If you have any Acrylic paint around, (either craft paint or wall paint as long as it’s water based) you can get away with it for a one time use. The most potentially toxic colors are in the red-orange spectrum so black is pretty safe as long as you don’t make a habit of it.
But all bets are off for those with sensitive skin or multiple allergies. Not worth the risk to use anything other than professional stage makeup.
But I used it on my own face for years when I was working as a face painter, so I am speaking from personal experience. But I’ve never had any type of skin issues ever in my life. And the Acrylic never caused me any either.
How large an area do you want to cover in black ?
Why not just use black eyeliner or eyeshadow? Granted, it’s a bit expensive for large amounts, but it’s designed to be used on the most sensitive areas of the face (around the eyes) so should work quite well. Maybe go the cheap route at the local Dollar store and buy a ton of their black eye products if you need a large area covered.
Food coloring is the worst idea. Definitely not designed for faces and hard to get off.
Since it’s still Sat. you could give the local crafts stores a try (Michaels, AC Moore, etc) or even Walmart has a crafts section. Sometimes they may be carrying face painting kits for kids.
I know that the Klutz series of books has one which includes a pallette of face paints packaged with the book.
If you do decide to go the Acrylic route (it’s inexpensive) before you apply the paint, massage some cold cream into your face and wipe it off very thoroughly.
This won’t interfere with the application of the paint AS LONG AS you wipe if off extremely well. But it will be just enough to fill up the tiny pores of your skin for added protection.
Just be aware that Acrylic, if used in large solid areas might have a tendency to peel or chip a little towards the end if worn for an extended amount of time or you sweat profusely. Just don’t go wiping your face a lot and basically leave it alone. After all, Acrylic is basically liquid plastic with pigment and dries into a plastic second skin, so to speak.
But if it’s only the few hours of the game, you should be fine. I used to wear mine for as long as 8+ hours if I had several jobs in a row or an all day festival. But I was using the thicker tube type of Acrylic rather than the thinner stuff in the little bottles.
But I also did occasional individual jobs for concert attendees when Kiss was in town and they were all happy with the results. It got them through the whole time looking like their favorite band member. And that was a lot of black paint :) but I never got any complaints and had a lot of repeat customers for the following year’s tour.
So, hope you find something that works for you.
Oh yeah. Don’t be tempted to use your kids’ poster paint. Also will stain as well as get runny and drippy and you’ll end up a mess. When they have quick TV audience shots at games I can always pick out the dimwits with the poster paint. What a mess.
That’s another advantage to Acrylic. Once it’s dry, it won’t run. Flake a little maybe, but at least it won’t be a drippy mess.
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