r/CosplayHelp • u/SlowFaithlessness300 • Sep 16 '26
Makeup Is there a right way to do brown facepaint here as a white guy?
Hey reddit! I'm trying to do a cosplay of Noi (image above) with with facepaint and prosthetics (so no fursuit).
The problem is I'm white as hell and I'm not sure I wanna pull an Ariana Grande here with a full face of brown makeup.
I'm also certain that if I just paint the prosthetic my natural skin tone that it'll look gross. At the very least some of my face needs the brown, or it'll be weird without.
So I've gotta find some compromise.. Any tips to pull it off in a way that doesn't look either unnatural or racist? Thanks!
Edit: I wanna thank everyone for the great suggestions, I really have a lot to work with. While I haven't come to a definitive decision on what I'll do, there's plenty of room to experiment and get a feeling for which one is best here. Again, thank you!
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u/Lemoncatnipcupcake Sep 16 '26 edited Sep 16 '26
There are some absolutely terrifying options (google “brown dog face paint” but you could do something similar to this - put brown fur highlights around and just do the nose
Edit to add: also face paint can kind of suck like someone else mentioned. I’ve done similar in the past and used make up instead - primer, foundation, eyeliner, eyeshadow, and a setting powder.
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u/olioili Sep 16 '26
Yes!! Love this! Kids face paint tactics with makeup is the way to go!! Even found brown dog on white face that'd be perfect for a 1:1 reference for op
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u/JAAdventurer Sep 16 '26
Do a wig with the ears, paint dog nose and any facial markings to match, just patches and whatnot that's not the base color. Do not color your whole face. This is the usual base standard for human-ifying animal biped characters.
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u/11never Sep 16 '26
Brownface aside- facepaint SUCKS. It's hard to make look good, it wears off around your neck and clothes, it's really bot worth the look unless it's airbrushed on and properly set.
I think you'll have a much better looking result using a mask or just your own face, with the bonus of not having to worry about social implications
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u/vae_grim Sep 16 '26
I know this is recommended time and time again, but I really recommend the colored foundations from Sunset Makeup. They have great coverage, variety, and actually sits on your face nicely.
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u/_HoneyDew1919 Sep 16 '26
Seconding sunset makeup. It’s literally just made different from every other facepaint I’ve used
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u/Minus180degrees Sep 17 '26
You do still need to prime and set it properly but I've had sunset makeup last for long days of con and still look alright around my eyes
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u/Killing4MotherAgain Sep 16 '26 edited Sep 16 '26
Ears and a nose are really the big things you need
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u/flesheatingpsychosis Sep 16 '26
wilfred my beloved ❤️
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u/canownyournamedotnet Sep 16 '26
Don't have much to say in the way of facepaint, but consider therian masks as an alternative to a full fursuit head? I've seen more cat ones than dog ones but they still turn out quite good.
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u/MessyMop Sep 16 '26
I think if it’s obvious you’re a dog you shouldn’t be worried. Add some fur texture and have that black nose and you should be fine
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u/Content_Hunter_4174 Sep 17 '26
Think fur, texture, dimension.
If I wanted to do this I would probably use the orange that he is as my contour (or midtone) but make sure to have a bunch of brush strokes of a lighter orange color replicating fur texture and acting as the highlight.
Having the depth of fur will majorly help it read as dog and not racist.
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u/SlowFaithlessness300 Sep 17 '26
You might be onto something. That might look better than a simple blend too.
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u/Umikaloo Sep 16 '26
If you do orange instead you'll be less likely tomdraw negative attention.
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u/SlowFaithlessness300 Sep 17 '26
You might be onto something here, but it might be hard to find an orange that looks natural with the hair colors.
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u/Traditional-Elk8608 Sep 16 '26
Little bit on your nose, maybe brown eyeshadow as well
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u/SlowFaithlessness300 Sep 17 '26
I'm probably just getting a prosthetic dog nose, but I have to blend the two with color which is my concern here. The eye shadow might help though.
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u/Just_Ear_2953 Sep 16 '26
Make the animalistic parts, like the black nose, very prominent. As long as it is clear you are imitating an animal and not a race you'll be fine.
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u/SlowFaithlessness300 Sep 17 '26
I mean, I'm planning on just getting a prosthetic dog nose. I kinda just wanna make sure I'm careful with coloring, y'know?
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u/TurkeyBritches Sep 16 '26
You might be able to use bronzer and then build up some highlights over it instead of just going for an overall dark tone.
