Last Minute Halloween Costume & Makeup Ideas

[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hile Halloween may be one of the most entertaining holidays, it’s also one of those holidays many of us forget to prepare for, especially when it comes to finding the perfect costume. In fact, we generally leave any costume decisions to the last minute. Why you may ask? It’s just fun that way. Huh? Hear us out. We love making plans and narrowing down the details, but when it comes to Halloween costumes, we like the bustle of finding cool props, scavenging through our closets and experimenting with our makeup just days before Halloween (sometimes even on Halloween) and coming up with amazing Halloween looks that are uniquely ours. This year is no different. Now many of you may be looking for Halloween inspiration, so we came up with two Halloween looks: The Sugar Skull and The half Martian Queen. Check out our costume and makeup suggestions  on how to recreate these fun looks for Halloween.

[large_title title=”Halloween Look # 1: The Sugar Skull”]

The Sugar Skull costume is always our favorite Halloween look to do. There are of course many variations of the sugar skull on the Internet, so it’s always exciting to play around with different colors and designs when it comes to doing the makeup for it. Before you do anything, we suggest finding a sugar skull photo you like, and keeping it near you as a reference so you can have a general guide on what features you’ll need to do to recreate some of the classic sugar skull features.

For the Makeup: you’ll need face primer, white face paint, opaque eyeshadows (colors based on your preference), eye primer, black face paint, liquid and gel liners, false lashes, black mascara, setting spray, loose face glitter (optional), makeup brushes in various sizes.

Apply your face primer at least 15 minutes before applying your first layer makeup as this will help the face paint cling on better. Take a flat foundation brush, and apply one layer of white paint on your face. Depending on how opaque your white paint is, you will need to apply another layer or two to achieve the desired look. Set the white face paint with a white eyeshadow or translucent powder. Apply an eyeshadow primer. Next, using a thin liner brush, line your entire eye as well as up to your eyebrow and just above where your cheekbone starts. Fill that entire space with black face paint. Let it dry. Now chose whatever color eyeshadows you want to apply over where you applied the black face paint. Again, take the thin liner brush and start to make small half circles all around your eye area (do the same with both eyes) almost resembling flower petals. Fill in the petals with a silver cream eyeshadow or glitter.Line your upper and bottom lashes with liquid and gel liner. Apply a coat of waterproof mascara and apply your lashes.  Take some of your black face paint and create an upside down heart or  V shape on your nose. Contour the angles of your face with  a black eyeshadow for a darker look, or take one of the shadows you used on your lid for a lighter version. This will create a more defined hollow appearance. For the lips just make a line running through your lips and having it extend upwards to where your apples of your cheeks begin. Create small vertical lines all along this lip line. Fill in the middle of your lips with black face paint. Take some of your white face paint, and apply it in between the vertical lines so they almost resemble teeth. Here is where you can personalize your look by adding design elements like a flower on your chin, swirls on your forehead, and other creative motifs. Spritz the face with a good setting spray to look in your makeup. And you’re done. 

The Costume: The best part of going for the sugar skull look is that the pieces for the costume is minimal. We suggest keeping the look all black as it’ll give a great contract to your makeup look. Plus black is generally a staple in everyone’s closet. Just pair a long sleeve or short sleeve black top, black pants, black flat shoes, along with a small Crossbody bag (a black one if available) so you can keep your cell phone, money and essentials in there. To top the look, just create a makeshift hooded cape using a black bed sheet and drape it around your head, and tying the ends around your neck. You can secure the sheet around your head by making small holes all around the top of your head, making sure there are two small holes next to each other so you can insert each end of the bobbin pin in each hole and through your hair. Do this around the entire head to secure the makeshift cape around your head. And voila! You got a sugar skull costume.

[large_title title=”Halloween Look # 2: The Half Martian Queen”]

One of our favorite Halloween looks is the half face trend we always see every year. After watching The Martian, we got inspired by the idea of a half Martian, half human being. And we came up with the half Martian Queen.

For the Makeup: | Martian |: You’ll need face primer, dark green face paint, lime green face paint, black face paint, different shades of green eyeshadows, white and black eyeliner, a purple lipstick, eyeshadow primer, purple eyeshadow, blue face glitters, mascara and setting spray. | Human |: liquid and powder foundation, concealer, mascara, white and black eyeliner, blush, red lipstick and setting spray.

Martian: After you’ve applied your face primer, create a guide down the middle of your face starting from your forehead and down to your neck using a black liner. Time to apply dark green face paint on one side of your face with a flat foundation brush. Make sure to go down the entire face area and down the neck. Let it dry first before applying another layer. Take a stippling brush and lightly dip it in your lime green face paint. Start to lightly stipple your lime green face paint over your dark green face paint so it adds dimension to the face.  Apply eyeshadow primer on your lid. Using padding motions, apply a purple eyeshadow (or any shadow of your choice) all over the lid and up to the brow bone. Fill in your brows with black face paint, making them darker and more dramatic. Line your upper lash line with a black liquid liner. To make the eyes appear larger, line your bottom lash line with a white eyeliner. Also apply a thick line just below your lash line, and create lash-like strokes on bottom corner of your lower lashes. To define the face, take some of your black face paint and small blending brush, and run in down your nose, cheekbone and on your smile line. For the lips, apply a layer of purple lipstick. Make sure not to fill the entire lip. To add an extra touch, paint several dots trailing down from your eye to your chin almost like teardrops.  Now apply some of your eyeshadow primer as this will be serve as a glue. Carefully apply some of your blue glitter over the dots. To finish the look, apply a few coats of mascara and spritz some setting spray over your look to set everything in place.

The Human:  This one is simple, just do your normal everyday makeup. And fill the remaining lip space with a bright red lipstick. Again lock everything with a good setting spray. And voila, you’re done!

The Costume: Again we followed a similar minimal look for our half Martian queen look. Opting to reuse some of the pieces we used for our sugar skull, along with a few added touches.  We suggest using a black turtleneck, black pants, black flats and a black Crossbody bag as this will keep the look uniform and go with the half human theme.

For a makeshift head gear (and Martian feel): place a hat of your choice on your head. Next wear a lime green (or green) infinity scarf around your neck. Just lift the back of your infinity scarf up and over your head to hide the hat. And you’re done!