3 questions to ask before hiring a Face Painter!

Face painting has come a long way in the last 20-years! There are some amazing products on the market and awesome online tutorials to become a great painter. But how do you find the right one for your event!? Here are some simple questions to ask and answers that could send up a red flag. QUESTION #1: Do you have a portfolio, designs or reference photos of your face paint work to review? If you can see what their artistry is like - you can gage if they are a good fit for your ascetic. If they don't have a portfolio that is not a red flag at all. Getting permission to use images of children can be troublesome. Creating digital designs can also be difficult for people who are not tech-savvy as well. So don't hold it against an artist for not having images for you to review. QUESTION #2 What type of products do you use? A good answer would be high quality cosmetic grade face paints, cosmetics/make-up, and only cosmetic grade glitter. Skin should only ever be painted with "cosmetic grade" products A huge red flag would be any type of craft products. Although there are many online body paint artist who are using markers, acrylic paints and craft glitter online - these materials are extremely dangerous! WARNING: In 2016, a woman lost an eye cleaning up her children's craft project when a rogue speck of craft glitter made it into her eye. That is only from a craft project – imagine what could happen if someone used craft glitter on your child! QUESTION #3 How do you clean your brushes and hands between each child? It's awesome if they can clean and sanitise each brush by washing out the paint and dipping it rubbing alcohol and let to dry before using it again. This means a lot of brushes in the kit which in turn can mean higher rates for a hygienic artists. As for hands, many artists use wipes to clean their hands and hand sanitiser. A few artists even set up a hand washing station to wash their hands in-between each face paint. Alberta has some of the strictest hygienic guidelines for face and body painting in all of Canada and even get visits from the health department. Airbrush is also a great option as there is no brush to touch the skin. Most artists wear gloves when painting because of over spray but they barely touch faces when using the airbrush tools. There are Hybrid waterproof products on the market which are used for airbrushing and manual brush applications that are 99% alcohol based with means the brushes are basically are automatically sterilized. There is definitely a concern if the artist is using one brush per colour rather than a clean brush for each child. Many cosmetic grade face paints have anti bacterial ingredients but a clean brush is the best plan. In conclusion: There are tons of great artists out there, but now you know that there is something more important than a great looking finished face paint - safety! There are other questions of course you can ask: - Do you have any customer reviews or testimonials? - Do you have liability insurance coverage?