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Home Ec: DIY Natural Facepaint

How to Make Safer Face Paints for Kids

Wanna make face paint that doesn’t contain artificial food colouring (which is made of coal tar dye), synthetic fragrances, or other dangerous ingredients? Here’s a basic recipe.

    1. 2 teaspoons of organic cornstarch
    2. 1 teaspoon of natural, zinc-oxide based diaper cream or straight zinc-oxide cream
    3. Natural, organic food dyes. (See below for where to buy or how to make)

Put the cornstarch into a cup and mix in the zinc-oxide cream. Add a bit of water if needed until it is smooth. Then, put dabs of the cream in separate cups or on a large plate away from each other. Add colour one drop at a time.

 

 

Safe Brands of Organic Food Colour

Look for a USDA/Canada Certified Organic Label on ANY food colouring that you use for your children, even in skincare products. A child’s skin is very absorbent and up to 90% of what is put on the skin can be absorbed directly into the bloodstream!  Try Seelect Tea, India Tree, and Nature’s Flavors. I have purchased these before at Whole Foods as well as my quirky and cool organic-minded corner store.

 

Make Your Own Food Colours

Yellow

  1. 1 cup of water, almost boiling
  2. Add 1 Tbs of turmeric to the water–keep adding until desired colour.

Red

  1. 1-2 cups of water, boiling
  2. 2-3 beets, unpeeled.
  3. Simmer until the beets are soft
  4. Chop the beets and let them sit in the water for a few hours.
  5. Strain the liquid (you can eat the beets!)
  6. Add 1-2 tsps of organic white vinegar

Green

  1. 2 cups fresh spinach
  2. ½ cup boiling water
  3. Simmer for 10 minutes.
  4. Allow the water to cool.
  5. Strain the colored water through a cheesecloth (you can eat the now very overdone spinach)