Halloween Costume + Makeup

[Kitty]

I just thought being a halloween enthusiast and makeup artist I could help out a bit with ideas for Costumes and important makeup must-knows!

We'll start with the stuff everyone loves first, costumes!

Costumes can be quite expensive and unoriginal, so it's hard to find something unique and good quality while being cheap. My #1 recommendation is to always be on the look out, 60 days ahead of time I mark my calendar to make sure when I'm around clothing shops to go in and check what they have! (Also if you are sewing your own costume definitely start early and never underestimate sewing time!)

Often you can piece together an awesome costume from the sale rack rather than have to go out and purchase everything separately. For instance, being a gypsy needs a full length printed skirt, fun short sleeved or no sleeved top that can be cut or stretched at the top to go slightly down the shoulders, and a few shiny violet and patterned scarves. After that big gold hoop earrings and bracelets to accessorize. Very simple, very easy, very cheap. You don't need a 30$ Walmart costume for that!

There are so many great cheap and easy costume ideas on youtube that I definitely recommend taking a night to sit down and search the web. BUT before you do, set yourself a money limit and time limit to work on your costume. I've seen one to many people bite off more than they can chew and end up making a cheap last minute costume because of it!

Group costumes:
A lot of the younger people go in groups to go trick-or-treating, and so there are a few fun ideas for halloween to go as a group.

2 people: Thing one, Thing two (From Dr. Suess) : Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum (Lewis Carrol). Thing one, Thing two is a cheap and easy costume that requires a red shirt you have taped a circle saying "Thing one" and "Thing 2" on both the front and back, jeans, blue hairspray (which can be acquired for 1-3$ at walmart) and white face paint (Which can also be acquired for cheap from drugstores. I always recommend getting "caked" or wet-with-water face paint instead of cream as it dries to a relatively matte finish and can be set with cheap setting powder while cream makeup is a little less pigmented and has a harder time setting) Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum has a little more expensive of a costume but there are a few good youtube videos on them and you should pick your favorite look in your price range.

3 People: Three Blind Mice: Also relatively cheap as mouse ears can be made with paper and bobby pins, whiskers can be drawn with eyeliner, and black sunglasses can be found at the dollar tree. I suggest wearing all gray or black with your partners on this one, extra points for a black walking stick, but I have yet to find them!

4 People: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Christian) : There are some great tutorials by Klairedlysart on youtube with this, although some people may have a hard time identifying your costume until you guys say it and a lightbulb flicks on.

7 People: Seven Deadly Sins: This is what I am doing this year. I am using Klairedlysart's tutorial on these and we are shopping at goodwill. The makeup makes this whole thing, and if you watch the tutorials you can get plenty of cool ideas. If you want to make it funny instead of artsy, you can have sloth in sweatpants and a pony tail completely undone and uncaring, gluttony in a fat suit (or a homemade one) with chocolate stains all over, and greed as a pimp.


COSMETICS:
Just thought I'd put a few things out there makeup wise! One, if you are going to use contacts beware that contacts from other countries (korea, japan) and cosplay lenses HAVE hurt people before, I know a girl who got 80% retina scratches and will not recover her once perfect eye sight, and this is from a girl who used cosplay lenses all the time. But one time she took a new pair out and that's when her injury occurred. This is very important to keep in mind if you have discomfort in your new lenses. Also, the smaller the lenses in diameter the more comfortable they will probably be.

People who are diving into prosthetics with minimal knowledge on regular cosmetics: One, latex hurts coming off. Anything glued to your face will hurt coming off. Two, it can cause serious acne, and if you already have acne then it can irritate it pretty badly. 3, It can also cause SERIOUS allergic reactions, if not to you than other people. Make sure people understand you have it on and always, always, always test your latex before using it on your wrist and side of the face at least a week ahead of time to make sure you aren't allergic. And also to make sure if you are your outbreak has time to heal and for you to come up with a new plan.
Use olive oil or oil-based makeup remover to take off adhesives and latex as well as heavy makeup remover. Olive oil is the best for you and your skin for this, because it washes off with a face wash better than mineral oil. Olive oil also washes off everything much quicker, although it may also ruin fake lashes. Chances are you aren't gonna want to reuse those cheap fake lashes again though.

Cosmetic items that are cheap and good to get at drugstores for Halloween: Fake lashes (a quick lash tutorial on youtube will show you how to break them in before using them), colored hairspray (use in a very ventilated place that isn't your room. It stinks, trust me), any fake tattoos or gems to go on the sides and around the face (lash glue leftover should be used to stick glitter and gems to the face), cosmetic glitter, cheap nail polishes (should last a day), face paint cakes (if you do not have a setting powder invest in a cheap one. Maybelline has one for like 2.00$ or something. Then before painting your face put translucent powder on. Especially if you are painting your face ((and don't forget your neck)) white. After you do your face paint, wait to dry and use a very small amount on top. Also, make sure not to use too much water. The paint on your brush should be thick like pillsbury frosting. A drop or two of water per three inches should be fine.) Black eyeliner (If you aren't someone who typically wears it, the cheap 99cent eyeliners are usually very hard, but they are still good. Take a lighter and put the eyeliner tip just over the flame for 2-5 seconds then wait a few seconds, try it on your wrist to make sure it's just warm and soft like peanut butter and not too melty like room-tempature butter. Apply liberally, it's Halloween son! You can also use black eyeliner on your lips and cover with clear gloss for black lipstick)

