Latex body paint by Topco Sales - review by Shanna Germain

I wasn't sure what to think of this paint when it arrived -- I've never tried latex body paint before, but I've always wanted to.

Presentation: It comes in a plastic bucket with two foam brushes (one small and one large), all in some simple cardboard packaging (totally recyclable -- yah!) that offers some suggestions for use.

Smell: The smell when you first open the paint is very chemically. It is latex paint, after all. At first, the smell alone was enough to turn me off. The good news is that the smell dissipates when you move away from the can and it doesn't have much of a smell at all when it's in small amounts (on the brush or on the skin).

Getting it On: This paint is actually VERY fun to play with. It's COLD when it hits the skin, the foam brushes feel delectable, and I could have laid there just for the sensation play for hours. The directions suggest shaving prior to use, but I wouldn't recommend shaving right before you use it, because it did get a little sting-like on my thigh. The boy also used it on his (unshaved) thigh, and while the seal wasn't quite as good, it stayed just fine (see "Getting it Off" below for the rest of how that experiment went!). It doesn't drip, it dries to tacky in just a few minutes and dries fully in anywhere from 10 minutes on up (depending on how thick you paint it).

End Result: The paint when wet is more pastel pink than hot pink, but it dries quite a bit darker. Two coats give you a VERY solid color, and it's very easy to make the edges sharp with the foam brushes. You would need something smaller (and firm) to make concise or intricate patterns, I think. It's very soft and smooth to the touch and doesn't flake off at all.

Skin Stuff: As a side note, I have very sensitive skin (not to latex, per se, but to smells and the like) so I didn't use it any of this above my boobs. Other that the small bit of shaving sting that I mentioned earlier, I didn't have any negative reactions to this at any point. Which is kind of awesome.

Getting it Off: This is a wee tricky. In the places where we put two coats, it was just a matter of grabbing one of the edges and pulling. Where it was thin, however (or at the edges and/or left-over bits) -- OMG. OW! OW! OW! The sadistic boy loved this bit, except for when it came time to pull it off his own skin and then I thought he was going to cry. I didn't pull the hair out, but it seemed to give it a bit of a tug. So, for pain-lovers/haters out there: Beware. Or be excited, depending on your preference.

Final Notes: Overall, this was way fun. A sensory experience getting it on. Gorgeous to wear. A different kind of sensory experience taking it off. My only sadness is the color, but that's only because I'm not much of a hot pink girl. If this was black, I would be painting on thigh-highs, underwear and whatever else I could think off all the time.

Yep! Still a yes, yes, yes. Fun to put on, fun to wear, fun to take off. I wish I could buy the crayola version of this, with a whole bunch of small pots of different colors in one box.