Dear Readers!
It’s almost Halloween, one of my favourite times of year but also one of the most stressful for some when it comes to sorting out costumes. So, I have filed through some old photos and I also tried out some new looks. I’ve been busy all day today wiping make-up on and off and putting eye-liner every where on my face except my eyelids. Tip: If you’re going to try these looks out, have a lot of make-up wipes handy!
This is the Pop Art Girl! She’s fairly easy to create (I forgot the black line for the nose – woops). All you need is a pot of white face paint, black eye-liner/face-paint and red lipstick. You can use red and yellow face-paint for the “POW!” too.
How to:
1) I applied foundation before starting on the face-paint. You don’t have to but I think it gives a cleaner finish. Start with the white dots. Make them small enough and don’t leave too many gaps. Don’t forget your neck, chest and arms! Once it looks like you have the White Chickenpox you’re done.
2) Next you want to address your eyebrows. I used black face-paint for these. As you can see eyebrows are a big part of Pop Art so emphasise them as well as you can. Line the inside of your ears (what?) and then the crease of your eyelid. Line the whole bottom of your lid and then move on to your cheekbones. To find where your line should go suck in your cheeks and follow the line created. What you can’t see in my photo is that my jaw is also lined, but only one side. Underneath your chin also needs to be lined. Line your nose (just a straight line off-centre) and theeen line your collarbone. You can line the crease of your boobs too (may as well).
3) Nearly done! Fill in your lips with a red lipstick/face-paint. Then line your lips (I used eye-liner) in black. Using white face-paint add a sort of “shine” to your bottom lip (you can see this in the pic). Finally, you can draw a “POW!” onto your chest using black eye-liner to outline and fill in with yellow and red face-paint.
This is probably a high-maintenance look. Unless you have very good face-paint I wouldn’t go to a nightclub with this done. It will just melt and you will look like a ghost who says “POW!” instead of “BOO!”. It is good for costume parties though and anything that doesn’t involve too much sweating. It’s actually very fun to create! 🙂
This is one of my favourites – The Scarecrow! I didn’t use any face-paint for this, just liquid eye-liner(Rimmel, to be precise), gold-shimmery eyeshadows, bronzer and a gold/red lipstick.
How to:
1) Apply foundation if you wish. I used Benefit’s Oxygen WOW Foundation in “Believe in Me” Ivory. I started with the funky design under the eyes using liquid eye-liner. I thought this would be torturous but just use a mirror very closely and try copy the pattern.
2) I used a very light cream over the base of eye-lid. I then used a deep gold shimmery eye-shadow to cover most of my eye-lid (and it’s Halloween, don’t be afraid to go over-board) followed by an even darker gold/brown colour along the edges and blended up towards the top. BE SURE TO BLEND. Finish the eyes with a line of eye-liner on the top lid (meeting the bottom design at the edge) and a coat (or a billion) of mascara.
4) Next I outlined a triangle on my nose using liquid eye-liner and drew lines coming out of it (like stitches). I filled in the triangle using bronzer and a small eye-shadow brush. Make it darker on the edges and gradually lighten as you move in. Use the liquid eye-liner one last time to draw two lines coming from the corners of your mouth (draw these just over half-way across your face) and draw lines across these too.
5) Using bronzer again (I’m using the No7 one – brilliant) take a small blush brush and make quite deep golden circles on your cheeks. Don’t forget to fill in your eyebrows (I used Essence liquid eye-brow filler (Primark))Finish the look with lipstick of your choice (though I recommend sticking to the deep/gold theme), add a checked shirt and Bob’s your uncle, you’re a scarecrow! A straw hat could be nice too.
I actually really like this look and there’s very little chance of anything going wrong. This look could work for a night-out as well as a costume party, just remember to bring essentials in-case you need to top-up!
Sure isn’t this always a good costume to fall back on? Cats are super easy to create and there are so many ways to do it, this is just one version I decided to do! All you need is liquid eye-liner and eye-shadow.
How to:
1) As previously, begin with foundation if desired. Start with the eyes – I stuck to a cream/brown shades. I used a very light cream/white on the inner eye-lid and sweeped it under my bottom lid too. I covered the majority of my eye-lid with a gold/brown and used a darker brown on the outer corners and stretched this out in the shape of a cat-flick. BLEND.
