swaly
Well-known member
I just wanted to share my recent dalliance with the world of professional face-painting products and the utter joy it has brought me. Of course, these are mostly face/body-painting products and don't have the casual "straight" makeup wearer in mind––so if you use them as eyeliner or shadow without setting/fixing, it WON'T work, especially if you have shallow eye sockets/Asian eyes like I do, which means I don't have an eyelid/crease to work with.
Products I purchased include:
• MUFE 12-color Flash Palette (super-pigmented grease paint in primaries plus several pastels and metallics)
• Kryolan Aquacolor (UV-Dayglo, Interferenz palettes of water-activated paints)
• Kryolan Supracolor (12-color palettes in FP and P and a 16-color mini palette of richly colored, glossy grease paints)
• Mehron Paradise (Metallic, Basic, Pastel and Tropical palettes of water-activated paints)
• Ben Nye Lumiere (palette of super-pigmented dry powder eyeshadows)
Setting agents that I purchased include
• Kryolan's Dermacolor Fixing Spray (SPF 20, aerosol can)
• Kryolan's anti-shine powder (30g jar)
FACE SETTING:
The main problem I had with both the water- and oil-based colors was that neither had strong staying power at all. My eyes water easily, and the tiniest hint of moisture sent the Aquacolors smearing all over the place. The Mehron Paradise is somewhat more resilient, but also runs quite easily. I'm also an oily person, so grease paints would just slither around after a few minutes of wear. I found an excellent solution to both issues, which now lets me use the infinite array of colors these brands offer.
The Kryolan powder is excellent for setting the grease paints, which otherwise never set and move around on your face messily. The grease paints (the Supracolors and MUFE Flash colors) are SO pigmented, gorgeous, smooth, blendable and rich, and come in an endless array of fleshtones and brights, and the anti-shine powder does matte it down some, but overall doesn't tone down the color much. I haven't tried it over the Interferenz Supracolors (which are very shimmery and iridescent) but I can imagine it dulling down the glimmer effect considerably. The powder is a combination of rice starch and talc and is absolutely the strongest matting agent I've EVER used in a decade of constant searching. I am a grease machine and whenever I go to sleep it's guaranteed my face will turn into an oil slick. I wore this powder to bed as an experiment and woke up bone-dry and matte. The container is approximately 3 times the size of MAC's loose blot powder and is (according to fxsupply.com) very very finely milled, with the maximum particle size being 9 microns.
For the water paints, I use Kryolan's fixier spray, a hairspray-like alcohol-based aerosol spray that fixes the colors enough to avoid a mess with tearing up/light rain/etc. It's not a complete waterproofer, but then again I don't know if I want something THAT watertight on my face. It also keeps you matte and may dry you out a bit, but it leaves a "glowy" finish. Your skin may feel a little tight, but (and I don't actively recommend this) I tried this on my eyelids, closed, and felt no sting/pain at all, as I did with Benefit's Shelaq, my old sealant. I use MUFE's face & body foundation, which is supposed to be water-resistant but for me comes off really easily, and for the first time since using it I found that NONE rubbed off on my tissue when I blew my nose. The spray made it last through a redeye drive to NYC and lasted even through my rest stop nap!
The Ben Nye palette is more or less regular eyeshadow...very slightly moist, but it is definitely a dry-use pressed powder shadow. You could probably use it wet to great effect. All the colors are slightly pearlized/luminous, and very pigmented. I'd say they are equal to or higher quality than MAC's shadows, some of which are great and smooth but some of which have barely ANY color payoff (most recently, the purple sparkly shade from the Hello Kitty compact––looks AMAZING in the pan but comes off as faint grey dust on my finger! ugh!), and larger as well.
Finally, for the curious: a comparison between MUFE's palette ($98) vs. Supracolor palette ($28.75). I bought the MUFE as an impulse, before I bought any Supracolors. Then I did my research and found the Supracolor line, which is clearly much less expensive. The MUFE does offer a large amount of product, but I'm still considering returning it to Sephora (I still have a month or so!) because other than the coral, which is absolutely gorgeous, the colors are very basic and Supracolor definitely makes all of them. The MUFE is more pigmented, slightly more matte/creamy, and thicker, as well as being consistent, texture-wise, from color to color. The Supracolors turn glossy and thin on contact (body heat loosens it up) and while they are very bright, they don't really come close to MUFE on first application. You also find that different colors are stiffer/harder to blend or thinner/more translucent. You can build up Supracolor, though, to achieve a similar opacity to MUFE. The price and color range really make the decision for me––an individual pot of MUFE Flash color is $17, whereas for only $10 more than that I could get generous portions of 12 Supracolors.
