Liquitex Varnish and Scheherazade

I have been using MSC for years to seal my faceups and it's pretty awesome stuff. The one thing that has always been a concern though is how hazardous it is, I make sure to use a proper respirator and spray in well ventilated areas but even after all that, sometimes my lungs still burn a little. Also the area I live in becomes crazy hot and humid for most of the year and so spraying is tricky.
After seeing other people have success using other acrylic varnishes with an airbrush, I decided to try it out myself. I don't have an airbrush but I figured I'd try it out with the sponge brush. After MUCH trial and error and a helpful suggestion from my fiance, I have found a good method and mixture and my results are pleasing.
It seems mixing the Liquitex varnish with a bit of alcohol thins it out so it doesn't have any heavy brush strokes but it still protects. It sort of has a smooth flatness to it compared to MSC and has just enough tooth to hold pastels nicely. Also glossing is much easier, I usually have to apply a few coats to get a nice shine but with this stuff it's only one.

Here is my first complete faceup with this method, my new Shiwoo scar head was my victim.

The only sort of smearing I had with the pastels was on the eyebrows and it's really hard to see on camera. The varnish went on pretty smoothly by dabbing with a sponge brush and didn't pick up any other pastel colors.

Her scar is purple :P

I kind of like the more mellow tone that this sealant gives. Also it's most definitely water-proof, it takes some work to get off with W&N cleaner!

More about my victim; as soon as this head arrived, I knew what she would be and what her name was. It's always nice when it clicks like that. Her name is Scheherazade and she is the human vessel for Saber's sword. I guess it's kind of a weird backstory, something like her father hears the sword calling out to him and it promises him great power if he sacrifices his only daughter. But then the sword pulls a total "j/k" and after her father slashes her in the face, thinking he's killed her, the sword forces him to kill himself and then possesses the girl. Saber later stumbles upon said sword and the two share a strong bond through the battlefield. I dunno, it all makes sense in my head!

Basically, when it's not in sword form, we see Scheherazade and she's forever a cute little girl but the sword's evil has corrupted her and turned her dark. The only person that gets to see her softer side is Saber ;-;

In other news; I'm going to be moving states here in a few weeks so I'll be packing up my dollies soon. I plan to keep a couple of them out for the drive so that I can take pictures of them as we travel. I will have them posted up here when everything is settled :)