A Newb's Question on Human Makeup and Vinyl

[WhiteDove01s]

Ok, I get that oil=bad... but I see a lot of reborn sites and people doing dioramas using human make up powders instead of chalk pastels to do faceups (or in the case of the reborns, all over) on vinyl. I guess the trick is to find foundation or bronzer powder with no oil in it? How can you be sure? Has anyone here done this? What would it actually do to the vinyl?

[Yanagi-sen]

Ok, I get that oil=bad... but I see a lot of reborn sites and people doing dioramas using human make up powders instead of chalk pastels to do faceups (or in the case of the reborns, all over) on vinyl. I guess the trick is to find foundation or bronzer powder with no oil in it? How can you be sure? Has anyone here done this? What would it actually do to the vinyl?

I use the LA Colors shimmer powder on face ups, gives them that sparkly glow. I don't know about any other make up though.

[K2!]

Why would you want to pay $3 to $15 for a single container of 1-4 colors of make up when you can get 32 colors of the right material to use for less than $10?
http://www.dickblick.com/products/sarge ... 0000085230
While it is very tempting to use materials that you may have at hand to do a face-up on your dolls, many of these materials can damage the compounds that make up vinyls and resins. Human make up was not designed to be "worn" for the many years that it will be on your doll's face and vinyl and resin does not "renew" itself like human skin does. Once the damage is done, it won't grow out. It will just get worse.
Bottom line: Right tool for the job.

[magkelly]

When I first started out painting 16" dolls out of ignorance I used human blush to rouge their cheeks. One some of them I used mineral makeup, specifically Bare Minerals makeup. Their stuff is basically pigments plus a few natural preservatives. There's no talc, extra oils and stuff in most of it. Except for the fact that they use bismuth which makes my skin itch a bit their makeup is fairly non-toxic and not that much different from using Pearl-ex art pigments. A decade later I was able to redo a doll face just by wiping it with acetone. But on the couple of dolls that I used real makeup, like Cover Girl blush there was a permanent stain and yellowing of the doll's face that did not go away with acetone.

If you're using a very pure pigments makeup I doubt it's going to cause much damage, and yes, I have seen reborn people using that kind of makeup, but just using regular makeup can ruin a doll and I would not advise it. The pure pigments in the art store are not meant to be worn as makeup but actually there are a lot of club, fashion, and drama people out there using them all the time and it doesn't seem to hurt anyone. Pure pigments are just that, pure.

Whether they are in a makeup jar sterilized for use as makeup or in the paints section of the art store they're the same thing. But you have to use 100% pure pigment makeup and not all so called mineral makeup is pure. Also, 100% pure pigment makeup is expensive stuff. It's actually cheaper to use pigments from the art store than to buy that stuff usually.

I have pastels now, watercolor pencils, and Pearl-ex powders that I use now. All decent stuff and well worth the splurge. I also use acrylics. I think that's better. I get better, more even results with the pastels for blushing than I ever got using mineral makeup. I'm not saying you can't go there. From what I've seen unless you're not sealing and slapping cheap OTC brand makeup on there it probably won't hurt your doll, but unless you're dealing with very pure pigments and I'm talking $25 for a tiny, tiny jar usually type pigments you could.

This is what Micheal's coupons and sale at Blick and on Amazon are for. I never buy art supplies for retail sans a discount. I do try not to buy junk art supplies and to avoid using human products on my dolls now. I've just learned over the years that it's not the best thing for the dolls. But most of the people I see doing that, using human makeup, they're not using full on regular human makeup with oils and talc added. They're using the pure pigment makeups and that is a bit different from using say Maybelline or CoverGirl on your dolls. Pigment makeups sans mineral oil and talc and all that they're not that much different from Pearl-ex powders. They're just formulated finer and sterilized for human use. They're a lot safer than the usual stuff...

[WhiteDove01s]

Why would you want to pay $3 to $15 for a single container of 1-4 colors of make up when you can get 32 colors of the right material to use for less than $10?