2) Next take your liquid eye-liner and line your top-lid stretching it out to a long cat-flick. Line your bottom-lid and connect to the inner and outer edges, stretching the inside to a small triangle. Draw a second flick underneath your first one and stretch it further. Line your brows too!
3) Still using liquid eye-liner line the front triangle-shape of your nose and fill it in. Fill in the front line of your nose and as you get further towards your top lip begin to blend it down rather than continue the strong black line. Create little dots in-between your nose and mouth with the liquid eye-liner and then using quick, sharp flick add whiskers.
4) Apply lipstick – I think a bright red would go well with this look (I don’t have bright red at the moment what?) and then using either face-paint or liquid eye-liner line your top lip in black. Blend it down with a small lip-liner brush and go right the edges of your top lip, curving slightly at the corner.
And meeeow you a kitty-cat! Really play with your hair for this feline look. Also, pay attention to the arches of your brows. If possible, make-the arch higher than usual using make-up to cover and re-shape. Look at Marilyn Monroe’s brows for inspiration on this. All this look needs is leather leggings and a sassy top – or some colour if you’re feeling adventurous!
So this is a look I created last year for my youth theatre Halloween party. I love the movie Black Swan and decided to split my face in half and make one side the black swan and one side the white swan. For this look you’ll need black and white face-paint and your usual make-up.
1) Split your face with a line of white face-paint. For precision I used an old lip-liner brush (fancy, I know). Fill in the whole right side of your face in white face-paint, get every single corner!
2) Next, create the outline of the black swan eye using black face-paint and an eye-shadow brush. I know it seems daunting but it’s very easy once you start. Start just over half-way down your nose (a little out from the nose) and draw a black line up to and covering the edge of your eyebrow. Line along the edge of your eyebrow and then flick up to the top of your temple. Creating a flick-look curve the line down and underneath your eye then creating another curve to meet the original beginning. Fill in your shape and cover the eye-lid too.
3) Using white face-paint and the lip-liner brush draw a small line from the inner bottom spike up, followed by a shorter line and then a small dot just on the corner of the eye (see pic for reference). Draw scattered white lines through the top and edge of the eye varying in length. Fill in half of your lip with black face-paint and your black swan side is done!
4) I used foundation as a base for this side. Line your brows and use a light pink blush on your cheeks (remember, she’s in a ballet show). I drew a line of liquid eye-liner across my top lid and dragged it down just for contrast. You could use some nice light pink and cream tones on the eye-lid for emphasis on the white-swan. Use a light reddy-orange for this side of the lip.
5) The hair is simple – tie it back into a bun and on the black swan side pull the hair forward and back-comb random pieces. Make sure the white swan side is pulled tight. I actually used some black and white feathers on either side of my head to complete this look.
And that’s the Black/White Swan make-up. My costume did take work because I sewed a black and a white tank top together and a black and a white net skirt together. You could just wear a white top and black tutu if minimal effort is desired 🙂
This is the final costume – Audrey Hepburn! I went through a mild obsession with her last year (still adore her) and decided to dress up as her for a party. This is probably the easiest look to create. All you need is your regular make-up!
How to:
1) Apply your foundation routine as usual. Create the classic Audrey Hepburn cat-flick using liquid eye-liner. This is probably the most essential part to your make-up. Her make-up was quite simple after that. Not too strong a lip colour either – light pinks.
2) For the hair you’ll want to create a large enough quiff (hairspray, hairspray, hairspray). Tie the rest of your hair into a french twist (click here for a good tutorial on this).
Add some pearls to complete the look. On this night I wore a black string top and a long black skirt with a slit up the side. Sunglasses add to the costume too 🙂
And that’s it!
I hope these looks inspire you or help you if you’re struggling for a quick/easy costume. Don’t hesitate to ask questions about how to create these looks if you’re unsure and if anyone has a request of a certain look definitely don’t be shy 🙂
Have a wonderful Halloween Week!
Love,
Kerry xx
Kerry Elizabeth Writing 