With All Saints’ and All Souls’ Day fast approaching, also come a slew of Halloween festivities. You may be invited to attend a Halloween party or decide to go a costume event at a club or bar. Either way, you will need a killer costume to turn heads.
Know what brings your costume together though? Some great special effects (SFX) makeup.
Even if you have a relatively cheap costume, you can do some amazing things with makeup and some body paint. And while it is true that SFX makeup requires a bit more investment and skill than regular makeup, you can get great results with the right tutorial – on YouTube of course.
Here are some great SFX artists to follow for some spooky, Halloween costume inspiration:
MadeUlook
MadeULook, or Madeyewlook on YouTube, is my personal favorite SFX makeup artist, and someone that I have been following for years. Lex is an all-around cool girl with an alternative streak, who is also a vocal diabetes awareness activist, herself having been diagnosed at a young age.
Extremely talented and creative, many of her works only use face paint (she even paints on the clothes!) often coupled with wigs and contact lenses. She has a great series on basic SFX techniques on her channel, making her a great choice for those who are starting out.
Check out her Hocus Pocus tutorial here:
Pinkstylist
Charlie Short, or Pinkstylist, does a lot of cosplay and theatrical makeup tutorials and comes up with some truly freaky looks. While many of his tutorials are a little above my skill level as it uses materials like liquid latex, he always explains things clearly, and his videos are easy to follow.
He even tests out his creations on Omegle, sometimes scaring some unsuspecting internet strangers.
Here is his own unique look called The Smiling Mime:
Courtney Little Makeup
Courtney Little Makeup has some great makeup tutorials featuring some popular horror icons, including Beetlejuice, the Valak, and even the Other Mother from Coraline.
She has a great grasp of blending and shading her looks, which give her makeup looks a distinct 3D-like quality.
Her Pinhead tutorial even used cut up cotton swabs to create nails:
Jordan Hanz
Jordan Hanz is an accomplished portrait painter, which allows her to create realistic, beautifully blended SFX looks.
She can even do the opposite and paint herself to look like a 2D painted picture. Check out her Black and White Graphic Pop Art tutorial here:
Goldie Starling
Another SFX artist that I have been following for years now, Goldie Starling is incredibly talented and has come a long way from the face paint looks and eyeshadow tutorials her channel originally started with.
There was a time when she started posting fewer videos than before, but after she managed to raise enough funds for a new computer, she went back to her regular posting schedule.
Check out her amazing sculpted sci-fi look here:
Glam&Gore
No list is complete without Glam and Gore, who is currently one of the most popular SFX makeup artists on YouTube. Her uploads regularly hit millions of views, and you may have encountered her on other videos, too, as she often collaborates with other YouTubers.
Mykie has a sweet, bubbly personality that contrasts with all of the creepy looks that she posts up. True to her channel name, however, she has a nice mix of glamorous and gory makeup looks for everyone who falls on either the sexy or creepy spectrum of Halloween costumes.
Check out her wonderful, creepy Disney Princess playlist here:
Inspired yet? Go show off that costume! Happy Halloween!