HALLOWEEN BAKING IDEAS

I'm a pretty lazy baker these days (my previous applying-for-Bake-Off-self wouldn't be proud), but if there's anything that's going to motivate me, it's Halloween inspired baking. I just love themed things!

I've been busy on pinterest, picking out the creepiest cakes and the most devilish of desserts, which would all be a delight, whether you are throwing a party, hanging out with pals, or just want to creep out your colleagues.

I'm particularly in love with the brushstroke ghost cake (so cute! so on-trend!), the blood-splattered cookies are simple, but very effective, and I have a sweet spot for gory things, so the gruesome anatomical heart cake is definitely a showstopper (ahem, and I'm possibly biased because I baked that myself). Whatever you choose to do, have a delicious Halloween!

Top row

Blood splattered cookies | Brushstroke ghost cake | Graveyard chocolate mousse

Middle row

Poisoned apple cake pops | Cobweb cupcakes | Monster smores

Bottom row

Ghost drip cake | Anatomical heart cupcakes | Chocolate bat bites

HALLOWEEN WISHLIST

It's the most wonderful time of the year! I'm a big fan of Halloween (which you'll see if you scroll through my old Halloween tutorials), and I always love it when October rolls around.

October means ghost stories, scary films, dark, cold nights, witchy dressing and spooky accessories, so with that in mind, I've put together a wishlist to celebrate the creepiest time of year...

1. Who you gonna call? I love this ghostbusters-inspired tote bag, which is perfect for this time of year!

2. I have long had my eye on a pair of beautiful Rogue Matilda brogues, but look how beautiful (and perfectly Halloween themed!) this black patent pair are.

3. Award-winning poet Amanda Lovelace muses on the magic of women in the witch doesn't burn in this one - a collection of poems mixing mysticism and lore. It's been called a "fiery, accessible call-to-arms in a time where young women need every rebellious spark", which sounds pretty magical to me.

4. One of the best 90s Halloween movies, I love Hocus Pocus! Put a spell on everyone with this cute slogan sweatshirt.

5. Some people don't like the clocks changing, but I'm a fan of properly dark, crisp nights. Perfect for lighting candles and cosying in, so what better than a smoke & musk candle - a bespoke blend of green balsam fir, with wood smoke and deep, musky patchouli.

6. Tatty Devine have a whole range of halloween-themed jewellery (that anatomical heart brooch!) but I'm very into their witchy magic hands necklace, inspired by protective charms.

7. Lasercut wonders Black Heart Creatives have an full Season of the Witch collection, with shadows, shrines and crescent moons. I like these tiny cat earrings, a sweet nod to the season.

8. Show your love for everyone's favourite paranormal duo with this cute Mulder & Scully collar clip set.

9. And finally, how adorable is this tiny bat enamel pin? 

HOW TO: HALLOWEEN MAKEUP USING EVERYDAY PRODUCTS

Halloween's coming! It's one of my favourite times of year because I am such a sucker for dressing up and using any excuse to pretend I can do fancy dress make up.

Last year was a Halloween dream! I was in Florida with my best pal and we went to Universal Studio's Halloween Horror Nights (which was genuinely terrifying, but really fun and definitely helped by tequila!). This year, for the first time in ages, I have no party plans, although I am planning to terrify myself by watching The Shining on the big screen at Filmhouse - maybe I need to dig out a pinafore, so I can come to work dressed as Wendy?

Anyway, as I'm not getting the chance to properly dress up this year, I thought I'd embrace #throwbackthursday and share some of my previous Halloween how to's! As ever, let me stress, I obviously am an amateur! This is just a guide to how you can do super easy Halloween looks using products you are very likely to have in your make up bag already. If I can do it, you definitely can.

Cute?

Want to dress up, but keep it cute?

Creepy doll makeup | Galaxy makeup | Bambi makeup

Creepy?

Think Halloween needs to be creepy?

