Glam Zombie Makeup in 7 Easy Steps

It's that time of the year again! Traditionally K has been the one that does both of our makeup jobs for the zombie crawl, but since I've been experimenting with makeup more this year, I decided to give it a shot myself. I'm not into the gore factor as much, so I looked at "glam zombie" examples for inspiration. Based on some tutorials, I simplified the makeup to 7 easy steps that only cost me $4 in white face paint from a Halloween costume store (since I already owned everything else).

Can there be such a thing as a glamorous zombie?
(Sources: Beautylish, Sccastaneda, Marie Claire)

Materials

• $4 white grease paint or clown white paint
• Eyeshadow: charcoal black, plum red or brown
• Black eyeliner
• Red lip gloss
• Makeup brushes or sponges
• Black nail polish (optional)
• Makeup fixer spray (optional)
• Baby wipes
• Eye makeup remover
• Baby shampoo

Step 1: Foundation

After washing your face, put on the top of your outfit and trace or dot the neckline with white grease paint so you know how far to cover your skin. Smooth in a thin layer of white all over your face, neck (don't forget the back), and ears. Avoid your eyebrows and the area around your eyes.

Don't apply white grease paint around your eyes; you'll be covering it with eye makeup soon anyway.

Step 2: Facial Contouring

Use the black eyeshadow with a blush brush or sponge to darken the sides of your face, from your temples all the way down to the hollows of your cheeks (like a giant parenthesis). This will make you look more gaunt. Make sure to blended in really well, but is still dark enough that it's noticeable. Optionally you can also apply some along the sides of the bridge of your nose.

Step 3: Eyes

Apply the red/brown eyeshadow all around your eyes. Then use a black eyeshadow to mark or outline the cease above your eyelid, the inner corner of the eye, and the crease below the bags of your eyes (like the shape of a C). If you have some other lighter color that matches your eyeshadow palette, you can use it to highlight the area just underneath your eyebrow and maybe the middle of your eyelid. Use eyeliner to line the top and bottom of your eye. Optionally you can use some eyeshadow or an eyebrow pencil to draw in your brows, especially if they're accidentally covered in grease paint.

Step 4: Mouth

I chose to make a wet, glistening look by applying a lot of really red lip gloss. Using lip liner first can help keep the outline of your lips very clean. Some variations include smearing the lip gloss around the mouth like the leftmost example at the top of this post, or dabbing some black lip tar in the center like the rightmost example up above.

Step 5: Neck

Use that black eyeshadow and a sponge to contour the neck. Make two vertical lines on each side of your trachea, as well as short curved horizontal line in the hollow of your neck (aka right below where your Adam's apple would be, even if you're female). Smudge well to blend.

Step 6: Hands

My costume involved long sleeves and long pants, so the only other areas my skin was exposed was my hands. Word of warning: if you're going to paint your nails black, definitely use a base coat because that stuff stains! Cover the backs of your hands with grease paint (I left my palms and fingertips uncovered so that I could still use my phone). Using black eyeshadow, draw four lines on back of each hand in between your hand bones, and blend well. For the knuckles, don't color on them directly like I did (oops). Instead slightly color a circle around them so that the knuckles are lighter colored and appear bony.

Step 7: Finishing (and Removal Process)

To keep your makeup on (especially on your hands), it might be helpful to use some finishing powder and makeup fixer spray. When you're ready to remove the makeup, use baby wipes to scrape off the grease paint. Vegetable oil or baby oil and paper towels also works. Eye makeup remover with cotton rounds is necessary to get all that eyeshadow off. Then finally use baby shampoo to wash your face. The shampoo can be used to clean your makeup brushes as well.

The best thing about this makeup job is that you can wear pretty much anything – which is great if you have no costume available and need something at the last minute. Hope this helps you, and have a safe and happy Halloween!

Question:
What are you dressing up as for Halloween? Any ideas for quick and easy makeups or costumes?