[crabapple]

Ooo, I can help! Remember the castor oil, too!

Cream makeup contains a lot of mineral oil, and that soaks into latex and makes it rot. There is a special type of makeup called "Rubber Mask Greasepaint" which contains only castor oil--no mineral oil in it at all. Max Factor developed this in the 1930's. But these formulas are usually only available from specialty outlets. There is a compromise that will help you and is fairly inexpensive.

Get a little bottle of castor oil (4 ounces is probably more than enough) and mix some into your cream makeup colors. 20% of the total volume is enough to make a difference. It will slow down the mineral oil's ability to soak into the rubber. The result will be a longer-lasting makeup.

It works better if the cream makeup you're starting with is in more solid form--like a stick, or a tub. If it's in liquid form, say, in a tube, then it probably contains too much mineral oil.

After the makeup colors are applied, you will have a greasy face. Take a powder puff and some baby powder (talc) and press the powder carefully but liberally into the paint job. The powder will absorb a lot of the oils, and you can lightly pat it away with the same puff, allowing it to fall off. The powder will mute the intensity of your paint job, but you can restore some of the brightness with a little bit of water applied with a soft sponge.