Spooky face makeup | Bloody zip face makeup | Bloody staple face makeup

Aaand, just in case you don't have an excuse to dress up, but still want to mark the occasion...

Tasty? 

Definitely more tasty than makeup

Bloody anatomical heart cake | Haunted gingerbread house | Spiderweb chocolate cake

You can see the full list of my Halloween tutorials here! 

HALLOWEEN HOW TO:PASTEL GOTH MAKE UP

Happy Halloween everyone! It's been such a fun month playing about with Halloween make up tutorials again this year - I've been sparkly and glittery in galaxy-inspired make up, looked a bit startled in Queen of Hearts make up, grunged up as Furiosa from Mad Max, and embraced my gory side with bloody stapled face make up. It's been a bit rough round the edges at times, but it's been fun to do, and that's sort of the whole point of these tutorials - if I can do them, you can too!

River Island got in touch to challenge me to put together a #RITrick or a #RITreat make up look, so I couldn't resist doing one more post. I was sent a selection of accessories and make up to inspire me, including this adorable comb-in hair chalk - which I knew I wanted to use! It reminded me of the type of thing I would have loved as a teenager, so that's what inspired this look - it's grungey, but still a bit pretty, and requires nothing other than a steady hand putting on eyeliner (the mantra of my teenage years!).

So, if you want to look a little spooky, and don't mind channelling 16 year old Juliet, here's what you need to use:

• Black liquid eyeliner
• Black kohl pencil eyeliner
• Eyeshadows in a variety of pastel colours (I used yellow, pinks and purples)
• Black eyeshadow (I used a NARS Shadow Stick)
• Mascara
• False eyelashes (I used Eylure volume lashes)
• Purple lipstick (I used Barry M)
• Fake spiders
• Hair chalk

Start by building up the colours of your pastel smokey eye. I used a glittery light yellow in the corner of my eye, then layered a pinky-peach colour on top of that.

I then took a fluffy little brush and a slightly darker pink, and swept this quite dramatically all around my eye, pulling the colour down onto the tops of my cheeks (I wanted to look a bit grungey - almost like the area was bruised) and sweeping out towards my ears.

I then added purple eyeshadow to the outer corners of my eyes, and used a brush to blend these all together. So far, so colourful!

Now to get a bit darker! Blend in black shadow along your lower lash, and use your finger to make it a bit smudgey (the NARS shadow stick is great for this). Take your kohl eyeliner and carefully go along your waterline, and then use liquid eyeliner to create a cat's eye with a dramatic flick.

Use your liquid eyeliner to draw on small spiders around your eyes (or the best spider-like blobs you can do!). This bit is completely inspired by Valfre - an illustrator who draws super sassy girls with star freckles (she also makes the best accessories, check out her phone cases!).

Then to finish up, put on purple lipstick (I used a light purple, and dabbed a darker purple eyeshadow onto it), and pin some spiders in your hair! Use the hair chalk to brush through the ends of your hair, for a pinky/purpley vibe. Dress top to toe in black, and scowl at anyone you see. Have fun!

HALLOWEEN HOW TO:BLOODY STAPLE FACE

I've got another Halloween tutorial for you, and this time I've gone mega gory. I love a scary Halloween costume, it's the only time of year that you have an excuse to cover yourself in blood and spook your pals (that's a normal thing to like, right?).

One of my favourite make up looks I've ever done was my bloody zip face, so I took inspiration from that to do a slightly different version. Say hello to staple face!

You will need:

• Red eyeshadow
• Black eyeshadow (I used a NARS velvet shadow stick, kindly sent to me by HQHair)
• Foundation
• Black eyeliner pencil
• Mascara
• Liquid latex 
• Staples
• Fake blood

Start by taking your red eyeshadow and putting on your eyelids, along your lower lash line, down into your cheek and into the bridge on your nose. If you've ever followed any of my zombie tutorials before, you'll recognise this step - it's my go to way of looking grim! I used a sponge applicator to add the shadow, and used my fingers to blend it into the skin.

