50 DIY Halloween Makeup Tutorials

Looking for some ways to make an statement on Halloween? Good makeup is the key to almost all of the best Halloween costumes we’ve ever seen. If you have a special party to attend or just want to get more likes than anyone else, then you absolutely need to check out this awesome list of DIY Halloween makeup ideas. With ideas for pretty and romantic to creepy and scary, you are sure to find the perfect compliment to your costume here.

These cool makeup ideas actually can be all you need for an awesome costume. We found some neat last minute makeup ideas, too, for those in a hurry because they forgot Halloween was just around the corner. You don’t need to be an expert to get amazing results with your Halloween makeup, either. Simply follow these step by step photo tutorials and you will get what you see in the pictures. We just love this holiday and can’t wait. Once you see these fun ideas for Halloween makeup, you will be excited, too! Make a super impression with one of our 50 favorites. A simple click will give you step by step tutorials to show you how to create these amazing Halloween faces. Most of these Halloween ideas use makeup you already have so they are super inexpensive as well.

Once you choose your Halloween makeup, take a look at our fun list of last-minute DIY Halloween costumes, homemade costumes for couples and DIY Halloween party decor ideas. Whether you are going to a big Halloween party or throwing one yourself, be sure to whip up some goodies to share. We have some super lists of Halloween cookie recipes and Halloween party snack ideas to get you in the spirit of one of our favorite holidays.

Cool Halloween Makeup Ideas

1. Harlequin Doll Halloween Makeup

keikolynn

I love harlequin costumes at Halloween, but most people white out the whole face and I wanted something a bit more glamorous because I was on a Halloween date, so it was important to have my eyes, lips, and cheeks very pronounced. I used all my old makeup so the project was free. Liquid eyeliner really made a huge difference here, it was super easy and looked very alluring.

Pink lips and pink cheeks really brought the whole look together. My date and I are still together and he stills asks if I can do the makeup again for him, he’s such a character. 😉 If you are looking for a pretty Halloween makeup idea for your big date or party, look no further than this DIY harlequin doll makeup tutorial.

2. Easy Pumpkin and Bat Face Paint

Welcome to Nana’s

This one is less a full makeup transformation and more a quick face-painting trick, which makes it perfect if you’re short on time or patience with a makeup brush. A small jack-o-lantern and bat painted right on the cheek takes just a couple of minutes and still reads as a real Halloween look for a party or a school event.

Shelly built this around simple designs and free templates, so you can trace the shape first if you’re not confident freehanding it. It works just as well as a stand-alone accent on a costume you’ve already got as it does as the main event. My own kids beg for exactly this kind of quick face paint on their way out the door on Halloween. Welcome to Nana’s has the full how-to and templates.

3. Half Zombie Scary Halloween Makeup Idea

slashedbeauty

I really wanted to scare the pants off of somebody for Halloween and decided Zombie was the way to go. I still wanted to be alluring so I decided to go half and half. The clothes were so simple to put together, I bought a long dress from the thrift store and ripped it into long pieces so it really looked like swaggy fringe on the dancefloor. T

his FX makeup was super easy and the liquid latex looked phenomenal. I did the monster mash all night! If you need a scary idea for your halloween makeup for guys or girls, this may be your winning idea here. I think it is one of the easiest, best Halloween makeup ideas around, personally.

4. Owl Makeup

modcloth

I got a pair of wings from a local costume shop and needed the right Halloween makeup to set this little dream of mine into motion. I found this Owl makeup on Pinterest and got some feathers and greasepaint from Michael’s craft store. I used false eyelash glue to glue down the feathers and followed the easy step by step instructions in the link.

I wore a corset under my wings and decorated myself with some leather jewelry. This turned out to be a very cute look overall, sexy but not in a vampy over the top way, a good choice for all.

5. Easy Cat Halloween Makeup

twistmepretty

My nickname is Cheetah at work because I’m always running around at a rapid pace. So I thought what better way to really prove my inner cheetah than to dress up as one for our annual Halloween party. I found this tutorial that made it so easy, I was able to use all makeup I already had. I just wore a simple black leotard and some cheetah accessories from the local costume shop. I managed to find a pack of accessories for $15.00, that included ears and a tail.

