Halloween Makeup – Tricks and Treats

Halloween is becoming more and more popular all over the world and becoming a great way to break up the cooler months where stresses can rise as a result of the change in seasons, heavier workloads and panic buying Christmas presents. Apart from my annual summer holiday, Halloween is fast becoming my favourite time of year as more and more people get into it, as it is a great excuse to go extreme on costumes, makeup and decorations. You can literally be anybody you want to be and experiment with colours and styles that you wouldn't usually wear. The best thing, is even if you aren't into face paint and fancy dress costumes, you can make a few subtle (or really out there) changes to your make up and they might just stick with you for the rest of autumn and winter and not just one night. You can really have it all over Halloween and your makeup may even show a side to you that you never thought existed!

Whether you are fully into Halloween and have your costume planned months in advance, or whether you have obligations to make a less enthusiastic attempt to go in theme for the day at work, there are plenty of things you can do that don't take up too much time and will have you embracing your inner Morticia Addams in no time!

The Trick – The ever-famous cat-eye! Mastering the flick when it comes to drawing on your eyeliner can be a chore for some and may even be something you have yet to consider. But for the perfect Halloween look that subtly tells everyone you have made 100% effort on your eye makeup, getting to grips with the cat-eye may just be all you need to do. Most eye shapes suit this style too so it can be just enough to elevate your whole look with only a small amount of effort required.

There are many tutorials and master classes in eye makeup application now, but they only work if you share a similar eye shape to the person helping you. For Halloween if you are just embracing a little goth culture or want to vamp it up for a casual evening, my greatest tip would be to use a gel liner or a pen liner that can give you the precision you need to amplify the darkness your eyes crave for this event. If need be, you can also use a stencil or a handy piece of card to draw the outline and then fill it in once you are happy with the shape. You may only want a little flick of eyeliner at the outer edges of your eye or you may want to take the line higher so it should angle toward the end of your eyebrow. This look can work perfectly with so many Halloween costumes, such as a black cat, mystical witch, or naughty devil as it accentuates the eyes and is really on theme.

The cat-eye or winged eyeliner can be a tricky one to master, but once you have it down, this may just be a look you start rocking regularly and not just Halloween!
The Treat – Coloured Eyeliner is a festively fearless treat when it comes to Halloween. Now, there is no need for this kind of eye makeup to make its one-off debut at Halloween alone, but remember this is the perfect time for experimentation and if you are willing to give it a go then putting the black eyeliner away for a couple of days may just introduce you to a whole different world of eye makeup.

At this time of year, I adore brighter colours with a hint of darkness, like emerald greens and deep turquoises that can lift any look and enhance the colour of your eyes in almost an instant. For a real Halloween twist, you could use the eyeliner on the top lid with a cute but daring line under the waterline and highlighted with white liner over the water line and toward the inner corners. This look would be perfect for an under the sea theme or dark fairy tale where you can use the colour theme of your eyes to match your costume for a party.

The Trick – Gel Eyeliner is definitely the trick when it comes to all eyeliner, and it requires some patience if you are venturing into this world for the first time. But Halloween is the time to get creative so a gel or liquid eyeliner is just the right stuff for the job and all you will need is a good brush with a slight angle and a steady hand. Gel eyeliner is best to create lines whether thick or thin and shapes that are mostly unachievable with a simple kohl eyeliner pencil. It is known to last as well, so once it is on, its there for the night, which is just what you will need for that big Halloween party.

With a thin brush, you don't need to just stop at lining the eyes either. Halloween means you can use your eyeliner to create various shapes and patterns to give yourself a temporary accessory for your trick or treating ventures such as spider webs or intricate spooky designs. For the low-key halloweenist, gel eyeliner can become your best friend (or fiend) when it comes to last minute fancy dress.

