Are you looking into finding the best brushes for face painting that will make your work clean and easy?
Perhaps you’ve tried some craft ones earlier and the results left you frustrated?
No worries!
We’ve prepared the most COMPLETE guide for best face painting brushes, exact links on where to get them and extra valuable tips to make them last forever!
But before we begin, here is a link to the premade collection with all tools ready to buy from one place!
NOTE: This article is built in partnership with JestPaint.com — one of the biggest and reliable face painting stores in the USA. All our suggestions are linked to JestPaint.com. Worldwide shipping is available.
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Face paint brushes for beginners
Let’s begin…
The type of brush can make a BIG difference to the end result and it is much easier to produce nice work with a set of professional high-quality brushes, rather than cheap craft brushes.
If you take care of your high-quality, professional face painting brushes properly (use it, wash it, store and sanitize in the right way), they will last many years.
Cheaper brushes are more likely to deteriorate very fast and will require replacement.
Professional face paint brushes, with proper cleaning and storage, will last for many years!
Face painting brushes can be divided into five groups:
Face Painting Brushes for Beginners
For safety purposes and for best face paint brush art results, I highly recommend purchasing a separate set of specialized face painting brushes and stay away from the craft ones.
For the beginner face painter, we’ve narrowed it down to just 8 brushes that you can purchase for a WIDE variety of designs. These are the best face paint brushes that with proper cleaning and storage, will last for many years!
First, you’ll need round brushes for all that nice linework made of teardrops, swirls and curls, and also for outlining and even drawing!
One brush of #1 size — for tiny details
BOLT | Face Painting Brushes by Jest Paint – Crisp Round #1.
Two brushes of #3 size — for girly swirly designs and thin outline (one to use only with black and one only for white)
BOLT | Face Painting Brushes by Jest Paint – Crisp Round #3.
Two brushes of #4 size — for building shapes and to outline full-facee signs (one to use only with black and one only for white)
BOLT | Face Painting Brushes by Jest Paint – Crisp Round #4.
Alternatives (look for the same sizes as above!):
Art Factory Studio Face Painting Brush – Round #1
KingArt | Face Painting Brush – 7950 White Nylon Collection – Round #1
Paint Pal – Swirl #1 Face Painting Brush
If you are wondering how to paint stunning flowers with just one simple move of the brush, then you definitely need this petal brush! It will make perfect double-dip flowers instantly!
Paint Pal – Pretty Petal Face Painting Brush
Alternatives:
The Face Painting Shop Brush – Flat Pointy – Flora #8
The Face Painting Shop Brush – Rounded – Flora #4
KingArt | Face Painting Brush – Original Gold® 9930 Series – Golden Taklon Oval Floral Petal #6
Another brush that will take your basic face painting to a totally different level is the 1-inch brush!
Art Factory Studio Face Painting Brush – 1″ FLAT
Alternatives (in case this one is out of stock):
Prima Barton | Creative Series Face Painting Brush – Flat 1″
BOLT Face Painting Brushes by Jest Paint – 1″ Stroke
The Face Painting Shop Brush – 1″ Short Flat”
It’s a must-have in case you want to paint beautiful rainbows!
And there are SO MANY variations of how you can actually paint the rainbows!
Check out what Elodie Ternois, our School instructor created. One stroke rainbow, a stencil, white and black paint, and some basic linework and you have a neat design ready, even if you are just starting out!
Fusion Body Art Face Paint — Rainbow Cake | Bright Rainbow 50 gr.
Last, but not least, as a beginner, you will need a filbert brush size ½-inch (10 mm) for covering the eyelids with paint, building up shapes like a kitty cat, puppy or bunny ears. We recommend:
Face Painting Brush – TAG – Filbert #6 (7/16″)
Alternatives:
Paint Pal – Big Drop Face Painting Brush
Art Factory Studio Face Painting Brush – 2/5″ Filbert
Professional Face Paint Brush Extras
Now, if you want to go deeper and become a professional face painter, you will need a couple of extra brushes.
First, you will need a set of angled brushes, which will make a HUGE difference in how your roses will turn out!
We encourage you to start with this brush as this is the best size for painting roses.
Paint Pal | Face Painting Brush | Beautiful Butterfly – 3/8″ Angle
Alternatives:
The Face Painting Shop Brush – 3/8″ Medium Angled
Additionally, you may supply your kit with other angled brush sizes.
Once you start practicing one stroke technique, you will notice that you will actually need various sizes and at least 5-6 angled brushes in your kit. Some of them may be of the same size.
We recommend:
Art Factory Studio Face Painting Brush – 5/8″ Acrylic Handle Angle
Art Factory Studio Face Painting Brush – 3/4″ ANGLE
Paint Pal | Face Painting Brush | Romantic Rose – 1/2″ Angle
And if you want to learn how to blend in face painting, you will need special blending brushes. The best face painting brushes on the market are Cameleon blending brushes:
Cameleon Face Painting Brush – Medium Filbert # 2 (Short Green Handle)
and Cameleon Face Painting Brush – Blender # 1 (short green handle).
Alternative:
Nat’s Fancy Faces | Face Painting Brush – Gold Edition Blend Set with Mini Kabuki and Perfect Blender
Additional tools to store and take care of your face paint brushes
If you don’t have a paint station that includes a department for storing brushes, the best way to store and display them are brush cases or brush wallets, especially the ones that have inserts and keep the bristles of each brush untouched.
We recommend this brush wallet:
Jest Paint | Ultimate Face Painting Brush Wallet – Black Interior
Also, you will need to clean and sanitize your brushes after each painting. For these purposes, you will need a special brush soap. Use to deep clean your brushes after your gigs: Lather your brushes with Lush Brush to remove all of the face paint residues.
Jest Paint | Face Body and Brush Soap
Last, but not least, if you are going PRO, we highly recommend you to get this brush tub! The holes on the sides will make it easy to store your brushes while painting. Three separate chambers for water will help with changing your rinsing water less often and the rigid bottom will help you loosen your face paint more quickly and efficiently.
Face Painting Brush Washer | Blue Brush Tub
Now when you know exactly what brushes you need, read how to take care of them properly in our article “Brush Care: tips & tricks on care and maintenance of your face paint brushes“.
And if you want to know how to use your new brushes, check out the face painting techniques in our Ultimate Face Painting Guide for the Professionals. 😍