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When is a skeleton anything but scary? When it’s a super glam Halloween skeleton, which is proving to be one of the most popular Halloween costumes. For the past few years, we’ve seen so many variations of the classic skeleton as everything from the butterfly skeleton to the half skull to the dia de los muertos skeleton (complete with a black lace veil) shows up to Halloween parties across the nation. It’s one costume that lets beauty lovers go absolutely wild and play with makeup, while barely having to worry about their look from the neck down — anything black and white will suffice, since the focus will be on your face.
One of the greatest things about skeleton Halloween makeup is that it looks difficult to apply, but with a few good tips in mind, you’ll ace this look in minutes. Okay, it may take an hour or more, depending on your makeup skills, but, hey, it’s Halloween — and totally worth the extra time. Here’s a quick skeleton makeup tutorial.
1) Gather Up Your Makeup Materials
The good news is: it’s quite possible you already have most of the beauty supplies you need to create a skeleton mask. Here’s a rundown of the cosmetics you’ll require: a super-light and pale foundation, light face powder, white eyeliner (the more pigmented, the better), black eyeshadow, black liquid liner (again, make sure it’s waterproof and pigmented), and a solid angled eyeliner brush.
2) Start With Your Face And Eye Makeup
Got the lightest, palest foundation you could find? Perfect. After moisturizing your face to prevent flaky dry spots, slather that liquid foundation all over your skin, blend with a sponge, and then pat face powder all over your cheeks, forehead, nose, and chin to set your makeup. Next, create two sizeable circles around your eyes using the black liquid liner. Instead of filling in the circles with liner, which will create a royal mess, gather as much black eyeshadow onto an eyeshadow brush as possible and go to town filling in the circles.
3) Color In Your Nose
Draw a triangle on your nose using the black liquid eyeliner. Fill in the space with black eyeshadow, making sure you layer it on enough so that it appears thick.
4) Create Simple, Scary Teeth
Grab your white eyeliner pencil and use it to color your lips — don’t be afraid of going over your natural lip line. To create the illusion of teeth, use the liquid liner and your steady handy to draw thin vertical lines from your top lip to your bottom lip. Draw as many thin lines as necessary to make your mouth look positively terrifying.
5) Provide A Few Great Details
The skeleton look is all about contouring — but you can think of it as reverse contouring to make your face appear angular and hollow. You can use the liquid liner to create lines from your ear to your teeth and the black eyeshadow doubles as a shade that you place along your hairline and along the sides of your neck.
Depending on the type of skeleton you wish to honor, your look may require a red lip or a pop of color on the eyes. Stay true to your own vision and have fun!