Cosmetic items that are not good to get cheap: Liquid latex, anything that goes in your mouth like teeth paint or blood bites, cream paints, stick on nails (we all know those things break right off before the end of the night), lip tattoos (they do not work 70% of the time and when they do your lips are uncomfortable and terribly dry and don't think about eating or drinking or licking your lips or it's ruined!)

Fake blood warning: It will stain, and it will stain everything. You can make fake blood yourself if you like, there are plenty of water, cornstarch, and food dye (red and green) recipes online but this stains substantially more than more expensive store bought bloods. The water and cornstarch fake blood can also be used in and around the mouth, unlike store bought fake bloods that do not say specifically for the mouth area. In any case, it'll stain, the more expensive the blood normally the more realistic it looks and less staining power it holds. If you are going to buy 99 cent blood you mine as well make it yourself and have it mouth-safe too. If you want to get stains off your body, nail polish remover usually works, but your clothes unless they can be bleached white, are done for, they should be burned with the evidence. After the nail polish remover make sure to moisturize liberally because it's kind of bad for your skin.

Any questions or ideas are welcome here! :)

I will probably have more information for you guys later but this is all I can think of now!

 

[ElBell]

This may sound odd, but any tips on making make up look intentionally sloppy?

 

[Minibit]

This may sound odd, but any tips on making make up look intentionally sloppy?

If I can put my two cents in … colour outside the lines and go for dramatic shades!

 

[Kitty]

This may sound odd, but any tips on making make up look intentionally sloppy?

Yeah, of course. I mean you can always just sloppily slap it on, but if you want it to look good and and a little rushed and messy (like a smokey eye) and still have it sexy it's possible. But first I would need you to define what sloppy means to you, as in you've had it on for days? You cried through it? You just slapped it on this morning because you were caring enough to put it on but not caring enough to do it right (which is a little weird but alright). Who is your character in this situation? What are you trying to achieve in your look? (Also your skin tone may help me color wise)

 

[Xibilation]

I am trying to achieve the look of a discarded, broken doll.

I have looked up many youtube tutorials, and have a rough idea of what I'm going to do. I'm wondering if you have any suggestions for making the cracks look real and have more depth. Are there any specific, inexpensive products to help me achieve this?

 

[Viceroy]

Any tips on how to make your eyes look extremely tired and distraught?

 

[Kitty]

I am trying to achieve the look of a discarded, broken doll.

I have looked up many youtube tutorials, and have a rough idea of what I'm going to do. I'm wondering if you have any suggestions for making the cracks look real and have more depth. Are there any specific, inexpensive products to help me achieve this?

Yes, remember that broken dolls are shaded, more so than looking at broken dolls on youtube look at high quality pics of broken, cracked dolls. The cracks are most black at the very center and not so deep around the hairline cracks. There is also minimal shading with brown contours below the lower cracks that should happen. For inexpensive makeup I suggest Wet N' Wild black (make sure it's black and not violet) cream eyeliner and a an angled brush. Makeup brushes are very expensive while painters brushes are much cheaper and tend to be along the same quality. A synthetic angled, thinner painters brush should work perfectly and can be found at super centers or craft stores. For the contour any matte brown eyeshadow (an eyeshadow that holds no shimmer or shine whatsoever and only pigment) can be used, wet n' wild also has a few good ones. Don't forget a white pencil eyeliner for your water line to make your eyes appear larger.

Any tips on how to make your eyes look extremely tired and distraught?

You need three different matte eyeshadows for this (no shimmer or shine is what matte means) and that is black, peach (with a warm tone) and brown (warm toned) With a fluffy eyeshadow brush apply brown on your inner corner and drag it down into your natural under eye circle. This is actually not a circle but probably a quarter of a circle for more people, there is a natural indentation underneath the eye. Make sure to use a very small amount of product when doing this. Tap off the brush before putting it directly on the face. Blend in a window-shield wiper motion along this crease and build the coverage until it looks like your under eye circles have been increased dramatically but not so much that it looks super fake. Then add a very, very small amount of black on the very inner corner and blend along the inner half of your lower lash line and downwards. Lastly you want to apply the peach to the edge of your brown closest to the bridge of your nose and blend around that brown shade so it's a slow gradient from brown to your natural skin tone. To look sicker instead of peach use a matte yellow, and take a matte or satin red and apply a small amount right above the crease with a little with of matte brown mixed into it. For a more sick look you want yellow and red shades, tired and dead more brown and black tones.

