Every year I set lofty goals for what I want my Halloween costume to be. I daydream that my costume will be obscure, creative, witty, complicated, unique… What inevitably ends up happening is that Halloween weekend rolls around and I’m still scrambling for inspiration. This year, I grabbed an inexpensive palette of face paint from the costume store so I’d be ready for any last-minute parties that creep up on me. If you’re in the same perfectionist-steered boat and can’t settle on ideas until it’s almost too late, here are five last-minute Halloween costumes that only require face painting. Easy enough.
For these five looks, all you need is a paintbrush, a makeup sponge, and the primary color palette of face paint (plus white and black). You can easily push these looks by adding accessories, props, or matching apparel, but each look can stand alone, too.
1. Rainbow: You can quickly be a happy little rainbow with a few streaks of color across your face. I added a bit of pink face paint to my lips, too, for even more color. Apply face paint with a paint brush, being careful of the eyes.
2. Galaxy: This look is great because you can be messy with it and you’ll still look amazing. Apply face paint with a sponge, mixing black, purple, and blue across your face. Use the black paint around your eyes and temples. Add white with a paint brush, dotting in stars and highlighting your eyebrows and eyelids.
3. Skeleton: I think the skeleton is such a classic because it’s a breeze to do last-minute (I speak from personal experience with this one!). Start by applying white face paint with a sponge, then add black with a paintbrush. I actually drew in the eye sockets, nose, and teeth with eyeliner before filling them in with face paint, but that’s not necessary. Throw on a black shrit and you’re ready to haunt the night.
4. Zombie: If I had to be a zombie every Halloween for the rest of my life, I wouldn’t even be mad. Going as the undead is pretty easy, but it does require every color in your face painting palette. Apply everything with a sponge, and don’t be afraid to be messy. Start with a light coating of white to add paleness. Mix red and purple together for a bruised and bloodied look, Hints of green in the forehead and cheeks, and blue on the lips. Finally, add light amounts of black along contour lines for a sunken in look. Don’t forget to ask for brains.
5. Tropical fish: Our final face painting look is a little on the fishy side. Start with a blue base, add highlights on the lips and eyes in yellow and green, and draw green fins on the cheeks. Add white scales with a paintbrush, and outline the fins in black.
So… do you know what you’re going as for Halloween yet? I’m still stumped – I know I want to do the whole couples costume thing with my fiance, but it’s so hard to settle on just one idea!
Don’t forget to set the mood for face painting by putting on some spooky music! Click here to check out three Halloween-themed playlists.
