Food coloring for makeup?

Agahi

Scout
I jus read this topic over on the Dagorhir forums..
http://www.dagorhir.com/forums/index.php?topic=14298.0

Has anyone tried this, and does it work as well as they say? In the pics they posted it looks very good imo, I was just wondering if anyone has some refined instructions on it, like type of food coloring, spray bottle type, and mixture ratio? Also if it dosent work as good as they are saying.
 
Ok... for a fast and loose paint, it would work. But let me say a few things about this method.

1. Food coloring stains. It'll stain your face, and it'll stain any clothes that come in contact with it.

2. Crisco is a fat. Slathering fat on your face is going to clog pores, cause acne break outs, and possibly upset your skin's natural oil production leading to dry flaky skin after prolonged use.
 
I was meaning more the options a bit down in the topic where they say to mix 1 "box" of food coloring with around 16oz of water and use just those two things in a "fine spray bottle" not the one with added extra stuff on the first few posts. The pictures look pretty good honestly and quite a few of them are recomending this method in several other topics.
 
It will make you green. If that is all you care about, then it will work fine.

If you care about your white shirt staying white, it's still food coloring. It will stain your nails, your clothes, etc. This is not conjecture. I've done enough desert baking to say this with certainty.

You'll get what you pay for when it comes to make-up. If you take cheap short cuts, you'll get your desired effect, but end up paying more for clean-up and other side-effects. Actual high quality make-up is produced to work with your skin.
 
I know the downsides I was just wondering if anyone had tried so I could get a reccomendation for ratios brands ect to cut down on the expirements im going to do myself to see.
 
I don't use make up and know next to nothing about costume make up but with make up in general you rarely get what you pay for. Even expensive cosmetics often include terrible things like mineral oil so please don't assume that expensive = better. No shortcuts - check out the ingredients. If i were going to play a make up race I would try NuSkin and/or Sisley (neither makes costume make up as far as I know). There may be other decent brands out there but I don't know who they are.
Inaryn said:
You'll get what you pay for when it comes to make-up. If you take cheap short cuts, you'll get your desired effect, but end up paying more for clean-up and other side-effects. Actual high quality make-up is produced to work with your skin.
 
James Trotta said:
I don't use make up and know next to nothing about costume make up but with make up in general you rarely get what you pay for. Even expensive cosmetics often include terrible things like mineral oil so please don't assume that expensive = better. No shortcuts - check out the ingredients. If i were going to play a make up race I would try NuSkin and/or Sisley (neither makes costume make up as far as I know). There may be other decent brands out there but I don't know who they are.
Inaryn said:
You'll get what you pay for when it comes to make-up. If you take cheap short cuts, you'll get your desired effect, but end up paying more for clean-up and other side-effects. Actual high quality make-up is produced to work with your skin.

Forgive me but, I do play a full make-up race (sarr) and I do, on occasion, wear regular make-up. When it comes to make-up, you absolutely do get what you pay for. Cheap stuff works, but looks cheap and is difficult to clean up. Short cuts are rarely justified. There's a very good reason why the players on the boards here keep recommending the same few brands over and over for theatrical make-up. Ben Nye and Mehron both formulate their make-up and additives to stay on under stage lights. Ben Nye specifically was the make-up of choice for Cats.

It was asked if food coloring would work good. As I have said, it would work for certain definitions of "good."
 
I have found both of those makeup types to run quite a bit if the wearer is sweating. I play in ohio in the summer so I need something thats going to stay on in like 90-100 degree weather and high humidity. If the food coloring is going to stain me, that is actually a good thing. I will have a nice green undercoat that wont go away and I will make it look good/better(when possible) with a more traditional cake makeup mehron or ben nye if/when necessary.

I am going to expirement a bit and ill post some results. Though I wont have complete results untill/if I play a game using the food coloring. I will keep you informed.
 
Agahi said:
I have found both of those makeup types to run quite a bit if the wearer is sweating. I play in ohio in the summer so I need something thats going to stay on in like 90-100 degree weather and high humidity.

