Halloween Makeup Tips

Image Courtesy of Makeup for Life

Create a perfectly frightful Halloween look with supplies that you have in your own house.



If you have an entire family of goblins and zombies to create, buying enough Halloween face paint can get pretty costly. As a last minute alternative or as a way to keep from breaking the bank, try making your own. Here are few tips to help create your own special effects that could rival a Hollywood studio (well, maybe a low budget horror movie).

1. Fake Blood

This recipe is just as good as the way more expensive fake blood that you can buy around Halloween time, except far less expensive. All you need is corn syrup, food coloring and water. The amount of corn syrup required depends on how much blood you will need to pull off your Halloween scare. This blood can be easily applied to the clothes and body with sponges, brushes, cotton swabs or a spray bottle for the blood spatter effect.

2. Face Paint

Making your own face paint may not sound particularly appealing, especially if you only need to apply a small bit. The process, however, can be fun, especially when there are kiddos involved. All you need is a thick lotion or cream (white in color of course), cornstarch, natural food color or food coloring. The texture of the paint will depend on how much cream and cornstarch you add. Another recipe included a combination of shortening, cornstarch, white flour and glycerin (for a creamier texture). Both face paint recipes can be applied with hands, brushes or sponges.

Either recipe will work, depending on what you have around your house, but we think the second recipe may be harder to remove. Also, plenty of people wouldn't mind putting lotion on their face, but shortening is another story.

Octopus tentacle face paint image courtesy of Eyeshadow Lipstick

3. A Fake Bruise

All you need to create a bruise on your skin are some blue, purple, yellow, black and green permanent markers and some alcohol or hand sanitizer gel (which is composed mostly of alcohol). Make an outline of a bruise with blue marker, then add splotches within the outline of all of the other colors on the inside. Very gently smear all of the colors together with the gel or rubbing alcohol. A cotton ball or sponge can help with the process.

Remember not to make too many solid patches of color, as the technique to creating a bruise requires more subtlety than face paint or fake blood.

Creating a Fake Bruise Image Courtesy of Wiki How

4. Artistry with Simple Tools

If you have access to makeup, including various shades of eye shadow, eye liner, foundation and blush, you are well on your way to creating a memorable Halloween face. If you are an artist and you are handy with a pen or paintbrush, use the cosmetics from your own home to create your Halloween face. It's amazing what you can become with a little bit of eyeliner, eyeshadow and lipstick.

Image Courtesy of Makeup for Life

5. Wrinkles or Peeling Skin 

Do you remember the fascination with spreading simple school glue on the palm of your hand, letting it dry and then peeling away the glue like a layer of skin? This same idea can be used to create wrinkles on your face or body if your have a costume that requires an aged appearance.

Very simply smooth the Elmer's glue (yes the school glue with the orange cap) in a think layer in the areas where you want to create peeling skin or wrinkled skin. Allow the glue to dry completely and, then, for wrinkles, squeeze or face or your eyes, depending on where you want the wrinkles to form. After that, apply a toner that is the same color as your skin. Be careful when applying makeup to the glued areas as not to rub off the wrinkles.

If you are planning to create peeling, wounded skin, you may want to apply the glue a bit thicker, as this will make it easier to peel and a bit less fragile. Before you peel the glue to make your gaping wound, apply toner to create the appearance of skin, then slowly peel it away. Apply fake blood in and around the wound. It may not be as convincing as movie latex, but it works in a pinch.

6. Add Some Stubble or Hair

For a quick way to add facial or body hair, perhaps as an early werewolf transformation, try applying a thin layer of the Elmer's glue or petroleum jelly to the area where you want the hair or stubble to be. Apply trimmed hair from an old stuffed animal (or possibly from your hairbrush) directly on top of the layer or glue or petroleum jelly, then let it dry. For stubble, you can also apply coffee grounds to a thin layer of petroleum jelly.

7. Make it Last

Remember, you want this makeup to stay in place for the night. For facial makeup, apply a light dusting of powder to keep in place (makeup made with cornstarch should certainly last). For body wounds or makeup applied to the body, you can also try lightly spraying hairspray over the areas.

8. Don't Just Focus on the Face

To make your look complete, don't forget to add some makeup to the rest of your body. Add wounds to your neck, arms, legs or even the top of your head (beware, some of this stuff may be hard to remove from your hair). Also, build in plenty of time on the day of for all makeup and other special effects to dry.

Image Courtesy of Glamour