Halloween makeup ideas let you turn into your favorite character with spooky, dramatic, or shimmering looks, from a golden goddess and ice queen to a truly fearsome skeleton, using only cosmetics. To begin your transformation, gather essential supplies like cream makeup, grease paint, adhesive, shadows, pencils, and powder, along with the right remover to clean it off later.

Apply makeup to a clean face for a smooth finish and use a light hand. “Stop before you think you’ve done enough,” advises Tim Considine of Direct Effects in Los Angeles, known for crafting vivid, sometimes terrifying transformations. Enjoy the artistry of the makeover—once the night is over, you can simply wash it all away and return to your everyday look.

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Motha Makeup

A flutter of her eyelashes is all it takes to lure you in like a moth to the flame. For Martha’s aptly-named “Motha” costume, she completed her look with eye shadow in ginger, coffee, and truffle shades; feathered lashes; and whimsical wings around the eyes, adding dimension and flair to the makeup look created by Krisofer Buckle.

To recreate her look, print the wing clipart onto white heavyweight matte paper and gently curl the outer edges of the wings around a pencil or small makeup brush. Embellish false eyelashes with small pheasant feathers, which are available at crafts stores.

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Little Miss Monstrous

HENRY LEUTWYLER

Transform into this sinister sweetheart with bold makeup and a red lip. To achieve this look, apply white cream makeup to the face and use a black eye pencil to draw in heavy eyebrows that point upward. Apply gray eyeshadow under the brow line and blend with black eye shadow to create a smokey eye, finishing with black eyeliner and black mascara. Using red lip liner, draw an exaggerated cupid’s bow on the lips, and fill in with the liner, using a lip gloss over it when complete.

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Masked Phantom Makeup

Brien Bowen Smith

Kevin Sharkey’s phantom mask is so dramatic, it’s all the costume you need. To recreate his look, place a folded paper towel just above the eyebrows, securing on both sides with hair clips. Fully moisten a sponge with water, then load with makeup: Apply blue cream makeup along the bottom edge of the paper towel, covering the eyebrows, the eyelids, and the bridge of the nose.

With a clean sponge, apply white cream makeup under blue, blending to create an ombré effect. To increase contrast, darken the top of the mask by adding black cream makeup to blue cream makeup with a clean moistened sponge. Line both eyes with blue and black eyeliner pencils, and you’re ready to haunt.

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Skeleton Makeup

Taylor Grayson Photo

On Halloween, a skeleton is one of the most chilling figures, but our modern version has a sleek, startling beauty. To become a bone-chilling skeleton yourself, apply white crème color, use black liquid paint to create sunken eye sockets, and a combination of white and black liquid face paint to carve out the cheekbones and jawline. Use a small angled brush to better draw in the finer details: teeth, the collar bone, tiny cracks and lines.

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Gray Lady Ghost Makeup

This gray lady ghost proves that the enchanting can be even more thrilling than the ghoulish. If you aspire to a hauntingly ethereal beauty, wear a mask of white face paint resembling a veil. It’s a simple effect: cut a doily in half, center its decorative edge on the forehead, and hold it in place. Dab white face paint on the forehead with a makeup sponge, stenciling the lacy pattern and paint around scalloped edges. (It helps to have a helping hand.) And wear white lip paint.

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Spellbinding Sorceress

Andrew Eccles

One look into those electrifying golden eyes, and you’ll be cast under her spell. For Martha’s Spellbinding Sorceress costume, she framed her smoky eye with sparkling brows and mystical tattoos (temporary, of course). To evoke her beauty, apply temporary tattoos to the forehead and around the eyes, create a slanted cat’s eye, and apply bronzer and light-colored lipstick.

And here’s an extra trick: For extra fullness, glue together multiple sets of lashes (Martha is wearing three pairs) and then apply to the upper lid.

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Glampire Makeup

Craig Cutler

Women of horror tales are typically beauties—hence, this makeup idea. For Martha’s Glampire costume, she emulated the beauty of a vampire with ivory skin and bloodstained lips. Create this look by applying an ivory foundation, followed by a white liquid makeup, and then white loose powder to set. Darken the eyebrows with an ebony eyeliner pencil (elongating the brows for dramatic effect) and wear darkly rich lipstick.

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Evil Queen

Spencer Hayfron

Everything you need to pull off this dramatic face is already in your makeup bag. To take your makeup from career girl to Cruella, download the template and use the eyebrow stencil to trace new brows with a black gel liner and a small brush. With black eye shadow, go over the natural brows. Use the cat-eye template to brush on cat eyes; fill in, leaving the inner corners blank. Add pink blush and red lipstick, smudging with your finger as needed to soften the look.

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Golden Goddess Makeup

Craig Cutler

Worship this look? So do we. For Martha’s Golden Goddess costume, she accentuated her gilded look with a mix of makeup products in ivory white, shimmering gold, bronze, and pinkish-brown hues to give her a soft, heavenly glow. Create a shimmery appearance for yourself this Halloween using ivory foundation, white liquid makeup, white loose powder, and gold shimmer eye shadow. As a last touch, apply shimmery light-peach lipstick and top it with just a dash of gold shimmer eye shadow as the highlight.

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Ice Queen

Spencer Hayfron

Bring a little brilliance to the “brrr!” look of this ice queen. Starting with a blush brush, apply medium-blue eye shadow under the cheeks, up onto the temple, and down the nose. Brush a little pink blush onto the cheeks. Go over everything with white shadow. With a small brush, apply a dark blue shadow to the upper crease and out half of the eyelid. Apply white shadow to the inner corners of the lids and dab, smudging out the colors for a shimmering, frozen effect.

Cut thin strips of silver card stock and lightly curl them to mimic eyelashes; mix blue shadow with petroleum jelly for a radiant lip color; and, for extra shine, adhere a few gemstone stickers around the hairline.