Mum's warning after Wilko's Halloween face paint leaves girls face green 'for days'

Louise Unsworth bought a tube of Wilkinson’s own brand face paint for a Halloween party her daughter, Amelia, was attending. But when she tried to remove it, she realised it had stained Ameilia’s face green.

Ms Unsworth says the face paint could not be properly removed for more than 24 hours and had left Amelia “looking poorly”.

The company said it was looking into the complaint and that the product complied with all European safety standards.

Ms Unsworth said she had applied the face paint on Thursday morning.

“Amelia had a party at 10am - 12pm, and was wearing the paint for two hours. I applied it before she went, and it didn’t come off my hands.

“I tried everything to get the paint off such as baby wipes, baby lotion and baby oil but nothing worked.

“If she was going to school, she would be worried that she was going to get in trouble. It’s going to take days to come off.”

Ms Unsworth, of Higham Ferrers, East Northamptonshire said she had to use abrasive cleaners to try to get the product off of her own fingertips.

After trying lots of products on Amelia’s face, a nursery manager told Ms Unsworth that she should use WD40 as facepaint remover because she had dealt with problem facepaint before.

“While she was in the bath I applied WD40 on a cotton wool bud and dabbed her cheek to get it off, avoiding her eyes,” she added.

A spokesperson from Wilkinson’s press office said: “Wilko confirms it is investigating a complaint from a customer after it was stated their daughter had difficulty removing its Green Face Paint. The company says that the product has passed all relevant testing including the European Standard for Safety of Toys EN71, parts 1, 2 & 3, and a Cosmetic Product Safety Assessment.

“Wilko states this is the first instance of this type of complaint about this popular product but it is nevertheless investigating the matter urgently and will respond further to the customer as soon as possible.

“Customer safety and convenience is paramount at Wilko. All relevant tests have been passed by this product but nevertheless we have launched an immediate investigation and will liaise with the customer and respond fully as soon as possible.”