Easy Halloween Makeup Looks

Alena Black
Oct 23, 2019
8 min read

Sorry for the late post again. I've been scrambling to get ahead in classes because I was in Boston last week. I will be posting about that trip really soon, but I realized I should write this one now because of all the parties coming up this weekend.

Halloween has easily become one of my favorite holidays. I used to not be impressed by it and thought it was overrated. But, now that I'm in college, it's the best. It is the first real holiday of the school year, and it's really fun to go to parties and dress up for a night with your friends. Not to mention the candy corn, pumpkins, the Pillsbury Halloween cookies, and an excuse to watch HalloweenTown.

The biggest struggle is trying to decide what you will be for Halloween. People are almost always waiting until the last minute to decide what they are going to be. This usually happens because they don't have anything to wear, or because they don't want to spend the money on a weird fitting, itchy costume. Well same. I don't really feel like buying an entire outfit for one night partying. I'd rather wear what I own and make a costume with what I have. And that is how I came up with this blog post. Last year, I had about 4 different costumes using clothing I already had and just changing up my makeup. This post will be 6 easy makeup looks you can wear with anything but will transform you into someone or something else. Enjoy!

1. Deer (or any animal)

This is always a fan favorite for the girls or boys who want an easy costume that also looks really cute and flirty. This is actually the easiest costume there is. For a deer, simple over bronze the edges and contours of your face. Use a warm bronzer so it doesn't look muddy. Use white face paint and the end of a bigger makeup brush to add circle and oval spots where you bronzed. Use a black eyeliner to give yourself a cute button nose. If you want, you can also line to your cupids bow, and bring your eyeliner from your eye down to the sides of your nose. Keep your outfit brown and white. For most other animals, you will change the nose. A bunny will have a pink nose and black whiskers. A Cat, black nose black whiskers. A cheetah/leopard could fun to recreate. Use the same technique with the spots and line the outside of half of each of the spots.

2. Spider

With this makeup, I first saw this on YouTube. I thought it was going to be impossible for me to recreate, but alas it was actually quite simple. All you need is a black shadow, black liner, and white face paint or white liner. Start by putting black shadow all over your lid. You can blend it into whatever shape you want, or keep the harsh lines to make it really look like the body of a spider. Next, draw 8 legs. Use a picture as reference. Each leg is sort of broken into two portions. The part that comes out of the body horizontally, and the part that is vertical so it can stand on surfaces. You want it to look like the spider is 3D and is crawling out of your eye. Make sure the lines are kind of wiggly to add a nice spooky effect too. Next, use eye shadow to create the shadow of the legs. Think about where you want your light source to be so that all of the shadows make sense to the position of the legs. I messed them up a little bit here, but just draw squiggly lings that connect the ends of the leg together. Last, use the white to create highlight to show that 3D effect with the light as well. It will come together I promise. I've seen people do this with both eyes and even their mouth! Pretty crazy. As for the outfit, I wore all black and used face spider webs and wrapped them around my top.

3. Clown

This one was one of my personal favorites. I started out with my normal base makeup and a dark red smokey eye with black on the lids. I used glitter on the inner corner of my eyes as well. I used black and red shadows underneath my eyes to create a sort of triangle "bruise" under my eyes. I then used my liquid liner to create the iconic clown triangle and tips under my eyes, and on/above my brows. I recommend using a gel liner for this so that it stays better and is most opaque. I also used a liquid glitter shadow to create the dots on the tip of each triangle. I used liner to make a button nose and white face paint to add a bit of dimension. Finally, the lips I used a dark red lipstick and put black shadow at the corners of my mouth to create an ombre lip color and used liner to extend the corners of my mouth into a creepy, elongated smile. For the outfit, I teased my hair and put it into two low ponytails. I wore a black and white scrunchie on each wrist, black and white striped paints, and a red velvet shirt.

