Not going pro - but need simple kit suggestion

I don't have any plans on going pro - but I DO need paints to use at a yearly harvest festival at our church. Last year I used some really crappy store brand face paints from a local halloween store, and got results that everyone loved - but the stuff smeared and smudged, and wasn't crisp colors. This year I really want to step it up, but can't invest a ton of money in this as 1) it's my own money which is always tight and 2) I don't plan on going pro with this, just doing it for fun a few times a year at most for the kids at the church.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I will need to buy two of whatever I get because another lady will be painting faces with me. Last year it was just me and I had a steady line for 3 hours! I watched lots of all of the awesome videos on here to learn techniques and get ideas. ) Had a blast.

Do any of you guys have a suggestion? Would either of these sets work?

http://www.amazon.com/Snazaroo-Face-Painting-Kit-Rainbow/dp/B000H6QQE6/ref=sr_1_2?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1317608487&sr=1-2

http://www.amazon.com/COLOR-PAINT-Snazaroo-Painting-Pallet/dp/B002OOTVAA/ref=sr_1_3?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1317610058&sr=1-3

should I purchase black and white separately? I already have some glitter sparkle to add.

Thank you for any and all suggestions or ideas!

Either of those "will do"--but Paradise or Wolfe palettes each would be better, and yes, I would buy a separate black & white & maybe red while you're at it. Be sure your glitter is cosmetic quality. Do you have insurance for you and the other painter? Oh, wet wipes, sponges & brushes, mirrors, design sheets...By the time you're done, though--it'd probably be more economical to hire a pro...

I'd say go with Snaz as it's easy to get and inexpensive. There are coupons online you can print off for Michael's and Hobby Lobby, both of which carry it. I use a lot of it as well as DFX. I've found the metallic sparkly snaz is very weak in color so I'd go with the basic colors.

I don't want to hire a pro because I actually enjoy doing this and it's a way to use my art degree in a fun way besides sitting behind the computer and doing design work all day long (which is what I do as my day job). The church has insurance, and since I'm am employee of the church it would cover it.

Obviously the higher end expensive stuff would be "best" but honestly I'm asking for help here in getting together an inexpensive set of paints I can use once or twice a year. I don't mean to step on any pro's feet - but our church does not have the budget to hire out all of this and groups within the church are volunteering their time to take over parts of the festival to make it a great event for the kids. My Women's Circle decided to handle the face painting.

I could use the cheap stuff I used last year, but thought that it would be fun to step it up this year and make the designs look even better. The glitter I use is made for faces.

Thanks and if anyone else has any suggestions I'd love to hear them.

debranewmanart wrote:I'd say go with Snaz as it's easy to get and inexpensive. There are coupons online you can print off for Michael's and Hobby Lobby, both of which carry it. I use a lot of it as well as DFX. I've found the metallic sparkly snaz is very weak in color so I'd go with the basic colors.

Thanks for that suggestion to stay away from the metallic sparkly - I think basic is a good idea. I will have to head over to hobby lobby or michaels tomorrow to see what they have. Thank you.

The Snaz rainbow kits are perfect. There is enough in the small kit to work with. Just need to get some decent sponges and a few good brushes as the ones in the kits are crap.

I didn't mean for that to sound snotty, Rapsdy6...guess I'm a little tired after a long day & should go to bed. I hope you have a wonderful time, and I do understand the enjoyment!

I think either of the two you posted would work well and are less expensive than I've seen elsewhere - I'd probably go for the 14 color myself, but if you can figure out a way you can share between the two of you (so as not to duplicate paint but get more variety) - like if you both want to be positioned with the paint on your right hand side, pinwheel so you are facing opposite directions with the table in the middle each on your right (so you can share paint). I think you would do well to get a separate black and white Wolfe or DFX to add to that palette (beside it) for line work.... I've worked on a small table with 4 artists pinwheeled out where each of us work with the table on our right and sharing all products (not brushes, each person has their own brushes although we passed something over if someone needed it). Each of the paints in the two sets you posted have 2ml in each color well (judge accordingly on price if you find the 18ml Snazaroo paints at the store).