The Treat – If gel eyeliner is the trick, then and Eyeliner Pen is the treat! With one of these handy little pens, you can have all the precision and the definitive lines as you could with gel eyeliner, but with the ease of using a kohl pencil, making it a lot more fun and easier to use. I've been using the Carbon Black Eyeliner by Xlash and it is my favourite go to item for getting experimental with my look. This particular eyeliner pen is smudge proof and dries really quickly so you can have defined eyes in seconds. For Halloween this handy little number is perfect for going from daytime subtlety to all out sexy vamp, or vampire if you really want to make a statement this year!

So, if you are a bit indecisive and still haven't got your costume sorted, keep a black eyeliner pen in your makeup kit for those last-minute plans and stun everyone at the party with your artistic flare this Halloween!

The Trick AND Treat – Smudged eyeliner or smoky eyes are the treats we never knew we needed and the trick that had us all fooled into thinking it was easy to pull off. Until you have your colour palette down, rocking the smoky look can end up looking like you have spent the night in the bathroom crying, but perseverance is key as I always say, and at Halloween anything goes, so it is the perfect time to get spooky with those smudges and hey, if it doesn't work exactly how you want it, you can claim it was part of the zombie look.

I said earlier about switch up your black eyeliner for a different coloured one to give your eyes a bit of Halloween glam, but if you are set on black, then make sure you start out with a really good jet-black kohl pencil. Once you have your choice of Halloween colours on your eyes from your favourite palette you can finish the look with kohl around the top and under the waterline with a smudge stick to blend it in and get rid of those sharp lines. The smoky or smudged eyeliner would go perfectly with devilish reds and midnight blues to make for a bewitching Halloween look that others will be envious of. Sometimes less is more, but not when it comes to Halloween so go for it and get smudging!

The Trick – Curling Your Eyelashes can be scary if you are not used to doing it. These weird contraptions closing in on your lashes so close to your eye are not for everyone but the only thing to fear at this time of year should be the ghosts and ghoulish costumes that take over the town at Halloween! For those who believe less is more, it may actually pay off to invest in a good eyelash curler and get practicing before the big fright fest as it can help to give you a temporary little boost to those lashes ready for mascara to help keep them in shape.

The trick with eyelash curlers is to get a great one that works with your natural eye and eyelash shape, so if you have wider eyes, make sure you get one with wider pads that won't squeeze your eyelashes into a closed in shape, you want to help them look longer, not damage them. Also make sure you get one with soft pads that you can manoeuvre up your lashes with ease, so they don't stick or pull on individual eyelashes. Once your curler becomes damaged in any way, it is always time to go get a new one and not hold on hope that it will still work. Eyelashes are precious and although Halloween is a fun time of year to get experimental with your makeup, it is not worth losing lashes over!

The Treat – Good Mascara is not hard to come by these days, but it does come with hundreds of choices that may be a great option for a standard day at the office but not necessarily for the over the top dramatics required for your Halloween costume!

Mascara, in my opinion is the one thing that finishes off a full face of makeup, it could be the only thing you wear on your face and it will still add a touch of glamour and wakes up even the most tired of eyes. For Halloween, I like to use a volumizing mascara that I sweep to the side when applying it as I find this accentuates the eyes more and I am all about basing my costumes on my eyes and not the other way around.

The Trick – If good old mascara isn't floating your ghost this year, then False Eyelashes may be the way forward. They have gained notoriety over the years for looking over the top and flamboyant, but isn't that what we were aiming for this Halloween? I love a false set of eyelashes when I want to create a disguise as part of my costume and usually aim for longer and curvier lashes to get a sense of theatre with what I'm wearing.

The trick with false eyelashes is getting them into position and then keeping them there for the night, so on Halloween I always say to put some time back to get yourself ready and leave enough time for the falsies so you don't end up getting stressed out with them and ditching the idea. No matter what your costume is, false eyelashes can really finish off the look, whether it's a witch you're going for or a sexy skeleton... they can have eyelashes too, can't they? Its Halloween so anything goes!

