These 11 Halloween Makeup Looks Are So Scarily Good, You Won’t Need a Costume This Year
Main image – NichoDesign
With Halloween just around the corner, it’s time to embrace the carnage of pumpkin carving, the sugar high of trick or treating and the hilarity of apple bobbing. But if you haven’t sorted your costume yet don’t panic – you might just be able to get away with it by creating a brilliant makeup look that’s practically a costume in itself.
Whether you’ve watched Carrie 25 times, you’ve always wanted to emulate a broken doll or you aspire to look just like the Corpse Bride, you may just find the next 11 makeup ideas particularly inspiring.
And according to celebrity makeup artist Mally Roncal, you don’t need to be particularly skilled with a makeup brush to get involved.
“You absolutely do not need to be a professional to create a fabulous Halloween look. Keep it easy with a classic cat eye, a bold red lip for a vampy look, or some strategically placed black liner for cat whiskers. Pick one feature you love and let it do the talking!”
So, buckle up for some terrifyingly beautiful makeup ideas – they’ll make you Scream with excitement.
1. Easy broken doll
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If you need to create something spooky yet speedy, this broken doll look has a hack! Scrunch up some tin foil, then paint select creases with black liquid eyeshadow – the makeup artist used Armani Eye Tint in 99M Ebony. Press it onto your skin to create a cracked effect, then go over the lines for definition.
Team with a pretty shimmery eyeshadow and corner lashes to create a doll look and finish by exaggerating your lip liner. Easy peasy.
For another doll-inspired makeup trick, makeup artist and founder of Waring Makeup, Gen Waring, suggests using white eyeliner to make the eyes appear larger.
2. Bronzed Bambi
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Nothing has ever haunted me more than the film Bambi – I have only ever been able to watch it once. This look, despite serving me a minor dose of PTSD, is the perfect solution for those wanting to embrace a ‘cute’ Halloween look, rather than terrifying (although, personally, that’s debatable).
The Bambi-like skin was created using a combination of foundation and bronzer, including Tanielle Jai Bronzour in Caramel Latte, with dots of lighter concealer to create those distinctive deer markings.
Make your dots big and small (don’t blend them in) and add a line of small dots under your brow and down the centre of your nose. The lips are effective too – line both of them but fill in just your top lip to give a deer-like finish.
3. Tearful mime
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This look is relatively simple with the right products. The makeup artist used the Wet ‘n’ Wild Fantasy paint palette to create the face makeup, alongside dramatic false lashes by Ardell.
Create a heavy eye makeup look using black liquid eyeliner and don’t forget to only draw your black face paint on the centre of your mouth to create that distinctive mime expression.
4. Pop art zombie
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Using Mehron face and body paints and ColourPop Cosmetics to create this colourful cartoon-style zombie look, the makeup artist seriously had her work cut out. Instead of creating the entire look, you could pick one element of it to make it slightly easier.
I would personally go for the long lashes, the pop art-style purple eyeshadow outlined with liquid liner, and a simplified version of the detailing over the left eye using black eyeliner and a blue face paint or eyeshadow stick like ColourPop Shadow Stix in Rain Check.
5. Corpse bride
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This Emily look is all about the contouring. Cover your chest and face (including brows) in blue face paint then use a lighter cream product, such as NYX Professional SFX Stick in Giving Ghost, to add light to the centre of your face. Blend blue powder into your nose, cheekbones and the creases of your eyelids to create depth.
What makes this look even more ‘Emily’ are her elevated brows so make sure your natural brows are well covered up then draw Emily’s just above. Use exaggerated white eyeliner around your eyes to make them look bigger and apply some huge lashes on the top and bottom lash lines.
If you’re attempting a full transformation like this one, Mally recommends building up the makeup gradually rather than trying to achieve the finished effect in one go.
“Next, think in layers. If you’re creating a dramatic eye, start with an eyeshadow primer or a little concealer to help your shadows adhere, then build your colors gradually. Remember it is much easier to add intensity than to take it away!”
6. Bejewelled Carrie
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A simplified version of this includes a set of false lashes, some red face paint and red face jewels.
Just do your normal ‘going out’ makeup, making sure your lips are lined heavily and you have accentuated your blush – the makeup artist used Made By Mitchell Blursh Liquid Blusher in Posey Rosey for that pretty flush of colour.
