Sanitized paints?!?

Ok everyone... honest... I really don't spend my time checking all facepainters sites... I just kind of stumble into some.

I'm in Regina visiting family and the exhibition is going on. So, decide to go and see if there is any facepainting going on there. We find free facepainting... yikes... that was really scary. For the most part they were using Snazaroo paints, but I did see a suspicious little container of red liquid paint (I think that was liquid tempera paint). Happen to find another fp, ppf booth, and they are from British Columbia. I start up a conversation as there were no customers at their booth and they give me a pamphlet about the company they work for: A Star Art Parlour. In our talk they told me that BC's health regulations are even stricter than Alberta's... WHAT?! I tell them about Alberta's and they say that they have to do all that as well.

Anyways, I come home and am curious about them and find that they are declaring that their paints are 'sanitized'. (They also claim that Snazaroo is antibacterial which I know is misleading). Does anyone else 'sanitize' their paints and if so..... how do you do it?

http://www.hotfrog.ca/Companies/A-Star-Art-Parlour/Face-Painting-16978 (an ad for their company)

peculiar, very peculiar

Is there anyone on here from BC? Hopefully they would have some insight to this?

Ok, I'm BC...what is a BC company doing all the way in Regina?! Oh, wait. Went on their site - they've just expanded.

I haven't seen them around a lot, personally, but I did see them on Canada Day. They had a line so I couldn't get very close, but I did manage to see Snaz jumbo palettes and what looked like a SF rainbow cake with I believe one maxi mop thing (so...how would they clean it? One sponge = sanitized my rear end...). I also know that I saw the most awful tiger being painted there. I try so hard to not be snarky (lol) that as long as I see them using proper makeup, I won't ask to talk to the person in charge.

A Star is the company that paints at the Cloverdale Rodeo each year - PPF, and 24% goes back to the Rodeo, I guess in lieu of vendor fees? Anyway, they are the "official" fps for a ton of sports teams etc here...and they've got an ad for hiring. (And they're clearly good at marketing.) This says to me that they just need PEOPLE to paint - not necessarily great fps. And, as I did when I worked for a large event company, they tell us what we're meant to tell clients, and maybe we don't do our own research (for $11/hr? Ha.) but why would we doubt their word? I think they were just trying to talk themselves up/don't REALLY know what they're talking about.

I know my kit is clean - one sponge per person, brushes cleaned at the end of each work day etc - but I know Albertans have tougher guidelines!

(I hope that made sense...been a loooong day.) (Did I even answer the question?)

Nice "tiger"....

I don't know if paints can be sanitized, but I did see a face painter at FABAIC spray her paints after each use w/ a mix of vinegar & the sanitizer you clean your make-up brushes with(It's the stuff you buy from make-up places like Sephora). I don't remember what she said it was. I wipe mine down w/ an antibacterial wipe meant for use on skin at the end of the day. I don't know if it sanitizes it, but it does make them look better as I'm a blender

Coming from the makeup side of things, I'd suggest to sanitize use either a spray - http://www.beautysoclean.com/ or UV - http://www.paintandpowderstore.com/proddetail.php?prod=PPS-0097&cat=242

(although personally I just go for the single dip or scrape to palette prevention methods)

My dear friend Stephanie Dalvit is a professional MUA, body and face painter - you can see her in the Creative Faces book and plenty of her work on Barney ..... she sprays all her face paint cakes down with a spritz of alcohol after each use. Many MUA do this - I do it honestly just not every single time - although cakes are wiped down and my palette box is washed with my brushes and sponges before each gig. And I keep separate kits for use on face and body.
I don't paint kids faces with body paint.

All you need is alcohol on cakes, it will kill what you are concerned with but evaporate very quickly off your makeup - anything else does not evaporate that quickly. Simple cheap and effective.

Of course "Kristal." Sorry I had a brain burp and totally forgot you were in BC. Thanks for the info.

Face paint is designed to work with water, if you start "adding" things to it you change its chemical makeup and therefore void any warranty the maker provides, also creating additional areas of risk. I would also check if any of these uses have to be declared legally to the public. I would be less than impressed if somebody started spraying my child with vinegar!!!!!!!