My name is now in the cheetah hall of fame forever. If you want a cute Halloween makeup idea, this adroable cat just may be your thing. Cut and easy cat Halloween makeup can be yours in less than an hour.[social_warfare]

6. Sugar Skull Halloween Makeup

Kleinworth & Co.

Face paint is the one kind of painting I have barely done, and this is the tutorial that makes me want to fix that. Gina Kleinworth painted this Day of the Dead sugar skull freehand on her older daughter as a practice run before Halloween. It works like watercolor, so you wet a sponge and build up the white base, about four coats to get it that opaque.

One coat does not read as a sugar skull, it reads as someone coming down with something, so keep going. Then black blended under the cheekbones and a brush for the eyes, lips and nose. Her daughter picked the turquoise and purple. The detail that makes the whole face snap is the thin line of white between the black and the turquoise around the eyes. Close to two hours of slow freehand work, so start after lunch, not ten minutes before the party.

7. Angel of Death Look

sokolum

Sclera contact lenses are so spooky! If you’ve ever been accused of being an alien and want to give them a run for their money, this is the look for you, just slap those glossy black eyes in and they are in the driver’s seat.

Put some white base makeup on and draw some cracks and you are the spookiest gal at the shindig! Piercings optional. 😉 If you are in the market for one of the creepiest, scary halloween makeup ideas for girls or guys, try this face with your costume.

8. Sparkly Spiderweb Face Paint

Simply Designing

Ashley admits straight up that she’s not great at intricate face painting, and that’s exactly why this one is worth trying if you feel the same way. It’s a glitter tattoo spiderweb done with a Tulip Body Art kit, which basically does the hard part of holding a clean design for you.

The whole thing comes together in about 5 minutes, and the glitter finish makes it look a lot more polished than a plain painted web would. It’s a good option for the cheek or the side of the neck if you want something Halloween-ish without committing to a full face of makeup. Her daughter had been asking for face paint for years, and this was finally the easy enough version to say yes to. Simply Designing has the quick video tutorial.

9. Cute Fox Halloween Makeup

thewonderforest

Oh, so foxy is what they will all be saying this Halloween when you show up in this cute makeup. The fox is an excellent costume for many reasons, it’s so darn cute being the main reason and it’s super easy. I used my own makeup except for the white greasepaint, I got from Michael’s craft store.

The costume itself can be a leotard or something plain with a fox tail and ear pack from the local costume shop or go full on furry if you dare. For easy Halloween makeup that gets noticed, try out this tutorial that shows you how to do fox makeup. Get or make a fox costume, or for a last minute costume idea, cute out some paper ears and glue them on a headband. Instant Halloween outfit for free!

10. Black and White Grayscale Makeup

keikolynn

The greyscale makeup is one Halloween idea that will leave all the partygoers shaking in their boots and it’s really easy. I did buy the Ben Nye clown white base because it has such a flawless look, but I used my own black and grey eyeshadow for this show-stopping special effects look.

It reminded me of nostalgic old black and white films, yet it was very eerie for my Halloween endgame and also very glamorous when I paired it with a Victorian style black beaded dress. So spooky, I scared everyone last year when I walked into the party sporting this Halloween makeup idea.

11. Ghostly Glamour Tutorial

theglamoroushousewife

I love the vintage look of just about everything, just pop your head into my living room and you will suspect this is true. If you look in my closet, you may feel you’ve been transported back to 1940 or 1950. In a previous life, I really think I may have been a movie star, too, so it is no surprise I fell in love with this cool makeup tutorial as soon as I saw it. Also, I immediately began planning the outfit to go with it. Color or black and white, pearls or a high collar.

So many decisions you will have to make. This makeup tutorial is really easy to do, but looks great, requires no professional Halloween makeup kit or anything fancy. The dark eyeshadow is spooky but yet accentuates anyone’s eyes in a most lovely fashion. Contrast the pale, white foundation with a dark red lipstick and you will be the prettiest dead girl or guy at the Halloween party 2018.

12. Pop Art Cartoon Makeup

cosmopolitan

Warhol’s got nothing on you when you become a living pop art cartoon for Halloween. Another simple, quick and easy idea for Halloween makeup, you don’t need to buy anything special to get this cool Halloween look. Black eyeliner and lipstick will help you achieve this fun face. Add a cute vintage dress and you will quickly be in business. Take a few pop art friends along to the party for some super fun Instagram shots.

