Pirate face paint: face painting ideas for kids | MadeForMums

We have to give a huge (3-cornered, skull-and-crossbones-decorated) hat tip to ace facepainter Shazeen Hussain from our Top Testers Club: you can see her turning her son Saad's face properly seadog in our video guide – and it's Saad who's our model (complete with pirate hat) for the photo step-by-step guide, too.

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

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.

More like this

4 of the best face paints for children

Snazaroo Ultimate Party Pack Face Paint Kit, £14.95: Contains 12 2ml colour pots, 2 glitter gels, 4 sponges, 2 brushes and a face-painting guide. Age 3+
Djeco Face Paint Set, £8: 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, £13: Contains 12 face paint discs, 2 brushes, 4 sponges, adhesive stencils and a guide. Age 5+

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

Read more:

Emily Longman WallDigital Content Producer

Emily is the Digital Content Producer at MadeForMums, working across the brand on everything from pushchairs and car seats to baby names and the latest product launches. She researches topics thoroughly to make sure our content is accurate and helpful for parents and loves bringing the details about latest parenting products and innovations to our audience.