With Halloween around the corner, many spooky season enthusiasts are looking to put together the perfect costume. Though curating the holiday outfit is usually a happy experience, one woman shared that her costume trial run turned into a horror story.
A dress-up disaster
TikTok user Chess (@itsjustchess) revealed her Halloween mishap in an 11-second clip. She began by filming a small open container of green body paint. “Something I didn’t account for when I put my costume on was it was not gonna come off,” she said. As she spoke, she presented a blue-stained finger to the camera.
Chess then flipped the camera to show the full extent of the damage. The TikToker had green paint all over her face and neck, while splotches of red paint covered her eyes and mouth. She also had a line of dark paint smeared above her lip, creating a sort of mustache.
Chess ended the clip by looking into the camera with wide eyes and zooming into her face as if to say, “What am I going to do now?”
@_itsjustchess_ #fypシ #dressup #halloween ♬ original sound – Chess
It’s all right, Chess. We’ve been there.
The video racked up over 932,000 views. In the comments section, many viewers recognized that the TikToker appeared to have dressed up as Old Gregg, a beloved character from the British TV comedy The Mighty Boosh.
“I was old gregg last year. You’ll be finding that green paint much longer than you’d expect,” one viewer said.
“I am thrilled by the amount of Old Gregg content I have seen this blessed Halloween season,” another shared.
Several other viewers shared suggestions on how Chess could remove the paint.
“Noxima face pads should help. it always pulls up hair dye from my skin after an hr of sitting on my skin,” one viewer wrote.
“The Mary Kay eye makeup remover with Ponds makeup remover cream is my go to. I worked at a haunted house on weekends for a few years,” a second recommended.
Some even shared tips on how to prevent staining your skin altogether.
“Use a light coat of white paint before adding any other color and it work comes off every time, I learned that the hard way with orange paint,” one viewer commented.
“A layer of aquaphor as your base helps sooo much,” a second stated.
“From a makeup artist – use graftobian paints!” a third urged.
Got any other tips?
Fortunately, if you ever find yourself in Chess’ situation, the paint won’t last too long. According to Jest Paint, “Body Paint can last anywhere from a few hours to a day or two depending on the products used.”
There are also many more methods for removing Halloween face paint than commenters mentioned. Per Apartment Therapy, you can use several everyday products to remove the festive paint, including Vaseline, baby wipes, baby oil, baby lotion, and makeup wipes. Another method is to use Goo Gone Bandage & Adhesive Remover, which the brand touts as the “perfect companion for any Halloween party,” as it removes “face paint or adhesive from skin.” The product also works on “temporary tattoos, ink, body glitter, body paint, wax, marker, pen, and stamps.”
Embracing her outer bog monster
During an interview with The Daily Dot, Chess revealed that she purchased her costume from Amazon but doesn’t remember which brand of face paint she used.
“I got it out of a box with a bunch of face paints and laid everything out so it could have been the brand seen in the video or one of various that I’ve bought,” she shared via Instagram direct message.
Chess said the realization that the paint wouldn’t come off easily dawned on her after she covered her face and neck. “I tried washing my hands with soap several times over,” she wrote. “The realization that it had stained my skin set in pretty quickly from there. But it’s fine… silly things happen to me more often than I should admit and at some point you learn to just roll with it and find the humor.”
Luckily, the paint on her face came off the following day. However, the paint on her fingers took a few days to wash off. Chess said she used Head & Shoulders shampoo and Dawn soap to remove the color from her face and neck. She also credited her moisturizer for “adding a layer of safety.”