5 horrifying Halloween make-up Ideas
So you’ve sorted the costumes but what about the make-up complete the look?
The mummy
Imagine the ancient remains of an Egyptian queen escaped from the grave. Her dramatic eyes are lined in black and surrounded by turquoise powder. Her wrapping unravelled as her preservation has crumbled over the centuries!
To create this look cover your face with paper towels soaked in coffee and dusted with flour and syrup. Wrap a layer of gauze around your head loosely and tuck the ends so they drape down. Dab on brown makeup. Between bandages, your eyes reveal smoky makeup smudged around red-lined lids. Let a facial mask dry on your hands to show cracked flesh.
The skull
In Mexico, Halloween is celebrated on November 1, the Day of the Dead, and costumes offer a stylistic variation to the ominous skull. Here’s a step-by-step guide:
• First, cover your face and lips in white foundation and powder
• Create hallowed eyes with a large circle of dark blue or black around your eyes
• Outline the deep eye sockets with flower-like scalloped edges
• Blacken the end of your nose in a triangular shape
• Draw vertical lines up and down your lips -- as if your mouth has been stitched shut. Extend the line of your lips across your cheeks into an eerie sneer and continue the vertical stitches
• Wear a black bodysuit with white painted skeleton bones or dress in tattered gothic clothing with a veiled hat. For more gloom, decorate the living dead with dark wilted flowers.
The witch
For this classic wicked character apply a sickening green tint over your face and neck with a make-up sponge. To age your hag, try these techniques:
• With black pencils darken and thicken eyebrows into a high arch
• Outline wrinkles across the forehead and creases from the nose to the chin
• Draw spider webs in the corners of the eyes
• Streak white baby powder in a rats nest of backcombed hair
• Wear midnight blue lipstick
• Add a big black mole on the chin
• Wear a black pointy hat
The devilish diva
For this iconic evil character, paint your face and neck a bright shade of red with a brush. Wear shiny red satin or a lacy corset. Try these malevolent methods:
• Outline eyes in black and gold
• Pencil in veins down from the eyes and across the face
• Draw a set of teeth on your upper and lower lips, upturned into a sinister grin
• Hot pink glossy lipstick
• Wear a headband with horns
• Sprinkle metallic glitter on your face for extra -sparkle
The vampire Vamp
Attractive yet scary, vampires never see daylight so start with white foundation for a pale complexion and dust with powder. Add the following bloody tricks:
• Surround your entire eye with dark charcoal shadows
• Stream bloody tears down your cheeks
• A dark burgundy mouth drips with blood down your chin
• Add red puncture wounds in your neck with trickles of blood
• Don’t forget your fangs!
Halloween fun
Now you’ve gone all-out to look so good, why not make sure your surroundings are as creepily fabulous as you are? Take a peek at our DIY Halloween decorations.
And to make sure the rest of the family look the part, check out our Halloween costume ideas for kids.