Autumn is my favourite time of the year by far, and it's not just because it's my birthday! The changing fashions (love snuggling up in chunky jumpers), the changing colours of the leaves (a must for any photography buff!), and of course it's Halloween.
When I was a child I really used to love the tradition of dressing up and going around the neighbourhood trick-or-treating. Obviously, it's not that acceptable for a 23-year-old to go around trick-or-treating nowadays, but I still like to get dressed up for the occasion. As I've recently started back at college however, I've a limited budget to play around with, and I know that other students are in the same boat, so I decided to do a blogpost about some simple - but most importantly - cheap Halloween outfit and makeup ideas.
But as I'm quite a creative person, I am including Halloween outfits a bit more creative than your average witch or vampire, which to be honest can be made using a few holes in a black bin bag. Where's the fun in that?!
Some of these outfits can be worn by either men or women, you will clearly know when they are specifically for one gender or generic.
1. Regina George.
I hope there's not anyone reading this that hasn't watched
Mean Girls (if you haven't, seriously shame on you gurl!), but you know the scene where Cady and Janice try a series of schemes to bring Regina George down, and one of them is to cut her top so she has boob circle cutouts. Instead of being humiliated like they expected her to be, Regina walks out of the changing room and before you know it, a tank top with boob cutouts becomes the new fashion statement. This one is so easy to do - a white tank top (they're so cheap in Penneys or New Look), and a brightly coloured bra (you probably already have that too!), will do the trick. You can wear it with a skirt or jeans, however you wish.
So fetch!
2. Wednesday Adams.
This is another one for the girls that is just so easy to do! Most people have these black dresses with white collars, if you don't you probbaly have a black dress and can simply attatch a collar or wear a white shirt underneath. Add a pair of black tights and black boots and plait your hair in two plaits either side of your head, apply some pale makeup (for me anyways that's my normal foundation!), and some black eyeshadow and your'e done!
3. Ceiling Fan.
I love puns so this one had to be included in this post! Best of all, it's so simple to do. Literally all you need is a plain white T-shirt and a permanent black marker. Write "GO CEILING GO" over the T-shirt as seen in photo and add pom-poms if you have them handy. Congradulations, you are now a ceiling fan!
4. PhotoShop
This one is another costume that is so easy to do yet is quite creative! Write "Ps" on a light blue placard and attatch holes to each top side of the card. Then put on a navy jumper and throw on the placard around your neck. Then paint some wire black and white and carry it around you for the night.
5. Error 404
Another really simple costume idea. Get a plain white T-shirt and write on it with permanent marker: "Error 404: Costume not found." Then you can just pair it with jeans or a skirt. Voila!
Makeup Ideas
1. Deer.
So if you're looking for a simple yet effective yet glam costume for Halloween, your safest bet is to go for some kind of animal look. Animal looks are by far the cheapest because you only really have to focus on doing some sort of makeup because more than likely you have what you need for the outfit in your wardrobe, or you can get it somewhere cheap. You also don't have to shell out loads on fancy makeup palettes either, because chances are you already have many of the items (there aren't too many) needed to recreate the animal make up looks already in your makeup bag!
So for the deer makeup, the photo below pretty much tells you what you need to do; it's fairly straightforward. Apply your primer/moisturiser and foundation to your face as normal. Now around the edges of your face (about half way down your forehead), and cheeks you'll need a darker shade than your regular foundation. You can use a darker foundation not in your shade (you know the days of when you were a teenybopper buying your first foundation and you bought it in the shade Sand Beige even though you're most definitely a Porcelain or Ivory!), or a dark contour powder, or a really dark matte bronzer; whatever you decide is completely up to you (and your finances!) and is down to what you already have in your makeup bag (there's no need to rush out and buy a foundation darker than your skintone if you're only going to use it once a year!). Next step is to get a brown liquid eyeliner and start at your eyebrows then go right down to the end of your nose, and colour in your nostrils. Then taking a white kohl pencil or white eyeliner, carefully apply some white spots to the area on your lower forehead and cheeks going up to your ears. Apply this white kohl eyeliner pencil to your eye waterline and slightly flick outwards like as shown in the photo below. Apply some black liquid eyeliner on your upper eyelid and on the inner waterline just above where you have applied the white kohl eyeliner. Add a pair of false eyelashes to your upper eyelid if desired (this step is totally optional - I know how tricky false eyelashes are to apply). Add a headband with ears or tie up your hair into a bun and add some twigs to the bun as this lady has done.