Sign up for Michael's emails and they'll regularly send you coupons for 20-40% off a single item. That would cut your costs on a Snazzaroo kit significantly.

I agree, you should go with the Snazaroo 14 color, plus an extra white & black. (If you paint very many spiderman designs, you will also need another red as well) Like you, I do volunteer facepainting at church & for fundraisers for my daughter's cheer squad. I absolutely love it & working with the kids. I started with 3 of the snazaroo trays...1-basic colors, 1-princess/pastels, & 1-w/boy friendly colors. It worked wonderfully and everyone raved! I do wish I had invested in the 14 color palette to begin with for space issues on a small table. I don't care for the snaz black or white for line work...I use Diamond/FX and it makes a world of difference in my work.
Like someone else posted, I recommend you buy a few decent brushes...nothing is worse than picking brush hairs out of your paint! Another suggestion...I buy my sponges at a tack/feed hardware (Southern State Farm Supply) store. They are called Tack Sponges & are made for applying polish to horse saddles. Good quality sponges for around $7.99 for a 10/pk. I cut some of them in half & some in fourths. They clean up well & will last you forever! (I keep a bar of IVORY soap in a travel soap dish to clean my sponges & brushes...works like a charm!) You can probably get by with a silver/irridescent & a gold glitter to start with. Last suggestion...buy at least one rainbow (neon!) split cake!!! You should be able to get all this for around $50 - $60 depending on how many brushes you buy. (I keep my receipts & count it as a donation to the charity/church)
I do have one warning...If you are already on this site, you're hooked girl and will soon be wanting to add more & more paints! It is sooo addicting! I'm starting to get requests to do birthday parties & my snaz paints were pretty much used up so I recently invested in a Diamond/FX 6-Neon/6-Metalic combo palette & about 6 split cakes. This week I'm ordering a 12 color basic palette plus extra white & black. wish I had about $500.00 to invest but I have to do it a little at a time!!
Sorry to go on & on...good luck & have fun!
Penny

I had my first festival yesterday.I'm not a pro neither and I volunteered it (I work for the town hall and his insurance covered me). I had very little money to spend from the organizers and Snaz is the only brand I can find near home, so I finally bought this: http://www.amazon.com/Reeves-1194040-Snazaroo-Paint-Palette/dp/B001GRXC0G/ref=pd_sim_hg28. I bought an extra black and white too and some sponges and brushes ( flat ¬6, flat¬14, round¬1, round¬4,round¬6). Oh, and some glitter and cleansing wipes, of course! Although my Snaz tends to melt, everything went great. Good luck!

Snazaroo is hit or miss. Some people can make it look good and some people can't. In my opinion, Wolfe is a much easier brand to work with. It will make it much easier to achieve nice and crisp line work as well as solid bases. Because it's Halloween season, you can buy Wolfe 4 color kits that include step by steps for 7 designs, a brush, sponge, and face paint crayons for $5 each at your local Walmart.







Also, make sure to stock up for next year after Halloween as these kits will be marked at half off. Quite the steal!

Pilareta, that snaz palette is insanely cheap! I think I'm going to buy that for my church!

For me ,it was a great investment. I painted a bunch of full and half faces and arm designs and still got lots of paint left!

ohh thanks so much for all of the suggestions and ideas!! I'll have to check at the local stores before I decide to buy from amazon.

The face paint crayons - can those be ground up and made to work like the paints? like if I put them into my own little containers?

And yes - it is all addictive and I really do love this forum and reading and seeing all the beautiful work. However, I can not turn this into a paying gig - I don't have enough hours in the day to do the two jobs I currently have! *laugh* Not to mention my husband is always having to tell me to FOCUS on one thing and that not all hobbies have to turn into money making ventures. I have a hard time with that. hahaha

(And no worries, anniel - it's hard to read inflection online sometimes! )