13. Deer – Easy Halloween Makeup Idea

laurenkelp

Last year, I scoured Pinterest for the best makeup ideas, and with hundreds to choose from, I finally decided to try out this deer. I wanted something a little different for Halloween makeup, and was not wanting to go as a doll or zombie like all my friends. This face-flattering makeup idea was my favorite, and when I tried it out at home and it only took 15 minutes, I knew this was my Halloween makeup for the big night.

No special makeup kit for Halloween is required. You should have all the products and supplies you need at home to be able to easily create this look by yourself.

14. Totally Doable Glam Skeleton Halloween Makeup

stylecaster

Do not try to make the eye sockets perfect. StyleCaster says outright that the circles look better when they aren’t, which takes the pressure off before you start. Work zone by zone: foundation a shade lighter than your skin over the whole face including your mouth, black liquid liner to outline the sockets, black shadow to fill them, then a letter M drawn across the nose with the sides wrapping your nostrils.

A white eyeliner pencil turns your lips into teeth, and vertical lines about half an inch apart do the rest. Nobody is counting them. The detail that sells the whole face is the neck: shade the sides and leave a strip of bare skin down the center so it reads hollow. As Halloween makeup tutorials go this is the forgiving one, and StyleCaster puts the whole costume at about an hour. Nichole Ciotti’s step by step is there.

15. DIY Pirate Makeup

Craftivity Designs

This pirate makeup is really just a scruffy beard built with a stipple sponge, no fine detail work required at all. Dab a stipple sponge into brown bruise makeup and pat it around the mouth, chin and lower cheeks first, then go back over the same area with black to fill the beard in and give it some depth. A red face crayon dragged across one cheek adds a scar that finishes the rough-and-tumble look in seconds.

Lora put this together for her son and paired it with a skeleton pirate shirt, an eye patch and a gold hoop earring for the full costume, but the makeup alone would carry a plain black shirt just fine. It’s the kind of makeup a kid can sit still for since it only takes about 20 minutes start to finish. Craftivity Designs has the full step-by-step.

16. Jack Skellington Halloween Makeup

Happiness is Homemade

 

White goes on in three thin coats, not one thick one, with a makeup sponge and a full dry-down between each. Two coats are not solid white. Three are, and that is the difference between a skull and a smudge. The black comes next, the sunken eyes and the stitched grin, painted on with a soft brush in one pass while that last white layer sets.

It’s the water-activated kind of face paint you wet like a box of watercolors, and Heidi’s held for four hours on a kid who ate a snack and drank a bottle of water, then came off with soap and water. Fifteen minutes is her ceiling on a child’s patience, and I think that number is the real tip: pick the face you can finish inside it. Happiness is Homemade has the tutorial.

17. Lichtenstein Inspired Halloween Makeup

Pop Art Makeup Tutorial

[social_warfare]

Our own post promises that the only thing you need here is your makeup bag, which is true right up until the neon purple wig. Helen Torsgarden’s supply list tells you the rest of the look: white face crayons and loose powder for the flat base, a face pencil for the outlines, yellow and blue shadow, a pale pencil to open up the eyes, false lashes, lipstick and a pair of space blue crazy contacts.

The dots are the Lichtenstein part, and they’re what turn skin into printed comic page. It’s a video, under seven minutes, so watch it through once before you start drawing on your own face. The whole look lives on our Pop Art Makeup Tutorial.

18. Mermaid Makeup

allure

A bag of potatoes is on the supply list, and that is not a typo. MAC senior artist Gina Bettelli widened the hole in the plastic netting, pulled it over Sophia Panych’s head and tapped color through, which is how you get fish scales across the temples, chin and cheek hollows without drawing one. Her rule is cream first, shimmer powder second, because the powder needs something to grip.

I paint a few oils a year, and any layering rule that starts with so it has something to stick to has my trust. Bottom lashes go on upside down in a straight line with a gap at the outer corners for a gill effect, and craft store sequins glued above the brow arch finish it. Fair warning on format: Allure runs this as a nine slide gallery with a caption under each photo, not as a numbered how to.

