Thread: Prosthetic Makeup Help!!!

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Last year I used a prosthetic and the experience was effin awesome. However, the makeup was atrocious.

I was told that RMGP was the way to go, so after dishing out ~500$ for my prosthetics, and my girlfriends, and then the paints which were absurdly expensive, it turned out that RMGP was IMPOSSIBLE to use. I couldn't get the damn stuff to spread. I was told to thin it with alcohol, but I couldn't get that to work either. I ended up finishing up my costume last year with cream and it looked half assed, but people still loved it. I want to use cream this year.

I remember reading that you can use cream makeup however you have to seal the prosthetic, and then set it with powder. I have the powder, I have a number of cream paints too.

Suggestions? Is this possible, or not? I'm trying to keep costs down this year. I have liquid latex, adhesive and remover, some paints, and I know cream paints are cheap so I will be picking up more.

The costume I'm going with this year is HERE

My girlfriend is going with a zombie this year, but using prosthetics.

I used acrylics on my prosthetic mask , the one I have on in my avatar.

What I'm worried with that is that it will be too shiney. I used to paint on canvas with acrylics and so that's why I think I'll have that problem. Or do you powder the acrylics to dull the shine?

Have a link to some costume Acrylics?

I used the cheap acrylics you can get at Walmart or Micheals . The only paint that shined was a pearlescent green for the eyebrows , and I wanted that.

The reason SychoClown is suggesting acrylics is because latex prosthetics, especially foam latex, "burns" through regular makeup, i.e., it doesn't absorb it like skin.

Acrylic paint is used because it gives an opaque coating, exactly the color you want. RMGP (grease paint) will be opaque, but it smears at the slightest touch, no matter how much you powder it. It's a mess. You'll be horrified at the places you will find RMGP stains.

Serious makeup folks who love prosthetics use PAX paint. PAX paint is 50% acrylic paint, 50% surgical adhesive. You paint the appliance, glue it on (i use surgical adhesive for this as well, much stronger, not problems like with spirit gum) and you use PAX paint on the surrounding skin to blend the piece. Once you have a base coat of PAX paint on your appliance, face, neck, arms, hands (yeah, it's makeup you can put on your hands, no smearing - I've eaten hot dogs with hands covered in the stuff, no problem!) then you can accent the base color with blushes, eyeshadows, liners, fake blood, whatever.


Best Place for Pax Paint?
FX Warehouse: PAX Paint

And hey, if you want to save money, simply mix one part of your prefered acrylic latex paint with one part surgical adhesive and make your own, any color you want.

Best Surgical Adhesive?
FX Warehouse: Pros-Aide Adhesive for prosthetics

Best Adhesive and PAX paint Remover?
FX Warehouse: Agent X Adhesive Remover <BR>The Best Remover You'll Ever Use

This Agent X Remover is the bomb. If you wash Pax paint with soap and water - nothing. If you soak the skin with the remover, THEN use soap and water, presto! All gone.


I'm not a rep, just a satisfied, repeat customer.

Thanks for the clarification. Ihad looked at PAX paint before but wasn't sure which brand and where to get it.

I'm actually thinking about next year already too and when planning PAX came up because it can be airbrushed.

I think I'm going to go with that this year. How far does a bottle go? I'm going to be doing 2 faces.

Two faces might be covered by a 1oz bottle, but if it was me, I'd buy a moderate sized bottle of adhesive and a moderate sized bottle of remover. Then use whatever color acrylic craft paints you want from Michael's or Wal-Mart, 50/50 ratio with adhesive.
Saves you money, guarantees you have all you need, sets you up for the future.

Can you just point me to some links for the acrylic and adhesive so I don't screw this up for a 2nd year in a row.

I gave you links in my first post in this thread, separate ones for the adhesive, the remover and the pax paint if you want it.

As for acrylic paint, I mean craft acrylic latex paint from the craft section at Wal-Mart - you know, this stuff...
Apple Barrel Acrylic Paint from Plaid Enterprises

Buy the regular, not the glossy. 2 oz bottles should be just fine.

Sorry about that. I was looking at it on my phone so it was a bit of a pain in the backside to navigate.

Thanks for all the help guys. I've decided to airbrush it. I found an airbrush/compressor for 60$.

I can thin this mixture with water, and airbrush it, right? My father has been airbrushing for years and he's going to help me.

I'm going out to the craft store Michaels and getting all the paints I'm going to need today.