The Treat – Now, if you are super prepared for Halloween this year, you may have already got this down, but if not don't fear as there is still time! After all we put out eyelashes through day in, day out, its time to give our eyelashes a treat for once, and that treat is eyelash serum. No tricks, I promise, but you won't regret trying this out even if it is after Halloween and your eyes have simply had enough of false lashes, mascara and makeup as it is designed to care for your individual eyelashes and the skin surrounding them to make them healthy and strong. Xlash Eyelash Serum is a wonderful option as it is designed to promote growth of the eyelashes, strength of the follicles and to accentuate volume and colour so that your lashes are ready for whatever you throw at them next.

It pays off to have eyelashes that people will wonder if they're false, especially if your finishes Halloween look in centred around your eyes, but with added health benefits to boot, you may even decide not to go in costume this year!

The Trick and Treat – Eyelash Extensions may just be on your trick or treat list this year, as they have benefits as well as pitfalls and it can be a bit of a decision as to whether you go for them or not. For your Halloween party, they may just be the perfect option so eyelashes are already crossed off your list when it comes to fancy dress and makeup. If you like to spend time on your look then the bonus of eyelash extensions is that you will have more time to work with not having to worry about mascara and false lashes. The downfall is that you will have to fork out a little more money than usual to get your new eyelashes and if you are just doing this for a one-off event then you may be best to stick to the more temporary stuff!

If you do decide to look into eyelash extensions, seek out a trained eyelash technician who can advise you on when to get them, how long they will last and what shape lash to get to suit your existing lashes and look natural. The good thing is Xlash Eyelash Serum goes well with eyelash extensions as it is applied to the roots and helps the growth of your own eyelashes while hiding under the new ones. So, are you saying hello this Halloween to eyelash extensions or are you creeping it real?

The Trick – Mastering the art of perfect pouty lips can be a tricky part of doing your makeup and it doesn't have to be as long as you can be patient, get your colour right and remember that Halloween is the perfect time to experiment with tones and shapes. Now, usually if its an average day or night, I wouldn't usually go heavy on the lips if I have put all the attention to my eyes, a nude shade does wonders just to create the visual lines of the lips without overpowering the rest of my face. But throw a costume into the mix and you can't hold me back from more daring shades of lipstick and I say, if you've got it, haunt it!

Lip colour is up to you and really depends on what choice of costume you have gone for, you may be playing it safe in an all black ensemble, in which case, I would definitely choose a bright cherry red or brighter pink if you have the guts. To get the perfect pout or to create the illusion of bigger lips, it is easy enough to do with brighter colours and the right lip liner. Make sure if you are using a pencil that it is sharp enough or you will end up with blunt and smudgy lines, this is ok for eyeliner but for lips? Not so much! For Halloween, feel free to go a little more overboard than usual with colour and shine. A matte lip might be to die for… but add a touch of gloss to the centre and it will elevate your look and create fuller looking lips in no time.

The Treat – Cheat your way to bigger lips this Halloween with a lip plumping serum! You can still fake it on top with lip colour and liner but have a plumper pout in minutes underneath. Lip plumping serums may seem like they are too good to be true, but they actually work and keep your lips healthy at the same time. So, if you have permanent resting witch face, you can turn that frown into a devilish smile with a pout that could give all the other ghouls a run for their money!

If you haven't come across it before, Xlash Lip Plumping Serum is another staple for year round plumpness but its good to pull out all the stops for a good old Halloween party so if you pop this onto your lips just before the scare fest starts, you will have plump lips throughout the evening without even having to try. I love this serum as you can still wear your lip colour on top and it makes your lips tingle just nicely so that you know it's starting to work. The blood vessels in your lips start to wake up and it feels like new life is being born into your pout just in time to rock the party.

The Trick and Treat – Lip fillers are not for the faint of heart, but they are a tasty treat if you want to go the whole hog this Halloween without having to move a muscle. They do what plumpers and lipsticks can't and that is last a very long time. If you are in the mood for a more permanent solution to fuller lips, then these might just be the treat you were after. The trick? They can over time cause excess dryness to your lips as they need extra hydration and care while you have them.

But when all is said and done and Halloween is over, there are worse things to be left with than lip fillers… you could be the poor soul who has to clean up the mess from the most successful Halloween party ever! So happy haunting and have a Spooktacular Halloween!