Halloween is one of my favourite holidays. Any excuse to dress up, right? While it’s a great time to embrace all things spooky, here are some horrific make-up mistakes that you should take care to avoid:
1. Unsealed body paint.
Avoid getting caught red (or green, or blue) handed leaving paint stains all over the furniture. Use a setting powder or barrier spray to seal your body paint on your body and prevent any smudging. There are a variety of products for all price ranges, purchasable from most make up stores and pharmacies. My personal favourite is Mehron Barrier Spray.
2. Cheap contact lenses.
Have you seen that commercial for eye exams asking what price would you put on your sight? That same principle also applies to contact lenses. Your eyes are incredibly sensitive organs and irreparable damage can happen in a matter of moments. Make sure you’re sourcing your contact lenses from a trustworthy retailer like an optometrist who is selling you a safe and reliable product. Those cheap lenses may not be so cheap in the long run.
3. General purpose adhesives.
This one is common sense guys. Don’t use superglue or other types of general purpose adhesives on your skin. There’s a large range of skin safe glues on the market, from spirit gum used in theatre to medical adhesive prosaide. Even dollar stores will sometimes sell spirit gum in their costume section. Make sure you pick up the appropriate remover while you’re there! Also worth mentioning is liquid latex. If it’s a general purpose one from the hardware store, it’s not skin safe. You need to look for one specially formulated for skin application from a SFX make up store or pharmacy.
4. Sticking sharp objects on your face.
Youtuber DramaticMac (using a prop)
Stabbed with a glass bottle. Impaled by scissors. It might look really cool and edgy, and you’ve seen youtubers do it, but it’s an incredibly dangerous and stupid risk. All it takes is one little bump, or you trip over, or someone punches you, and that sharp object is now embedded in your face for real. Not worth it.
5. Unclean brushes.
This applies all year around. Bacteria love warm, moist environments. And guess what that make up brush is? Warm from your skin, moist from your foundation, a real bacteria haven. And then you go and transfer it back onto your face next time you use it, leading to acne break outs and infection. If that’s not enough to gross you out then I don’t know what is. Wash your brushes after every use, using an antibacterial soap or baby shampoo to help remove all the grease from the make up.
6. Offensive make-up themes.
Consider your audience. Something that may be “funny” to you or your friends may be hurtful to someone else. Context and setting is important. If you know there’s likely to be lots of little kids coming for trick-or-treating, maybe skip on dressing as a zombified Disney princess. If you’re going to be posting photos online, know that you’re going to be reaching all sorts of people from different walks of life. Halloween isn’t a free pass to be a jerk with the excuse that it’s “scary”. There are plenty of other costume ideas out there without being distasteful.
And most importantly, have fun! Maybe show us some of your best Halloween make-up looks?
– Courty Kayoss