A friend of mine does a steampunk cosplay where she paints her body and face white (a clockwork doll concept). Unfortunately we've been having difficulties finding an opaque white foundation that works on her skin because she has rosacea, sensitive skin, dry patches, flaking, etc.

We've tried Graftobian cream, Ben Nye cake powder, Skin Illustrator, and even Manic Panic. All will work fine on her body, but once we get to her face, the foundation ends up looking patchy, dry and causes the skin to flake off.

We've tried using primers, not using primers, exfoliating, applying with a buffing brush, applying with a wet sponge, applying with a flat foundation brush...nothing works that well.

Any suggestions? She has an event coming up and we were thinking of trying Illamasqua skin base or possibly rich liquid foundations in white, but I wanted to get some opinions here before she buys online.

Many thanks.

I have the rich liquid in white & think it would definitely be too dry. It really clings to dry patches & good skin prep is essential when using it.

I also have skin base (I have 1 for my personal use & hope to add some to my kit soon) I think you would have better luck with skin base texturally as it's quite emollient but I don't think you will get an opaque white finish from it (who knows though, I don't have the white shade in skin base)

MAC has Face & Body in white, it's supposed to be a mixer, but I'm sure you can use it alone. It's a pro product.

Kryolan has a white paint. Wouldn't be my first choice, but worth the try.

For a skin that problematic, I might try white base airbrush color from OCC.

My guess would be that it is definitely her skin issues and the application methods causing the trouble and not the product. Exfoliation and micro exfoliation caused by some application methods will aggravate her skin and increase flakiness and dryness.

The ballet company I worked for just finished a production run and we had a new dancer who had very similar skin to what you are describing and reacted very badly to the makeup. The process I used for the rest of the run with her was:

1. Heavy layer of Embryolisse moisturizer, Murad eye cream and Fresh Sugar Lip Balm. Left it to sit at least 5 minutes. I gently "tapped" these products on, pressing them into the skin with my hands, no rubbing.

2. I sprayed magnetized rosewater with vitamins and yummy skin stuff generously on my hands, then pressed it into skin. I did the same a few minutes later with Cinema Secrets Moisture Spray. Then let it all sit for quite awhile, maybe 10 minutes.

3. I used entirely water based or powder formula makeup. All was applied with fingers lightly by tapping or with a very soft fluffy brush in a tapping motion. No rubbing at all, the only blending with a brush was done on the eyelid, and then as little as possible. No sealants were used.

4. As soon as possible, makeup was removed. This was done with soft cotton pads and olive oil only. The oil was then left on the face.

This is purely anecdotal, but worked for a full season up to two shows a day.

Kudos to you guys because you have tried pro lines. Sorry to hear they haven't worked so far. You might want to check out MUFE cream color in white. Their's are super creamy. Your friend can get a sample made and try it first before buying it.

as a clown for the last 25 yrs. I have experience with white face *smile*

you might try grease makeup. I found it covered better and once set with powder lasted a long time, I could even go swimming with it on without wrecking it.

Check here:

http://www.mehron.com

I have used mehron for years...

hope this helps...

Maybe this is obvious but I didn't see it mentioned... good makeup starts with proper skin care. She needs to be taking care of her specific skin type all the time, not just when it comes time to do the makeup.