No Halloween costume would be complete without the right make up, applied with face paint and a lot of patience. Even if you’re not the most skilled with a make up brush and sponge you can create some really easy (and really terrifying) looks for Halloween, to complete your costume.
Once you’ve decided on your outfit, and probably scoured numerous sites online such as Morphcostumes for Halloween costumes for a good few hours in the process, it’s time to decide just how creative you want to get with your costume. To help, we’ve got some top tips to share with you on how to frighten all your friends with some gruesome make up effects.
Liquid Latex
Liquid latex will be your new best friend when it comes to Halloween make up, using this you can create really gruesome effects. Apply a fine layer directly onto clean skin using a sponge or brush and get creative with the different effects. Peel dried latex off with fingers to create the illusion of torn skin or pull your skin outwards whilst applying the latex to create wrinkles. Always remove liquid latex using make up remover and thoroughly wash your face after.
Blend your new gruesome new wound and your skin colour underneath using face paint once the latex is dry (use a hairdryer to speed up the process) and dab on some fake blood to finish off.
Fake blood
It’s easy to pick up a bottle of fake blood from the party shop, but it’s even easier to create some using the contents of your kitchen. Combine golden syrup, red food colouring, a tiny amount of green and blue food colouring (err on the side of caution with these, less is best) and plain flour.
Mix in some chocolate sauce for a slight brown tinge and mix until the liquid is thick but still slightly runny. Leave it to stand for ten minutes before applying. It looks great on the skin and tastes even better!
Colours
Around Halloween the shops will stock a multitude of palettes featuring the usual Halloween colours: black, white, green, red. You might think these colours limit your options, but in fact you can create a multitude of looks including a classic skeleton, witch or black, a snake, vampire, dragon, demon, ghost, zombie, evil clown…the possibilities really are endless if you’re looking for a classic Halloween look.
Contact Lenses
Contact lenses are an easy way to create a new look and come in a variety of colours and styles. Go for creepy, all black lenses for a ghostly appearance or bright red if you’re going for a devilish look.
Bright yellow eyes are perfect for dragon inspired make up and costume. Use a pair of fish net tights, held over your cheek bones and forehead, and dab face paint over the top to create scales, then attach a pair of make shift horns (we’ve found a great how to guide for the horns here).
Make up is a great way to enhance your look and most of us can’t go a day without applying some sort of feature enhancing product, but for this year’s spooky holiday try to refrain from making yourself even more beautiful, go for something spooky, gruesome and creative!