I tried a new to me heat set hair paint (IRHSP) and just couldn’t quite yet find my mojo well with it. Not how my I had really wanted my baby’s head to turn out. Will she sell? I dunno… It was cooling in these pics on the back porch.
I will preface this by saying I used the pore medium on the forehead, nose, cheeks and chin and did it before I painted hair. That was a big mistake as it makes the forehead too rough for the hair paint to glide over it making the baby hairs. Thus my over painted hair line that I struggled so with.
There is a definite learning curve when using a different kind of paint. In my opinion, painting hair with this paint line feels more like painting with a gel substance. Whereas Genesis is more oily, like painting with a typical oil based paint. So I am learning a different way to paint. I like the blending medium they have now that makes things more fluid than just using the Liquithin. I found that in the beginning I was using too much of it because I was thinning my paint the way I have previously done using Genesis paint and other similar liquid mediums. That would cause my lines to bleed. I eventually figured out that for me, it works better to use a little more Liquithin than I was using, just a few drops of the blending medium, and some of my Citrus thinner. Yet, overall, I found I did better to keep my mix thicker than what I’m used to doing to keep my lines from bleeding.
I do not need to get new paint. I think I would like using this paint at the end of my hair painting for making thicker slightly raised top hairs that stand out a bit on the overall look of the head. I will try that later.
Since I have notoriously been known as the “researcher” of paints, it is a good idea to stay in touch with everything on the market. I often get questions asked of me about how to mix things since many people use things from different brands. One thing I was asked about this brand is if one would be able to use it with just their products and no solvents. I think for painting skin tones the answer is yes. I have the strawberry blush colors to try that with. For painting hair, I found I had to add some solvents to get my strands to flow. I would love to take @Alypants class on how she paints hair. If she ever teaches it online, I am signing up!
I am always being asked which brand I like best. I am still a die hard Genesis girl! Thankfully I have lots of it left! However, Gemini is my 2nd favorite line to Genesis simply because it seems to me more like using Genesis. Also the colors are pretty much the same. I would like to see them expand their pallet with some more adventurous pre-mixed colors like the other brands have. I have found it quite fun to play with the different color mixes in the BCHeatset paints like that Beatriz sent me. I like her paints quite well. I have been most happy with the Gemini mediums for the most part and I also find their paints to be similar enough to Genesis that I can use them. I am hoping they will make their thinning medium a bit thicker as it pours out of the jar when you are opening it if you are not careful to set it straight and it also leaves sheen behind. It does work quite well to thin but the sheen I do not care for. For supplementing colors, I have also use the Winton Oils and they work very well with the Gemini and Genesis mediums. For the liquid thinners, I still prefer Xodus overall as it is very matte in effect but the Gemini is a close 2nd for me and I have used both alternately. The new Blending Fluid is very similar to the Gemini and it works well with the IRHSP line as a great asset to that line.
Really you can’t go wrong now days with so many options. It is just a matter of finding what suits your preferences the best.
