I searched for this but am looking for clear advise. What's your favorite black and white paint for good opaque coverage in A) sponge work and B) detailed brush work?

We have covered this exact question on a few other threads and the concensus seems to be both Paradise and Wolfe Brothers. I like Paradise but I am partial to Wolfe myself.

Please take a moment and tell us more about yourself. Are you mainly a face painter? Have you been painting long? Are you doing a lot of full faces or focusing on cheek art?

I don't personally have any, but several face painters in my area say that the Wolfe Black and White can cover any other color paint... I did see someone using the Wolfe palette from the KLUTZ-Face Painting book for accents over Snazaroo paints.

Hi Fitzwilly (and group),
Honestly I'm mainly a graphic designer who has recently discovered that I really, really like doing face painting. I've done a few school functions, but recently did a large festival and painted about 100 kids over a 2 day period. I like that it combines things I'm good at -- design, painting and interacting with (mostly) little kids. I'm not remotely funny, but I'm gentle and friendly, which seems to put the kids at ease. My focus is on full faces or masks. Generally I've been using Starblend Powders as my base and then doing detail work over it with either Paradise or Snazaroo. So far I like the consistency of the Paradise paints better. I'm sorry if this subject has been covered already -- I found a thread on it, but it seemed to wonder off course a bit and I wasn't sure if there was a clear consensus. All the brand names get to be a bit confusing for a newbie.

Thanks for any input!

That's ok,... we do tend to go off on tangents quite often. Most people I've heard from have said Wolfe for black and white... I've only used Snazaroo, but I do find that their black doesn't cover very well... I have so much of it right now though that I think I'll just deal with it ;) I've got both a 30 mL and an 18 mL in both black and white and both are still almost full.

I have recently gotten both a silver and gold in the Kryolan and they are very pretty.
I would like to know however if anyone finds that different metallics cover any better or are they all kind of translucent like the Kryolan? I can't seem to get a really solid coverage with them. It's ok, but when painting princess crowns with them, I have to outline everything with another colour or else the gold just blends in too much with their skin.

I have recently gotten both a silver and gold in the Kryolan and they are very pretty.
I would like to know however if anyone finds that different metallics cover any better or are they all kind of translucent like the Kryolan? I can't seem to get a really solid coverage with them. It's ok, but when painting princess crowns with them, I have to outline everything with another colour or else the gold just blends in too much with their skin.

I just got Paradise in gold and silver metallic. I haven't tried the silver yet, but the gold is fairly translucent. I wanted something with better coverage too. I had to really dig into the cake and keep going over my face to get okay coverage. So...Paradise isn't the best either. Does anyone know of a good brand for metallics?

I was not complaining Gigiso, mere thought that you might be able o find more information elsewhere on the Forum to help answer your question. We are glad you joined and are willing to participate. It sounds like you are off to a great start. Apryl (she just joined recently) is a very experienced face painter so I hope she chimes in on this. Paradise and Wolfe FX are the two leaders in the US for opaqueness and quality. Wolf has the better metallics, their metallic green is fantastic!) Their metallics really have solid coverage and still sparkle like a metallic should. Paradise has three or four decent metallics (red, blue, orange and green) silver and gold I'm not sure of, I haven't had too much trouble with them but I have heard from others that don't really care for them. The Paradise metallics to stay away from are the copper, brass and bronze. I may be forgetting one. They just don't seem to mix right. Once I was able to paint with them and kind of liked the shades but I couldn't even get the paint on my brush with the ones I bought.

For white and black I like Diamond FX not sure about metallics yet but I am going to a face painting jam tomorrow night so I will ask around and try a few things out.

Diamond FX are nearly identical to Wolfe FX from what I have read on the Face Painting Forums. I have even heard that they are made in the same factory to nearly identical formulations. I'm sure you will be pleased.

I just got my order and gave it a quick test. I love the Wolfe metallix pallet and the Wolfe white seems to allow for good detail over these colors. also, I really like the consistency of the Wolfe paints.

i just started using mehron, that is the same company that makes paradise
mehron comes in liquid, too, and i discovered that for details is very good
because when you work with the ones like powder you have to wet the brush, and sometimes it is too wet and the design gets messy
i hope i explained it!!! oh, english english...
i must study english instead of being in the forum!!! hahaha:oops:

I had Wolfe paints used on my arm at the Spring Fling this weekend and I had to scrub and scrub and scrub to get the black off my skin...finally I scrubbed with alcohol and went over it about 4 times and it finally took the remainder off...Im not so sure I would want to use this on a childs face when it is so hard to get off! I no everyone recommmends them but if I were the parent of a kid who had to scrub like that to get these paints off, I would be real upset...cant imagine the time they have getting the acrylics off that some people use...Have a great day and happy painting!

Squiggles - it was great to see you and your husband at the Spring Fling this year.

As far as the Wolfe Black goes, I know that some face painters will only use the black over another base, such as Starblend or even a lighter color paint.

I had Wolfe paints used on my arm at the Spring Fling this weekend and I had to scrub and scrub and scrub to get the black off my skin...finally I scrubbed with alcohol and went over it about 4 times and it finally took the remainder off...Im not so sure I would want to use this on a childs face when it is so hard to get off! I no everyone recommmends them but if I were the parent of a kid who had to scrub like that to get these paints off, I would be real upset...


You're absolutely right about the Wolfe black. I use it when trying out new designs, but am very careful about when I use it. I don't want my son going to church with black lines all over his face because we couldn't get it all washed off. Sometimes he just has black eyebrows for a couple of days. Oh well.

I think I'll get Snaz black next time I order; I've heard it washes off much more easily.

Sometimes arms can have dry skin and hold on to the colors a bit better than faces. Also, if you practice a lot and keep wiping off the last design, you will remove the oils from you skin making the next design a little harder to remove.