It's that time of the year again! I love the holiday season with all the cute winter designs, but never quite seemed to get the hang of painting poinsettia flowers so I used to avoid painting them. However, when I changed the placement of the flower it was so much easier to create a better balanced design. I hope this tutorial will be helpful for you as well!

Supplies

Silly Farm Arty Cake Bright Rose

Silly Farm Arty Cake Bright Leaf 

Forehead Teardrop Snowflake band from Diva Stencils
   (sub Bad Ass Mini Stencil Holly Swirl BAMH12)

Mehron Liquid Yellow Face Paint

Diamond FX Black

Diamond FX White

Loew Cornell American Painter 1/2"

Loew Cornell American Painter 5/8"

Silly Farm Paint Pal Swirl Brush Round #1

Cameleon Blending Brush #2

MamaClown Glitter - Neon Yellow 

Step 1: the main flower

I start off by painting the shape of the main flower. I load my brush with the pink and red side of my rose one stroke cake and paint the large leaves on the bottom first. I then add a couple more on top to give the flower a layered look. As you can see, I place it coming out from the temple rather than attempting to curve it around the eye. This gives me the freedom to play a little more with the rest of the elements that I will add later.

Step 2: the leaves

I then load a slightly smaller brush with my green one stroke and add a few smaller green leaves. I take care not to overload the design with leaves at this point as I will add more details later - but you can already see that if you add a few yellow and white dots to this design it will already look good! 

Step 3: stencils....and some more greenery

I wanted to add some white details to brighten up the design a little, and used a swirly stencil to do so - but some delicately painted white teardrops and swirls would also look great for this! Using the same brush as I did in the previous step for  the green leaves, I flip it around and dab the edge of it in order to create some pine like elements to it. 

Step 4: a little bit of yellow

I do like to add a bit of colour to my designs. It was Marcela Bustamante who originally inspired me to swap the white dots for some brightly coloured ones instead, and it really makes all the difference! After I did a class with her, I always make sure to have a small bottle of Mehron liquid yellow paint with me so that I can add a little splash of sunshine to my designs. 

 step 5: finishing touch

For the last and optional step, I add black outlining and white highlights to the design. I also like to use a soft blending brush to dry brush the black a little if I have time - but that step can also be skipped if you are in a hurry. Add some sparkly yellow glitter as well and you are ready for that mirror moment! 

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial - can't wait to see your version of this!

Kristin Olsson has her background from the art and design world and has been working as a professional face painter since 2016.

She has won numerous face painting competitions and has been published in various face and body painting magazines.

Now she is a certified instructor at the International Face Painting School.

You can see more of her work on her Instagram and Facebook pages.