Now get the black eyeshadow and add it to your lids and along the lower lash line. Smudge a little on top of the red shadow along the bridge of your nose (or whatever looks best for you - you just want to look grungey and a bit bruised!)

Add eyeliner along your waterline. 

Take the liquid latex and paint a strip along the bridge of your nose. Let it dry for a minute or so and paint another layer on (this bit is quite boring and you will look ridiculous). 

Once it's suitably thick and has dried, tear little holes in the middle of the latex - these are going to be your cuts, and the flaps of latex suddenly become flaps of disgusting skin (ew!). I used a kirby grip to do this bit, but you should be able to use your fingernails - just don't use scissors in case you cut yourself!

Use a sponge applicator to dab on fake blood in the latex holes. I did a few layers of fake blood to try and make it look splodgy and realistic, and also added a little bit of black eyeshadow onto the bloody bits to stop the colour looking too uniform.

Now, add your staples along the bridge of your nose. I just stretched the staple so it would comfortably slot around my 'wound', placed it on, and dabbed a little bit of liquid latex onto the ends to hold it in place.

Once your staples are on and the latex has dried, use foundation and the red and black eyeshadow to go over the latex edges. This will blend it into your face and looks SO DISGUSTING.

Enjoy freaking out your friends! 

HALLOWEEN HOW TO: GALAXY MAKE UP

Ever felt stuck for what to wear to a fancy dress party? Why not go as the ENTIRE night's sky, with this galaxy-inspired eye make up? Yes, it's ridiculous, but it's halloween! When else are you going to get away with painting your face with every colour you own?

This look takes a little bit longer than my previous tutorials, but I think it's worth it - it's so fun to do, and the finished result is a pretty and surprisingly wearable look. Plus you are pretty much guaranteed that no one else will turn up in the same costume as you.

You will need:

• Purple, blue, silver and green eyeshadows (I used the Urban Decay electric palette and some MUA eyeshadows)
• Glitter (I used an Urban Decay loose glitter)
• White face paint
• Black liquid eyeliner
• False eyelashes
• Mascara
• Pink lipstick

Start by colouring in your face! I wanted this make up to focus around my eye area, rather than taking over my ENTIRE face, so I applied eyeshadow to my forehead, around my eyes and down my cheekbones. I used a mixture of turquoise green, purple and bright blue, and blended these all together. 

Using your purple eyeshadow and a small brush, fill in your brows.

Use the purple, turquoise and green shadows on your eyelids, and sweep the colours along the lower lash line too. I had originally planned to go from a silvery blue in the inner corners to a dark purple at the outer corners, but I am rubbish at blending, and just mixed the colours together instead. I think it works!

Add a bit more depth to your starry-forehead by dotting glitter across your skin, and then using the white face paint to add little stars. I painted stars above my brows and around my eyes, and painted a little moon on my forehead, just to mix it up a little.

Then add a flick of liquid eyeliner and apply false lashes. There's a lot going on with this look, so I think it's helpful to bring out your eyes as much as you can, and massive fake lashes definitely help! I bought these ones from the halloween section at Claire's accessories, and I really like them. You can also trim them to size, if you feel they are too big for you.

Put on pink lipstick, and then dab on some purple eyeshadow over your lips.

That's it! Wear with a black outfit to let your space face do the talking, or pair with a galaxy-print dress to go full solar system.

HALLOWEEN HOW TO: QUEEN OF HEARTS MAKE UP

Next up in this year's halloween tutorials, something a bit more colourful!

Escapade fancy dress challenged me to recreate a classic halloween look (and kindly sent me some face paints to play with), so I went for the Queen of Hearts/Red Queen from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.

This is such a quick and easy look to do (I might as well rename all my halloween tutorials as the lazy girl's guide to halloween!), and also works really well if you're a red head already.

