FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions About Our Store
Answers to Your Beauty Questions and Concerns

What makes Paint and Powder Cosmetics stand apart from other online makeup stores, and why should I buy from you?

We understand shoppers have a wide variety of choices from the hundreds of makeup sites on the web. We simply strive to offer the best possible shopping experience to our customers with a wide variety of products, including hard-to-get items. We offer detailed descriptions of our products, and sometimes offer tips in their use, to enhance customer knowledge for their decision making process.

Our customers love the fact that they can often consolidate their buying choices from our location because of our boutique approach in offering the popular product lines we carry. They don’t have to invest in multiple purchase locations with added shipping costs and wait time when it is available in one-stop shopping.

We are well known by our outstanding customer service with personal attention available to our customers by phone or email during business hours should they have a question or need concerning our products. We have super-fast shipping on all orders, with free standard shipping on orders of $50 or more on shipments that weight 3 lbs or less. Oversized items and obviosly heaving items incur actual shipping charges only. We do not ever charge for packing and handling as many other websites do.

Do you offer a makeup artist discount?

Yes, we offer the PPC Beauty Pro Discount Program which includes discounts for pros, and students enrolled in makeup school programs. Complete details on this great program, and how to register for it, can be located by clicking here. 

Many online makeup stores come across as impersonal and impatient in their customer service policy statements. They are only interested in the sale and not really wanting to deal at all with the customer, especially by phone. How are you different from these kinds of stores?

We are customers on the buying end too, because we deal with vendors and their different personalities all the time. Therefore, we truly understand how sacred good customer service is and contact availability before, during, and after the sale. We’ve found that all of our customers have two things in common: they have product needs and need product assistance no matter how tiny or big the sale may be. They can always count on us to provide exceptional service to meet their needs regardless of the sale.

The product lines we offer are personally used, or tested and approved by our resident Emmy Award winning artist, and her panel of award winning makeup artists. She has as strong background in cosmetic chemistry along with decades of professional makeup experience in film and television production. Therefore, we are able to educate our buyers with the exact information they need from us in order for them to insure the best possible application.

We have a loyal customer following because of our stellar quality customer service backed with our guarantees. Most online stores will never spend the extra money for high value business certifications like you will find with us. We care enough to provide this extra bit of customer comfort and care, and have an impeccable record with the Better Business Bureau. You will always have immediate access by telephone or email directly to our professional product specialist and resident artist, as we are never too busy to stop and help our wonderful customers!

I have heard that your store donates all the proceeds/profits of your sales to charity, is this true?

Yes this is true. We started the store in 2006 as a means of creating an income stream for a baby rescue orphanage in South Africa that saves dying and abandon newborn babies in a poverty stricken destitute region that is ravaged by AIDS. Serving our customers with excellence helps us serve this important mission of saving these precious little lives. You can read more about this orphanage if you click on the little yellow bucket with the daisy in it located on the lower right hand corner of each page of our website.

Where are you located?

We are located in Chantilly, Virginia, about 25 miles due west of Washington, DC. Our store operations physical address is 4116 Walney Road, Suite B, Chantilly, VA, 20151. Our store is conveniently co-located with Sweet B Studios, which offers a large classroom/ photo studio type space for rental by the hour or the day. They also have a state of the art makeup studio for professional makeup artists to rent for servicing their clients. For more information about renting these facilities go to their website at www.sweetbstudios.com. All workshops sponsored by Paint and Powder Cosmetics and other leading industry professionals will also be held at this location.

Can I pick up my order from your store?

We are not a store front with walk-in and purchase capability, however we certainly want to accommodate our local and visiting customers with a pick-up option for their online purchase should they need this extra service. You can make an appointment with us to pick up your order once you have first made your purchase online. Please be sure to check the box that says “In Store Pick-Up at Chantilly Location” when placing your order so our shipping staff will put it in the pick-up box. You must purchase your products first online before making an appointment with us to pick them up.

Please understand that all orders with a purchasing address in the State of Virginia will be charged sales tax. There are no exceptions to this state law, so please do not ask us to refund that amount. If your order was charged a shipping fee, then that will be refunded back to you once you have picked up your order, and it will be done through our online processing within two (2) business days. We do not charge any additional handling fees or extra service fees for you to come pick up your pre-purchased order, as we are happy to help you receive your products!

Can I come to your store location and test makeup before I purchase it?

We have a limited number of testers, however we do have a test sample service online that allows you to purchase a test sample or trial size of many of our skin care and makeup products. This allows you to “try before you buy” in the comfort of your own home. Simply click on the “Test Samples” link on the upper left hand menu for a selection of products that offer sample purchases.

