Every product that touches a face says so: cosmetic-grade, or it doesn't go on. Craft-store liquid latex is cosmetic IF labeled such; hot glue, silicone caulk and resin are never makeup. Patch test anything new on the inner arm for 20 minutes. Around the eyes: powder products only, liquids crawl.
Scar wax is the flat-surface alternative: warm, press, blend the edges with a damp fingertip, seal, then color. Both read from the back row when the shadow is right, recess the middle, lighten the rim.
A bruise ages in a fixed sequence, paint it newest to oldest over the same spot: bright red → purple → green → yellow fading. Layer with a stipple sponge, not a brush; the stipple texture does half the realism. Powder between layers keeps the colors from muddying.
One gelatin wound plus a matching bruise, one face, one sitting. The product list rides the build sheet, and every new product got its 20-minute inner-arm patch test days before, not that morning. Start with the petroleum-jelly barrier where the wound lands (the wound formula's first rule); melt and tint the gelatin while the barrier sits, the pot is the smelly step, do it before the wearer arrives. Build by hollow: the recess dark red-brown, the rim pale skin tone, the edges left rough on purpose because smooth edges read as sticker from two metres back. Gloss the hollow for the fresh look or matte-powder it for the day-old one, same hollow, two ages.
Then the bruise around it, painted the fixed order above: bright red stippled first, then purple, green, and yellow fading last, powder between every layer so each color stays its own. The stipple sponge carries the texture (a brush smooths the life out), the recess stays dark, the rim stays light, and the whole face sets before the con's doors. The remover rides in the kit, the removal table is an 11 pm promise, and the face gets photographed before doors: the hall's lights are the judge, the vanity mirror never is.
| Material | Off with |
|---|---|
| Gelatin wounds | Warm water + gentle soak, peel slowly (also feeds the floor, not the drain, bin it) |
| Pros-Aide pieces | Adhesive remover or isopropyl myristate, never rip |
| Body paint | Cold cream or oil cleanse, then soap, scrubbing red cheeks red is amateur hour |
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| The cheek went red and itch | Unpatched product | Twenty minutes, inner arm, before it ever touches the face — every new product |
| Broke out around the eyes | Liquid near the eyes | Powder products only around the eyes; liquids crawl (the skin-safety rule) |
| The wound peeled at the edges by hour two | Adhesive straight onto bare skin or pressed wet | Barrier first, cure until tacky, then lay the piece |
| Ripped skin removing a piece | Tore it off | Adhesive remover or isopropyl myristate, never rip (the removal table) |
| The gelatin wound slid off under lights | No barrier coat, or the room's heat softened it | Petroleum-jelly barrier first; gelatin re-melts with heat — for hot halls, choose scar wax or adhesive pieces |