So that's that. Just thought I'd share! I'm going to invest in non-shimmery/special effects Aquacolors, the UV Aquacolors not included in the palette in Lime Green and UV-Red, and the FP2 palette of Supracolors next.
Products I purchased include:
• MUFE 12-color Flash Palette (super-pigmented grease paint in primaries plus several pastels and metallics)
• Kryolan Aquacolor (UV-Dayglo, Interferenz palettes of water-activated paints)
• Kryolan Supracolor (12-color palettes in FP and P and a 16-color mini palette of richly colored, glossy grease paints)
• Mehron Paradise (Metallic, Basic, Pastel and Tropical palettes of water-activated paints)
• Ben Nye Lumiere (palette of super-pigmented dry powder eyeshadows)
Setting agents that I purchased include
• Kryolan's Dermacolor Fixing Spray (SPF 20, aerosol can)
• Kryolan's anti-shine powder (30g jar)
FACE SETTING:
The main problem I had with both the water- and oil-based colors was that neither had strong staying power at all. My eyes water easily, and the tiniest hint of moisture sent the Aquacolors smearing all over the place. The Mehron Paradise is somewhat more resilient, but also runs quite easily. I'm also an oily person, so grease paints would just slither around after a few minutes of wear. I found an excellent solution to both issues, which now lets me use the infinite array of colors these brands offer.
The Kryolan powder is excellent for setting the grease paints, which otherwise never set and move around on your face messily. The grease paints (the Supracolors and MUFE Flash colors) are SO pigmented, gorgeous, smooth, blendable and rich, and come in an endless array of fleshtones and brights, and the anti-shine powder does matte it down some, but overall doesn't tone down the color much. I haven't tried it over the Interferenz Supracolors (which are very shimmery and iridescent) but I can imagine it dulling down the glimmer effect considerably. The powder is a combination of rice starch and talc and is absolutely the strongest matting agent I've EVER used in a decade of constant searching. I am a grease machine and whenever I go to sleep it's guaranteed my face will turn into an oil slick. I wore this powder to bed as an experiment and woke up bone-dry and matte. The container is approximately 3 times the size of MAC's loose blot powder and is (according to fxsupply.com) very very finely milled, with the maximum particle size being 9 microns.
For the water paints, I use Kryolan's fixier spray, a hairspray-like alcohol-based aerosol spray that fixes the colors enough to avoid a mess with tearing up/light rain/etc. It's not a complete waterproofer, but then again I don't know if I want something THAT watertight on my face. It also keeps you matte and may dry you out a bit, but it leaves a "glowy" finish. Your skin may feel a little tight, but (and I don't actively recommend this) I tried this on my eyelids, closed, and felt no sting/pain at all, as I did with Benefit's Shelaq, my old sealant. I use MUFE's face & body foundation, which is supposed to be water-resistant but for me comes off really easily, and for the first time since using it I found that NONE rubbed off on my tissue when I blew my nose. The spray made it last through a redeye drive to NYC and lasted even through my rest stop nap!
The Ben Nye palette is more or less regular eyeshadow...very slightly moist, but it is definitely a dry-use pressed powder shadow. You could probably use it wet to great effect. All the colors are slightly pearlized/luminous, and very pigmented. I'd say they are equal to or higher quality than MAC's shadows, some of which are great and smooth but some of which have barely ANY color payoff (most recently, the purple sparkly shade from the Hello Kitty compact––looks AMAZING in the pan but comes off as faint grey dust on my finger! ugh!), and larger as well.
Finally, for the curious: a comparison between MUFE's palette ($98) vs. Supracolor palette ($28.75). I bought the MUFE as an impulse, before I bought any Supracolors. Then I did my research and found the Supracolor line, which is clearly much less expensive. The MUFE does offer a large amount of product, but I'm still considering returning it to Sephora (I still have a month or so!) because other than the coral, which is absolutely gorgeous, the colors are very basic and Supracolor definitely makes all of them. The MUFE is more pigmented, slightly more matte/creamy, and thicker, as well as being consistent, texture-wise, from color to color. The Supracolors turn glossy and thin on contact (body heat loosens it up) and while they are very bright, they don't really come close to MUFE on first application. You also find that different colors are stiffer/harder to blend or thinner/more translucent. You can build up Supracolor, though, to achieve a similar opacity to MUFE. The price and color range really make the decision for me––an individual pot of MUFE Flash color is $17, whereas for only $10 more than that I could get generous portions of 12 Supracolors.
So that's that. Just thought I'd share! I'm going to invest in non-shimmery/special effects Aquacolors, the UV Aquacolors not included in the palette in Lime Green and UV-Red, and the FP2 palette of Supracolors next.