Who are some of the celebrities that buy from your store?

We have a number of well known celebrities that are regular customers. We adhere to our policy of respecting their privacy and will not reveal any names and actual purchases. We supply products to a number of television shows, movies, and live venues. We do have many products throughout the store that have also been featured in popular beauty magazines and we indicate these instances in our product descriptions.

My military installation requires me to have Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) on file for all the makeup products we use in casualty simulation. Can you provide these sheets on the special makeup effects materials I buy from you that we use for this purpose?

All cosmetic companies are required by federal law to disclose their ingredients, in descending order of the percentage of ingredient, on the package label for public consumer use. A material safety data sheet (MSDS) is different, in that it reflects the hazards of working with the material in an occupational fashion. It provides the non-consumer industrial user with detailed information on how to manage, store, and access emergency information on a particular product that may prove hazardous. For more complete information on how to research and acquire and MSDS for a wide variety of product ingredients click here.

We try to keep on file as many MSDS sheets as possible for the products we sell for that require MSDS for industrial use. In many cases we try to locate them within the product description so they can be downloaded directly by our customers. If you have a particular need for and MSDS that you don’t see posted on a product, please contact us and we will do our best to get you the information.

I have a friend that uses one of the foundations you sell, and I really like how it looks and wears on her. How do I go about choosing my color on your store website?

!We do have makeup color charts on our site that helps identify the colors in their warm, cool, and neutral undertone colors, as well as light to dark shades.  Since we can’t see you in person to determine your skin undertone and shade, the next best thing is to determine if you are warm, cool, or neutral underton, which you can do yourself.

Go outside around noon during a sunny day, and carefully examine the veins on insides of your arms, particularly on the wrists. The color of your veins are a strong indicator of your undertone, so if your veins appear green to the eyes, you are warm undertone.  If they appear blue, then you are a cool undertone.  If they have a greenish blue, or bluish green color, then you are a neutral undertone..

Once you have determined your undertone, then you can go to the foundation color charts on our website   It will be up to you to decide which shade appears closest to your skin color. Please keep in mind all computers render colors differently so these colors are not exact to the product, but you will be able to get an approximation.

We offer test samples so customers can try out the colors in their own surroundings.   I would recommend purchasing test samples that look like they are the closest in shade to your skin color so that you can actually test it against your skin. This the next best way I can recommend finding your shade if you can’t go into a store that carries it and get matched personally.

I have fine lines and wrinkles and notice that foundations, especially liquids and powder settles into them making it look worse. Any tips you can suggest? I think my skin is only going to get more wrinkly as time goes on!

As a professional makeup artist, I can honestly tell you there is no 100% wrinkle proof way to apply and wear foundation, whether it is liquid or high pigment cream formulated.  However you can take steps to greatly minimize the look of fine lines and wrinkles under makeup by properly preparing the skin first to achieve the smoothest foundation application and wear possible.

This means two things: first, if you typically use moisturizer under makeup, you must use only a 100% oil free product, such as Natural Born Cosmetics® Oil Free Hydrating Fluid, that will not cause the foundation breakdown and “slide”. High emollient content moisturizers contribute greatly to foundation and powder collecting into the crevices. Second, using a foundation primer that will bond with skin and stabilize the moisturizer and create a smoother complexion surface.  It also helps prepare skin by acting as a filler into small lines and wrinkles. If you want the greatest insurance against foundation breakdown and slide then skip the moisturizer and use only the primer on clean skin. It is important to choose a primer that is formulated for your skin type (normal, oily, etc.) so it works with your skin for the best performance.

Liquid foundations definitely tend to break down and settle more into fine lines and wrinkles than cream foundations.. With cream foundations you want one that is not formulated exclusively with an oily ingredient such as castor, isopropyl myristate, etc., as these kinds of foundations tend to “move” and settle more on skin crevices.  A wax based hybrid cream foundation, such as Graftobian Hi-Def Glamour Crème, is going to be the most stable in wear and continuity, especially if you use powde over it.

Contrary to popular belief, powder does not “act” to makeup collecting in wrinkles and lines. It’s purpose is to finish foundation, and keep it locked in place. The vast majority of women apply way too much powder, and apply it improperly with the wrong kind of brushes. Powder should be applied as a soft wisp of a touch, not dusted on with powder brushes.  I use a fan brush, PPS-0075, and PPS-0301 for all my powder work, including blush, as these brushes give me complete control to apply a very transparent veil and finis