverage but foul, absolutely foul. Stuck my hair and hand to my face. -Porange
- Krylolan white foundation
- Absolutely fantastic for a vampiric pallor, also doesn't come off easily. Even with a bath - Porange
- Wonderful water-based white, about as good as diamond in my experience. Excellent for quickly making people up. --Tea
- Pretty good, covers other colours quite well. Not the best actual coverage as things go but very solid when it goes on. --dp
- Have had really good results with this for "deathly pallor" levels of coverage- it went on a lot more evenly than expected with minimal water --Pufferfish
- Snaz (standard, not greasepaint)
- Pretty inoffensive. Had trouble getting good coverage, but then again I'm not good with facepaint; better results with Paradise. -Hobnoblin
- Stargazer white powder compact: Decent for evening up the finish on a makeup job, also comes with a mirror in the lid. - Porange
- Barry M white foundation: Good stuff, subtle paling - Porange
- Stargazer white foundation: Ok I guess, bottle is absolute git to get the stuff out of though so would not recommend - Porange (who apparently has a white makeup habit)
Black
- This really is fantastic, good coverage and excellent for detail work. Also quite good at not smudging too much, I did a 3 day even with a face and arm heavily detailed with this and didn't have to redo the whoel lot ever, only a little cleanup and touch up needed. Can be a pain to remove - Porange
- Wonderful stuff. Give a decent smothering time to dry (0.5hr to 1hr for me) and seal it (talc or hairspray) and it'll last for as long as you want. Works well as a baselayer too - Andy
- Smooth, intense black. WILL NOT COME OFF EVER. Take care! --Pufferfish
- Pufferfish is not kidding about its staying power, wow. I like this. ~Pia
- Work great, will cover anything. If you build up enough on the sponge and use it to do scales, you get an almost slightly 3D appearance - same for a lot of the Grimas actually. --dp
- I found it did not pick up well on the sponge, not tranfer well from the spong to the face - Porange
Red
- A good red tone, looks brown in pot but really is very red. Smudges little (once again I slept on my hand with this on it and it was fine, though the headscarf smudged the forehead a little). Once again very good for detailing, is brown when painted over black. -Porange
- I used Paradise Beach Berry red for a vivd and strong coverage and it is excellent. --Chevron
Green
- they do not make a dark green at all, the closest is a turquoise colour. Lighter greens seem to work fine --Pufferfish
- Yep, the Grimas greens are pretty good. --dp
- Dark green behaves similarly to black (see above) though not as dark as other brands --Pufferfish
- Actually not as bad as most other colours, though all but "dark green" leave yellow stains --Pufferfish
- The smoothest, neatest, most intense dark green I have ever encountered. It is wonderful, and won't rub off on things. Unfortunately this includes things like "soapy flannels"; the vast majority of people WILL have suspicious green stains the day after wearing this, whatever they do. --Pufferfish
- My light green is pretty nice. No complaints. ~Pia
- I got this in America, dunno if it's available in the UK at all. The light green is slightly olive-tinted. Appies easily, dries well, stays on well, washes off without too much effort. It feels a bit different to most face paints I've tried in the UK, not sure why. It is definitely water-based, though. ~Pia
Blue
- I found the dark blue smudged like anything and imprinted onto everything I touched. --Malselene
- I've had good results with Grimas 302 (azure blue). It needed regular retouching but held colour for a day without problems. --Bluebottle
- Useful backup scales for Eleri. Light blue goes on beautifully and stays pretty well, dark blue is very deeply pigmented, will stain my skin but not with a coat of another colour underneath. Also shown to be UV opaque when I tanned scales into my shoulders... --Pufferfish
Yellow
- Really bright, will cover up the baselayer with a single coat. Haven't found a better water-based yellow. - Andy
- Was that what you were using for yellow scales over a black background? If so it was excellent. --dp
- Terrible. You can't see it and it will come off if you sneeze. Won't cover anything. Avoid. - Andy
- Worked for me: a base layer sponged on lightly so as to let some of the skin-tone show through, then some stripes added with a brush. As for staying on, usually I covered everything with barrier spray, but even without that it lasted for a day without trouble. (It did tend to come off where my hat rubbed, though.) --Canashir
