You don't have to be a cosplay pro, spending hundreds of dollars (and hours) to get the hottest Halloween looks of 2017. You can take your run of the mill costume and make it out of this world with makeup and household items. Kristina Guerrero is suiting up and sitting in the makeup chair for all hallows eve with the help of special effect makeup artists Mark Greenwalt and Jocelyn Casdorph.
Every makeup item can be sourced from costume shops or are items you already have at home. Costumes are sourced before-hand. Links for costumes included!
1. Eleven, "Stranger Things"
Step 1. Get a reference photo online and then get your materials together.
- Brown face paint
- Stage Blood
- Stipple sponge
- Paint brush
Step 2. Pat brown face paint in select spots on your face using a stipple sponge.
Step 3. Smudge the paint with your fingers to get a dirty look.
Step 4. Dab a small amount of stage blood just on the inside of your left nostril and let the blood drip down to ward your mouth.
Step 5. Don't forget to carry a package of "Homestyle" Eggo Waffles to go with your store-bought costume.
2. Baby Groot, "Guardians of the Galaxy"
Step 1. Get a reference photo online and then get your materials together.
a. Bald cap.
b. Liquid Latex
c. Cotton balls
d. Face Paint
Step 2. Pull back hair if it’s long and then put on the bald cap. Make sure all hair is tucked away so that latex doesn’t get in it (it can be as bad as getting gum in your hair). Putting wax on the eyebrows is a good move, use Chapstick is a possible option.
Step 3. Open the liquid latex…I know it really stinks. That’s the smell of ammonia. Dip a finger in it and then finger paint a circle on your wrist about the size of a quarter. Let it dry for about 15 minutes to see if you have any allergic reaction to latex. It peels off when you're done. The ammonia fumes near your eyes can burn so make sure you are in a well-ventilated space, close the eye when latex is applied near it, and avoid applying latex within the eye socket area if possible.
Step 4. If you have cotton balls, unroll about 15 of them into long strips. It’s a lot easier to do this first before you get latex on your fingers.
Step 5. Start applying the mask…finally. Start at the forehead where the bald cap starts and smear on a thin coat of liquid latex in a line that follows the grain of the bark. The line can be about 1” wide and about 4” long. Note that some people prefer to wear latex gloves to keep from getting the latex on their hands, but it does “gunk” up throughout this process and it may be easier to just apply with bare fingers and wipe them clean occasionally.
Step 6. This is the first tricky part. Pick up a piece of cotton with fingers that are clean and push it onto the line of painted-on latex while it is still wet. Push it gently to make it stick and tear off any excess length of cotton.
Step 7. This part is even trickier. Dip your finger in the jar of latex and smear it over the latex. Work fast because it gets very sticky and tacky as it is drying. If the latex on your finger start getting rubbery and sticking to the latex on the cotton, dip your finger again for fresh wet latex. If your finger has built up too much, clean it off.
Step 8. While the latex covered cotton is still wet on the face, you have a moment to sculpt it a little and shape it to look like the bark of a tree. You can use your finger nail to add even more texture lines. Experiment and make it your own art piece.
Step 9. Repeat steps 5 through 8 over and over until you’ve covered all of the face. Using this same technique, you will find it possible to build up the cotton and latex to extend the bark at the top of the mask to extend upward.
Step 10. One signature part of Groot’s face is that he doesn’t really have a nose. Build up some extra cotton under the nose and then cover it with the same latex and cotton techniques described above.
Step 11. The last step is to paint your masterpiece. Children’s face paint works on the latex just fine and also on the face where latex isn’t applied near the eyes. Don’t forget to paint the back of the bald cap, down the neck and also paint your hands to match if they are going to be exposed.
Step 12. Step 12…if you dare…is to have a lot of time, patience, and of course a lot of latex and you can continue making this into a full body suit of cotton and latex. It’s highly recommended that you do that over old shirts and leggings that will be forever ruined.
Step 13. Removal. When your done trick-or-treating, you can peel off the bald cap and the latex/cotton face will peel off too. It may hurt a little like a Band-Aid or it may come off with no effort at all. The children’s face paint should come off with soap and water (see product instructions).
Have fun and start over at number 1 next year for another character using the same techniques.
3. Pennywise, "IT"
Step 1. Get a reference photo online and then get your materials together.
