Pirate face paint: face painting ideas for kids | MadeForMums

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Best Halloween costumes for babies, toddlers and children

Huge thanks to face-painter Shazeen Hussain from our Top Testers Club: you can see her transform her son's Saad's face into a swashbuckling pirate in our video and photo guides.

Planning a different Halloween look for your child? We've also got step-by-step face-painting guides for a witch, a ghost, a vampire and – of course – a pumpkin.

Here's how to face-paint a pirate, step by step

What you'll need

Face paints in the following colours: dark brown, black, red
Face-paint brush or a make-up brush

4 of the best face paints for children

Snazaroo Ultimate Party Pack Face Paint Kit, £17.50: Contains 12 2ml colour pots, 2 glitter gels, 4 sponges, 2 brushes and a face-painting guide. Age 3+
Djeco Face Paint Set, £7.50: Contains 6 x 2ml face paints, a sponge and a brush. Age 3+
BioKidd Natural Face Body Paint Wash, £26.90: Contains 10 x 10ml pots of paints, made with beeswax/clay/mineral-based ingredients and ready to use without wash. No brush supplied. Age 3+
Galt Face Painting Set, £12: Contains 12 face paint discs, 2 brushes, 4 sponges, adhesive stencils and a guide. Age 5+

Step 1

A child with their face painted with bushy eyebrows, moustache and beard

Using the dark brown paint, create super-bushy eyebrows, a moustache and small beard (along the jawline and up to the ears).

Step 2

A child with their face painted with dark bushy eyebrows, moustache and beard

Clean your brush and then use the black paint to add another layer to the features you've already painted, adding definition and filling in any gaps.

Step 3

Child with their face painted as a pirate with bushy eyebrows, moustache and beard and eyepatch

Ask your child to close their eyes and then draw an eyepatch over one eye. Then draw a line from the top of the ear (on the eyepatch side) to the eyepatch, and then diagonally across the face, going over the nose and ending level with the middle of the ear on the other side. This creates the eyepatch string.

Step 4

Child with their face painted as a pirate with bushy eyebrows, moustache and beard, eye patch and scar

Clean your brush and then, with the red paint, draw a scar on one cheek. You can add stitch lines across it with one of the darker colours, if you like.

Child with their face painted a pirate and wearing a pirate hat

And then you're done!

Pics and video: Shazeen Hussain. Video edit: Emily Longman Wall

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Emily Longman WallDigital Content Producer

Emily is the Digital Content Producer at MadeForMums and creates editorial and video content across the brand. She also edits the weekly editorial newsletter, oversees our reviews process and loves creating our craft articles and videos. She specialises predominantly in car seats and pushchairs, and has yet to meet a buggy she couldn’t fold! With a 1st class degree in History, she always researches topics thoroughly to find the best recommendations for parents.