You will need:

• White, blue and black face paint
• False eyelashes (I used these black pointed lashes)
• Mascara
• Red lipstick (I used a Lipstick Queen lipstick pencil, which is AMAZING)
• Small brushes

Start by covering your entire face with white face paint. I used a sponge at first, but found it was easier to get even coverage by dabbing it on with my fingers.

Then use the light blue face paint to cover your eyes, from the lids to the brows. It'll take a couple of coats to properly colour in the area, so let the face paint dry before you go over it again to stop it streaking.

Then take your black face paint (black liquid eyeliner would work for this as well), and paint thin eyebrows above your natural eyebrows. Dot a beauty spot on your cheek too.

Add the false eyelashes. Some people find it quite tricky to put lashes on, but it just takes a little bit of practice! Apply the glue to the lashes and then leave them for about 30 seconds - this means the glue will go a bit tacky, and you'll find it easier to put them on. When you've placed them in the right position, gently press them on and then keep your eye closed for another 30 seconds, to give them a chance to stick in place.

Then finally, use your lipstick to draw a small heart shape on your lips. I was kindly sent this Lipstick Queen pencil in Cupid's Bow by HQHair and I love love love it. It's a lipstick and lip liner in one, it's seriously pigmented and it stays put for HOURS without budging. It also (weirdly) smells amazing too!

Pair this look with your most regal dress and lots of heart-shaped accessories. Off with their heads!

HALLOWEEN HOW TO: FURIOSA (MAD MAX) MAKE UP

It's October, which means the countdown to Halloween can begin! I'll be posting weekly halloween tutorials every Monday in October, which should hopefully inspire you if you have a Halloween party to go to (or just fancy being spooky). I'll say again, I am obviously not a makeup artist and I don't pretend to be! This is just my take on how to do different makeup looks, using items you'll have in your makeup bag.

First up in my halloween how-to series: Furiosa from Mad Max!

I saw Mad Max earlier this year, and I absolutely loved it. Yeah, Max is the title character, but Furiosa (played by Charlize Theron) is the star of the show. She fights the patriarchy, drives fast cars, and shoots down baddies, all while looking totally badass with one arm, and a shaved head covered in black oil.

Her look is really grungey, so I thought it would be a fun one to try and recreate for Halloween. It's so easy to do, I almost feel guilty for posting this as a tutorial - it's definitely a good look if you feel lazy but want to make an impact, or have no time to get ready.

To get Furiosa's super tough look, you will need:

• Black cream eyeshadow (I used a MAC paint point)
• Black powder eyeshadow
• Black pencil eyeliner
• Black cream eyeliner (I used an amazing Urban Decay cream eyeliner)
• Mascara

Start by painting your entire forehead with the cream eyeshadow. You could use black facepaint for this too, but I like using eyeshadow - I think it looks less 'flat' than paint would. Use a brush or your fingers, and get a fairly even coverage of black, and make sure to colour in your hairline too (It'll look even better if you brush streaks of black in your hair).

Next, bring the cream eyeshadow down so it covers your eyes and the bridge of your nose. Then get the black powder eyeshadow and dab this across the whole area. This adds a bit more texture to the black area, and also helps the cream stay in place.

Finally, line your eyes heavily with the cream eyeliner and use your fingers or a small brush to smudge out the line. Use the eyepencil to fill in your waterline, and the cream pencil to go over your brows. Add mascara and that's it! To complete this look, you just need to pull your hair back into a tight ponytail, and perfect your best mad-at-the-patriarchy look.

HALLOWEEN TUTORIALS

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you'll know that I am the world's biggest fan of Halloween. I love that it's a chance to be creative and ridiculous and a bit spooky - I love painting daft things on my nails, and baking 'scary' cakes, and most of all, I love playing with makeup and dressing up. I may be turning 30 this year (whaaaat), but I am still a massive child.