 

[ElBell]

Yeah, of course. I mean you can always just sloppily slap it on, but if you want it to look good and and a little rushed and messy (like a smokey eye) and still have it sexy it's possible. But first I would need you to define what sloppy means to you, as in you've had it on for days? You cried through it? You just slapped it on this morning because you were caring enough to put it on but not caring enough to do it right (which is a little weird but alright). Who is your character in this situation? What are you trying to achieve in your look? (Also your skin tone may help me color wise)

Sorry this is a little bit late! I am going as Rita Glossner from The Middle, and she's essentially a very trashy smoker and probably alcoholic. Her make up looks as though she had her youngest son put it on with one eye shut, so it's more of an 'I have no clue what I'm doing' sloppy. So I'm basically trying to attain a trashy-but-I-don't-know-it kind of deal <.<

 

[Kitty]

Her makeup is bad but not terrible. Underneath the eye keep it thin, in both pics it looks a little black and smokey/smudgey but not terrible. On the top of the lid try black and brown mix, just use it patchily and blend. Keep it a pinky away from your eyebrows so you don't look clownish. Make sure to blend well and keep it within the eye socket. Using a picture for reference will be best, but the girl above doesn't look that bad, it's a little messy but no where near what I was thinking! It actually should be fairly easy. :)

 

[Faithviper]

Can I get some tips about make up for a female Daryl Dixon?

 

[Cry]

Me and my friend where wondering how to make a look for Sailor moon ^^; Don't ask just don't ask!

the make up need is for me and another friend because we both are playing the cats in the Sailor moon cosplay ^^

So black human cat and white human cat look.

 

[Sidhe]

I recently purchased some Wolfe FX body paints (white/black, as well as some other things that haven't arrived yet, like the Mehron Special FX kit,) and I had a question about the water activated paints! How do you manage to make them non-streaky? Is it perhaps just the brushes I'm using, or is it just a technique I haven't gotten down yet? The black is fine, but when I painted my whole face white, there was definitely mega streak marks.

 

[Kitty]

I recently purchased some Wolfe FX body paints (white/black, as well as some other things that haven't arrived yet, like the Mehron Special FX kit,) and I had a question about the water activated paints! How do you manage to make them non-streaky? Is it perhaps just the brushes I'm using, or is it just a technique I haven't gotten down yet? The black is fine, but when I painted my whole face white, there was definitely mega streak marks.

Here is part of my first post that explains that. (Face paint cakes (if you do not have a setting powder invest in a cheap one. Maybelline has one for like 2.00$ or something. Then before painting your face put translucent powder on. Especially if you are painting your face ((and don't forget your neck)) white. After you do your face paint, wait to dry and use a very small amount of powder on top. Also, make sure not to use too much water. The paint on your brush should be thick like pillsbury frosting. A drop or two of water per three inches should be fine.) If the streaking is pretty bad then start with a little and layer it slowly in, buff it. A buffing brush is always better than a flat paddle foundation brush in my opinion but stippling brushes are also good. That being said you need a firm stippling brush if you use one, ELF brushes just won't cut it.

Me and my friend where wondering how to make a look for Sailor moon ^^; Don't ask just don't ask!

the make up need is for me and another friend because we both are playing the cats in the Sailor moon cosplay ^^

So black human cat and white human cat look.

There are tutorials on youtube on how to look like a cat that are very easy. There are also very many of these tutorials. Im not familiar with Salior Moon anymore, I only watched it what I was young and no longer remember it so I'm not sure exactly what you are looking for. But following the basic form of a cat makeup on youtube and then adding slight characteristics of the cat from the show (use a reference photo) you may be able to recreate the look well. Definitely practice it before Halloween, you don't want to just go for it last second.

Can I get some tips about make up for a female Daryl Dixon?

Not positive who that is. But if you are doing a female version of a male doing soft contouring along the jaw to strengthen it and adding more male-esque shape to your face is always helpful because normally people don't realize who you are when you are playing a gender bent character unless they have very distinctive clothing.

 

[Kitty]

Also for @Cry make sure to follow the face shape and any defining hairs in the fur of the face. Do they stick all out? Go one way? Are the whiskers evenly spaced? That's all important to keep in mind when recreating a character. Defining points must be made note of.

 

[Sidhe]

@Kitty
Oh my gosh I'm so sorry, I glossed over that. ;_; I feel embarrassed now. I don't have a buffing brush, though I do have an (older) stippling brush by MAC. I may try using that. Now, you mentioned that the paints should be thick, but if I wanted a paler look, would watering the paints down be all right, or would it only encourage streaking? Thank you very much for your advice!

 

[Kitty]

@Kitty
Oh my gosh I'm so sorry, I glossed over that. ;_; I feel embarrassed now. I don't have a buffing brush, though I do have an (older) stippling brush by MAC. I may try using that. Now, you mentioned that the paints should be thick, but if I wanted a paler look, would watering the paints down be all right, or would it only encourage streaking? Thank you very much for your advice!

The Mac brush should work fine, and yes if you want a paler look then water it down a bit more and use less paint on your brush. Buff in small circles around the face to blur things out well.