Temporary Tattoo - Tris from Divergent

So, it was storybook character day at school.  My eldest is an avid reader.  She really liked Tris from Divergent, so that is who she wanted to go as.  It wasn't just the clothing we HAD to find, but the TATTOO!  She was wanting to wear a tank top with a jacket over...ummm NO! It is snowing here, in fact the original character day was canceled bc they closed school due to snow/ice.  So I was hoping I could get off the hook for the tattoo.  Not so lucky with that one!

So I hunted and hunted and watched a few tutorials.  Many that involved liquid eyeliner.  Which if I had time in the morning, sure I could attempt that.  But I have four kids and two which are participating in character day, and the other two are my busy ones and I have to keep them out of trouble.  So between breakfast, messes, braids (I had a Katniss on my hands) and tattoo...it needed to be easy!

Supplies

Contact paper

X-acto knife

cutting surface

black face paint

I first researched the tattoo online.  I needed an image to copy.  I decided to do this on my iPad so I could just lay it down and copy over it...but there was a problem.  Everytime I touched the screen it made the image go back to thumbnail.  So I did a screen capture.  Still wasn't working...so I just printed the image.

I laid my image over the contact paper.  I couldn't see it through the paper to trace.  If you can, then great!  My first mistake was putting the image on the non sticky side...so the tattoo would have been inverted.  On my contact paper (bought at the dollar store.  Used for lining shelves.  I got clear but I imagine any will do!) the one side has a grid pattern the other, is white...but that is the sticky side.  So lay your image over the sticky side.  I used my x-acto knife and cut through all the layers of paper.  This is pretty small and has some fine corners, so use your time and be patient.  The bottom layer didn't come out all the way so I went around where it was still attached.  I used the knife to pull each layer out holding tight so that things didn't shift. 

This was me doing it on the WRONG side....

Once we were done, it was ready to be applied.

The morning of, I applied the template to her skin.  I didn't do anything to prep it.  She had showered that morning and as usually didn't apply any lotion (sigh).  I took the back off the contact paper and laid down the template where I wanted it.  I made sure all the little corners were down.  Then I wet a make up sponge/wedge and rung out any extra water.  Then I dipped it in the black face paint and started applying the paint from the edges in.  I didn't want any paint going under the edge, so I treated it like a stencil.  I did some dabbing around the edges and if I need to do more of a pulling motion I did from the edge to the center.

After I was done applying the paint, I sprayed it with some hairspray.  Not sure if it was needed but I felt it would help set it.  I let it sit like this for awhile (because I had to braid Katniss' hair).  Then I pulled off the the template.  I sprayed it again with some hairspray to help keep the edges clean.  After it dried, I brushed some Rodan+Fields mineral powder over to make it look a little more like it wasn't just sitting on top of the skin and have a more tattoo look.  This also helped the redness, because my daughter has sensitive skin and I left it on too long, and it gave her a nice peptide treatment!  Lol.

The nice thing about the contact paper was that it isn't too sticky.  It peeled off nicely.  Of course if you have any type of adhesive allergy/sensitivity do not do this.

My daughter was thrilled with the results and I was pretty impressed if I don't say so myself. 

She wasn't too thrilled with me taking a photo....

Katniss and Tris...they are getting too big!

I hope this makes sense.  If you have any questions let me know!