Oh hi. As
I've mentioned before, I really like dressing up and doing daft things with make up. As Halloween is fast approaching I thought it might be useful to do a wee tutorial of how I do zombie/ghoul/undead make up. (I'm not saying this is the best way to do it, but it's really quick and easy and only uses things that are common in make up bags - handy for lazy people!).
There's a few different schools of zombie make up. Some people like to look gory, and be covered in bits of rotten flesh and blood. This is cool, but you'll need to go to a joke shop for liquid latex to do this properly. I prefer a more "natural" look (ha) with smokey sunken eyes and cheeks. It's creepy! & ahem, easier. Also if you do your make up this way and decide to rock the fake blood then it's really easy to do so (not so much the other way round).
So. Here's how you do it. I should point out these photos are brighter/lighter than I was in real life - mainly because my camera has a mental flash, and I wanted to make sure each step was clear. Which it hopefully is! Also - sorry for my deadened expression. I was getting in character, obviously.
Step 1. Try to get your face as pale and matte as possible. Because I'm wasn't going to put make up anywhere other than my face, I didn't use white face paint (too much of a contrast) and instead piled on the lightest foundation I had. Use white eyeshadow sparingly across nose/cheeks/eyes, just to keep it as pale as possible. Use cheap face powder (I used No 17 from Boots) to even it out/get rid of any shiny bits.
Step 2. I've got about three different shades of metallic red eyeshadow that I never use (other than Halloween). You probably do too! Use this all over your eye lids and below your eyes, creating a bit of a v-shape under each eye socket. It's best to keep this bit messy - you want to look like the eye sockets are bruised so use your finger to blend the colour. Blend the red so it runs into the sides of your nose.
Step 3. Get a dark grey or black eye shadow and smudge on your eye lids (up to the corner of each brow) and slightly below the eye. See how the red colour shows through? It looks really good and bruised!
Step 4. Add eyeliner. This is probably an optional step, but I
always wear eyeliner so it was happening. Liquid eyeliner will stand out over the dark shadow on your lids.
Step 5. Take a black eyeliner pencil and colour in your eyebrows. I kept it quite rough and messy. Cause you're undead, you know. You'll have messy eyebrows.
Step 6. Pull a really good expression, take a photo of it and post it on the internet. Nah. Use your red eyeshadow to line your cheekbones, really blending the colour under the bone. Once you had a good (but nicely blended!) line of red shadow, add some black on top, staying underneath the cheekbone.
Step 7. Take a black pencil and add lines to places that need a little extra definition. I did a couple of (rough and messy) lines on the shadow on the sides of my nose and my cheeks. Blend the line a little bit with your finger, but not too much (i.e. you want to make sure the definition is there, but not look like you have just been drawing lines on your face).
Step 8. Add mascara and (if you've got it) fake blood. I didn't, so I used benetint under my nose and by the side of my mouth. Fake blood is good because it sort of scabs while it dries, but benetint (or even a brighter red eyeshadow) would do the job if needed.
& that's it! E-a-s-y. Now just pull stupid faces and pretend to bite people.
Have fun!
p.s. you can look
here to see how I did zombie hair on holiday - mainly REALLY messy and pinned up with dry shampoo sprayed (for a dusty look) and a little white face cream (in my fringe/ends of my hair). Makes your hair manky but it looks a treat!
