My son is very keen on face paint and temporary tattoos. Ever since he had them removed before the start of school, he's been bugging me about it. But, I remember reading this article about unsafe face paints on the market. It's very discerning and it got me looking for natural alternatives. I came across a few recipes in The Green Beauty Guide and thought I'd give it a go!
This was a great DIY for my son with all the colours and mixing, plus he got to paste them on his face. We experimented with aloe vera gel (that I had purchased for our bout of HFMD) and five natural food colouring agents - tumeric (yellow), cocoa (brown), corn starch (white), lettuce (green) and red yeast rice (red).
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| Started off with the powdery ingredients. Used 1/2 tsp. |
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| Added a blob of aloe vera gel and mixed until I got a creamy consistency. |
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| Patch test! The cornstarch mixture cracked when dry. It might be good for Halloween. |
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| We tried to get an orange colour from the carrots but I think you can't use a pestle and mortar. You need a blender!! |
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| My son suggested using some butterleaf lettuce from my hydroponics. We got a nice green gel. |
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| We got to make blood from the red yeast rice. Doesn't it look real? |
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| This is what red yeast rice looks like. |
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| He tried to be a tiger. If you're using cocoa, remind the kids not to eat it!! |
What other colours do you think can be tried? Share them here!
It is really cool that you are trialing safe natural alternatives. The blood looks pretty gruesome and realistic. Perfect for Halloween. I have tried tumeric as a natural dye for clothing. The result is blinging yellow which is currently part of a refashion project.
ReplyDeleteWow, I didn't realise that tumeric could be used as a dye. Look forward to seeing your new refashion!
DeleteHow fun! Did the turmeric stain? It stains everything for me! Red... Beet root!
ReplyDeleteI think they would all stain, but after the paint dries I did notice that it was difficult for them to transfer onto his clothes. Just make sure your kids don't wear whites :-)
DeleteI love this! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Iris!
DeleteLove this idea, and great to "meet" you on Craft Schooling Sunday! Hope you'll be back again soon!
ReplyDelete"See" you soon :-)
DeleteWay cool! I am definitely pinning this for when we have kids! Those artificial dyes really are terrible :( Thanks for sharing this!! :D
ReplyDeleteHope you'll enjoy this activity with your kids. My son had fun with all the pounding, mixing and painting :-)
DeleteGreat idea, Using Natural alternative of blood is perfect for Halloween.
ReplyDelete