Halloween Pinspiration

Happy Halloween! 

I absolutely love Halloween, but I've been a bit rubbish this year about deciding what to dress up as for my uni Halloween party. So inspired by Sophie Robinson's post on Halloween Ideas (go have a read, she's got some great ideas for Halloween make-up) and after trawling through Pinterest, I decided to make my own little list of possible Halloween costumes.

I love how simple yet effective this look is, especially on the nails, and it is incredibly easy to recreate. For the nails use a base coat of white nail varnish, then put a blob of red nail varnish on a bit of paper or tissue. Dip a drinking straw into the blob of red nail varnish and, aiming close to the nail you want to decorate, blow through the other end of the straw to splatter the nail with red. It's quite a messy job, so to avoid any stray red splatters on your fingertips, put some sellotape around the nail after applying the white base coat, and lay some paper or tissue down first to avoid any nail varnish stains on your surfaces! There's a good video here with step by step instructions on how to achieve this effect. 

In the past I've never really considered putting any make up or face paint anywhere other than on my face, apart from a few bits of fake blood here and there on my arms. I love the attention to detail in both these pictures; the make-up looks very realistic and would complete any scary zombie costume. The lines in the hands would be very easy to recreate using standard make-up and contouring; black or dark brown eye shadow in the dips of your hand, highlighter or white eyeshadow on the protrusions. This would also be very effective around the collar bones and would really accentuate that dead, corpse-like look. For the knees I'd use a combination of red, black and brown face paint and subtly dab it all on until you get the desired bruised and battered look, and then lots and lots of fake blood over the top.  

More attention to detail! I love how realistic this face paint looks and you could easily recreate it using either make-up or face paint. With make-up I'd use dark red lip-stick, then, with your finger, dab it along the corner of your lips towards the middle and over the lip-line, making sure it fades out towards the edges. Then using black eye liner, lightly colour over the lipstick, blending the black into the red, then apply random strokes with the eye liner to get that cracked lip effect. Alternatively you could use red and black face paint, going through the same process. The trick here is all in the blending and fading out to get that realistic bruised effect.

If you're after a very simple look, then this would be perfect for you. I love the effect of the dark eyes on pale skin. To achieve this look, cover your face in either a foundation a couple of tones lighter than your natural skin tone, talcum powder, or a thin layer of white face paint, and then simply blend black and brown eyeshadow or face paint around your eyes, fading out towards the edge. Then apply some fake blood from the corners of your eyes and mouth. 

What makes clowns even scarier? Zombie clowns! I love both these looks and am seriously considering one of these for my Halloween costume. To create a look staying closer to the traditional clown make-up, cover the face in a thin layer of white face paint, then draw a diamond shape around each eye using either black eyeshadow or face paint, smudging the edges. To make it even bolder, thickly outline each eye using black eye liner. Drop some water onto the bottom point of each diamond in order to make the make-up run (make sure you use non-waterproof make-up / face paint otherwise this won't work). For the creepy mouth, apply red lipstick as usual, then with black eyeliner outline the top of your lip and extend the line from both corners of the mouth, drawing upwards to make a smile shape. Then with either the red lipstick or red face paint, dab and blend along the line. To add more tone, subtly go over the red with black eye liner or face paint and blend. Then apply lots and lots of fake blood all over the mouth area. Finish off with a little red nose. Cute. For a more subtle yet equally creepy clown look, cover the face in a thin layer of white face paint as before, but only use red face paint to smudge outlines of traditional clown make-up. Then smudge brown eye shadow around the face  to create the illusion of dirt. 

 

I absolutely love how creepy this look is. It would be very easy to recreate; simply use fake blood to dribble red 'tear-stains' down from each eye, then apply the blood from the nose and mouth, continuing to smudge it over the neck, chest, arms and hands. Then using red food colouring or paint, draw two eye shape circles onto a piece of bandage, and wrap around the head. Realistically though the bandage would need some eye holes unless you have a very trustworthy friend willing to guide you around for the rest of the night!

 

The typical Halloween skull. I haven't tried this look before but I love how creative and artistic it is. Sophie's got a good tutorial on how to recreate this look on her blog, read it here!

What are you dressing up as for Halloween?

Love, Beth xxx

  

(Disclaimer: images taken from my Pinterest account, I claim no ownership)