Butterfly designs are one of the most favorite designs in face painting. It's a very versatile design which allows it to be painted almost everywhere on the body. 

Butterfly face paint designs are not only fun and easy, but loved by all children, especially little girls! Today, we'll take a look at some of our best butterfly face paint designs!

#1. On the Job Butterfly by Belén te Pinta

This one eye butterfly design is perfect for doing on the job and as a line booster since it only takes two minutes, but it is still effective. I only used one sponge and three brushes to make it as simple as possible, so let’s get started!

Step 1: Take a sponge and fill in the eye area painting the base of the butterfly wings with pearl blue. Two triangular shapes for the upper wings (a big and a small one) and another for the lower wing. Leave a blank space in the corner of the eye.

Step 2: Sponge over the blue with pearl white and cover with glitter dust while the painting is still damp.

Step 3: Outline the design with white and a round brush, painting teardrops that divide the wings in sections. Two small sections and then a bigger one in the upper wing and two sections in the lower. These teardrops should all point to the focal point of the corner of the eye.

Step 4: While the paint is still damp, drag some white with a filbert brush, always directing the brushstrokes to the corner of the eye.

With the round brush paint a dot and a teardrop as the head and body of the butterfly. Now take a liner brush and paint the antennae, some stars and teardrops in the corner of the eye

Of course, painting the model’s lips is always a plus.

Products Used:

Fab Ziva Blue
Fab White Shimmer
Diamond FX White
Filbert Brush #8
Script Liner Brush
Silly farm Paint Pal Swirl # 6
White Polyester Glitter

#2. Tropical Butterfly by Kristin Olsson

Here in Norway where I live we now have the darkest time of the year with daylight only for a few hours every day, so I thought I would brighten up my day (and yours!) with a colourful butterfly and dream back to those warm summer days.

Step 1: First, I paint the outline of the butterfly with white. This is not necessary, but if you are a little unsure of how you want the shape of the butterfly to look, it can be really useful to do this. I try to make sure that the butterfly is not too large, especially since I will be adding a quite prominent outline to this later. 

Step 2: I then load a butterfly sponge with metallic yellow and metallic orange and cover the eyelid area. This step is not necessary if you feel confident with your one stroke brush, but I find it easier to obtain a nice finish near the inner corners of the eyes by doing it this way. You can also use the sponge to blend the colours in the next step if you have some hard edges you want to smooth out.

Step 3: With a 3/4 inch angled brush, I pick up all the colours from the one stroke cake except the black. I follow the outline I have already made with the white colour and create the main shape of the butterfly. Using the same brush, I paint another layer on the inside of the first layer and I fill in any gaps with the edge of the brush.

For this style of butterfly, it will look good if you use a one stroke that has good contrast between the light and the darker colours - as you will see later on you can use this to create a nice and subtle 3D-looking effect that looks impressive but is actually quite easy to do. As a variation you can also use two different colour combinations for your layers to make it look even more colourful!

Step 4: With a round brush, I then move on to painting the black shapes. As you can see I start by painting the circles that will not be covered with paint before moving on to painting the areas around the circles. I prefer to use a round brush that has a quite pointy tip for this part, as this will enable you to paint nice sharp tips and to fill in the smaller areas between your circles. All the lines are directed towards the central focal point between the eyes, this creates balance and harmony.

Step 5: You can leave your butterfly as it is in the previous step, or you can add a few white highlights inside the circles and along the black line work to make the design pop even more. Add some bright yellow or orange glitter to this as well and you will have a happy, bright and super sparkly butterfly!

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial - can´t wait to see your version of this!

Products Used:

Arty Brush Cake by Sillyfarm - Nostalgia
FAB Yellow Shimmer (132)
FAB Tiger Shimmer (136)
Diamond FX Black
Diamond FX White
Blazin Brush by Marcela Bustamante Round #4
Sillyfarm Paint Pal Swirl Brush Round #1
Cameleon Angle Brush #2 (3/4")
MamaClown Glitter - Neon Yellow 

#3. Frozen Butterfly by Natalia Kirillova

Hello dears! I was born and live in Russia and everyone knows that winter comes early here, so in November it is snowing. Therefore, for the design of my butterfly, I was inspired by snow and frost, which I see now outside the window. But even if you live in a hot country, everyone has Christmas and New year, so this design is useful to all!

Step 1: First, I dip the edge of the sponge in silver cover the area of the eyelid, then the other edge of the sponge is immersed in a blue pearl color and cover the area above and below the eyes. The edges of the butterfly's wings should be at an angle of 45 degrees relative to the corner of the eyes, this creates harmony in the figure and maximally repeats the slope of the wings of a real butterfly.