So, every Monday in October I'll be posting a new Halloween tutorial. I always try and make my tutorials as easy as possible (I'm a total amateur, so I'm not pretending to be an expert, just explaining what I do), and I try to only use items that you'll already have in your makeup bag, or things that are very, very easy to get.

I've been doing my Halloween tutorials for three years now, so I thought it would be fun to look back on some of my favourite things so far...

Bambi makeup
I love this look and it's so easy to do - you just need white eyeshadow, bronzer and eyeliner! Hipster twig antlers are optional.

Seriously scary zip face
As much as I love cute, creative looks, I am a big fan of actually scary halloween makeup. This zip face tutorial is definitely the goriest look I've ever done.

Doll makeup
This is a fun, simple look that uses white eyeliner and clever fake eyelash placement to turn your face into a wide-eyed doll.

Anatomical heart cake
This is definitely the gooiest cake you'll ever make (cherry jam and red food colouring make for a sticky mix!), but it is surprisingly easy to make and looks SO gory and realistic, it's worth the effort.

Spooky nail art
I used to be a massive fan of nail art, and I'm still really into these super cute designs - how adorable is that little frankenstein? If you didn't want your entire manicure to be halloween-themed, these designs would also work well as accent nails. Subtle, but still spooky.

Spiderweb chocolate cake
Spiderweb icing is another easy cake decorating trick, and looks really effective. This is such a gooey, rich cake too - yum!

You can see all of my tutorials on my how to page - bring on October!

HALLOWEEN HOW TO: Bake a spiderweb chocolate cake

I love an excuse to bake, so I was pretty pleased when Waitrose got in touch to tell me about their ultimate chocolate cake recipes, challenging me to pick one, and incorporate a secret ingredient into the recipe somehow. Obviously, being the Halloween-obsessive I am, I picked their ultimate halloween cake - a red velvet sponge, with a spiderweb finish. Yum!

Here's how you do it...

You'll need the following:

For the cake -

• 200g salted butter
• 350g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
• 375g caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 284ml carton of buttermilk
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 2 x 10g packs of Dr Oetker red gel food colouring

For the filling - 

• 120g salted butter
• 120g philadelphia
• 120g icing sugar

For the icing - 

• 300ml double cream
• 250g dark chocolate (70% cocoa)
• 1 1/2 tbsp liquid glucose
• 50g white chocolate

Start by heating your oven to 170 degrees, and get your cake tins. The recipe recommends using a 23cm cake tin - I didn't have one this big, so I improvised with two slightly smaller ones instead. Grease these and line with baking parchment.

Mix together all of the dry ingredients except the sugar, and set aside. 

Beat together the butter and sugar until smooth, then add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Add in the vanilla, and stir again.

Now, beat in a quarter of the dry ingredients, then a third of the buttermilk, and repeat until it's fully combined. When you are mixing each time, don't do it for too long - you don't want to mix all of the air out of the cake batter! Just do it until there's no lumps.

Mix the vinegar and red food colouring together to make a gloopy paste, and mix this into your cake batter. Add the batter into your cake tin (or tins!) and make sure it's nice and level.

Put it in the oven and LEAVE IT ALONE. Cakes have a bad time if they are exposed to cool air when they are baking, so keep your oven door shut for as long as possible. It took my cake about 50 minutes to cook - if you are baking it in one big tin it might take longer. Just leave it until the sponge bounces back when lightly pressed, and when a knife comes out of the sponge clean.

When it's ready, get it out of its tin and leave on a wire rack to cool.

Once it's cool you can make the filling by mixing the butter, philadelphia and icing sugar until it's nice and smooth. 

The original recipe suggested making the cake in one big tin and cutting into three layers. I obviously didn't do that, which means my cake has the BIGGEST FILLING EVER. Just look at it (I'm pretty okay with this, to be honest). Leave to set (Waitrose suggest putting it in the fridge for 20 minutes, I have always preached against cakes in fridges. Do what makes you happy!).

