The witching hour is approaching, which means it's time to think of Halloween makeup ideas. While some looks require the skill set and steady hand of a Hollywood special effects artist, others are far simpler yet still look very effective. Think Fright Night looks you won't be petrified to attempt.
Of course you could take the celebrity tack and go with a simple dress-up costume (just buy it from Amazon, with fake blood splatters as an optional add-on). Well, the cosplay angle certainly worked for Kim Kardashian as Poison Ivy, Adele as Morticia Addams, Miranda Kerr as Catwoman, need we go on? Get the right outfit plus wig, and it'll do all the heavy lifting for you – makeup need only be a second thought.
A bit lazy? Sure. Smacks of "panic order for World Book Day on next day Amazon Prime"? Absolutely, and nobody is going to judge for you for it.
But you want to do Halloween makeup, you say? Okay. Hiring a professional makeup artist is always an option, but that won't come cheap. Unless you've scored an invite to Jonathan Ross's Halloween party, we'd probably advise giving that one a miss. Ditto attempting wildly ambitious YouTube tutorials (although the 'unexpected burst blood vessel in an eye from stress screaming' could work out quite well, we suppose.)
No, far better, we think, to look for easy Halloween makeup ideas that aren't too far removed from the reality of your makeup bag and artistic abilities. Here are the ones we think will inspire terror for the right reasons.
Mascara magic
Three simple makeup ideas that literally just involve smudging mascara in places it shouldn't normally be. Claudia Winkleman would surely approve.
Spooky stick-ons
Take your best smoky eye and red lip, then stick on jewels as cats whiskers. You didn't scrawl six lines with black eye pencil so nobody can say you haven't made an effort.
Pearly girl
That lip liner you can never be bothered to use? Well, tonight it will have its moment. The pearls, by the way, are an especially excellent idea if you have spots or a cold sore to hide.
Devilishly simple
When the hardest thing about your Halloween look is the eyeliner flick, you know you're onto a winner.
Half dead
If you usually give up half way through a Halloween makeup idea, this is the one for you. It will still work just fine.
Blood lust
Pretty bleedin simple, we'd say. We will possibly skip the red on the actual inner waterline though, or at least not use the only red makeup product listed in the Insta credits - a Huda liquid lipstick! Yikes!
Pumpkin pie
Because we've all got a foundation that's too orange for our skin. That alone would probably be scary enough.
Deathly pale
Buy white makeup paint, or alternatively keep your heating off for a week. Same, same.
Web sensatioin
If you can do the flick, you can 100% manage the spider and webbing.
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