I know that, IanC, but I was thinking about the far distant past. If my memory serves me aright, the reddle (sic) man in Hardy's novel Return Of The Native had a permanently reddled face, so the dye obviously stained his skin red! (I wonder if that's the origin of the phrase 'looking a bit raddled'?)
Any American folk on here have an opinion on whether blacked-up Border Morris dancers from UK would be looked at askance if they performed over there? Interesting to know.