Face Painting around the eyes!

Make sure that your sponge is not too wet! That's when it starts seeping into eyes. Don't soak your sponge and wring out, spray it instead and then the water and paint stay on the surface and it's easier to get the right consistency and won't seep on your client.

I don't like using eyeliner unless they are over 12 because they can't keep their eyes closed long enough for it not to smear onto their lids. Yes, it looks better with the finished look but most kids are not good models.

As far as under the eyes, I noticed that Brian Wolfe sponges as close as he can but then just finishes it when he's doing his line work and runs a little black line down there or wrinkles for "man" type designs and it looks great.

If I'm doing a skull or pirate type eyes, I'll use black eye shadow instead of paint so that there isn't a "sticky" feel to the eyes. This has really helped me with boys and men that want the full face but don't like getting painted. I should probably get some starblends so I can do this in white too for spiderman and tigers.

Last choice, just because it's an extra step, is keeping translucent powder or even baby powder in your kit and "setting" the eyes like you would foundation. I use this when I've painted dragon or snake eyes on because the paint is a little thicker and takes awhile to dry. It tones down the colors a bit but it's better than the design being ruined by wrinkles in the makeup...it's also more comfortable for the client.

D.

I typically have only had trouble with boys, so now when they ask for something that includes paint near eyes I say "Now Spiderman (or whatever else they've asked for) has a white eye, that means I'm going to put paint right on your eyelid, but I promise it doesn't get in your eye as long as you keep your eyes closed...are you ok with that?" after that they usually have absolutely no problem with me doing it...I've only had one kid decide on something different that wouldn't go over his eye. I try not to go over eyes with brushes on littler kiddos, you're more likely to drip in eyes with brushes so I reserve that for girls that are old enough to be used to makeup or older boys who will endure it because they REALLY want to look scary. I use the spray the sponge method too so it's nearly impossible to drip paint with a sponge that way.