You use matte gel for the medium, don’t you? Maybe I need to try that on my next baby. I do have trouble with lint. It might be the golden glazing liquid. It reminds me of Elmer’s glue. Maybe it is making the paint tackier? But it is so hard to change once you are in a groove…
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I do use the Liquitex Ultra Matte Gel in the paints. It’s very thick but dissolves easily when mixed in. I understand. We tend to stick with what we know and are used to.
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Wild and cool we’ve had such opposite experiences with products. It’s all about finding what works for you and you enjoy using 
Since 2016 I’ve tried 10 different brands of air dry products (and one in person class with GHSP) Ultimate Fusion is my favorite. I’m glad you have your favorite too 
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10 different kinds? I started with Bloomers ‘n’ Bows. It was really good air dry paint that did not easily come off. When she closed up shop due to illness, I switched.
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I totally agree with you.
I use Golden and RebornFX. I mix both with Golden mat medium. It’s not sticky. Airdry is easy, fast, low cost and better for health. You can achieve as much realism, if not more (I have seen a lot of genesis babies and they all look flat in person, but I am sure talent have something to do with it 
).
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Thank you so much for the advice.
I was going to try the liquitex matte stuff and distilled water and the golden paints that are at Michael’s crafts.
Is that an ok combination?
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I feel I myself enjoy painting with Genesis more than air dry because I don’t have to worry about fading issues or extensive sheen to matte down. However, I also agree with the statement "I’ve had more paint rubbing issues with GHSP and more red fading issues with air dry. "
The paint rubbing was only on a couple kits and I have learned to prime to solve that. The reds fading is a big problem with air dry paints if they are over thinned and in my experience I had far less issues with fading using Golden or Liquitex than ready made brands of air dry reborn paint. The premixed brands all work beautifully to paint but they have less tolerance to being thinned down with any water than the Golden and Liquitex do.
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Oh thank you so much. I appreciate all of your responses and advice.
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Miracle Blend
BabyFX
RebornFX
Americana
Folk Art (still love their glass and tile medium as primer)
Golden
Windsor and Newton (I actually really liked these)
Derwent
PanPastel
Coastal Scents
Liquitex (my least favorite acrylic colors but I like their matte medium)
Ultimate Fusion
I guess that’s 12 counting powders 
list doesn’t include brands whose only products I’ve used (for reborning) is their varnishes, or hair pencils. I haven’t done extensive testing, this is just what I’ve tried for fun over the years. Each brand has merit, and each brand has some products I’ve hated lol. I love the experimental nature of art.
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I only ever tried the Liquitex Acrylic Gouache paints. I like them almost as well as the Golden. I still have both in my supplies. But I never tried their soft body.
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This might be a stupid question, but, When you guys say primer, are you talking about something you paint on the kit on its own or something you mix in the paint for adherence?
UF doesn’t need it…but I can see how golden would need a binder or whatever you call it since there isn’t anything like that in it.
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Primer is a coat of something that will seal the vinyl and give it a bit of “tooth” for the paint to grab onto. It is especially useful for oily kits after they are cleaned, slick and shiny kits and super soft kits. All of these type kits can sometimes have issues holding paint well so priming them solves that. In air dry paints you can use any medium that says on the bottle it can be used as a translucent ground. Some examples are Golden fluid matte medium or Golden regular matte gel (not the ultra matte). Some like to use the Folk Art Glass and Tile medium or Jo Sonjas Glaze Medium as a cheaper alternative. RebornFX brand paints sells a primer in their line and it is my favorite air dry primer. If using heat set paints, Irresistables Heat Set Paints now sells a primer in that line that works well. You can also sometimes use a heat set medium that is more matte such as matte varnish, thick medium or thinning medium.
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Oh ok, thanks Angie! I thought that’s what it meant, but then got kinda confused lol
UF says you don’t need primer, but IMO it can be helpful to do it anyway on kits that have issues. Angie’s suggestions for primers are great!
I only skip primer if the vinyl is really nice - not oily, not slippery, and has a good texture.
So can I mix the liquitex ultra matte gel with the golden paints and paint straight onto the vinyl and then seal it after with the Americana stuff that you mix with corn starch?
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Yeah I think it’s because they already put all the binders and stuff into the UF paint.
Yes but the Golden paints are VERY concentrated so you will need to add some distilled water to those to thin the color saturation down. Just balance your gel with your water so you have enough binders in them. I recently ran across some info that also shows in testing they can be thinned much more so with water than previously thought and still hold up fine. I have recommended in the past not going over 30% water to paint mix ratio in the past but these can go more. I have Golden painted babies in my crib that have never faded on me.
Below is the article to which I referred. They also suggest that you can mix up your own thinning medium in a bottle then using as much as you want in your paint.
Their recommended mix is: We recommend using a minimum of 1 part GOLDEN Medium to 10 parts water to thin acrylics above a 1:20 ratio, or whenever more durability is needed. Doing so will increase film strength and lower sensitivity to both water and other GOLDEN Mediums and Varnishes.
You could feasibly do this with the Ultra Matte Gel as well. I would just take a 1 oz cup like a medicine cup and measure out the Ultra Matte Gel. Put that in a bottle and add 10 oz of Distilled water. Then shake it all up till it is mixed. I have gotten the little clear craft marbles at Hobby Lobby or Michaels and put one in the bottle to help things to mix up when I make mixes. Dollar Tree sells the big clear squirt bottles like for ketchup and such or you could get a cheap squirt water bottle there.
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Oh thank you so much.
You’re the best😊
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Did you read my post above? It tells exactly the answer to your question.
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