I love makeup. It's one of the few things in my life that I'm willing to put the time and money in to make everything look perfect. I also love Halloween. It is the best holiday of the year. Everyone gets to dress up, the movies are on point, all the candy is on sale, and in recent years, there are always fun makeup trends that hit YouTube and Instagram. This year is no slacker in that department. This year? It's all about the eyes with plenty of blood eyeliner. Oh yes. Blood eyeliner is a thing, and I'm creepily here for it.
Blood eyeliner is the rockstar gore version of the traditional winged liquid liner that no one was asking for, but many of us definitely approve of. It's the perfect, creepy Halloween adornment for your eyes when you're looking for a fun pop of trickery when you go out on All Hallows Eve. (Or just want to creep out your coworkers all October.) Using a combination of fake blood or red lipstick and black eyeliner (and sometimes glitter), makeup artists all over Instagram are rocking this look.
I was a gothic nightmare in high school. While I don't understand all the sartorial choices I made in those years, I can honestly say I still wear a lot of black and my eyeliner has remained much the same — black liquid eyeliner, winged out at the edges. It's my go-to, everyday look.
But these people trying out the blood eyeliner are doing the most in-depth tutorials on YouTube, discussing the means and methods to this Halloween madness. Most of the tutorials set up the eyeliner as you normally would. They use an eyeshadow primer and then various highlights and contours to make the eye pop. They concentrate on a chiaroscuro effect by dotting the globe and inner corner of the eye with a very light eyeshadow like my favorite, Urban Decay in Polyester Bride ($19, Sephora). They then go in for a taupe contour in the crease of the lid, blending out to a darker brown at the edges. Then, they make a dramatic cat eye, pulling that wing out like you're testing it for flight. I like Stila Stay All Day liner in jet black ($22, Sephora) because it really does stay all day, and it paints on like a marker. Next, they either go in with a dab of fake blood and more white shadow as eyeliner, or they brush on a truly red lipstick over a pink shadow base under the wing.
Editor’s Note: The Instagram post has since been deleted.
But some YouTube stars are going as far as splattering the "blood" onto their eyelids like a crime scene. It's creepy, it's weird, and honestly, it takes some skill. So if you're a makeup fiend and looking for a way to creep up your normal look without dousing your face in green paint or changing into some intense costume, this may be just the makeup trend for you.
If you're considering this look for Halloween, make sure you use makeup brands that you trust implicitly. There have been some bad batches of fake blood (I can attest to this from personal experience), and you don't want to spend your Halloween in bed with an ice pack and Benadryl because your blood disagreed with you. Be safe, and stay scary, my friends.
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