4. Skeleton

This is what I did like 5 times last year for other people and on myself for a party. I had never done a skeleton look before, so I tried it out one night, posted a picture on my Instagram story, and I got a lot of people asking me if I could do it for them! I will admit. Skeleton makeup looks hard and it is definitely time consuming, but it really isn't too hard to accomplish, and you get a lot of compliments on it. First, do any eye makeup and face makeup that you want to do on the top portion of your face. Next, take some white face paint and paint the bottom portion of your face and most of your nose and let it dry. You may need a couple coats. Then take a black eyeliner (I used gel liner) and start tracing. I started with my mouth. Just trace the line between your lips almost to the center of your cheeks. Next, draw out your nose. It looks like a dot connected to an "M" shape. Next trace the line between your white face paint and your normal foundation. This just clearly adds a border between the skeleton part and the normal part of your face. Find where your cheekbone hollow is and draw a scalloped shape that almost connects to the mouth line. There should be a down scoop, and a slight up scoop. Start about an inch below that line you just made and do the opposite shape you just made. There will be an up scoop and a slight down scoop (see picture for demo). Use black shadow and liner to shadow in between the two lines and blend it out towards the mouth line. Add shadows under all the black lines you have made so far to add dimension. Finally, use your teeth as guideline for the skeleton teeth and draw vertical lines to start the teeth. Use the liner to connect the lines to each other in a sort of shallow point. Shadow around the edges to make it look more realistic. That is basically it. If you are still unsure about how to do a part, there are tons of YouTube videos on how to do skeleton makeup. Once you just try it, it is a lot easier than it looks because it is just a lot of going off of your own bone structure. Your outfit should just be black and white.

5. Vampire

A vampire is a classic costume. Personally, I am not a huge fan of the Dracula look though. If I am going to be a vampire, I want it to look mysterious and attractive. My favorite show is also The Vampire Diaries, so of course, I take inspiration from their makeup looks. Do your normal base makeup and create a dark smokey eye. I usually just do a black and red eye look, but feel free to do whatever that is a little dark. I highly recommend a cat eye shape both with the eye shadow and the eyeliner. Using a black shadow, create little veins, almost like tree branches, under your eyes. You can create as many or as few as you want. I also go over the black with a dark red shadow to add dimension and an almost "blood thirsty" effect. For a vampire look, I will also use a dark red lip. Red lips are kinda scary for me, but this is a must for the look. Line your lips and apply the lipstick. Use a black or darker eye shadow around the corners of your mouth to create a slight ombred lip. Finally, if you have fake teeth, apply them, but even if you don't dab a little bit of fake blood around the corners of your mouth as if you just had a bite of someone to eat. I have also seen people use colored contacts which are super cool. You can step up the vampire look in a lot of different ways depending on what you have and what you want to buy. You can get very creative so don't be afraid to try some stuff out. Any dark colors are perfect for your clothing.

6. Grandma/Grandpa

This one is for the people who love Halloween jokes. We just learned in theater makeup how to age someone, and let me tell you, it's easy and it looks crazy real. I may or may not be a grandpa with my roommates for a Halloween trunk or treat with my apartment complex, and we may or may not have bought a cane and a walker... ANYWAYS. Aging someone is actually a lot simpler than you would think. First, get a whole bunch of foundation shades that are 1-2 shades darker or lighter or in a different undertone and splotch them around your face. You want your skin color to be uneven. For this, i suggest using a makeup sponge that you can rip into different shapes so it also looks like it adds texture. Next, take a tiny bit of darker blue or grey eye shadow and deepen your dark circles. Next, you'll want a dark maroon/brown face paint and a lighter almost white face paint in order to make the wrinkles. The biggest tip here is to remember: "Dark is on the outside of your face and light is on the inside". The easiest way to find what wrinkles you should make is to look at your own face. There is a high chance you already have some wrinkles. Just deepen them with the dark shade. Use a small brush and trace your wrinkles. If you don't have many, look up some pictures of the age you're going for and go off of those. Furrow your brow, smile, wrinkle your eyes, and trace. After tracing the shadows, go to the inside of those shadows and blend your light color underneath it. Use a dark red shadow to deepen your eye sockets and underneath your nose, and use some of the maroon shade with a stipple sponge or brush around your face to create broken capillaries, freckles, or sunspots. Be sure to also take the wrinkles and everything down your neck since most people actually age in their neck before anywhere else. GO HAM WITH YOUR CLOTHES. I went to the thrift store and bought a sweater vest.

Bonus: Blair and Serena

As I am rewatching Gossip Girl right now, I couldn't help but think about the iconic duo as a costume idea. I was in Boston this past week and while hanging out with one of my friends, I realized that she and I looked like Blair and Serena! This costume is all about the clothes though. Don't go overboard on the makeup for either girl unless you are recreating specific looks. For Blair, think headbands, printed tights, business casual pencil skirts. For Serena, prints, voluminous hair, brighter colors, sequins. This costume is a lot of fun because you can recreate it with your best friend! Go out and take some pictures like the two did in season 1 episode 4.

I hope I was able to help you come up with a costume. If you recreate any of these makeup looks, be sure to DM me pictures!

Sorry about not making a post in a while. My next post will be those fall essentials or maybe my Boston trip. Haven't decided yet. What is your favorite part of fall? Mine is definitely the pumpkin flavored treats!

Alena