Ben Nye Face Paint

In world of face paints is there really one brand better than the rest, or are they all about the same? Being in the make up business for many years I do have my favorite brands for different applications. This does not always mean they are better than other brands, it’s what works for my style or the specific project at hand.

We will be conducting a simple comparison of several face paint brands and comment on how they stack up against one another. Remember, this article is meant to be informative and not to degrade any one line of face paints, every brand reviewed is of a professional grade and is worth the money spent. We hope to give our consumers some insight of the specifics of certain brands so that you can make the purchase best suited to your specific needs.

I was using the Kryolan AquaColor line quite extensively in other areas of the make up field before the brand made its debut in the face paint market and to this day still use this product quite faithfully but I find other brands to be better in some regards for my face painting ventures. At first apprehensive of AquaColor due to the small cake size, quickly I found a little goes along way with this brand. I was also impressed with the pigmentation and its ability to be used both with wet or dry applications. Along with Kryolan AquaColor, we will take a look at Wolfe Hydracolor, Snazaroo, Tag and Mehron Paradise paints. We will put these paints through the wringers and see how much water needed to activate them, pigment strength, do they clean up easily and over all usability of the face paints. We will use a test subject’s arm and paint one brand at a time labeling each one for the photographs and allow for a fair comparison. In the photo’s you will see the initial of each brand A for Aquacolor, P for Paradise, W for Wolfe, S for Snazaroo and T for Tag. Take your time and review the photo’s and I will give my feelings on the brands and how each one worked for me during application and overall performance.
*Also please note that we did not use black, white or gray.

Kryolan AquaColor
Let’s start with the brand with which I have the most history, Kryolan Aquacolor.

Overall this is a paint that covers well and has good pigmentation, although a fair amount of water is needed to get good coverage. Drying time is just a few seconds. The paints come in refillable metal palettes, and the larger individual colors are in a basic plastic container, which allows for good handling and storage of the product. Blending of AquaColor is very good which allows for more artistic designs. Clean up is easy, the majority of the paint can be removed with a wet wipe.

Colors tested were: Yellow 509, Baby Blue 587, Lt. Blue 549, Turquoise TK2, Royal Blue 510, Purple R27, Lavender LILA, Bright Pink R22, Pink R21, Dk Red 080, Dk. Orange 032, Bright Green GR42, Pea Green 511, Dk. Green 096, Tan 4W, Dk. Brown 43

Snazaroo
Next is Snazaroo, a brand that has been on the market for quite some time and in many ways I think blazed the trail in face paint products. This is a nice product and is a probably on the less expensive end of the pricing scale. The paint refills come in a very basic package that is best transferred to a paint palette for regular use. The pigment is not as strong with this brand and calls for more water and layering to achieve a fuller look. The drying time is descent but can be a bit long do to the necessary reapplication needed for the deeper texture. Blending of color is fair and clean up is relatively easy and can be mostly taken care of with a wet wipe.

The colors tested were:
Pale Yellow 233, Bright Yellow 233, Pale Blue 366, Sky Blue 355, Royal Blue 344, Turquoise, Lilac 877, Purple 888, Bright Pink 0058, Orange 553, Bright Red 0055, Bright Green 444, Light Beige 910, Light Brown 988, Pale Green 400, Sea Blue 377

Wolfe Hydrocolor
Wolfe Hydrocolor has come on strong to the market with rich pigmentation allowing for less water and good drying time. This deeper pigmentation does require a bit more effort in clean up. Also the heavier pigment does not always allow good blending of colors. The containers are nice and sturdy and make a good stand-alone cup. I also am fond of their palettes that are similar to a watercolor paint kit, nice foe easy storage. This is a great paint for outlines and giving nearly a complete base without flesh tones showing through.

The colors tested were: Yellow 050, Lt. Blue 066, Sea Green 064, Dk. Blue 068, Blue 070, Lilac 078, Pink 032, Red 030, Orange 040, Light Green 057, Green 060, Brown 020

Mehron Paradise
Paradise by Mehron is definitely a well-packaged product; each container is sturdy and a nice size for easy handling. The colors are very rich yet allow for good blending techniques. Most of the colors go on with little amount of water, in turn giving them an excellent drying time and clean up is also very god with this product. Mehron has great history in clown and stage make up and has kept true to a professional product in their face paint line.

The colors used were:
Top row: Dk. Brown, Lt. Brown, Dk. Green, Amazon Green and Lt. Green.
Bottom row: Yellow, Lt. Blue, Teal, Lagoon Blue, Dk. Blue, Purple, Violet, Wild Orchid, Lt. Pink, Dk. Pink, Red, Beach Berry, Orange, Lime.

TAG
Tag Body Art Face Paint is new for me and I was very impressed; the sturdy watercolor style palette is great for storage and transport, not to mention convenient to work from. The paint cups are also a very nice size adding to the ease of use and can be removed from the palette if desired. These paints seemed to need the least amount of water to activate and gave a very full color for the most part without a second coat and in turn using less water gives an excellent drying time. Tag also lends itself to good blending of colors and the clean up also was fairly easy.

The colors used were:
Yellow R3209, Powder Blue R3214, Light Blue R3203, Royal Blue R3204, Teal R3217, Lilac R3218, Purple R3210, Pink R3207, Red R3208, Orange R3211, Light Green R3205, Green R3206, Brown R3212

Overall each brand is a good quality product and will please most face painters and your clients. Tag, Paradise and Wolfe I do feel are in the top three as far as rich color and quality in packaging. It seemed the red in all of the brands did take a bit more water to activate than the other colors. Some people stick to one brand for everything, be open to try new things; you may find you prefer a certain shade of pink in one brand but like the yellow of another and a third brand may have a better black for outlines and details. I hope this experiment was helpful and you have as much fun trying these paints as I did.

Ben Nye Makeup Company is a leader is face painting colors. The Ben Nye Company was started in 1967 by Ben Nye Sr. after he retired as the head of the makeup department at 20th Century Fox. Throughout his career, Ben Nye worked on some of the most well loved movies like Miracle on 34th Street in 1947 and The King and I in 1956. His passion for creating his own Ben Nye products began on the set of Gone with the Wind in 1939. There he began formulating his own face colors for the African-American actors on the set because face colors for dark skin were not commercially available at the time.

Ben Nye passed on his company to his son, Dana Nye, who is now CEO and is following in his fathers tradition with a passion for innovation and excellence. One of its most famous clients today is the extravagant Cirque du Soleil. Ben Nye Makeup Company has an extensive palette of colors in creams and powders all mixed and made in the company’s manufacturing plant in Los Angeles and all created with the highest safety and quality in mind. Ben Nye products are the highest quality face paint colors for all designs and all skin tones.