If you use a clean sponge for every base and always paint on a base, you are not actually coming into contact with the skin, but are merely apply paint on top of paint.

The only area of possible cross contamination is if you paint an already infected area such as a lip or a cut.

I would happily use the average painters kit in preference to the average make up artists - Our products by their nature do not provide an environment that harbours bacteria.

Later we returned and saw a couple of customers being painted and well let's just say if you're into 'abstract' facepainting it was fabulous. Their designboard also contained pics from some facepainting books without credit to the artist.

When I talked to the manager she said the company makes about
$250, 000/year. They are headed up to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan next for that fair.

Apparently the facepainters travel so they aren't trying to find local talent for their booths.

Didn't see many kids (only 2) walking around with their face painted but did see a pile of airbrushed tattoos from another booth.

Another strange thing for their website is a pile of their site pages don't exist. A contact page, becoming an artist
and home, no pricing, photo gallery, testimonials etc. http://www.astarartparlour.com/

I tried emailing them yesterday. Bounced back. Tried a different address. Bounced back again.

Their site has been like that for a while. I remember going on it last January (2009) when I was trying to get into the Rodeo, and none of the links worked then, either.

I am all about safety, but I just don't agree with spraying the paints with things like alcohol or vinegar. How do we "know" it all evaporates and doesn't change the paint.

Try not to be sucked into all of the marketing and scare tactics out there. Keep your kit clean, wash your brushes with soap and water and wash your sponges with hot and soapy water (I throw them in the washer in a lingerie bag) and don't paint on anyone that looks sick or has a cut or sore.

Beyond this, I think a lot of the marketing and scare tactics are to convince you to buy one paint over another or buy products you don't need.

The most cause of contagion is going to be from you. Don't freak out. I just mean all the things you touch coming and going to a gig. People out there are just nasty and rarely wash their hands. They touch it, and then you touch it. Keep your kit super clean, keep hand sanitizer and baby wipes at hand, and refuse to work when sick or paint others who are sick and you should do just fine.

PS These are all my personal opinion, not facts, marketing or tactics to get you to buy one paint over the other or buy other products. LOL

-Metina

I do spray my kit with Beauty So Clean...not as religiously as I spray my everyday makeup, but I try. At first I was skeptical about the companies claims but then bit the the bullet and had a friend of mine do a culture swab on my makeup. Needless to say, one I got the results back (and after a couple of beers I needed to have after being so thoroughly grossed out) I ordered BSC and I've never looked back. I dumped my old makeup because nothing less than setting it on fire was going to satisfy me, but I've had her run culture swabs on my eyeshadow and lipstick before and after and there was a significant reduction in the bacteria growth. She's thinking about doing a writeup about the dangers of bacterial growth in makeup...but I won't read that report ... ever! I have noticed that my face doesn't break out nearly as much as it used to. But I digress...

To stay on topic, I do use Beauty So Clean on my kit and the light misting has never changed the performance of my makeup. If its formulated for cosmetic use, its good enough for me. Hella expensive though...

Okay I am no chemist, but I will try very hard to explain this as best I can. I attended a conference a few years ago to learn more about face paints how they work and so on....One of the reasons I chose wolf efx paints exclusively, even as a newb, was because I learned there was a chemical in them called Sodium Benzoate. Sodium benzoate is a type of salt that may occur naturally in some foods but is more likely to be chemically produced and added as a preservative to foods. (in this case face paints that are approved by the FDA) The reason you will note sodium benzoate listed in the ingredients of so many foods is because it works very well at killing bacteria, yeast and fungi. You will most commonly see it used as a preservative in foods with a high acid content, since sodium benzoate will only work when the pH balance of foods is less than 3.6. It is therefore effective in most sodas, vinegar, fruit juice, and in mixed ingredients like salad dressing. It is additionally used to stop the fermentation process in wines.

I am attracted to this because if you look at the MSDS of the Wolfe paint, this is an ingredient in essence, my paints keep themselves clean chemically, in addition, they keep my brushes clean too. Now, this does NOT mean that I don't have to clean them, I still keep my kit, my brushes and my kit very clean, sanitized and fresh I do not welcome bacteria in, but I am assured that from one use to the next, I will not be t be growing unknown parasites, bacteria or virus in my paints.

Well said JNJ!