Make Up Review – Assist Wig’s Sara!Chi (Wash Out Fake Blood)
By Skywing Knights // May 11, 2019
Hello all,
I noticed it’s been a while since I’ve recommended a particular make-up product for cosplay! So we’re changing that today with Assist Wig’s Sara!Chi (or “さらっ！血”).
For those of us who have ever touched upon a particularly bloody rendition of a character before, we all know the common issues associated with finding a good ‘blood’ substitute (because no, real blood is not acceptable – don’t go off thinking that it is). Common issues that arise are skin irritation, fabric dying, liquids looking too much like water dyed red, inconsistent thickness, safety for eyes and mouth, etc.
I’ve gone through many routes before. (My Vampire Knight cosplays received the worst of this torment). I’ve dyed water with food dye, I’ve bought bottles of blood and blood capsules from the costume stores around Halloween and stored them for later use. While each of these have had their advantages, they almost all suffered from one common issue. They dye fabric and when you cosplay, that’s normally the last thing you want from your substitute blood (because you worked so hard on that outfit and paid so much money!).
So imagine my elation when I discovered Sara!Chi by AssistWig/AssistCosplay. I first saw it while browsing social media online, the only caveat being that it was only sold overseas in Japan…. But I lived in Japan at the time and knew the exact store specified where they were selling it. So the next time I stopped by, I checked the price, found it reasonable (1,500 yen or ~$15 USD), and picked a bottle up to test it out.
Oh my gosh, this thing is amazing. It was as though this thing was heaven sent for a “Vampire Knight” cosplayer. Finally, my Zero, Shizuka, Ichiru, Akatsuki, and Kaname cosplays wouldn’t be subjected to such precarious conditions! And not just them. Other cosplays of mine, such as those from “Attack on Titan”, “Fullmetal Alchemist”, and “BLEACH”, are now also safe. So, what’s the pros and cons of Assist Wig’s Sara!Chi bloody make-up?
Pros
- No stains at all – washes out
- Sticks realistically to skin and fabric; keeps a shine to it even after getting “dry”
- Perfect blood consistency and thickness – looks legit!
- Safe for skin (in my experience and I tend to have sensitive skin)
- Flows well – not hard to get it out of the bottle
- You don’t need a lot to make an impact
Here’s a couple of test runs for you to see!
I rubbed in the Sara!chi here and then proceeded to immediately wash it out (in other words, I didn’t give it time to dry)
I only used water and fabric detergent here.
Cons
- Not safe for mouth or the eyes (to be fair, almost no fake blood is though)
- Only available in small bottles; no large sizes.
- Doesn’t ever really ‘dry’ completely. It’s almost always still a little wet to the touch. This can be a disadvantage in some instances and advantageous in others.
- Only sold in Japan, to my knowledge (but that’s what the internet is for~~)
I did a second test where I allowed it to dry more.
This is after the dried blood was washed out. I ended up using both laundry detergent and stain removal here, but the results were still the same.
Now, I wouldn’t push this material by any means – I always test it on the material I’m going to use it on prior to a shoot. But so far, I’ve had no trouble with it and a normal wash gets the material out just fine. For instance, I’ve used it a number of times for my Ichigo Kurosaki cosplays, which are still black and white – perfect! Though I believe you can wash clothes stained with the blood in a normal wash, I don’t risk it and prefer to wash items separately, just to be safe.
You can try and if you find that your clothes all come out okay, let me know! I’d love to share that news with others. Final tip, it will still come out if it dries completely, but the sooner you wash it out, the easier it is to remove.
So how do you get a bottle? Everytime I go back to Japan, I always make sure to pick up a bottle – it’s just a great staple to have in my cosplay make-up collection, BUT if you don’t plan on going to Japan any time soon, you can purchase Assist Wig’s Sara!Chi on Assist Cosplay’s website.
Prices are given in yen, but you can pay via USD as well once you go to check out. Shipping to the US is generally about 2,000 yen (about $20 USD), but that doesn’t tend to go up at all if you buy multiple items in the same order – so I recommend ordering in an appropriate amount of bulk depending on how often you will be using it.
The item can also be ordered through Amazon.co.jp – which will also automatically convert your currency. Final tip if you’re having trouble ordering the item due to lack of currency conversion options – you can likely still pay for it in yen using a credit card with no foreign currency exchange fees (I use my United Card for my orders from Japan for this very perk often).
And that’s about it! Hope this helps you in your cosplaying endeavors! You can purchase the item at the following sites below:
Assist Wig/Assist Cosplay Japan
Happy Cosplaying!
~Skywing
