you can, but it tends to crack on expresive faces, and will peel off in sheets if you sweat heavily, or have fairly oily skin...actually, the face is the place it sticks the worst, it holds up better on the rest of the body

but I've done it repeatedly- used to rub paint into the sides of my mowhawk for halloween- actually did my whole body one year, ran around in my little black dress, all the paint, and my reading glasses- the line for the evening when people stared was 'what's the matter, you never seen a hallucination with glasses before?'

I honestly usually use dollar-store makeup for most of it, now...and if you're doing whiteface, setting it with talcum powder gives it a nice matte finish, and helps it hold.

for extra life for any heavy makeup- shut your eyes, and apply a very light coat of the cheapest aresol hairspray you can get- I haven't used the stuff for a decade or more, but there's still a can of aqua-net in my vanity for such makeup needs...

halloween's not nearly the only night of the year I get my freak on ;)