Think Barf from Spaceballs
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u/ErrantCervine Sep 16 '26
Time to beci e a furry!
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u/Snailliger 26d ago
As a furry who has read what this character is from... there is 0 chance that OP isn't already a furry if they read THAT and liked it so much they wanted to cosplay THIS character 😳
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u/slvstk Sep 16 '26 edited Sep 16 '26
Honestly, as long as it's perfectly clear that you're a dog, there should be no problems. Just don't remove the dog features and decide to walk around. That being said, face paint is extremely messy, and will get on everything (with the exception of Alcohol Based Makeup). If you can, an full face prosthetic would probably be better, or as minimal makeup as possible.
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u/-crying-cinnamon- Sep 16 '26
The Ariana Grande comment was too accurate pfft.
Also face paint for anthropomorphic animals usually has a work around, I've seen a few comments here that have an amazing example of how you can do it respectfully
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u/reposeisherenow Sep 17 '26
biggest tip i can give for brown/black face paint is NEVER cover your entire face. you can do the nose, maybe a spot around your eye or both eyes. doing a gradient on your forehead or your cheekbones/jaws is another option. you can get pretty creative with it, just absolutely do not cover your entire face
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u/SlowFaithlessness300 Sep 17 '26
This was kinda the impression I was under, but I really wasn't sure if even this was too much. Thank you.
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u/BringOutTheDe4d Sep 16 '26
I'd recommend making some sort of mask since you said fursuits are off the table, EVA foam and air dry clay are cheap and you could use acrylic paint!
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u/Tris-chan Sep 16 '26
Have you ever heard of the nyashka seal makeup trend thingy ? I feel like you could do something similar to that
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u/SlowFaithlessness300 Sep 17 '26
I just looked it up. It's pretty, but I feel like that has a very specific look to it that doesn't really line up with the character design much, much less it doesn't look like a style a guy of my build could pull off. Even so, I don't think I would have the skills to recreate it, I don't do my makeup much.
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u/noeinan Sep 16 '26
How about making a furry mask instead of a fur suit?
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u/SlowFaithlessness300 Sep 17 '26
I was considering that, but I don't feel it'll sell it, and I can't guarantee I can make it look good and convincing by the time I have to wear it for my convention. There's not a big time crunch, but I don't have a lot of time in a day. It's not off the table though.
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u/noeinan Sep 17 '26
I’m thinking something like this
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u/SlowFaithlessness300 Sep 17 '26
Yeah, I thought so. Someone else here suggested a therian mask too. Again, it's not really off the table, I'm just not that confident I can make it look good lol. Thanks!
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u/Dangerous-Hand-2649 Sep 18 '26
i'd say you follow the three shade rule like people do with gyaru makeup, so going darker but no more than three shades darker (also applies to going lighter), and just paint the prosthetics the correct color, and maybe have the correct nose color fade into the color the makeup is
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u/Sea-Aside8704 Sep 17 '26
i would say fursuit but i forgot how expensive they are (im a furry to)
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u/angel55cake Sep 17 '26
You dont need face-lift for skin/fir tone. You can paint the nose and use black on the lips. But brown face paint is both not needed and would not be recieved well.
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u/AsexyMime 29d ago
Definitely do "fur" pattern to make it better and black nose. You will want a "setting" powder so that it can stay on easier without getting accidentally smeared. I know you can get the stuff easily enough at halloween stores now, but I think in the past I used baby powder.
It's hard to describe applying it, so make sure to look at tutorials, but you'll coat the applicator with the powder, press the powder firmly down (like a stamp) and add more and repeat. Then after all the paint is coated in the powder, use a make-up brush to lightly brush off the excess powder.
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u/Tboi_Kenny 28d ago
I mean, it pretty different if you're cosplaying a dog vs a human. So as long as you're obviously a dog it's not a problem
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u/vmfrye Sep 16 '26
Step 1: get face paint
Step 2: apply face paint to face
Works for any combination of face paint & face colors.
This is how it works in a normal functional society. Well, how it would work, because the current one is plagued by multiple neuroses and phobias.
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u/blackdaisylight Sep 17 '26
no sane person will think you're doing blackface if you're wearing dog ears, tail and prosthetics on your face. Just go for it. I personally would make like a therian mask tho as I don't love face paint. Or just use darker foundation so you don't get that oily look some face paint have
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u/WiglyWorm Sep 16 '26