I have used Mehron along with barrier spray when I used to play other LARPs in the hotter states like Arizona and Nevada. Without the barrier spray it does run really badly, but the barrier spray works wonders for keeping makeup on in hot and rain.
 
Ill use the barrier spray also and post results of diffrent things/combos. Will be a few months though, winter is still goin strong.
 
Ok I did a quick once over with half a small bottle of food coloring and about a cup of water. I applied it on my shoulder with a makeup sponge. It applied fairly easy with just a bit getting on my fingers and a few drips getting on the floor(definitly going to do it outside in the future).

I left it on for a few hours. I applied mild pressure with a bare finger and with a second time with a rag. Neither caused the color to smudge. I took some water and let it sit for a few minutes then wiped it off, it caused a mild run with some green still present where the water sit just a bit lighter. I then reapplied a light reapplication and waited again for a while.

I decided to see what would remove the coloring easily. Soap and water left a good deal in the spot I tried soap. Dawn dish liquid completely removed it without a trace with just a very mild scrub. One note is that nothing is removing it from my fingernail i applied it to which is confirming what the dagorhir people said.

I am going to try it on my entire face and exercise for a couple hours to work up a good sweat the next time I have a few days off work. I'll post results at that time.
 
Oh forgot to mention that the color looked really good, with just a few seconds making sure the coat was even. I seems like the green changes a good bit based on skin tone as the dag people said, because mine was diffrent than the pics on the topic i posted before, of course I didnt add and acrylic paint to the mix in this test. I will next time for more results.
 
Unless there are pictures, this never happened.
 
Keep in mind that food coloring is simply dye that is safe to ingest. Makeup doesn't dye your skin - the color is in the makeup itself which sits on top of your skin. I'm not sure it's a good idea to literally dye your skin.
 
I would think that when you sweat and your pores open up that the dye will get into them and make cleanup much more difficult. If you use these methods, you stand a chance of being green for a few days after.

Even the woman who plays Elphaba in Wicked on Broadway (and you sweat under stage lights like woah) uses makeup and not dye. And she's in that makeup 10 performances in 6 days.

I suggest barrier spray, followed by airbrushed on makeup, with powder to set it all. If you don't have powder, more barrier spray.
 
Ill post some pics ect next time I mess around(when i'm off work a few days in a row just i case). About the pore thing the tip is to put "something"(i forget what the Dag people said) on the nose so the pores there dont get stained or some such.

BTW (Andrea)Gorca's color was awsome at the national event. If that's what she was using then food coloring is better than I thought.
 
I think the main thing is just understanding what you're getting into. As Sarah has said, stained skin, stained clothing. If that's your plan and you're good to go on it, more power to yah.

I know for me, Mehron creme/liquid is my personal makeup of choice, and while it gets everywhere sometimes (because I don't use barrier spray) I'm also not a sweater, so I usually don't have running issues.

So long as you continue to upkeep your makeup during the event, I'm sure that food coloring (while not my personal choice) wouldn't be bad for you either.

Good luck on it.
-Ali
 
jpariury said:
Andrea, who plays Gorka, uses food coloring, iirc. She might be able to offer some insight on how it works out over the course of an event.


I use the food coloring on my hands and it works beautifully for a few reasons. I like to eat. eating with gloves doesn't work, eating with make upped hands feels like I'm poisoning myself.

I don't add anything to it or water it down. just a dime sized drop and rub your hands together. if it doesn't go far enough run a little bit of water over it and it will stretch out.

It will fade over the weekend especially if you are washing your hands, but it also means you can be work ready by Monday.

I also use dabs to touch up bare spots on my face make up as needed, I find that it is easier to use for repairs with all other forms I have used (air brush, cream, grease, cake)

It will run when wet. And may leave you with a green tinge, but lets face it almost all make ups have a little color around the edges on Monday.

If you want a cheep thing to help your make up look great, get green eye liner, I use it around my eyes and lips.
 
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