For our Advertising class, we were instructed to choose a topic and create a “Buyer Beware” project. The purpose of the project was to recommend certain products to consumers or to advise consumers against certain products.
MOTIVATION FOR PROJECTOur group chose to test and study different Halloween face paints. More and more, it is recommended that children use Halloween face paint as a part of their costumes instead of masks. Masks have been found to have safety concerns for children. They can be restricting or suffocating for different kids and therefore face paint can be a safe alternative to them.
TARGET AUDIENCEOur target audience was parents because they are the ones that buy face paint for their children (it is mostly children that go all out and get dressed up for Halloween).
PRODUCTSWe decided to go around the city and go to the places that are most popular for Halloween costumes to buy different brands of face paint. We chose Dollarama, Superstore, Walmart, Party Stuff, and Value Village. We ended up buying a total of six different brands, the Dollarama brand, the Fun World brand (Walmart), the Rubie's brand, the Seasons brand, the Danson Decor brand, and the Lucky Art brand.
RESEARCH AND METHODOLOGYOver the course of the next five days, my group met in the morning and we all painted our faces with the same brand of makeup. We then wore our face paint for a total of 6 hours and at the end of the day, we filed out a pre-made questionnaire and evaluated each product. All of the different skin types were represented by our group members and so we think that our results produced a holistic and fair evaluation.
Our group judged the products based on the following criteria:
Application: How smoothly the product could be applied and how well the colours show up (how bright).
Longevity: Whether or not the product faded throughout the day or smudged
Removal from skin: How well the product comes off with water at the end of a long day.
Skin irritability: Whether or not the product caused skin to become itchy, red, or did it give anyone a rash?
Physical activity: How well the product held up during physical activity. On Halloween, a lot of kids apply their face paint in the morning and then run around all day. We wanted to see whether or not the face paint would last even if the kids were running or sweating.
Removal from clothing: Often, children will get their face paint make up on their clothes while moving around. At times, face paint also has the ability to smear, smudge, or run onto children’s clothes. After our five days of testing, we tested how well the paints could be removed from clothing. We applied the face paint directly on to two pieces of fabric. One of the fabrics was pre-treated with Spray ‘n Wash while the other was left as is. They were both put in to a rinse cycle using Tide Coldwater and through the dryer. The results were taken, and then put through the wash cycle again.
In terms of our analysis, we did not take into consideration the price of the different products because although we do think price is an important factor in a parent’s decision of which brand to use, we did not think the price differences were enough of a reason to buy one product over the other because at the end of the day, in our opinion, quality is most important.
RESULTSOverall we found that the Dollarama scored a 3.076 out of ten. I had a really hard time with this product for a few reasons. I have a darker skin tone (a light brown) and the colours came up really faint and were not vibrant at all. This meant that it took longer for me to apply the colours and I had to press harder (making the process uncomfortable) to get a decent colour. Additionally, the product really faded throughout the day. By the end of the day, it was barely visible and when I went to work out, it smeared and smudged, and even rubbed off onto my clothing. I know the other member’s didn’t have as hard a time with this product as I did, but I would not recommend it.
Overall, we found Danson Decor scored 5.195. The product was very faint and the colours were very dull during application which meant that it took a long time to get the desired shade. Additionally, the crayons themselves were hard to draw with or get a good colour out of. This product faded fast as well and it also seemed to rub off very easily (which made it easy to remove from my skin later on). Personally, the product was barely there to begin with and it continued to fade throughout the day. Also, my skin became itchier as the day went on and there were a few times when it seemed to smudge onto my clothes. It did wash out my clothing easily though.
Overall, we found the Seasons brand scored 5.412. I found this product to have a weak application and although it went on smoothly, it took a long time to get the desired colour because the colours were so faint. The product began to fade almost immediately, and by mid day, it was not visible on my face anymore (and it was also very light on my other group member’s faces). What was left of the product came off easily but disappeared during my workout. This product did not irritate my skin though.
Overall, we found the Rubies brand scored 5.872. I found that the colours were good but not that bright, vibrant, or interesting. Additionally, the application was not smooth. Again, although this product lasted better than the two before it, it was not that visible by the end of the day. That being said, for the most part, removal of the product was easy and most of the colours came off easily. It was a bit itchy and uncomfortable to wear and also, there was a bad selection of colours for the product.