"Grey"
- Meh. ~Pia
- Light and dark greys: Ok I guess - Porange
Metallics
- colour less than good, not very metallic, consistancy unpleasent - Porange
- Does not show up on the skin of anyone we have ever tried it on under artificial light. --Pufferfish
- Good coverage, good sparkle but still nto perfect, though this is largely from copper tones being a bit of a pain anyway and tending to look a bit fleshy - Porange
- Good stuff. --Tea
- Seconded- actually shows up on Caucasian skin unlike the majority of metallic paints I've encountered. --Pufferfish
- Yeah, really excellent. They also provide several types of silver. I used it for my broken bionics makeup job and it worked very well. I think I recommend the darker silver/steel if you can get away with it as it shows up even better. Get a thick coat for best effects - I did mine with a brush. --dp
- TimB, was this the silver you used at insurrection? That was really good (and I'm about to order some for my dwarf.) --Chevron
- Stays really well, and as a bonus it cleans off without making you too yellow. --Bluebottle
- Diamond FX (various: have used black, purple and old gold)
- Good coverage, good staying power, decent range of colours with a bit of metallic sheen. (Although only a bit in some cases; the metallic black was fairly matte.) --Bluebottle
Charles Fox (gold, but the silver in my limited experience acts similarly). Paints have a slightly weird black undertone but stayed on my naga of choice decently well, and coverage and visibility under artificial light better than any other cake makeup I've tried. --Pufferfish
Paradise (copper) - not that sparkly but did the trick of matching Eddy's usual PAX colour for a single evening without incident. --Pufferfish
Bruising
- I cannot recommend this one too highly. The colours are superb for slightly aged bruises. I have sucessfully colour matched this with a bruise on my knee before, also easy to apply - Porange
Blood and gore
- Good colour and finish but a pain to use, dries up in the tub and dissolves too easily in fake blood - Porange
- Best. Scabs. Ever. However somewhat difficult to remove... Do not advise doing this. - Porange
- Cheap fake blood and instant coffee
- Reliably good, will even make smiffy's stuff look the right colour. Also as a happy fun bonus it dries sort of brown! - Porange
- Earl grey tea or any lightish black tea, brewed then boiled with corn flour. This dries matt sadly and I haven't tried adding glycerin yet but it really does look like subcutanous fat - Porange
- This produces very good results. However is pure evil, amkes everythign sticky and is hard to remove.
- Glorious: scabby, sticky, very deep red colour. Consistency is slightly stiffer than toothpaste. Excellent for defining the line of an injury to then put blood from. Dries over time, washes out surprisingly well. --Tea
- Colour is perfect, flavour is foul, a touch too liquid. Dilutes well with water or the like, stains and mats into fabric really really nicely, dries quite a lot like real blood. Good if you're just getting 100ml of generic blood. --Tea
- Bright arterial. Looks great concentrated on cloth when wet, but spread thinner or on skin it has an unrealistic pinkish hue. Goes pinkish on drying on cloth. Spreads beautifully as long as you don't smear it. One just for fresh bandages. --Locksmith
- Mouldlife Kensington Gore
- A line of fake bloods. Available from dauphines, in quantities of either 50g (expensive) or 1kg (incredible value). Basically the standard for bulk blood now. All bloods in this line are basically non drying (taking a few days to dry on skin), wash out well, don't dilute well in water. Flavour is sweet and minty, with a chalky aftertaste, so they consequently tend to be a bit sticky. --Tea
- A bit bright for even arterial blood, looks too red for most uses. Could have some nice uses as a mouth blood. Excellent flow and spreading on both skin and fabric. --Tea
- Your mileage may vary - colourmatching it with my own blood, it was perfect. I really like this one. --Locksmith
- Pretty much the gold standard in generic blood, good colour, good flow, tasty enough for mouth use. Really really good stuff. --Tea
- After washing a white shirt, it still has blue stains where the blood was. --Canashir
- Wonderful stuff, used correctly this has fooled first aiders. Unlike freshscratch this will dry on you and clothing, leaving really convincing stains (doesn't separate when drying on cloth, leaving convincing stains). Bonus! Tastes nice and minty. Don't brush your teeth with it. - Andy
- I believe freshscratch does dry - it certainly has in my experience, it just is supposed to dry and look still wet. --dp
