4 Easy Ways to DIY Festival Face Paint in Just 3 Steps
Festival season is O.F.F.I.C.I.A.L.L.Y. here! Hopefully by now you have your festival gear lined up (even if you don’t, it’s not too late to peep outfit inspo!) but what about your makeup plan? We all know that the dollars spent on prepping for these festivals can add up real quick. So we hacked a way to get all the crazy-bright face paint you could ever want with just one face paint pod. All you need is awhite face paint like Ben Nye White Creme Foundation ($10) and the bold-hued eyeshadows you already own. Not only is the technique to combine the makeup duo easy, it’s totally versatile and insanely customizable. What more could a Coachella-bound babe ask for? Grab your girlfriends for this and scroll below to learn how to recreate our four favorite festival face paint looks.
The Technique
The two main motions you’ll use to paint your face here are dotting and drawing lines. These are the best ways to paint them:
For dots: Use the end of a thin makeup or paint brush to pick up a small amount of face paint from your pod. Stipple, or gently tap, the end of each brush directly onto your skin — practice on your hand first! Press down with purpose to make sure each dot fully forms.
For lines: Use a really fine eyeliner or paintbrush to pick up a small amount of face paint from your pod. Draw lines on the back of your hand to get the feel for it, and keep practicing until your lines are even and fine. Use your pinky finger as a rest or a guide to help smooth the motion.
For our first design, we kept it really basic — just dots and lines like you practiced! — but the results will be anything but. First, I placed two horizontal rows of four dots on my face. The first one is just above my cheekbone on one side of my face, and the second crosses over my brow on the other side of my face. Then I added lines: two below the dots on my cheekbone, and one framing my eye on the opposite side. That one kind of creates an arrow-like shape with the dots that divide my brow.
Step 1: Apply to Face
Urban Decay Cosmetics Electric Pressed Pigment Palette in Jilted
Urban Decay Cosmetics Electric Pressed Pigment Palette in Slowburn ($49).
Step 2: Add Bright Pigment
Grab your setting spray — my go-to is Urban Decay Cosmetics All Nighter Long-Lasting Makeup Setting Spray ($30) — and give your face a light spray. This will allow you to dance and play in the sunshine without worrying about your face paint melting off! Now that you know the basics, here are the looks to DIY:
Step 3: Apply Setting Spray
shimmering dot face makeup
Avatar, but we gave it a funkier spin with punchy pigments like purple and hot pink. We love the way it turned out. It’s the perfect just-subtle-enough look for first-timers and looks killer with a hot pink lip.
The Avatar
The Flower Child
Kelly is ready to throw up peace signs and twirl around with closed eyes and a *huge* smile with these super simple daisy designs. To recreate, simply paint on flower petals and add a yellow or orange eyeshadow to the center of each flower. You might end up skipping the flower crown altogether!
The Runway Stars
Kendall Jenner and other models rocked star stencil tattoos down the Tommy Hilfiger runway during his Spring 2015 New York Fashion Week show, and we’ve been swooning over the hippie-chic look ever since! We just kicked it up a notch on Maddie by turning our stars into bold blue ones. To recreate, paint stars on your face and color by tapping with two shades of bright blue eyeshadow. You can leave them hollow or fill in the centers with white face paint, then use the same hue to finish (or a contrast color or even glitter to make those stars sparkle!).
You didn’t think ombre was out, did ya? No chance! This trend is not going anywhere and, — surprise — it looks incredible in the form of asymmetrical slashes around your eyes! To get the look, paint on a few elongated triangle shapes around your eyes, then color in using your darkest shadow on the thickest part of the shape. Work your way to the lightest shadow as the shape tapers.
The Ombre Goddess
These designs are all fairly simple, but you could really play around with them to make ’em super intricate — truly the possibilities are endless!. If you are nervous about applying paint to yourself, try getting some of your girlfriends together to apply on each other, sleepover style (you could also use stencils if you really have no luck free-handing). The good thing is that this face paint is inexpensive enough that you could apply and reapply many times over without wasting too much product or running out (trust me, this stuff goes a long way). So experiment, and most importantly, have fun with it!
You know that getting ready is one of the most fun parts of these festivals. This is just one more way to get geared up for the singing, dancing and good times ahead.
What are your festival pre-game beauty hacks? Share in the comments below!
