Life
The best part about dressing up for Halloween isn't the costumes — it's the makeup. So why not have your costume be all about the makeup this Halloween? Believe it or not, you can pull off the most popular Halloween costumes using just makeup. Not confident in your makeup skills? Don't worry, these easy-to-follow tutorials will help bring out your inner professional makeup artist in no time. You don't need to be skilled in special effects (SFX) makeup either to manage any of these looks. So grab your fancy colored eye shadows and fishnet stockings and check out these totally copycat worthy makeup tutorials.
Last Halloween I totally dropped the ball on my costume. My (then) 4-year-old son wanted to be Cat Boy from PJ Masks so I improvised and dressed up as a black cat to take him trick-or-treating. I solely relied on makeup to make that costume work and guess what? It was the cutest costume I made yet. Not only were we matching — kind of — but I didn't need to spend a dime on a costume that I would most likely never wear again. All I needed was some back eyeliner and boom — this mama turned into a black cat. Easiest Halloween costume ever! You're welcome.
1Skeleton
This one is slightly more complicated because of the shading, but out of the dozens of skeleton tutorials I watched, it not only looked the best but it was actually the easiest.
2Virus Infected Vampire From 'True Blood'
Remember that season in True Blood where the vampires were all getting that virus and they had those creepy looking veins all over their skin? You could totally exaggerate the under-eye makeup in this tutorial for that look here.
3Black Cat
Getting back to my last-minute, busy single mom Halloween costume from last year... this is it: I put on some makeup, threw on some black clothes and hit the streets with my little blue cat (and tiny fluffy dog) in tow. I didn't need a video tutorial for this one — it was that easy.
4Comic Book Art
I really love these comic book art makeup ideas. How fun are these? Again, no costume needed, just some vibrant colored makeup and a good how-to tutorial — hint, click the link above.
5Grayscale Creature from 'Game Of Thrones'
This tutorial surprisingly doesn't use any SFX makeup; it's all stuff you may already have which is a huge win. As a true GOT fan, I love this idea. How can you not?
6Mermaid
Who could resist the opportunity to be a mermaid for the night? I couldn't. Out of all the mermaid tutorials, this one is not only the prettiest, but it's slow enough and easy to follow. I love the hack she uses with the fishnet stockings to create the scales — so creative.
7An '80s Chick
Are you one of those people who loves a good blast-from-the-past costume? Another one that doesn't necessarily require a costume, just maybe a crop top and leg warmers.
8Barbie
Yet another great makeup idea you could pull off with a simple dress, because it's all about that makeup, girl.
9Unicorn
If you love DIY, then this is the costume idea for you... because in this video tutorial she takes you through how to make this fancy unicorn headpiece as well as this flawless unicorn look. Love it!
10Medusa
Still another resourceful video that utilizes fishnet stockings, this Medusa costume idea is perfect for those who love a little glam but also likes to up the creep factor. I mean, after all, it is Halloween.
11Pumpkin
This is a fun idea if you're not into wearing a costume but still want to wow your neighbors, or the kids. This creepy jack-o-lantern makeup may take a little time but is totally do-able even for a novice makeup artist.
12Pennywise
If you've seen the movie IT then you know that while Pennywise is no friendly clown, he does have a trademark smile. This makeup look is enough to let people know exactly who you are without needing the clothes to match. (A wig couldn't hurt, but you could always skip the teeth. They might be too horrifying.)