- Clot doesn't dry very quickly. Consistency is something between toothpaste, angel delight, and sour cream, colour is much like venial. Great stuff --Tea
- If you leave this for 6 months it goes green rounf the edges! Also is disgusting enough to squick me, sort of mucousy... -Porange
- Only one of the series without the omnipresent peppermint flavour and smell. Slightly stringy/gloopy, a shade darker and a touch less liquid than Venial. Still flows well, very nice stuff. --Tea
- Chocolate sponge crumbled and then set in veggie raspberry jelly. Tear into rough chucks and cover with edible fake blood (we used water, golden syrup, food dye and instant coffee) This looks disturbingly visceral and is delicious. -Porange
Random stuff
- Comes off too easily - Porange
- When you want a good fake beard or moustache, Grimas make an excellent crepe hair. It comes in long ribbons which you cut into short lengths and apply to your face on top of spirit gum. Takes time to apply well, but results can give a disguise convincing enough to fool even people who know you. --TimB
- With two coats of this on top, even a snazz make-up job can last from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon with just the odd tiny bit of touching up. Try to hold your breath while it's drying though, and keep your eyes closed. -Canashir
- I found this varied a lot when I used it - sometimes the makeup would hold solid, sometimes it would smudge badly overnight. The alternative I switched to was hairspray, which was just as toxic (definitely do not breathe in while applying it) and held about as well, but came in larger bottles... --Bluebottle
- Seche Vite nail varnish topcoat. I am deeply impressed- Eleri's fingernails were still blue with no chips whatsoever after a four day event including putting up and taking down tents. It's £13 a bottle but worth every penny IMO --Pufferfish
- Boots natural collection eyeshadow (somewhat old): Good light grey and charcoal black duo, no glittery bits in them (which is unusual for eyeshadow) absolutely excellent of adding a bit of softness and blending to darkened eyesockets. -Porange
- Lipcote - Seems roughly ok, still struggles a bit and results in the lipstick shedding off in the manner of a snake skin - Porange
- Barry M matte finish nailvarnih - Prone to chipping, but I had no topcoat on, nice finish that looks like natural nail texture though - Porange
- Stargazer red eyeshadow - STAINS EVERYTHING APART FROM THE SKIN YOU ARE TRYING TO APPLY IT TO ARGHHHHHH - Porange
Spirit Gum
- this is ok for an interactive and is water soluble. Prosthetic will fall off in hot weather. - Porange
- --- 'On a hot and sweaty day, I could never get it to set at all --I
- I once thought there was no use for it, then Pufferfish pointed out that it's utter shitness is actually an advantage for elf ears at interactives: the ears don't need much sticking to stay on, and crap glue means you can take them off at the end without losing the top of your ears. For anything heavier I'd avoid like the plague. --Drac
- Graftobian - I found this worked well on a moving jaw prosthetic, held fast, came off easily. residue left on skin a little tricky to remove even with remover. Yanking prosthetic off my face repeatedly (yeah, should have used the remover) did make my skin a little sore though. - Porange
- Spirit mastic: Comes in kite shaped bottles, held my half face prosthetic on rock solid all day at Maelstrom. Sadly I don't know anywhere south of glasgow that sells it, Jenny used to buy it at joke shops. --Drac
- Grimas Mastix - see writeup of snaz spirit gum above --Pufferfish
- Grimas Mastix Extra - not to be confused with Grimas Mastix. Actually works, holds Gwen's nose to my face reliably even when twitching it a lot. However it makes my very resilient skin redden slightly so do a patch test first if yours is sensitive! --Pufferfish
- I am picturing that as "extra! the extra ingredient is actual glue!" --Drac
- I actually just got some of the "extra" stuff to replace my exhausted spirit gum, decided to get spirit gum remover too, will report how it fares on horns. --Chevron
Brushes
- I use paintbrushes that have becoem a bit too tatty for paintign with - Porange
- I got cheap packs of paintbrushes from The Works on Fitzroy Street. --Bluebottle
Sources
facepaint-uk.com
- The best online facepaint source, bar basically none. Lightning fast shipping, decent prices, really good range. --Tea
dauphines.com
- Good for blood, gore, and some specialist bits of makeup like kryolan foundation powder. --Tea
- Also got some good mask prosthetics - recommend the maskworld line. --dp