Time to make the most glorious chocolate icing! Melt the chocolate, cream and liquid glucose but putting them in a glass bowl over a pan of simmering water (making sure the base of the bowl doesn't touch the water). Stir gently until it's all melted.

Then, put the cake on a wire rack (over a tray to catch the drips), pour the chocolate icing over the middle of the cake, and smooth out the icing across the top and down the sides. I realised at this point that because my cake is a monster (with uneven sides), I was not going to achieve the perfect even coating of my icing dreams. It's okay. I'm embracing my muckle cake. 

Melt the white chocolate (you can do this in a bowl over a pan again, but I just used a microwave), pour into a sandwich bag and snip the corner off to make a piping bag! Pipe circles on the cake.

Then take a cocktail stick and, starting from the centre, pull it through the white chocolate to the edge of the cake. I've seen this cobweb effect done before and felt a bit nervous about trying it, but it's exactly as easy as everyone says. SO easy. 

Then it was time to incorporate my secret ingredient from Waitrose - which turned out to be gold leaf. I excitedly imagined making loads of little gold spiders to creep across my cake... and then I attempted to use gold leaf and realised it is SO TRICKY and fiddly. SO TRICKY. SO SO SO TRICKY. It crumbles at the slightest touch, and it sticks to everything, and oh my goodness.

However, I managed to very carefully cut out a shape and get it onto the cake. It's not the most artistic spider (or even, spider-like spider), but I'm really pleased with it!

And here's the world's most decadent halloween chocolate cake in all of its glory! YUM.

Disclaimer: Waitrose supplied me with a giftcard to buy ingredients and some nice baking things to use in this challenge. Thanks guys! 

HALLOWEEN HOW TO: Bambi/deer makeup

Recently the nice folk at Boohoo got in touch, asking me to put together a Halloween look for their blog. I'm a Halloween loser, so obviously I said yes - & I'm pretty pleased with what I came up with, so I'm sharing it here too!

I'm a big fan of scary Halloween makeup, but sometimes you just don't want to cover yourself in fake blood and look disgusting. Instead, here's a cute Bambi-inspired look, that uses items you're likely to have in your makeup bag already.

 

You'll need the following:

• white eyeshadow
• brown eyeshadow
• bronzer
• white eyeliner
• liquid black eyeliner
• mascara
• false eyelashes

Start by using the white eyeshadow to make a mask-shape over your eyes and down the bridge of your nose. You want the white to be quite bright, so apply with your fingers and layer on the colour.

Then use a brush to brush the bronzer all over your face, blending where it meets the white shadow on your cheeks and forehead.

Use a small makeup applicator to brush the bronzer down the sides of your nose. Use a brown eyeshadow (I used an eyeshadow pencil) to colour in your brows.

Still using the dark brown shadow, add it to the sides of your nose and to your cheekbones (blending with your fingers). You don't want any harsh lines with this look, so just keep blending until it looks nice and natural (Halloween-natural, that is).

Use white eyeliner to dot spots on your cheeks.

Get your black eyeliner and draw on a cute doe nose. I used liquid eyeliner for this, but if you aren't used to using this, a kohl pencil might be easier.

Now move onto your eyes! Use the dark brown shadow on your lid, then use liquid eyeliner to make a large cat's eye. On your lower lash, line the inside corner of the eye, and bring the liner down in a little flick. Use short strokes for this, and if necessary - use a pencil first, then go over with liquid liner.

Put on false eyelashes and mascara.

And that's it! I gathered some twigs and used a hairband to slot them into my hair - you can either wear your hair down and messy, or tie your hair into little ear-like buns. This makeup would be really cute with a polka dot brown dress, or a vintage-inspired tea dress.

I hope you like that! If you're looking for more Halloween-inspiration, check out the other looks on Boohoo's blog or take a scroll through all of my other Halloween posts. Have fun!