Perhaps more than any other holiday, Halloween is a beauty lover's dream. Not only is it the one time of the year we can dress up like our favorite internet meme or Snapchat filter without explanation, but it also gives us the chance to play with all the out-there makeup we've been stockpiling. Instead of subtly sweeping on subdued lipstick and mascara, All Hallows' Eve allows us to go all out.
In the spirit of skewing more spectacular than spooky, we tapped makeup artist Ashleigh Ciucci to whip up five makeup-centric costumes that are anything but generic. Whether you're looking to nod at pop culture or indulge in some #TBT, we've got a getup (and the steps to pull it off) for you.
Click through to find your costume for this year. These looks are so cool, you can almost skip clothes altogether.
The Snapchat Dog
Move over, rainbow puke filter. There's a new favorite filter in town — and it's a puppy with an adorable brown snout. Luckily, this costume is ridiculously easy to create — it just takes a couple of paint pigments and pigtails.
Drome Hooded Shearling and Suede Poncho, $1,625, available at Selfridges.
Photographed by Ruby June.
Ciucci started by painting on the muzzle with the brow pigment in Make Up For Ever's Flash palette. "It's like a rounded rectangle with a bend in the center," she says. To keep it from sliding around, she set the brown with a similarly pigmented loose powder. Next, she sketched on the nose with a darker brown pigment, then set it with powder, too.
Make Up For Ever 12 Flash Color Case, $99, available at Make Up For Ever; MAC Eye Shadow in Saddle, $16, available at MAC; Make Up For Ever Wet Makeup in FS38 Neutral Flesh, $29, available at Make Up For Ever; MAC Eyeshadow in Brun, $16, available at MAC.
Photographed by Ruby June.
Next, Ciucci painted on the details. She outlined the entire muzzle and nose with Make Up For Ever's black wet makeup before dotting on the whisker spots with a pointed cotton bud. Finally, she popped on two dots to represent the nostrils and drew a line down the center of the nose.
Make Up For Ever Wet Makeup in 71 Black, $29, available at Make Up For Ever.
Photographed by Ruby June.
Now all you have to do is stick your candy-colored tongue out all night. Whom you decide to lick is your business.
Photographed by Ruby June.
#InstaBeauty
It's kind of impossible to pick one Instagram beauty trend to adopt as a Halloween costume. So why not do a whole mash-up? We're talking drippy lips, rainbow highlighter, major contouring, and brows with a capital B.
ASOS Pleated Velvet High Neck Column Dress, $73, available at ASOS.
Photographed by Ruby June.
Be warned before you attempt this: There is a ton of makeup involved. Ciucci started with a full-coverage foundation, followed by some intense contouring and highlighting. Next, she applied NARS Rigel all over the eyelid, working the lighter side of Cordura Duo into the crease. Ciucci then sketched on a full cat-eye using a cream liner.
For the brows, she reached for Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Duo and filled them in heavily. "Make sure the brows are square by the nose and then thick and tapered toward the end," Ciucci said. To add that Insta highlight, she traced around the brows using Anastasia Beverly Hills Pro Pencil.
To really over-exaggerate the rainbow on the cheeks, Ciucci applied each line of color one at a time. She dipped a tapered blending brush into the palette, slid it across the pink, and then striped the pink along the cheekbone. She then repeated the steps with each color in the palette, finishing with the blue hue on the bottom.
NARS Dual-Intensity Eyeshadow in Rigel, $29, available at NARS; NARS Duo Eyeshadow in Cordura, $35, available at NARS; ELF Cream Eyeliner in Black, $3, available at ELF; Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Powder Duo, $23, available at Sephora; Anastasia Beverly Hills Pro Pencil, $18, available at Ulta Beauty; Wet n Wild Color Icon Rainbow Highlighter, $4.99, available at Wet n Wild.
Photographed by Ruby June.
To create the drippy lips, Ciucci came up with a genius idea: hot glue drops. She took a hot glue gun and released a few drops onto a paper plate in a drip shape. Once they were dry, she popped them off and adhered two to the lips using makeup adhesive. "That way, you can get the look without actually applying a ton of lip gloss," she said. To finish, she painted the lips and the drips with a liquid lipstick and added a clear gloss on top.
