Clever Halloween Makeup Hacks From Household Stuff

Special effects makeup is expensive, and unless you live in a city or on the Internet, it can be pretty hard to track down. Enter these clever Halloween makeup hacks that use common household items. You probably have most of the ingredients required to make a surprising variety of pricey products. Grease paints, fake wounds, glow-in-the-dark body slime and even false eyelashes all have their roots in some pretty basic materials.

For example, color and oil are all you need for a variety of products from lipsticks to face paints. If you look at the labels of many of your favorite cosmetics, you'll see that they contain these ingredients, and then some. And fake blood from chocolate instead of those gross fake blood capsules that you break with your teeth? Yes, please.

Not only will these clever Halloween makeup hacks save you money, but they'll get your DIY creative juices flowing. Between the makeup products you'll make yourself and a quick trip to your closet, you can create dozens of clever and well put-together costume ideas that range from spooky zombies to beautiful, shimmery mermaids. Because why would you want to spend a ton of money on special effects makeup when you're just going to sweat it all off on the dance floor, am I right?

1. Glue & Tissue Wounds

If you don't have a fancy special effects makeup kit or any liquid latex laying around, you can hack together some pretty creepy and convincing wounds and scars with eyelash glue and tissues. Regular white school glue also works, but takes longer to dry.

2. Fake Blood

In a pinch, a smear of red lipstick can make you look bloody. It's not very convincing, but it's Halloween, so people will get it. If you want something more move-quality, you can make your own with chocolate and food coloring.

3. Scales

This video shows a nail tutorial, but the method is the same for skin, except on a bigger scale and with different materials. You need waxed paper, tape, and a clean, damp kitchen sponge. Cut out a scale pattern (Here's one you can print out. You're cutting out the middle part of each scale) in the waxed paper. Tape it to your skin and use the sponge to transfer face paint or skin-safe acrylic paint to your skin. You can also use an eye or lip pencil to trace the scale stencil onto our skin.

You can also do this with eye shadow and a wig cap or fishnet stocking.

4. Fake Eyelashes

If you want very specific or wild fake eyelashes for your costume, you can make them yourself out of paper.

5. Grease Paints

Grease paints, also more commonly called face paints, have the consistency of lipstick and an oil base for smooth application and heavy color. If you have crayons and coconut oil, you can make your own. Good thing, too, because they can be pricey.

A second technique involves mixing old eye shadow with petroleum jelly.

6. Glow-In-The-Dark Makeup

Glow-in-the-dark makeup is pretty pricey, but you can make a reasonable facsimile in your kitchen. This is some serious kitchen magic, too. You need potatoes and tonic water. The goo you create reacts under a black light. It's messy, so it's not for precise applications, but you could definitely smear it onto your skin for a cool effect.

Even if your party is tonight and you haven't given your costume one bit of thought, you can raid your kitchen and come up with some pretty cool Halloween makeup looks that are sure to impress.

Images: lingywashere/YouTube