Why is best to order Face Paint Supplies from a Professional Store

This post is written by someone that owns and operates a store. So, yes, you can consider it bias. But the intention is not to convince you to buy from our store (JestPaint.com) but rather for you to buy from any professional face paint store, whichever one you like. You will be doing yourself a favor and helping the industry. This is just of course our opinion based on 15 years in the industry, but we think it can help those that are just getting started. And if you need more advice on how to get started, please visit this blog post, it has a complete and 100% FREE Face Painting guide with everything you need to know.

PROTECTING THE CHILDREN

Face Paints are applied directly on the skin of young children, their skin is sensitive and we should make sure to only use safe, tested and compliant cosmetic grade products. When you buy reputable brands from professional face paint stores you are buying products that manufacturers claim to have tested in the USA and or Europe, that they claim to have checked for ingredients to verify its source, purity and compliance with makeup regulations and if they entered the USA or Europe through the proper channels they have a chance to have been inspected by the regulatory agencies in charge of keeping bad products out of the market.

Products sold only on marketplaces that come directly from China without a legal entity (brand) that represents them in your country (USA, Somewhere in Europe, Canada, etc) have no incentive to do things right. They can offer cheaper prices by using unsafe ingredients tainted sometimes with things like led or mercury, because they don't have any legal representation outside of China, so it becomes impossible to hold them accountable. Amazon and other marketplaces do not ask makeup companies to provide proof that the product is safe so anything can be sold there and anyone can make any claims they like. Companies based in Europe or the USA will make sure not to make claims they can't back up because they risk loosing a big court case, that is not the case when you buy direct from China through Amazon, or Alibaba, AliExpress, etc from companies with no legal representation in your country.

Did you know that often these generic brands being sold direct from China have been entered into the country as "used clothes", "empty containers", "nail tips" etc? The issue is, no country has the ability to scan every package that crosses their borders so if they did not scan the package then it clears the border without proper inspection. Why do they do that? Because they know that if they use words like "makeup" or "face paint" to get their products into the USA or Europe, the products will undergo FDA inspection, which sometimes includes a physical inspection of the label, and sometimes even testing. Many of these brands know they would not pass those tests so they avoid it all together by claiming that something else is inside those shipments. 

Some of these brands also claim to have done safety tests but they show you just a copy of a safety test conducted on 3 or 4 colors that are not enough to make every color they carry, and it is not proof that what they tested is what they are actually using to make the product you are buying. If you are buying something that is almost 50% cheaper, it is not because you are being scammed by professional stores, it is because those direct to consumer brands sold on those marketplaces are often using cheaper unsafe ingredients, skipping testings, avoiding insurance and legal presence fees, etc. We should focus on quality and safety when purchasing something that will be on a kid's skin for hours.

CUSTOMER SUPPORT and PROFESSIONAL ADVICE

When you buy from a professional face paint store you will get customer support from professionals in the industry with years of experience in the field, and deep understanding of the products and regulations of our industry. No Amazon rep will have that level of knowledge (unless you are buying from an Amazon seller that also has a professional store, in which case, why not buy directly from their store and avoid them having to pay Amazon fees).

INSURANCE

Some insurance companies for face painters want you to buy your products from dedicate professional stores. Why? Because those stores usually carry general liability insurance to respond in case of an allergic reaction. Also, the brands they sell usually have a representative in your country, which means a legal presence should you need it. Brands sold only on marketplaces or directly from China usually have no legal presence in your country and have no insurance.

QUALITY (beware of fake information)

Often I see post from people wishing products were cheaper, and hence they try and find cheaper options. In this industry price and quality (and safety) are strictly related. A product sold at a professional face paint store from a professional face paint brand costs more because they are made with safe ingredients, with high quality pigments, they have gone through the proper inspection channels, they have gotten tested, registered, etc. Products bought directly from China or marketplaces like Amazon, or Asian marketplaces and apps that we rather not promote here, usually are brought into the country like "empty containers" or "used clothes" or "gel nail tips" (see the image below) taking advantage of the fact that not all packages get scanned to verify what is inside, and by avoiding to declare that the products are makeup they don't have to go through the makeup regulating agencies, which means they don't get a compliance check.
Products might look the same on a picture, but there are differences you won't see until you try them (like the lack of pigmentation or oily formula), or worse, things you will never notice (like the use of unsafe pigments, the lack of testing, etc). Don't trust images of tests that some companies in Asia show, they usually only tested a few pigments and noone guarantees you that those are the same pigments used on the makeup you are buying. When you buy from professional brands those brands are in charge of making sure the pigments used are always the ones that were tested and determined safe, and they have a legal presence in your country so if something goes wrong you have a legal address to reach out, and they carry an insurance to reach out to as well.