19. Zombie Cheerleader Makeup

Rae Gun Ramblings

Give the water based face paint a spritz of water, then work it in with a sponge. Go thin, because you can always add more. White areas first, then the black. Sunken cheeks are one drawn line, smudged out. Set it with powder or setting spray, or you’ll wear most of it on your collar. The lower half of the face is a fabric mask, swiped with red, black and white fabric paint and finished with black vinyl lips ironed on.

The cheerleader half is a plain tank top with ribbon stripes sewn on, a box pleated skirt and knee socks striped with two black Sharpie lines, a shortcut I would take every time. Marissa kept all of it clean instead of bloody so it gets worn again. Rae Gun Ramblings has the makeup tips and the costume tutorial.

20. Frozen Elsa Makeup

lovemaegan

Elsa’s eyebrows are doing more work here than her eyeshadow. Maegan angles them, points the tips and narrows them out, and once they are right the rest of the face falls into place. The eye goes on in layers: white shimmer all over the lid, then a bright matte purple following your crease and fanned out and down under the lower lashes, then deeper purples for depth with hot pink and shimmery rust around the edges, then white shimmer dabbed back onto the center of the lid.

Her best tip travels well past this look: draw the cat eye in pencil first, then trace over it with liquid liner, so a shaky hand costs you nothing. loveMaegan has an Elsa Snow Queen DIY costume and a big French braid tutorial too, and the same post ends with a snowfall manicure.

21. Quick Stitched Mouth Halloween Makeup

cutediyprojects

22. Weeping Nun Makeup

beautylish

American Horror Story: Asylum is where this one comes from, and a white faced nun weeping black tears stuck with the Beautylish team all year before they rebuilt it. I went to Catholic high school, which makes me either exactly the wrong person to hand you this or exactly the right one. The step people skip is the first: flatten your eyebrows with a nontoxic glue stick applied with a small spatula, let it dry clear, then powder over it.

Skip it and you have a nun with eyebrows, which is a different character. White makeup goes over the face, lips and neck with a sponge, set with white powder rather than translucent, because translucent will not cover. Red gel liner tightlined between the lashes makes the eyes raw, and the tears are black liner painted below in drops of different lengths. Beautylish has all nine steps.

23. Garden Goddess

hgtv

24. Blacklight Butterfly Face Paint

Happy Hour Projects

This one only shows its full effect once the lights go down, which makes it a fun pick if your Halloween party has a blacklight or a dark dance floor. It’s a butterfly painted around the eyes with Tulip’s neon face paint, green and blue in this version, and under a blacklight the whole design glows like it’s lit from inside. In regular light it still reads as a solid butterfly face paint, so you’re not stuck waiting for the lights to change before it looks finished. It’s a good one for a grown-up Halloween night out rather than a kids party, since blacklight setups are more of an adult-party thing. The shimmer and neon paints from Tulip are what make the glow actually work, so regular face paint won’t get you the same effect. Happy Hour Projects has the full video tutorial.

25. Witch Halloween Makeup

A Beautiful Mess

One dark metallic purple eyeshadow does three jobs in this look, which is how it comes together in ten or fifteen minutes. It goes on the lid up to the brow bone. A blush brush picks the same purple up and cuts in under the cheekbones. A little more gets patted into the middle of a very dark lip so the lipstick doesn’t read flat.

The black takes the most skill: tap nearly all of it off a small brush, press it into the outer corner, then blend out through the crease in a cat eye shape with a bigger one. Less product, more control. It is not supposed to look clean. She’s a witch. The costume around it is a black hat, a tattoo choker with a spider and a wand. A Beautiful Mess has the tutorial, plus four more looks.

26. Zombie Face

mouthsofmums

27. Ventriloquist Doll Halloween Makeup

slashedbeauty

Why buy a costume you will wear once? Miranda’s answer every year is to spend the money on her face instead, and this doll is her clearest case for DIY Halloween makeup carrying an entire costume. The product list is drugstore, down to a Wet n Wild Fantasy Makers palette and Coastal Scents hot pots in peach, purple, lavender and pink.

It is a video tutorial, so you watch her build the face rather than read steps. She also says in the comments that she is not wearing contacts in the photo, just good light and maybe some Photoshop, and I am glad she said it, because the eyes are the part that reads uncanny and it is easy to assume you have to buy something. Pair it with a dress you own, or take scissors to a thrift store one. Slashed Beauty has the video.

