Whether your or your family members are dressing up as zombies, ghosts, fairies, or pumpkins, it is likely that someone will be using face paint or grease makeup.  If someone accidentally gets their makeup on upholstery or clothing, it can be a pain to remove.  Halloween makeup tends to be heavily pigmented and oily, not a good combination.  Here are our best tips for getting Halloween makeup out of clothing and upholstery.

There are several different strategies for removing makeup stain stains. Anything that works to get rid of grease and fats will work.  This includes dish detergent, isopropyl alcohol, and ammonia. All of these will cut the oil in most grease paints.

1. Pick your solvent.  Do check the fabric type of your upholstery or clothing and choose the right solvent.  Never use ammonia on silk or wool. 
2. Then, dampen a clean cloth in the solvent and blot the makeup stain, changing to clean areas of the cloth or a new cloth as needed. 
3. Continue until stain lifts.  
4. For clothing, proceed to wash based on label instructions. 

If you do not have any solvents, hairspray also removes most grease type stains due to the alcohol content.  If your upholstery stain doesn’t lift or you are worried about damaging the upholstery, call a professional.