Step 2: Add a dark blue color on the edges of the wings to give the picture a more voluminous look. Using a flat round brush, apply two strokes from above and one from below, their direction is also inclined to the corners of the eye. This is the future pattern of our snow butterfly. If you have drawn the edges of the wings unevenly, do not worry, there is always the opportunity to fix with a damp cloth. Eyebrow paint must be especially careful, not to leave gaps.

Step 3: Dip the round brush No.5 in the color white and begin to create the patterns on the butterfly wings. All white lines are directed to the Central focus between the eyes, this creates a special balance in the picture. The closer the line is to the eyes, the thinner it is drawn. Some lines need to be circled twice, as the white color is mixed with the background blue and looks not so bright. Draw icicles on the bottom of our patterns, moving from the edge of the wings down to the thinnest tip. I have eyeliner in dark blue For the brightness of the image.

Step 4: We trace the finished white lines in blue, moving from the edge to the middle of the picture. I prefer to use the no round brush.1, which has a pretty pointed tip for fine lines, it will let you draw beautiful patterns. We trace the edges of icicles, too, to be better seen.

Step 5: Add snowflakes using a stencil, type on the sponge white, just do not use too much water, otherwise the paint will spread. In the middle of the forehead glue self-assembled rhinestones, and above them draw a butterfly mustache. For the effect of the sparkle will add spark on your forehead and cheeks with a thin round brush, draw a straight strokes from the middle to the edges to sparkle turned out fine.

Step 6: To make our butterfly truly winter we will apply glitter and rhinestones of blue colors, now everything is shimmering and glitters like the first snow! To complete the image, apply a blue pearl color on the lips. Figure is ready!

Products Used:

Global Body Art White Face Paint - Standard White
Cameleon Baseline Strong Black
Tag Green Face Paints - Pearl Green
Tag Purple Face Paints - Pearl Purple 
Tag Blue Face Paints - Pearl Blue
Sillyfarm Paint Pal swirl brush round #1
Loew Cornell Round No.5 Brush
TAG #10 Filbert Brush (5/8")
TAP Face Painting Stencil - Snowflakes
Plastic Face Blings - Snowflakes
American Body Art Pixie Paint  "Blue Monday "
Amerikan Body Art Glitter - Holographic White

#4. Pirate Butterfly Design by Linnéa

Who says you can not be pretty as a butterfly and cool as a pirate at the same time? Not me anyway! This design is a mash up between these two things, and it such a funny design that even Jack Sparrow would envy you! So get your best pirate face on and maybe add some glitter if you want to and go as a pirate butterfly at the next Pirate Party!  

Step 1: For the base of the butterfly wings I used two colours; gold and red. I decided to use glycerine based paints since they are much easier to blend. Start with the gold using the pointy part of a petal shaped sponge and cover the eyes and just under the eyes. Take some gold in the middle part between the eyes as well, it will make the skull pop even more. Take the red colour with the round part of your sponge and create the rest of the wings. Make the upper wings larger and more triangular shaped and the bottom wings smaller and with a more rounder shape. Be aware that the wings have a 45 angle degree from the focal point between the eyes.

Step 2: Make the outline of the butterfly using a 5/8" angled brush and a darker onestroke cake. I used a black/red one from Cameleon called "Gypsy". 

Step 3: Use the same one stroke to do antennas and more details and lines on the wings to create a more butterfly look. Make a skull in the middle on top of the gold using a waxy white and a skull stencil or by free hand. Make sure the skull is placed low enough, don't place it too high. 

Step 4: Outline the skull with a #2 round brush and a waxy black. Create four bones with waxy white, one on each wing. Make a black eyeliner for a more "Pirate-look". Add some white dots in different sizes and finish off with painting the lips with the one stroke colour.  

A little tip! If you want a sparkly pirate butterfly, add some gold liquid bling. ;-) And now you are ready for a treasure hunt! Hope you like it. Happy painting!

Products Used:

FAB/Superstar "Gold Shimmer"
FAB/Superstar "Rusty" (sub "Rage")
Cameleon Colorblock "Gypsy" (sub Global "Mexico")
Diamond FX "White"
Diamond FX "Black"

Tools used:

Petal shaped sponge from Wicked
Facepaintstuff 5/8" Angled Onestroke brush (sub Loew Cornell 5/8")
Loew Cornell 795 #2 Round brush
Skull Stencil from Diva Stencils (sub TAP stencil)

#5. Realistic Butterfly Tattoo by Athena Zhe

Butterfly designs is one of the most requested and, probably, one of the easiest designs to do in face painting. However, 'realism' in face painting tends to be a rare sight due to the fact that face painting usually is done quickly especially in parties and events.

