Most of us clowns probably use standard grease makeup for our foundation color or even the entire makeup for our clown face. A friend who is in a Star Wars reenactment group recently was asking makeup questions, more specifically the difference between liquid and cream/grease foundation. Questions from people often make great topics for a blog post, so why not do a little product comparison and share our results. Having someone actually using the products and with a specific situation arise to spark questions is a great stepping point for our comparison.
The scene:
Amber uses Mehron liquid red, thinned with Mehron liquid white to achieve a particular shade of red for her character. She uses liquid as she has to cover her arms and other large areas of skin, also liquid is excellent for mixing shades. She has been using clown white grease makeup for her face, particularly around the eyes. She has been experiencing the wrinkles in the eyelid and a bit of makeup displacement where a piece of jewelry rubs on the clown white.
The question:
Amber wondered if replacing the clown white grease makeup with the liquid white around the eyes would solve her issue. With this information I was able to see the dilemma and target my test to this area. I think we all experience the “eyelid issue” even with the best of powdering and setting techniques to our makeup. So with this in mind I did the comparison of Mehron clown white grease on one eye and the other eye with Mehron liquid white.
The test:
*The first eye was the liquid , immediately I used more caution as not wanting the liquid to run into my eye. The 1 oz. container has a handy applicator brush right in the lid, which made application very simple. I did find there is a bit of a drying time and gave just a little touch up coat after the first coat had dried. I sealed it with Mehron barrier spray.
*The second eye was the grease clown white from my tin. Using my finger to apply the makeup is my preferred method. Next pat in the makeup, powder it well and apply the sealer. Using grease foundation requires a couple of extra steps but due to the drying time of the liquid both were finished about the same.
The results:
I left the makeup on for about an hour prior to photographs so we could see a realistic wear time.
*Both liquid and grease gave a favorable coverage, so for the look I would say pretty even. *The liquid seemed to be a little less forgiving in the eyelid wrinkle area, at least in my test. *Next I rubbed my finger through both types of makeup finding the standard clown white held it’s place better than the liquid.
The clean up:
In cleanup I remove as much makeup possible with a wet wipe, then move to the soap and water. The liquid makeup did remove a little more readily than the grease, which my be an attractive quality for some.
The tally:
I feel both liquid and cream foundations are of good quality and may offer there strengths in different types of design needs. But as far as coverage and color opacity the two stand up well to each other. Below we also see the comparison of Mehron liquid blue and Mehron grease blue.
Helpful hints:
My recommendation to my friend was that she make sure she is using proper patting and powdering techniques for the grease foundation and that skin prep product may help the longevity of her makeup. A reminder was that any makeup worn for long periods of time will need touch ups.
Blue:
We did a side by side of the liquid and grease Mehron blue foundations to see the how the both look on skin. The liquid is on the left and grease on the right. As we can see the results of coverage again are very close in opacity and shade. Colors on a clown face are often used as a highlight and you may find the liquid to be a more convenient option for the detail work.
Remember that my tests, comparisons and discoveries are a result of a straight forward application process, you may find with your techniques the results may vary. Articles like these are not meant to be the law of makeup and application but a stepping stone for others to explore products on their own. We hope that you have favorable results but always feel free to ask questions, that is how we all grow in the art of clowning.