2. Cat/Leopard
This is probably the most simple Halloween outfit known to man! It's the one I have actually got away with wearing two years in a row! Kudos to those who go all out with fake blood and stuff at Halloween, but myself I prefer to keep things quite wearable and easy while still looking cool. I had a leopard print playsuit in the wardrobe at the time and a cat ears headband (which subsequently ended up getting broken that night!), so after checking out some videos on YouTube I added some leopard print spots, dramatic eyeliner and false eyelashes, before adding some eyeliner for whiskers. You can add red lipstick for an added dramatic effect. For a cat the look is pretty much the same make sure you just wear all black instead of leopard print. Such an easy outfit! This is my makeup from last year:
Some variations of this for your inspiration...
3. Pop Art:
This is one of these make up looks that looks super difficult to do but it's actually not and it really looks impressive when done! I haven't actually tried this out on myself yet but really have to soon! Like the leopard/cat above, you really only need to focus on doing the makeup look because any black top and pants will do for the rest of the outfit. Apply your moisturiser/primer/foundation/powder/blusher as normal, and apply some false eyelashes if you wish, although that last step is completely optional. Obviously you'll need a white eyeliner pencil (you don't need to go super expensive with this, but the better the quality the more likely it is to show up on your face easier, especially if you're as pale as myself), and create medium-shaped dots all around your face and right down to your neck chest and arms. Start by working on the POW! on the collarbone then. It doesn't have to be a work of art by any means, but take your time with it. You can use pink and yellow eyeliner pencils to do this. Apply some red lipstick to your lips to fit in with the comic effect, and apply some white eyeliner pencil to the middle of your lips. Using a black liquid eyeliner, carefully apply it around your nose, on your jawline, around your lips, on your collarbones, at your boobs, around where you have written the POW!. Also draw a fake tear under one of your eyes, and colour it in with a blue eyeliner pencil. The second photo there is a variation on this look, you can use red eyeliner pencil/lipliner instead and change around the lines created with the eyeliner if you so wish.
4. Doll.
This is one of them makeup looks that look really difficult to recreate but it's actually not the case. Firstly, apply moisturiser/primer as normal and then some foundation in a pale shade (for most of us fair skinned maidens, that will be in your normal shade). Using some bright pink eyeshadow (you don't have to go super expensive with this either, a lot of budget make-up brands do this shade), apply this to your upper eyelid up to your browbone and right down to bridge of your nose. Apply some white eyeliner pencil on your bottom eyelids as seen in the photo. Apply some false eyelashes on the upper eyelids and some on the lower lashline. There are many theatrical styles avaliable for Halloween and these are in pretty much every discount outlet. You may wish to apply false eyelashes before doing the foundation - I do it that way, I find it easier and there's less chance of you messing up your base - but that is completely up to you. After applying the false eyelashes apply black liquid eyeliner to hide the eyeliner band on the upper eyelid and over the section of where the white eyeliner meets the false eyelashes on the lower lashline. Then go a bit crazy with some pink blusher on your cheeks, fill in your eyebrows so they look thick and defined, and apply your (obviously bright pink!) lippy to your lips in a heart shape.
Pic credit: divinecaroline.com
I hope you enjoyed this blogpost, and hope you all have a great Halloween, whatever you're doing for it!
As always do not hesitate to check out my social media links:
Snapchat: shellfoody92
