A design painted on the face with special colours, usually water-based. Unlike body art the work covers the face only, so a look is assembled in tens of minutes rather than hours.
Where it is shot
In advertising for holidays and children’s products, in club and festival work, in photographers’ personal series, and in beauty material where the makeup is itself the subject. A separate market is live events, where artists work in front of an audience and the model shows the finished look.
How the day goes
You sit still for a long while: the artist works on dry skin in layers, and each layer has to set. Then the shooting happens quickly, because the paint does not live long.
Paint is afraid of water and friction. You do not touch your face at all, you drink through a straw rather than from the rim of a glass, and sweat is blotted with a tissue the artist gives you rather than wiped.
About skin
Face paint comes off with warm water and micellar water, but the skin is irritated afterwards and should not be loaded with another shoot the same day. If your skin is sensitive, say so before rather than after — the artist usually carries paints from several brands.
Do the allergy test in advance, on the inside of the elbow, not on your face ten minutes before the frame. For shoots with glitter, ask separately what it is stuck on with.
What to bring
A hair tie, a button-through shirt so nothing has to come off over your head, and your own micellar water if your skin is temperamental. And spare time: getting the paint off takes some too.