- Liquid latex
- Paper towel or tissue paper, ripped into small, uneven pieces
- Bald cap
- Spirit gum
- Spirit gum remover or baby oil
- Water based theatrical makeup in white, black and red
- Large sheet of cotton
- Black eye shadow makeup
- Black eyeliner pencil
- Ben Nye scar wax
- Translucent face powder
- Small triangle makeup sponge
- Scissors
- Wig
Step 2: Make sure the face is clean and oil free.
Step 3: If you have hair that goes below your ears, you must pin back or put in a low pony tail at the base of your neck. Take your cotton material and make a thick flat sheet and place it from the forehead hair line to midway back of head. Place bald cap over top of the cotton, starting from the front and pulling it over the back of the head. It will cover the ear area. Make sure there are no bumps where the cotton is underneath the bald cap. Doing one side at a time, brush on spirit gum around the temples and side burn area of skin. Apply the spirit gum to the bald cap in the same areas. Let "dry" for about 30 seconds so the spirit gum becomes tacky on both surfaces before sticking the bald cap to the skin. Hold down the bald cap on the skin for a few seconds to make sure the bald cap is adhered to the skin. Carefully cut out the area around the ear. Repeat on the other side.
Step 4: Take a small amount of scar wax and place over the eyebrows. Smooth it out so over the eyebrow so that it is not lumpy. It should be smooth and look like skin. Take the makeup sponge and press translucent powder over the scar wax until the wax no longer feels sticky.
Step 5: In small batches, brush on latex onto the bald cap upper forehead area. With the paper towel pieces, slightly roll up the edges of the paper towel and place down pieces of the paper towel. Add latex on top of the paper towel. This adheres the paper towel and also gives it a "skin" like texture on top to be able to paint over later. Overlap the pieces of paper towel and slightly push up the sides of the paper towel. this will help create the cracks look. Repeat this process over the upper forehead and half way back of the head. Remember- latex, paper towel, latex. Let dry for about 10 minutes or until it is no longer wet.
Step 6: Time to paint! First, apply your white water based makeup with a larger makeup sponge. Try to get as even coat to prevent any blotchiness. Don't forget your ears and neck. Add a fair amount of translucent powder under the eyes to help "block" any "fall out" from the eye makeup you will be applying. Take a makeup brush add black eye-shadow on the eyelids up to the crease, and under the eyes. Use a little at a time to prevent a lot of the black eye shadow from "falling" under the eyes. Use a makeup blending brush, and blend or "smoke out" the black eye shadow. After you are done with the black eye shadow, take a big powder brush and brush away all the translucent powder and any fall out from under the eyes. Take the black eyeliner pencil, and use on your water line to take away any "skin color" around the eye. Really black out the eyes.
Step 7: Next, take your blending brush, with a little bit of black eye shadow and start to add contour around the nose/laugh line area, cheek bones, temples, chin, jaw-line, a forehead area. Do this little by little. Also- BLEND BLEND BLEND! It will help it look more natural. You can always add more eye shadow to make it darker, but you can't easily take it away. Next, dust the eye shadow lightly over the creases of the cracks your made to bring out the texture of the cracks.
Step 8: Take a little black water-based makeup and blend it into the white water-based makeup to make a medium shade of gray. With a small paint brush, draw the mean eye brow shape. Start with the opposite side of the face rather than your dominate hand. So, if you are right handed, you start with your left eyebrow. This side is harder to do on yourself and you will be able to easily copy the same eye brow shape on the other side. The beginning of the eyebrow should start under your natural eyebrow, not above. This will help give a more menacing look. You can also take this same shade of grey and bring out the cracks on the forehead a bit more.
Step 9: Take a little bit of black water-based make and blend it into the red-water based makeup to create a deep red/blood color. With a small paint brush, paint the nose, lips and lines that go from edge of the mouth up through the middle of the eye and eyebrow area.
Step 10: Lastly, add the wig. The wig does lay further back on the head. Style the wig to your liking to look like Pennywise's hair.
*To take off the makeup, pull off bald cap from back to front. Baby Oil or Spirit Gum remover will help get off the spirit gum glue. If there is any latex on the skin, it will easily peel off. For the wax eyebrows, take the back side of a butter knife, or a spoon and scrape off as much of the wax as possible and use baby oil to remove the rest. The rest of the makeup is water based and can easily be removed with soap and water or baby wipes.
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