Overall we found the Fun World brand scored 6.4083. The colours showed up clearly and vibrantly upon application and the process was smooth and easy. I was even able to blend the colours together to make more colours. Unfortunately, again for me, the product seemed to smear easily and before I knew it, the product was barely visible on my skin because it had faded so much. It had also made my skin itchy throughout the day but again, because it faded off, I was not able to judge it adequately for the physical activity, irritability, or removal from skin categories.
Overall, the Lucky Art brand scored 8.915. I loved this product compared to all the other ones. The colours were vibrant, bright, and the application was smooth. The crayons even came with a pointed tip so that there was good detail in the drawings. For the most part, the colour stayed on throughout the day and it came off well at the end of the day with just water. The Lucky Art brand also lasted throughout my workout and did not smudge at the end of the day. My skin was a bit itchy, but overall, there was no irritation.
CONCLUSIONWe found that the Lucky Art brand from Party Stuff was the best face paint by far out of all the ones that we tested (with a score of 8.9 out of ten) for the reasons mentioned above. Personally, Lucky Art brand was also the ONLY brand that was visible on my skin and the only brand that lasted throughout the day on my face and did not fade during my workout. The Lucky Art brand does have its faults such as the fact that it does rub off onto hands and objects but overall, it is still a quality product. It is important for parents to test a product on their child’s skin before they paint their kids face with any type of face paint. Remember to read the directions and watch for any fragrances or preservatives that may harm the child.
Most of the face paints we tested were of bad quality. That being said, we believe that if you find a good one, such as the Lucky Art brand, it is still better to use Halloween face paint as a safe alternative to masks. 
EXPERT OPINIONSWe also spoke to two experts to get their educated opinions on face paints. The first expert that we consulted was Dr. Earl S. Minuk MD who is a board-certified dermatologist and internist in both Canada and the U.S.A.
Overall, Dr. Minuk warned that just because a product claims to be non-toxic, it does not mean that it is safe for your skin. Additionally, even if a product claims to be hypoallergenic, it does not mean that it will be allergy specific and safe for all individuals. He also advised to avoid contact with any products that contain preservatives or fragrances. He encourages consumers to always test any product they use before application by testing it on a small part of their body. If a consumer checks their product for harmful ingredients before use, they should be ok.
Our second expert was Simbo the Clown, also known as Simmie Nasberg, an expert on face painting because she paints her own face and childrens’ faces for a living. She recommends that parents use the brand Caran d’ache to paint their childrens’ faces. A bit higher in price, $2.50 for one crayon and $20.00 for a full kit, she insists that the extra money is worth it. She tells parents to avoid covering a child’s entire face with paint. “Make sure the paint comes off before you put it on and avoid covering the whole face, the skin will not be able to breathe and irritation will be inevitable,” says Simbo.
RESPONSIBILITIES:My Buyer Beware group consisted of Angèle Faucher, Jeremy Giacomin, Stacia Franz, Kiley Dyck and myself. I found that we had a good group, one that split up our duties in a fair and productive manner. For our memo, we got together to brainstorm and Angèle typed it out. After that, I edited it, added to it, and submitted it. In terms of our research, Jeremy and Angèle bought the face paints. Stacia created our grading template and each member wore the different face paints and filled out the templates at the end of each day. The face paint clothing test was performed by Kiley and the expert interviews were conducted by Jeremy. In terms of our final draft, Stacia wrote the intro, Angèle wrote the research summary, I created the results section, Jeremy wrote the expert summary, and the stain wash summary was prepared by Kiley. The responsibilities section was created by Stacia and the final draft was edited by all the group members. Photographs and attachments were also something the group did together.
FINAL PAPERI found that I really enjoyed doing this part of the project. Our team divided up all of the parts of the paper equally and everyone finished their individual work on time. After that, the combining of the different parts went smoothly and everyone took turns editing through an “edit train” which I think went really well. I am very proud of our finished document.
PRESENTATIONThe presentation was probably the part of the assignment that I was most worried about. Funny as it is the part of the project that was worth the least. That being said, our group collaborated well and everyone came together to come up with an interesting way to present our findings. Pictures, information, and some short skits helped us present our project in an effective way, I think.
I found this to be a really great project. I enjoyed the entire process and I really liked working with my group members. Hopefully our story will be profiled through some type of news outlet and our findings can be shared with the Winnipeg world! I’ll let you know how it goes! 