Too Faced Melted Liquified Long Wear Lipstick in Velvet, $21, available at Ulta Beauty; Maybelline LipStudio Shine Shot Lip Topcoat in Clear Vinyl, $5.99, available at Ulta Beauty.
Photographed by Ruby June.
Selfie time! Facetune optional.
Photographed by Ruby June.
Internet Troll
Ah, the internet troll — the bane of our digital existence. Snarky, sassy, and more than a little rude, this is one Halloween costume that's more pleasant IRL than on the web.
I Waited For You top.
Photographed by Ruby June.
First, Ciucci and our hairstylist, Mirna, coordinated colors for the wig and makeup — in this case, orange and blue. After Mirna affixed the wig, Ciucci got to work on troll-ifying our model. She started by filling in her brows with blue, then worked a blue shadow into the inner corners of the lower lashlines and on the outside corners of the eyes. Ciucci then pressed a blue cream shadow into the center of the lid using her finger and tapped loose glitter on top. Finally, she swept the blue shade from Make Up For Ever's Flash palette across our troll's lips.
ColourPop Eye Pigment in Too Shy, $5, available at ColourPop; Make Up For Ever 12 Flash Color Case, $99, available at Make Up For Ever; Make Up For Ever Aqua Cream in Intense Blue, $23, available at Sephora; Urban Decay Heavy Metal Loose Glitter in Reverb, $6, available at Urban Decay.
Photographed by Ruby June.
Next comes the troll contour for that carved-out, plastic look. Ciucci ran a blue powder pigment across our model's cheekbones to make them pop. Then she took a blue liner and drew it under the cheekbones, down one side of the nose, and around the nostrils.
Sephora Collection Colorful Eyeshadow in Blue Lagoon, $10, available at Sephora; Sonia Kashuk Knock Out Beauty Eyeliner in Split Decision, $8.99, available at Target.
Photographed by Ruby June.
Pop a cut-out cursor in your hair, put on your best resting bitch face, and tell everyone who crosses your path exactly what you think of them. You'll probably get blocked from all future parties, but that's the price of committing to a role.
Photographed by Ruby June.
Lisa Frank
What's better than a little nostalgia in your Halloween costume? This neon kitten is the purrrrr-fect costume for '90s gals and makeup lovers alike.
Drome coat.
Photographed by Ruby June.
Ciucci started by laying down a base of white with a sponge in a P hantom of the Opera -esque shape. "It will help the rest of the colors pop more," she said. She layered a yellow cream pigment all over the white, which she set with a yellow powder. Next, Ciucci dabbed an orange shadow from Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics on about half of the face before tapping a pink hue on a quarter of the "mask."
Make Up For Ever 12 Flash Color Case, $99, available at Make Up For Ever; NYX Cosmetics Hot Singles Eyeshadow in STFU, $4.99, available at Ulta Beauty; Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Loose Colour Concentrates in Mimosa, $15, available at Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics; MAC Pigment in Red Electric, $22, available at MAC.
Photographed by Ruby June.
Ciucci dusted purple pigment along the hairline before moving on to the details. She brushed the same pink pigment on the eyebrows to make them pop, then sketched out a white mouth with some wet makeup.
Using a black shade of wet makeup, Ciucci outlined the mask, painted in the nose, and dotted the white lip. Then she moved on to sketching leopard spots. "The shapes themselves are an assortment of half-circles, curly q's, and question marks without the dots," Ciucci said.
Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Loose Colour Concentrate in Static, $15, available at Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics; Make Up For Ever 12 Flash Color Case, $99, available at Make Up For Ever.
Photographed by Ruby June.
Meow! This kitty is a total throwback.
Photographed by Ruby June.
Aura Photo
You've probably seen those aura photos, which claim to read your energies with color, floating all over your Instagram feed. Just so happens they're also one of the easiest Halloween costumes on the planet.
J. Papa Winona Slip Dress, $280, available at J. Papa.
Photographed by Ruby June.
Ciucci grabbed her Flash palette and started tapping on colors with a Beautyblender. "The colors tend to be more basic, like reds and greens and purples," she said. She blended the hues over our model's face and neck.
Make Up For Ever 12 Flash Color Case, $99, available at Make Up For Ever.
Photographed by Ruby June.
Next, she went in with white and black shades around the forehead to add depth and dimension.
Photographed by Ruby June.
Hey, girl, your aura is showing.
Photographed by Ruby June.
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