See for example this very deceptive MSDS sheet below from one of the many factories in Asia that are trying to push their products into our markets, without any real tests done, no safety checks and cheating the market. On the following MSDS you will notice this company only listed three primary pigments as the pigments that were used for ALL of their face paint colors. Experience people in our industry know very well that you can not make for example the pearl colors this company offers for sale without the use of Mica or other pearlescent cosmetic grade pigments, yet none are listed. You also can't do UV or neon paints without UV pigments, none of which are listed on their ingredients list yet their catalog includes many UV colors. Also, face paints do not work like a printer machine that you can print almost any color by mixing three primary colors. In the makeup world you actually need several different pigments, some primary, some not, to obtain the full range of colors we get. Yet this company only shows three primary pigments. Also, you can not obtain black face paint without some form of black pigment, mixing the three primary colors gives you a brown, not black, yet no black pigment is listed. These things are what these companies do, cheating and misleading thousands of people that do not take the time to read carefully, or rather not know this information because the prize is enticing.

Not only that, on the MSDS below you can also see how this company labels their products for exports as "Nail Tips" to avoid passing through FDA and other cosmetic agency inspections, which would put them at risk of having their products rejected, because of lack of compliance withy makeup laws. No trust worthy company needs to import products into other countries as something they are not. (click on the image below to enlarge it).

Note: company information has been blocked to prevent promoting companies like this and prevent these companies from trying to initiate bogus legal claims aimed at silencing those of us trying to protect our customers.

When these companies are confronted with the truth they come up with excuses like "we declare them as nail tips because nail tips have even harder regulations", which is not true, as nail tips do not qualify as cosmetics. Or, they will start making changes to the MSDS until it fits your needs and desires. The product stays the same, but they make a fake MSDS, one that matches what you want to see.

And even worse, they use hundreds of fake accounts on our most popular social media forums to infiltrate as "newbies" posting questions about these off brands with the clear intention of actually bringing attention to them and then have other fake accounts comment that they use them. These tactics, used elsewhere in politics and other markets are currently being used within our industry and we have to be aware of it and help prevent these practices that will mislead actual new face painters and put them in a path that might lead to them hurting their customers with potentially dangerous products.

PRACTICE WITH WHAT YOU WILL THEN USE

We often see posts from people wanting to buy lower quality products to practice, scare of using up their higher quality face paints on just practicing. The thing is, what is the purpose of practicing with one product and then using a different one? Your practice will have made no sense as the professional products behaves in a completely different way than the non professional off brand and potentially dangerous slightly cheaper product. I read somewhere online a good example of this: you would not prepare for a horse race by practicing on a donkey. You need to practice using the product you will use on the job, and the truth is, professional face painting products are not that expensive when compared to makeup brands like Kryolan or MAC that are used by professional makeup artists. We are lucky to have affordable high quality products in our industry, reaching for the lowest price only puts you and your customers at risk.

BUT WHY ARE PROFESSIONAL BRANDS MORE EXPENSIVE?

To cover the costs of high quality ingredients, safety tests, insurance, registrations and legal presence in different countries, proper regulatory agency fees paid at Customs, trained professionals that provide customer support, etc. When you charge the right fees for your services these products are actually very reasonably priced. In the USA a face painter average hourly rate is at $150 USD an hour, while a 32gm of face paint goes for about $7.00. Take a look at the makeup industry now sending this "new" trendy wet liners... they are jut face paints labeled as "wet eye liners" sold for up to 3 times the price we pay in our industry.

SUPPORTING THE INDUSTRY

Those that own and operate professional face paint stores are the ones on all of the Facebook groups, and Instagram providing free advice, supporting new members with free content to teach them how to use the products, how to get their business started, etc. These same people are the ones spending hours every week learning new regulations, making sure companies producing paint are up to standards, making sure labels are done correctly and developing new products for everyone to expand their business. No Ebay or Amazon seller will help you grow your business like professional face paint owners do.

PROTECTING THE INDUSTRY

If you want to work in an industry that is well respected then using the right products is key. When something goes wrong at a big festival and it gets into the news because someone used cheap face paints and a person got a reaction, that hurts us all, the public looses trust in our industry and we all get affected. By using the right products, following the right procedures, being insured, etc you help uphold high standards for the industry and protect the job you have as a face painter.

SUPPORTING SMALL BUSINESSES

Professional face paint stores are all owned by small business owners, none of us here are millionaires. Amazon, Ebay, Alibaba owners are already millionaires. And many of the brands sold direct to consumer there come from giant factories in Asia also owned by millionaires. The brands sold at professional face paint stores are also own by small business owners. So, by buying from a professional face paint store you are supporting a lot of small business owners like you.

MAKE YOUR BUSINESS STAND OUT

If you use products that any mom and dad can get at a regular store, they won't see the value in your service and think they can do it to. If you buy brands they don't see at regular stores, you can let them know you use only professional products, and they can notice as well the price difference if they ever land in a professional face paint store, which will help raise your value as a professional.