HALLOWEEN HOW TO: SKELETON MAKE UP

Every Monday in the run up to October 31st I'll be posting a Halloween tutorial (mainly because I am a child, and dressing up is fun!). Last week I showed you how to give yourself a terrifying zip face, and this week we're going to be skeletons!

This tutorial only uses items that you are likely to already have in your make up bag (or can very easily get). You will need:

• a foundation that's a few shades paler than your skin tone
• white eyeshadow
• black cream eyeshadow
• black kohl eyeliner pencil
• black liquid eyeliner
• eyeshadow applicator/brush (or paint brush)

Start by making your face as pale as possible, by covering it in foundation. I prefer to use tonnes of foundation rather than white face cream, as it means you don't need to really worry about your neck/arms/hands, etc (because realism is something everyone aims for in skeleton make up, right?).

Using a kohl eyeliner pencil lightly sketch out the outline of your skull - the eye sockets, nose and cheeks. These are the areas that you'll colour in with black. Don't worry about being particularly neat, but try and keep things sort of even! If you don't have the steadiest hand just use short strokes, rather than trying to draw long lines.

This bit is so satisfying to do! Colour in, making sure you build up the black shadow so it's really dark. I used a MAC paint pot which was perfect for the job - and loads of highstreet brands make cream eyeshadow, if you don't have a pot to hand. You can use black facepaint too (obviously!) but I like eyeshadow, it's been made not to crease on your lids, and might actually be a bit easier to take off at the end of the night. 

Now, you're going to need a steady-ish hand. Outline the black areas with liquid eyeliner - this gives them a bit more depth. Don't worry if you smudge a little, just keep a make up wipe to hand and try to go slowly.

Next, take your kohl pencil and start to lightly sketch in details across your face - I made short strokes around my eyes and cheeks. Smudge these lightly with your finger, then use liquid liner to highlight a few details (you should hopefully see a difference between photo 2 and 3 here, to show you what I mean!). 

At this stage I also patted on a little bit of white eyeshadow on my cheeks and forehead. 

Take the kohl pencil again and start to draw the shape you want for your mouth - I coloured in my lower lip and triangles between my mouth and cheeks. Go over this with liquid eyeliner (maybe not your lip though, you don't want to be tasting eyeliner!) and draw strokes to make your skeleton teeth. 

Tada! Yeah, it's a bit rough & ready, but it should help if you find yourself needing a costume in a hurry! Next Monday I'll blog another Halloween DIY, and I reckon it'll be something a little cakey... so stay tuned if you have a (gory) sweet tooth...