Don’t you find it incredible just how much children love to role play? Whether it’s dressing up with my old jewellery and handbags or making a playground for their latest toys from McDonald’s out of a collection of headbands, blankets, and random bits from the recycling basket it doesn’t seem to matter. And I love it! It’s free, it’s fun and I love to see them using their imaginations.

All of my children have always loved the days I paint their faces. No matter what else is going on, they’ll drop it in a heartbeat to have their faces painted and become a character for the day.  You name it, we’ve done it.  Lions, tigers, butterflies, lady beetles, Raggedy Annes, Fairies, Goblins, Devils and witches. Some of the faces (in my early days) have been pretty dodgy thanks in part to inferior face paints but mostly due to my lack of skill.

In the last couple of years, I have discovered what I believe are the best facepaints I’ve ever seen (purely my personal opinion – this is not a sponsored post by any stretch).  It seems I was looking in the toy stores and should have been looking in the Art Shops.  Suddenly a whole new world opened up and our facepainting became a little more elaborate and the kids were far more impressed.

There are some really important points to consider when you’re looking for facepaints:

1. The quality of the paint – is it skin friendly?  You’ll want to look for facepaints that are designed for sensitive skin and then you’ll know it will be gentle on little faces. Not only that but the artist within you has far  more chance of succeeding with good quality paints.

2. Is it non-toxic? Make sure the paints you choose are fully compliant with EU & FDA toy and cosmetic regulations, and are non-toxic.  Again, so important for little faces.

3. Does it dry quickly and stay put? There’s nothing worse than the cheap face paints that don’t ever seem to dry and end up all over the kids’ clothes and your lounge!

4. Is it washable? Come bathtime at night, will it come off (completely) with a minimum of fuss.

That seems like an exhaustive list but you’ll be pleased to know that there is one brand of facepaint that happily ticks each of these boxes and that’s SNAZAROO.

Snazaroo have face painting starter kits, colours you can purchase individually, glitter, stencils, body art, temporary tattoos just to name a few.  And their website is an inspiration – step by step instructions on how to paint faces, hundreds of images uploaded by Snazaroo fans and of course, the full array of products.

I chose to purchase just a few select colours – white, orange, yellow, purple, red and black.  I will add blue and green at some stage but we’ve done very well with our many characters so far.  The colours also blend really well so it’s quite easy to custom make a colour if you need to.

The best thing about face painting?  My kids really come to life.  Suddenly their ‘mask’ allows them to growl like a tiger, roar like a lion, cackle like a witch or play out the little fat cat in the Spanish accent of Shrek’s sidekick Puss … in Boots!

Share some photos of your children with painted faces here.  It’s just so fun to see all the variety!

Love & hugs to you all,