Because I don't have a car, there's no craft store in my walking distance but a beauty salon at the end of the road, and the colors come 'pre-mixed' to human skin tones? Thanks for the link, though. I'll try to save up for their portrait set.

But on the couple of dolls that I used real makeup, like Cover Girl blush there was a permanent stain and yellowing of the doll's face that did not go away with acetone.

Thanks, that was the kind of answer I was looking for. I always was one of those daft kids who had to know not just not to do something, but why not to do it. XD And irremovable yellowing is icky. I think maybe that's what happened to the knockoff barbie I got at a church rummage sale now. Her face had a weird orange-yellow cast to it and was slightly tacky until I gave it several washings.

Thanks for all your information, as that was basically what I was wondering... how could there be a difference between pigment and pigment, as long as one made sure it didn't have oils. It really does seem safer to get the pastels at blicks after saving up. The trick is that I'll have to save for it instead of being able to sneak it in on the groceries, so could be a month or two.

I saved up for good Liquitex paints, and have thinner and tiny brushes supposed to arrive in the mail. I'm also hoping to save up for a bunch of little dropper bottles so I can pre-thin the paints and then mix them 'by the drop' sort of like we used to for food coloring when dyeing eggs. That way I can be sure of the ratios to re-mix any useful colors later.

I also have some really fancy watercolor pencils, but I haven't seen where they make too much of a mark on Barbie heads. Do you use them wet for that? That seems like a good possible option for some details.

[zirconmermaid]

With the watercolor pencils - yes, use them wet. Put water on the doll with a damp Q-tip, then use the pencil.

[zirconmermaid]

As with the dolls, online ordering is your friend.

http://www.dickblick.com/items/21930-1032/
$8.66

http://www.reapermini.com/Paints/corecolors
Quality paint, works on dolls well.

http://www.junkyspot.com/obindex.html
Carries brush on gloss and matt finishes and Mister Super Clear, as well as brushes and dolls. Best place EVER!!

It is possible to do doll faceups with only watercolor pencils, chalk pastels, and MSD plus a brush on gloss medium.
This has a long and tested history on the better faceups. Faceup artists use a better quality of pastel, however the less expensive ones work too, and are a good way to get your feet wet.

http://www.amazon.com/Face-Handbook-Elisabeth-Iza-Suelli/dp/1105400514/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1368490378&sr=1-3-fkmr0&keywords=bjd+faceup
This book is a great starter tutorial on doing faceups.

[magkelly]

They don't have a Blick Art here but when I went out to the west coast again I stocked up big time. Most people go on vacation they come home with dirty clothes and magnets, t-shirts, crap like that. Not me. I ditched my clothes and packed my carry on suitcase full of art supplies. I also mailed a big box home and not just art supplies but kankelon hair in all the reds, wild colors, stuff like that. I brought major candy home for the roommates, my bro's kids, but other than that it was all art supplies, laugh...

[OkamiKodomo]

If someone runs a Leekeworld group order in the near future, you could also order the Myungo pastels there for a huge set of half sticks for under $7. The problem is the shipping. I have a set of the Myungo and I love them.
http://www.leekeworld.com/En/Product/p_ ... log_num=26

Yanagi-sen, if I may ask about those LA Colors powders? They sell them at my local Family Dollar, and I've got a few colors already. What sort of luck have you had with them?

[WhiteDove01s]

I'm going to start saving for the Blick ones, though I'll also have to start saving for little dropper bottles and hair rooting supplies and such. It might take me until fall (I have very little income).

As it turns out, I'm really going to need them even more than I thought. The skin tone clash between barbie and obistu is even worse than I expected, and I have barbie heads I really want to put on obitsu bodies... meaning that depending on the character I need to either completely repaint the head (not just a faceup, I mean all new skin tone), or completely paint the bodies. And the two obitsu heads I ordered look too tiny next to barbie heads, so now I don't know if I can use those at all without having scenes I want to do look odd.

Oh well. It'll be more work, but I'll just have to make the results worth the effort. Which means definitely getting good pastels. XD