This year, I was feeling lazy. I went to a party as Helena Bonham Carter. This dress + £20 M&S sale ‘corset’ + this hat + the jacket I got for my circus ringleader costume in 2008 + a face that resembles HBC’s, according to that drunk guy on a train one time = costume. My boyfriend wore a beret and a suit jacket and was Tim Burton. I tend to get Costume Block when faced with a Halloween to dress up for (that’ll be every year then), so here are a few ideas, for my future reference, and your present need.
Witch
For many years, this was my favoured Halloween costume. I’d pile on the gothy clothes and top it all off with a pointy hat. Maybe I’d carry a broom, or a wand. It’s still pretty easy – you can even buy a witch’s hat and some stripy tights in the Co-Op. Your witch doesn’t have to be traditional – check out my Glamorous Witches post for a variety of ideas. However, if you have some black fabric or old black clothing lying around, you can tear it up and paint a wart on your nose for the old-fashioned look.
Here is a ‘sexy witch’ green make-up tutorial by MissChevious, but if you want to go the glamorous route without also going green, search a combo of the following words on YouTube: dramatic, purple, witch, make-up. What? I always recommend purple.
Cat
I’ve done this one a few times as well. Let’s face it, all you really need is a cat mask, which you can find pretty easily, or to grab an eyeliner pencil and draw whiskers on your cheeks and a triangle on the end of your nose. You can easily glam it up or go superhero and be Catwoman. You really don’t need a tutorial, but if you want to vamp it up a notch, here’s stephbusta:
Ghost
There are two main options. You can use the old cut-eyes-out-of-a-sheet method, or put on foundation a couple of shades too pale and plenty of pressed powder, wear some torn clothes, and put so much talcum powder in your hair that it goes grey. A bit of hairspray should stop too much falling out.
Vampire
I have never worn a vampire costume, apart from when I was in the vampire choir in my primary school production of Dracula! I’ve considered it several times, but I think that I’d need fangs, otherwise I’d just look like I was wearing my regular clothes. And supermarket fangs don’t seem to fit me.
This is another excuse to dress like a big goth, therefore I love it. But I also like the fact that although blood-red lips are a must, you can do what you like with your eye makeup. This Pixiwoo tutorial is fabulous if you’re going for the decadent vampire look, but if you want to look like a lost soul haunted by the ghosts of everyone you’ve eaten, give yourself some grey shadows underneath your eyes and make sure your backcombed hair is messy.
Zombie
I think next year I might be a zombie flapper. What? It’s too early to start thinking of next year’s costume? Nonsense. It would give me a great excuse to do the unflattering authentic 1920’s make-up, with a little extra green. As Jennine at The Coveted pointed out last year, you can zombify anything. I think that’s why the zombie walks are so popular – you can wear your own clothes and just do the make-up.
Lauren Luke’s zombie make-up tutorial:
Other ideas
There have been some great ideas posted on xojane this year. The creepy doll look is very easy, and Cleopatra requires a little more work, but looks great. If you’re not concerned about the longevity of the outfit you can make cardboard accessories. I do have a toy snake, and I like thick eyeliner, so perhaps it’s a potential rival to ‘zombie flapper’ for next year.
I also like the Evil Queen idea, but I’d happily dress like that every day. It’s not really flamboyant enough for a Halloween costume, and so I’ve started daydreaming about a Maleficent or Ursula ensemble.
If you don’t want to dress as something spooky, check out Jennine’s Halloween In My Closet series. I am clinging onto the idea that Halloween isn’t just costume day and that it is supposed to be creepy, but you don’t have to.
