Day 25 of 365 of The Great Makeup Challenge: Halloween Makeup - Day to Night of the Living Dead! For today’s look, I decided to address a recurring theme in all of our lives: we are busy! I know I’ve partially addressed this in the past with my instructions in the Pink and Multifunctional challenge. I wanted to apply the same theory to Halloween makeup. I’m looking at it from the perspective that Halloween does fall on a weekday this year, and many people may be going to a party after work, a busy day of running errands, taking care of kids, etc. So not everyone may have time to put forth a large amount of effort into their Halloween makeup (and/or costume!). So today I’m starting with a quick and simple makeup look that you can wear throughout the day, and then I’ll follow with a 10 minute (approximately) application that you can execute quickly, get changed, and head out to your Halloween party. So, of course, I’m calling this one Day to Night of the Living Dead! In case you didn’t figure it out yet, I’m going to be doing a day look transformed into a zombie look! (And, as you can see from the photos above, I’m not afraid to get ugly for you, my followers!)
What you will need:
Instructions:
First, for the day look I wanted to do a quick five to ten minute application that would set the stage for the night look, but still look good throughout the day. Follow the steps from the Five Minute Wake-Up Makeup challenge, applying your base, contouring your cheekbones, and applying a touch of a light shimmery peach blush to the apples the cheeks. For the eyes, I used th Too Faced Naked Eye palette, which contains two corresponding, easy-to-use colors and instructions to do a quick simple naked eye effect. I applied the shimmery pink shadow on the entire eyelid and area, from the inner to outer corners and along the brown bone. I then applied the matte brown shadow to the outer corner of the eyes, into the crease, and along the very outside of the bottom lash line. I finished the eyes with a quick swipe of two coats of mascara to the top lashes and one coat to the bottom lashes. In my exploration of trying out new brown-toned lipsticks, I added Wet n Wild MegaLast Lip Color in No. 915B, a rosey-brown lipstick, to my lips to help play up my pout.
That, quite simply, is the day look. Quick and simple to get you through your day, looking natural yet fabulous. Go out, run your errands, go to work, or, in my case, go get your hair done! When you get home, it’s time to quickly change and get your zombie on for your Halloween party!
Okay, a few things I need to talk about regarding the zombie look before I get into the instructions. First of all, I’m a huge zombie fan. I love zombie movies, and I love zombie costumes! Now, zombie looks can really go to the extreme. People who are usually zombie fans really are diehards for the look, and they put a lot of effort into it. As much as I want to show you one of those extremely detailed looks, I need to think about people who don’t have the time to put into such a look. When you really think about it, you can do a basic zombie look (clothing and accessories included) when get you home from your crazy day and get out the door in overall less than half an hour.
On a quick style note: what this probably one of the easiest ways to put together a quick, simple zombie outfit is to first grab some of your old clothes (maybe ones you don’t wear much anymore, or that you just wear around the house when you’re cleaning or working in the garage or doing something that has essentially destroyed the clothes). Get them dirty! Tear them up! Shred them! Destroy them! Basically, take the approach that these are the clothes you were wearing when you became a zombie. Maybe you were buried in them, so coming out of the ground they got dirty. Remember that in these clothes you are on the hunt; you’re out there tackling and killing; you’re creating other zombies! So for your clothes, they would naturally get ripped up, worn down, dirty, and tattered. Take a pair of pants and a shirt and just destroy them! You do that, and you’ve already got your outfit. For a quick hairstyle, all you have to do is go crazy! Muss up your hair, flip it over and mess it up with your hands! Put too much product in to purposefully make it stick up, out, down! Throw some dirt in it if you’re willing to go that extra mile! If you do this when you get home, it should only take you couple of minutes. That’s it for the styling, and now it’s all about the make up!
Forgive me, diehards, and understand that because this makeup is all about simplicity, ease, and time, it is not the most perfect zombie look! These are the quick tips on how to get the basics of the zombie look when you don’t have much time to do it! For the zombie look, the color palette calls for greens, blacks, browns, and reds. The goal is to think of a dirty, rotting look, with a hint of blood.
For my zombie base, I started by blending the olive green eyeshadow with the matte brown shadow, and applying my concoction across my face neck, over my eye,s and onto the ears. I approached this application as if I was applying my regular base powder, but extending it further to prevent harsh, awkward lines. The application does not have to be precise. The color is not supposed to be even across the entire face. The key is to shoot for a messy look, so some areas can be darker while others are lighter. After all, if you’re crawling out of the grave and you’re decomposing, your skin tone is not going to be perfect. We don’t exactly decay evenly. So add some more green to certain areas and more brown to others. Additionally, stay away from shimmery eyeshadows. Zombies aren’t shimmery!
Next, I smudged black eyeshadow around my eyes, including under the eyes and down the sides in the nose, and into the hollows of my cheekbones. Once again, you don’t have to blend it evenly. In fact, leaving streaks are even better! The whole point is to obtain a sickly, hallowed appearance. I applied the black eyeshadow until I was happy with the look, using my fingers to blend, smudge, and smear. I then swiped on another coat of mascara, but before it could dry, I let it smudge everywhere, using my fingertips for extra smudging effects.
Now, as you may recall we had applied that rosey-brown lipstick for our day look. Add another layer of it, but then smudge it around the mouth and in a downward motion, as is if it was a smear of blood and dirt. This sets the base for our recent feeding. On top of this I sneered to read my red cream eyeshadow to add more of a blood effect. Now, you have to remember that as blood dries, it actually takes on a brown tone. So the addition of the red cream eyeshadow on top of the rosey-brown lipstick gives it a more natural drying blood look. Feel free to add smudges of red around your face and neck areas, as if you have either cuts or blood from your victims.
Take a step back and look if there are any areas where you feel like you want to make any adjustments. Add any of the colors wherever you want, and I highly recommend using your hands to smudge and make it messy. In the end, the entire look should take you approximately ten minutes, and rushing through the application can even help to the messy factor that you are going for.
And that’s it! It may not be the most theatrical or best zombie makeup out there, but it works for those of us that don’t have the time in between our daily lives and getting into costume. If you have more time, go for it! Take it to the next level!
But don’t forget to share your tips and photos with me! Show me your best zombie looks, both past and present! If you have a costume that you’ll be wearing and want me to create a coordinating makeup look, want to share your Halloween makeup photos and tips, ask any questions you may have, or share any ideas you want me to try out via reply post, my Submit page above. or Email Me!
See you tomorrow for Day 26 of The Great Makeup Challenge!
Note: All products I recommended above are available from Sephora, Ulta, your local department store, your local drug store, or through Amazon.com.
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