Face paints can be fun on Halloween and other special occasions. Here are tips to help go along your fun from leaving you with a rash, bloated eyelids, or other reaction.

Two girls with face paint.

Painting Your Face: Special Effects Without Aftereffects

Decorating your face with face pigment or other makeup lets y'all see better than you tin if you're wearing a mask. A mask can make information technology hard to see where you lot're going and lookout out for cars. Simply make certain your painted-on designs don't cause problems of their own.

  • Follow all directions carefully.
  • Don't decorate your face with things that aren't intended for your peel.
  • If your face pigment has a very bad odor, this could be a sign that information technology is contaminated. Throw it abroad and use another one.
  • Similar soap, some things are OK on your pare, but not in your eyes. Some face up paint or other makeup may say on the label that it is not for use nigh the eyes. Believe this, even if the characterization has a picture of people wearing it near their eyes. Be careful to go along makeup from getting into your optics.
  • Even products intended for utilise near your eyes can sometimes irritate your peel if you use as well much.
  • If you lot're decorating your pare with something you lot've never used before, you might try a dab of it on your arm for a couple of days to check for an allergic reaction BEFORE you put it on your face. This is an particularly smart affair to do if yous tend to have allergies.

Color Additives: The "FDA OK" (Or, A Piffling Detective Piece of work Won't Hurt)

A big function of Halloween makeup is colour. But this is your skin we're talking most. Think well-nigh what you're putting on it. You might non want to put the same coloring on your pare that a auto company uses in its pigment.

Luckily, you don't have to. The law says that colour additives accept to exist canonical by FDA for use in cosmetics, including color additives in face paints and other cosmetics that may be used around Halloween fourth dimension. Information technology also includes theatrical makeup.

Plus, FDA has to decide how they may exist used, based on safety information. A colour that's OK on your tough fingernails or your pilus may not be OK on your pare. Colors that are OK for near of your peel may not exist OK near your eyes.

How exercise y'all know which ones are OK to use, and where? Practise some detective work and check two places:

  1. The listing of ingredients on the label. Look for the names of the colors. THEN...
  2. Check the Summary of Color Additives on FDA'southward Web site. At that place'due south a section particularly on colors for cosmetics. If in that location'due south a color in your makeup that isn't on this list, the company that made information technology is not obeying the law. Don't utilise it. Fifty-fifty if it's on the list, bank check to run across if it has FDA's OK for employ near the eyes. If information technology doesn't, keep it away from your eyes.

For That Ghoulish Glow

At that place are two kinds of "glow" effects yous might get from Halloween-type makeup. Ready for some ten-dollar words? There are "fluorescent" (say "floor-ESS-ent") and "luminescent" (say "loo-min-ESS-ent") colors. Here'south the departure:

Fluorescent colors: These are the brand-you-blink colors sometimes called "neon" or "day-glow." In that location are eight fluorescent colors approved for cosmetics, and like other colors, there are limits on how they may be used. None of them are allowed for utilise near the optics. (Check the Summary of Color Additives once again.) These are their names: D&C Orange No. 5, No. ten, and No. 11; D&C Reddish No. 21, No. 22, No. 27 and No. 28; and D&C Yellow No. 7.

Luminescent colors: These colors glow in the dark. In August 2000, FDA approved luminescent zinc sulfide for express cosmetic use. It'south the but luminescent color approved for cosmetic employ, and it'southward not for every twenty-four hours and non for near your eyes. You can recognize it by its whitish-yellowish-greenish glow.

When the Party'southward Over...

Don't become to bed with your makeup on. Wearing it too long might irritate your pare, and $.25 of makeup can scrap off or smear and get into your eyes, not to mention mess upward your pillow and annoy your parents.

How you take the stuff off is as important as how y'all put information technology on. Remove it the way the label says. If information technology says to remove it with cold cream, employ cold foam. If it says to remove information technology with soap and h2o, utilize soap and water. If it says to remove information technology with eye makeup remover, use eye makeup remover. You get the moving picture. The aforementioned goes for removing glue, like the stuff that holds on imitation beards.

And remember, the skin around your optics is delicate. Remove makeup gently.

But Merely in Case...

What if you followed all these steps and still had a bad reaction? In March 2005 and May 2009, some face paint products were recalled from the market considering they acquired problems such equally a skin rash, irritation, itching or modest swelling where the paints were practical. If you accept a reaction that seems to be caused by face paints, your parents may want to call a doctor, and they can telephone call FDA, too. Nosotros like to keep track of reactions to cosmetics so nosotros know if in that location are problem products on the market. To report a bad reaction to face paint, novelty makeup, or any other cosmetic production, come across Your Guide to Reporting Bug to FDA.

Want to Learn More? Check out These Sites:

  • Temporary Tattoos, Henna/Mehndi, and "Black Henna"
  • Decorative Contact Lenses
    • Decorative Contact Lenses: Is Your Vision Worth It?
    • FDA Reminds Consumers of Serious Risks of Using Decorative Contact Lenses without Consulting Eye Care Professional
    • FDA Warns Consumers of the Dangers of Using Decorative Contact Lenses Without Proper Professional Interest
  • Eye Cosmetic Prophylactic
  • Temporary Tattoos/Henna/Mehndi
  • Tattoos and Permanent Makeup, from FDA'southward Office of Women's Wellness
  • FDA Authority Over Cosmetics
  • Color Additives in Cosmetics

September 25, 2001; updated October 1, 2003, September 28, 2005, Oct 31, 2007, and Oct eight and sixteen, 2009. This certificate is current; updates are made just every bit needed.

Resources For You

  • Halloween Prophylactic: Costumes, Candy, and Colored Contact Lenses
  • Halloween Food Safety Tips for Parents
  • Hypoallergenic Cosmetics