How to: Creating a new face for Halloween

Halloween is just around the corner, which means it’s time for costumes and makeup. This time of year is always fun for me because it gives people a chance to turn into fictional characters or whatever else people can think of. What makes this even more fun is when you know exactly how to get the same look as the character you’re recreating. Sometimes, there are some characters whose look we aren’t sure how to duplicate. But of course, there are always some tricks around those challenges that are simple to learn. So, for all the beginners out there, you’ll be able to recreate those styles and looks this Halloween.  

The first thing you want to do is decide what character you want to recreate and look at their facial features. If the character is fictional, like an alien with blue skin, what other colors are there? Where do the eyes start or finish and does the character have hair? Look at the textures of their skin. If they have green skin, what darker creases in the skin do they have? Get the base color on and you’ll be set to move to the next step. 

For recreating people, it is a little different. You want to avoid recreating skin color because this can become problematic very quickly. Just be on the safe side and avoid trying to darken or lighten the skin tones of yourself and trying to recreate human characters. Get your natural foundation base and cover all areas of the face. Be appropriate and mindful not to turn a costume into a mockery. To be safe not to do this, you want to really focus on how to get the shape of that person’s face. When you look at these facial features be sure to examine where there are natural shadows, wrinkles, nose shape, moles, etc. Having a picture on hand will be a great guide to follow as you do your makeup. Once you’ve looked at the natural shadows or curves of the character, go ahead and begin the next step of marking those lines and shadows on your face. Don’t be afraid to get make exaggerated lines. Afterall, it will most likely be dark and this will help the features be more visible and will help mask your natural features.  

Speaking of masking, concealer and contouring is key. Recreate your natural facial structure and form into your character. You will want to follow the marked guide shadows you made before so you can go through and highlight or shadow areas needed. Concealer is also very helpful when it comes to eye shape. If you have a white concealer (or whatever color concealer that fits the character recreation), you can extend out the length or bulginess of the eyes. On the contrary, you can conceal the eye with the color of skin to shorten the eyes or change the shape to be smaller. For eyelashes, you can put the eyelashes at about the lid to really exaggerate the size of the eyes and that makes it look more realistic.  

When making these characters, don’t be afraid to add in some texture to the skin. Liquid latex, special effects, sticky gum (or glue), tissue paper, and Halloween scar kits will be helping hands in creating wounds or extra body parts. If you want to buy a premade scar or gash, you will be able to have it still all night with the sticky gum and adding makeup on top will add to its realness. Put some blood on top to really get spooky. Sometimes the blood will need to be darkened but you can mix it will some maroon colored shadow or a tiny bit of black shadow. Elmer’s glue and tissue paper can help create that textured skin on the character that was mentioned before as well as liquid latex. Be sure to dabble in these tricks and see how they work for you and more importantly have fun when you’re doing it. That’s what’s Halloween is for.