Then, cover the top of your forehead with red face paint, drawing sporadic, different length lines downwards and covering them with the red jewels. You can do the same on your neck too for an extra Carrie-boost!
7. Vampire vixen
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Is your vampire naughty or nice? In other words, will you go the full hog with fake red blood or stop at just lipstick? Either way, make your face makeup as pale as possible and reach for a rich red eyeshadow and black eyeliner – these are what really make this look stand out.
Apply a cream plum eyeshadow over your eyelids (I love Beauty Pie Longwear Cream Eyeshadow Stick in Smoky Garnet) then blend the red eyeshadow powder up to your brow bone and outwards and use some on your cheekbones and temples as a blush too. Finish with some fabulous lashes and a black cherry lipstick. Fake blood optional.
And if you’re worried about going a little too theatrical, Waring has some reassuring advice: “Toning down the makeup can help a look flatter your own features and skin tone.”
8. Magnificent Maleficent
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What I love about this look, apart from the incredible two-tone (or is it three?) eye makeup, is the chiselled cheekbone (a la Angelina), which you can create with any pale foundation, contrasted with a dark contour cream.
A sparkly green eyeshadow is a must – the makeup artist used Eye Kandy Cosmetics Sprinkles Eye & Body Glitter in Pixie Stick, but Half Magic Glitterpill Eye Paint & Eyeliner in Goblin would give you a similar green sparkle. Frame it with purple eyeshadow and make sure you do some strong eyebrows too.
Of course, you don’t have to recreate Angelina Jolie’s features exactly to make this work. As Mally explains, it’s often better to adapt a character’s makeup to your own face.
“The secret to a truly amazing makeup look is making it work for YOU! It’s best to use a trend or character as inspiration rather than recreating every single detail. Your features, your skin tone and your personality are what make the look special.”
9. Rainbow clown
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This makeup look is an incredible juxtaposition between happy and scary – the perfect Halloween look for those who want to look menacing but can’t do without a pop of colour. And it’s also relatively simple to execute (get it?)
You’ll need a colourful eyeshadow palette – something like the P.Louise Creative Comeback XXXL Eyeshadow Palette has plenty of shades to play with. You can choose however many colours you apply on and around your eyes – just make sure your rainbow is well defined and finished off with some top and bottom false lashes.
Use a black eye pencil to outline the lips and create the exaggerated clown mouth. Simple yet so effective.
10. Sexy kitten
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If you already do a voluptuous red lip and heavy eye makeup look on a night out, you’re basically halfway there with this look. It’s not scary, just sexy – perfect for those who still like to look good at a Halloween party, rather than suitably grotesque.
The rhinestone whiskers, nose and little ears above the brows are what really make this look, and you can recreate them using black face jewels.
Your lashes need to be huge for this look – the Tatti Lashes 3D Luxury Lashes are one option. Team them with a midnight blue shadow and liner applied all the way around your eyes and on your eyelids.
If you don’t have a drawer full of specialist Halloween makeup, Waring recommends starting with a few everyday essentials.
“My best practical tips for an easy, really cool beginner makeup look would be a white eyeliner pencil, a black eyeliner pencil and a coloured eyeshadow palette. These three products give a lot of depth and dimension without expert-level techniques.”
11. Fingerprint ghosts
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To say I am obsessed with this technique would be an understatement. And the best part is that it’s so easy (and, dare I say it, rather chic for a Halloween makeup look).
The makeup artist paints her fingertips with Maybelline Colour Tattoo Eye Stix in I Am Unmatched Matte and presses them onto the skin. Next, she draws on their eyes and mouths with a black eyeliner pen et voila! Cute little ghosts that take minimal time and effort to do.
You can team this with any makeup – bonus – but I love how the model’s eyeshadow is a deep, shimmery Halloween burgundy. MAC Eyeshadow in Cranberry would be a lovely shade to recreate it.
The takeaway
Whichever look you decide to go for, Mally recommends trying it out before the night itself, especially if you’re experimenting with products you’ve never used before.
“If you are testing a bunch of new products, I recommend to do a little test run before the big night. Take photos in different lighting, check how the makeup wears and make any adjustments ahead of time.”
For me personally, it’s all about simplicity. As much as I would love to sit down and make it look like my face had been slashed open, those little fingerprint ghosts have my name written all over them. I love the Carrie look too (number 6) which is surprisingly straightforward as long as you’ve got the right products.