28. Wonder Woman’s Headpiece for Halloween Using Only Makeup

cosmopolitan

29. Black Widow Makeup

letzmakeupblog

30. Pennywise Makeup

cutediyprojects

31. Queen of Hearts Makeup

slapdashmom

Pull a card out of a regular deck, because that card is the template for the whole face. Outline it in black eyeliner, fill it with white makeup, then go back over the black lines a second time, which is what keeps the outline from going muddy under the white. From there it’s a Q in the top corner, an upside-down Q in the opposite one, and three red hearts drawn in lip liner and re-outlined in black so they read as printed on rather than doodled.

Heavier liner than usual on the lid, red shadow over it, and lips outlined into a heart and filled in red. Nell wore this one and Laurie stepped in on the lines, which tells you which part is fussy: straight and truly black takes several passes. Doing this on a small child? Cut your own card a little smaller. Slap Dash Mom has all of the steps in one image.

32. Tribute to Glitter

purple

33. Ziggy Stardust

nastygal

34. Easy Scarecrow Costume and Makeup

Dream a Little Bigger

I once hand-stitched a Where the Wild Things Are Max suit before I knew how to sew, and a neighbor turned up on Halloween morning to finish it for me, so a costume that comes together the night before has my full attention. Fair warning on this one: it is a whole scarecrow costume from Allison Murray at Dream a Little Bigger, eight dollars of it from Walmart, and the makeup is a section inside it rather than a how-to of its own.

The face is four moves. Two coats of mascara, including the bottom lashes, bright pink lipstick, an orange triangle filled in on the nose with stitches drawn around the sides, then freckles dabbed on with a makeup crayon. She kept it that simple because she rubs her face all night and anything painted on her cheeks would have smudged by nine. The dog is wearing a feather boa, because a scarecrow needs a crow.

35. Comic Book Girl

besthalloweenblog

The dots make or break a pop art face, and the tutorial says so in capital letters. Red pencil lip liner is the easiest way to get them, and they have to be even and all the same size, so hold a ruler up as a guide. Everything else is drawing: darker brows, a line down the center of the nose, one along the upper hairline, and a jawline running from earlobe to earlobe under the chin.

Bright blue or purple shadow goes to just under the brow bone, gets outlined in black, and the lower lashes are drawn on. Red lips, lined in black, with a dab of white on the bottom lip so it catches the light. The detail I would copy first is the base, because she mixes white face paint into her regular foundation rather than going straight white, so you land at cartoon and not corpse. Best Halloween Blog has the step by step.

36. Cat Face Paint

iSaveA2Z

This animal face paint is a cat look, whiskers, ears and a muzzle in warm browns, with matching paw prints pressed onto both hands for good measure. Jen’s tip here is all about the paint quality, not the technique, spend a little more on real face paint like Mehron Paradise or Wolfe Brothers and it won’t crack, peel or wear off halfway through the party the way a bargain kit will.

Even her own daughter uses these same paints to face-paint her friends, so it’s genuinely simple enough for a kid to do on another kid. This one works best paired with a full animal costume rather than standing alone as the whole look. If you want to try a different animal face paint yourself, use this as your color and technique starting point. iSaveA2Z has more Halloween face painting ideas and tutorials.

37. Half Sugar Skull Makeup

veckorevyn

38. Burned Flesh

halloweencostumes

Liquid latex and a plain Kleenex do the entire effect here, which is not what you’d expect from a DIY effect this gruesome. A thin coat of latex goes down, the tissue presses into it, anything that isn’t stuck gets torn away, and it dries completely before you touch it again. Skin tone foundation over the top hides the tissue, and a seam ripper opens small holes in it, which is what turns a lumpy patch into burned skin.

Foundation again over the torn edges, yellow inside and around every hole, brown dragged over the whole piece with a stipple sponge for that dirty charred look, then red filling the holes. Clear gloss over the red, and lip gloss counts, is what sells it as a fresh wound. Plan the removal before you start: spirit gum remover, makeup remover or soap and water. HalloweenCostumes.com rates this one three out of five for difficulty and walks all five steps.