But, for those who wants a challenge, here's how Athena Zhe does her realistic butterfly wings design.

Products Used:

Graftobian White ProPaint Face Paint - White 77001 (1 oz/30 ml)
Graftobian Black ProPaint Face Paint - Charcoal (1 oz/30 ml)
Graftobian Brown ProPaint Face Paint - Deep Xanthe (1 oz/30 ml)
Graftobian Red ProPaint Face Paint - Red 77003 (1 oz/30 ml)
Graftobian Orange ProPaint Face Paint - Orange 77007 (1 oz/30 ml)
Silly Farm Paint Pal Big Drop Filbert Brush (3/8")
Mehron Mark Reid Signature #2 Round Brush (1/16")
TAG #4 Round Brush (1/8")

#6. UV Tribal Butterfly Design by Natalia Malley

GLOW parties are all the rage these days! This UV tribal butterfly design is sure to wow your clients when they turn on the blacklight and watch the rainbow butterfly come to life!

Step 1: Using an Always Wicked Art butterfly sponge, load it well with Diamond FX Neon Nights rainbow cake, or any Neon/UV paint of your choice, making sure that all the colors in the cake are UV-reactive. Line up the corner of the butterfly sponge with the corner of the eye, angling out and up cutting through the eyebrow to create the upper butterfly wings. Then create the bottom wings by repeating the process above, this time angling the sponge down and out pointing the corner of the sponge to the focal point in the center of the forehead. 

Step 2: Using a Loew-cornell #4 round brush loaded well with Global Strong Black, create tribal lines on the butterfly wings. Aim for having your lines go from thin, to thick, to thin. Tribal lines often have parallel wavy lines that are linked together with curved lines, as well as swirls with spikes coming off of them. Have fun with experimenting how different lines and shapes fit inside your design, while making sure that the lines and shapes point toward the focal point.

Step 3: Trying to keep both sides symmetrical can be tricky! One suggestion I've been given is to do your weaker side first and then try to match it up with your stronger side. Looking back to your first side for each line is also helpful in trying to obtain symmetry. 

Step 4: Using similar shapes that are found in your design to keep the look cohesive, create a centerpiece for the butterfly's body. If you have UV-reactive gems, you could also place a bling cluster here for the centerpiece. I tried to create a shape that simulated a butterfly's body, head and antennae, still keeping in line with the tribal look.  

Using the pink, purple and blue from the rainbow cake, I did an ombre effect for the lips, keeping the darker blue on the outer corners of the lips and blending with the purple and then pink in the center of the lips.

Step 5: To bring some UV color to the butterfly's body centerpiece, I used the blue and pink from the rainbow cake to outline the butterfly's body. Then I added UV Festival Glitter around the edges of the design and carried it up and into the hair for extra flair! Be careful if you decide to apply the festival glitter directly onto the paint, as it could smudge the paint and ruin your design.

Products Used:

Diamond FX Neon Nights rainbow cake
Always Wicked Art Butterfly Sponge
Global Strong Black
Loew-Cornell #4 Round Brush
Festival Glitter - Rave

 #7. Easy Butterfly Face Paint Tutorial by Kiki

A simple and very quick butterfly design tutorial that's great for on-the-job!

Step 1: Start with chisel brush and outline above and below the eyes with light blue face paint. You are making a butterfly shape. Leave space immediately around the eyes.

Step 2: Over the light blue face paint, add purple face paint over the eyebrows and cheeks with a medium brush.

Step 3: Using a fine brush and black face paint, outline the nose to make the body of the butterfly. Again with a fine brush and black face paint add an antenna and swirls around the eyes.

Step 4: Using a small brush add dots with black face paint and white face paint. Put white face paint on the eyelids and create eyelash effect with a medium brush.

Step 5: Add white face paint as lip color and white and blue glitter for a finishing touch.

Products Used:

Amerikan Body Art Glitter - Holographic White (Sheer)
Diamond FX Cosmetic Glitter - Stratosphere (Blue) (5 gm)
Ruby Red White 100 Face Paint
Ruby Red Black 150 Face Paints
Ruby Red Blue Face Paints - Pastel Blue 410
Ruby Red Purple Face Paints - Purple 770