First "Event" coming up (nervous!)

[Catalina]

I am both so nervous and excited, and I have never looked so forward to Halloween before in my life! We are having an office party the day before Halloween, and lots of kids will be there, and I was told I can paint faces (I wanted practice).
So, this is not a paying job, I'm just starting out, but I am so excited. I keep checking what I ordered, and keep thinking I don't have enough. I definitely will need more brushes, I just got 3 to start me with, and a 16-color pallet to start with. Then I realized that it has just a tiny dot of white on it, so I know I'll need more white.

Got my baby-wipes, my mirror, have table and chairs. Anything that I should check on paint-wise? I have some glitter, and I will pick some more at a local Halloween supply store. But I'm hoping Ill have enough paint, I have no idea how much of it I will be using up!

[reginanewsum]

This is what I would take with me for a face painting event.  You don't have to have alote to start out with, as you begin your face painting life, you will notice, you will just keep adding and adding and adding!
You can get by on just a few basic colors!
red - yellow - blue - black - white
with these you can mix tons of color when needed!
red and yellow makes orange
yellow and blue makes green
red and blue makes purple

and with this formula you have doubled your colors!

you will need,
paints
brushes - at least one  liner for small detail,  a round and a flat, I mainly use a number 6 round and a 3/4 inch flat
a spritzer
some sponges for base coats
baby wipes
just get a basic clear cosmetic glitter, you can use that on every thing
some basic pictures of designs that you can do, if there is going to be a ton of kids, just do some simple designs
if you have a split cake that would help you alot, I just made a few of halloween colors for this weeks parties, you know like candy corn colors

and I think that might be it! as you go along you will gather more and more supplies! Trust me you you!

[Catalina]

Thanks! I think I have it mostly covered, then. Just waiting to my supplies to arrive this week, so I can practice, rpactice, practice on myself and my willing family members.

My husband, the dear that he is, has already volunteered.

[Sherry]

The first events are nerve wracking and exciting.  I remember my hand would get a bit shaky, but that would go away after the first or second person, you kind of get in the zone.

[ChaCha]

How did it go Catalina?  I know my first event was nerve wrecking too....and with only a few events under my belt....I still feel that way!  How did your designs go, did you take pics? 

[reginanewsum]

I did and had a wood craft business for over 25 years before going professional face painting. My four daughters helped me, after they all grew up and me having some health issues with my back and arms, I had to give that heavy work up! I had an enclosed 6 by 12 trailer that I pulled and a cargo van! So as you can seen it was tons ans tons of wood! But anyways I painted right at my booth. Custom signs, people loved some thing you could personalize. At first I was very very nervous to paint in front of customers. But here was a few little tricks that I developed over the years.
When I began to paint, I made believe there was no one there but me! I never lifted my eyes from my work. I made believe I had blinders on, like the type they would put on a horse! I also played music on a tape to block out every thing! This relaxed me and I could go to town with my brushes! I was one on one with my project.  Eventually I could look around, talk to the customers with great ease. So when I started face painting, I did alote of the same things to relaxe myself. It was very very easy for me to transfer to the humand skin as my canvas. I am human, I make mistakes, and some of the designs don't turn out the way I want them too! But be very assured, no one will notice, if you don't let it be known! An extra line here or there, an extra poof of glitter will take care of that problem! I was painting at Halloween this year, she came to my house for a private setting. She wanted to be a witch with green hair. I bought some hair spray. I got her face all done, and grabed the can of I thought way green hair spray, shook it and pressed the button down! OMG, it wasn't green hair paint, it was my daughters can of silly string! Her hair was so fine, it filled the whole top of her head, and lifted her hair straight up! I screamed. She said whats wrong! All I could say was OMG! She grabed the mirror and began to laugh so hard! Needless to say it took me 30 minutes to pick all that string out! The cans were both the same size and the same colored tops! Ahhh stuff happens I guess! The moral of the story is,  your clients will be so amaed on your art, they will not even notice your nervous, and when you get a few gigs under your belt and see all the smiles that you make, it will be all worth it! Happy painting my friends!

[ChaCha]

Gina, that was soooo funny on the silly string!  Omg!  (still laughing)