Monday, May 21, 2012

Making Spanish white face paint

This weekend I tried out the recipe for white face paint that I discussed here.

Updated recipe
Oil of Ben: 15 ml
Bees wax: 4 gram
Titanium dioxide with mica: 1, 1 ml

Everything melted together very quickly, but the amount of white pigment was far too little. The skin got a slightly pearlescent sheen to it, but it didn’t whiten the skin. Either the bismuth of the original recipe is more concentrated pigment, or I converted the amount wrongly. I added twice the amount of pigment and then got a shiny white substance.




The result
The paint took some patience to get even, but it wasn’t difficult. The result was semi-sheer and very pearlescent. The paint is fat, so your face ends up somewhat sticky, even if the skin absorbs some of it. It’s not a very flattering look in my eyes, the shininess highlights every pore and wrinkle and you look like you have perspired a bit. I also think that the paint will start to run is you dance or stay in warm room. You also need to be careful not to get any of your clothes. When I removed the makeup my skin felt very soft and supple, though.

The original recipe seemed to indicate that the paint should be mixed with flower-de-luce water, but therry at Livejournal suggested that this may refeer just to the pigment. I think she is right. Mixing didn't work out well, but I have flower-de-luce water in the making and will try just pigment and water when it is done.




The red paint is the one I tried to make earlier; the eyebrows are darkened with a piece of burnt clove. The makeup actually looked a great deal whiter in reality than it does on the photo.

What I would do different
Not much, apart from adding more pigment from the start.

Would I do it again?
Well, possibly… I don’t much like the look, but then I don’t think stark daylight is the right for it. I would love to see how it turns out in candlelight. I have some pearlescent face powder and I would cheat a little and top it off with that to make it a bit les sticky. If you have very dry skin, then it may work better for you. It was also very easy to make and I think you could do it with another kind of oil without any ill effects.

6 comments:

  1. This shiny look may not be the most flattering to our XXIst century eyes, but I think it looks very good on you! And also you're using the rest of recipes you've been trying and you look gorgeous!

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    1. Thank you! I think it makes me look rather sweaty, but then shiny faces isn't exactly what we strive for today. :)

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  2. This is a wonderful blog and I look forward to reading future posts.

    Thank you for your efforts - the results are fascinating!

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    1. Thank you! I'm glad you enjoy my posts. :)

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  3. Ohhh, man... this is a dangerous, dangerous site, I can tell. I love mixing up these old types of cosmetics! In fact a just wrote a guest post for Marie Antoniette's Gossip Guide about a few French ones I came upon lately... Let me know if you need any recipes or guest posts here, I've got tons of these kinds of things.

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    1. I'm glad you think so... It is a lot of fun to making practice of theory. If you want to make a guest post you are more than welcome. :)

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