39. Jigsaw Makeup

lovethispic

40. Doll Inspired Halloween Makeup

Doll Makeup Tutorial for Halloween

Sweet rather than creepy, which makes this the doll on the list you can wear without frightening somebody’s kid. It starts with a white pencil along the lower waterline and under the eye, and that one cheap product is what makes the eyes read huge and round before a drop of liner goes on.

After that it’s heavy winged liner with the lower lashes drawn on one at a time, Eylure falsies up top, a circle of pink blush high on the cheek and a tiny heart of a lip well inside your own lip line. Your costume is a lace top and a puffy skirt from your own closet. Hannah Leigh’s video has over a million views, and her description links a scarier version if you change your mind. It’s all on our Doll Makeup Tutorial for Halloween.

41. Jeweled Eyes

heymishka

42. Creative Bat Eye Makeup

mycherrystyle

Working from a picture beats freehanding, and that is the real lesson in this one. She pulled up a photo of the Batman mask from The Dark Knight Rises and painted the shape from it, which is why the cowl reads as a mask and not as smudgy black wings. Gel eyeliner and a flat angled brush do the shape, with a neutral eyeshadow palette and one metallic shade rounding it out. An old shawl covers the rest of the costume, and honestly that is my favorite line on the supply list. One thing to know going in: the tutorial is a video and she kept it deliberately short, so watch it twice, once for the shape and once for the order she works in. My Cherry Style has the video and every product she used, right down to the concealer.

43. Skeleton Couple Makeup

The Girl Inspired

If you want a couples look that’s carried entirely by the makeup, this skeleton face is the one to try. Start with a matte white foundation base, going more solid for a stronger effect or blending it in more if you still want to look a little like yourself underneath. Black eyeliner and shadow build the eye sockets, then more black shadow contours the neck and under the chin to hollow everything out.

Stefanie kept a touch of her own color under the white base since she wanted to look pretty along with the skeleton effect, so this doesn’t have to read as purely scary. It pairs with almost anything black in your closet, which is what makes it such an easy costume to build around once the makeup is done. The Girl Inspired has the full how-to and product list.

44. Masquerade Mask

The Mom Love Blog

There’s no mask here at all. It’s painted on: a white mask shape over the eyes and the bridge of the nose, gold filigree swirls looped across it, rhinestones set along every edge and around both eye openings, then white marabou feathers framing the top. Nothing ties behind your head, nothing slides down your nose and nothing has to come off when you want to eat. It’s symmetrical, which is the hard part, so paint one side, then check it in the mirror before you match the other. You’re copying a finished look here rather than following steps, so practice it once on a night that isn’t Halloween. The Mom Love Blog has it at number 6 on the list, Luxury Masquerade Swan by @leslieaileenmua.

45. Cat Halloween Makeup

hgtv

46. Tiger Halloween Makeup

enhanceartistry

47. Baby Doll Lip

artofbeautyblog

Four steps, and not one of them goes past your mouth. Concealer and foundation over your lips comes first, which erases your natural lip line and is the whole secret, because you can’t draw a new shape until the old one is gone. A lip pencil then draws the shape you want, going above and below where your lip actually sits so it comes out rounder and poutier, and lipstick or gloss fills it in.

Black is what she reaches for at Halloween, and black is what turns a pretty lip into a doll face, especially under a wig. If I had ten minutes and one costume to rescue, I would spend them here rather than on eyes, since the mouth is what people read first in a photo. The Art of Beauty walks you through how to reshape a lip in four easy steps.

48. Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax Makeup

beautylish

Purple Elmer’s glue on the eyebrows is where this one starts, which tells you plenty about the next three hours. Jasmine built a Lorax out of her own face, primed her hair with white spray and then piled on so much temporary neon color it turned into cotton candy. T

he face is orange, layered from theatrical and beauty makeup with soft texture worked in to echo the Truffula trees. Then she went out into San Francisco to see what strangers would do, and what they did was talk to her, which turns out to be the point of the whole piece.

Sugarpill, Inglot and Kryolan are the brands she names if you want to chase those colors. Of all the Halloween makeup tutorials gathered up here, this is the one I would send you to for the pictures and the nerve rather than the instructions. Beautylish has seven photos and her account of the day.