Bring out your pumpkins, skeletons and fake spider webs, because it’s that time of year again. Halloween is approaching, but there is one thing you shouldn’t forget this year: Halloween makeup.
As kids, we put on masks to become our favorite super heroes, but now makeup has become a game changer. Want to look spooky this year? Check out our very own University of Massachsuetts students, who put the “oo” in “boo” with their “spooktacular” Halloween looks.
Half-skull by Rachel Keatley
If you are just getting started in Halloween makeup, the half skull look may be up your alley. Junior communication and journalism major, Rachel Keatley, recreated a skull look that is killing us with its style.
Inspired by Roxxsaurus’ video “Half Skull Halloween Makeup Tutorial,” Keatley did an amazing job making this look her own.
“I wanted to be something scary without being gory. I start to look up Halloween makeup tutorials on YouTube when October hits,” she said.
I asked Rachel which products she used so we could recreate this look ourselves. Here is what she had to say:
“For this look I used Snazaroo white face paint, drugstore black eyeshadow and black liquid eyeliner. I am currently looking for my Snazaroo face paint for this year but my search has been unsuccessful. A problem I faced while creating this look was that the greasy white makeup and black eyeliner would smudge together creating a mess in some areas. I had to go back to clean up the smudge marks multiple times. But it totally wasn’t the end of the world! This is one of my favorite Halloween looks I’ve ever done!”
“I love that with Halloween makeup you can recreate yourself just for a night. It’s fun dressing up and looking at other people’s makeup and costumes. Honestly my favorite part of Halloween is seeing everyone’s costumes. I love how everyone’s Halloween looks will come out different even if you follow a tutorial,” Keatley said.
Slit throat/murder victim from Aurora Athame
The cool thing about Halloween makeup is how versatile it is. You can go for very simple looks, more intricate looks like skeletons or even delve in the realm of special effects makeup, and that’s exactly what social and behavioral sciences major Aurora Athame did.
The specific look she came up with is the slit throat/murder victim. Warning, this is pretty gory, realistic and not for the faint of heart.
When describing how she came up with the idea, Athame said, “I searched on Pinterest for ideas for Halloween costumes and came across a common costume where one dresses up as a ‘murder victim.’ I wanted to add my own twist and have the option to still get away with wearing a full face of makeup, so I came up with the idea to do a slit throat, instead of a black eye, or fake wounds on my face, which was typical in most pictures.”
On the process of creating the look, Athame said, “I layered liquid latex with cotton balls and tissue paper, then used scissors to make the cut. Once that was done I used a combination of foundations, eye shadows and fake blood to make the wound look realistic and blend into my skin.”
Athame added, “I love the freedom to be as creative as I want and I love how dramatic the transformation can be. I feel accomplished if I can look in the mirror when I’m done and actually creep myself out a little bit!”
Cynthia Ntinunu can be reached at [email protected].
