More Than Your Average Witch...

Yes! It's Halloween time and this is when I get to really show-off! I have never grown out of Halloween-I love any opportunity to dress up and be someone other than myself for a day! But, a little birdie told me that some of you have fears when it comes to applying/removing Halloween makeup. Never fear! It's alot easier than you think and what's so cool is that makeup isn't a tattoo-if you mess up, guess what? It washes off!
Now, please step away from the waxy, crayon-like makeup you see at the local store. That stuff will just come off of your face faster than a burglar running away from a break-in...anywhoooo...you can still achieve a really cool Halloween face with some inexpensive drug store makeup, but for really bright colors, I would recommend using a brand known for their amazing colors (can you guess which brand I'm talking about?) Yes, MAC makes awesome eyeshadows that you can use for Halloween, but that you could probably use all the time-make your makeup last all year!!! Also, think outside the box! Go to a craft store and get inspired. Don't limit your face to just makeup! Think feathers, jewels, fabric, etc. A great glue to use to apply all of these treasures (as long as you're not allergic to latex) is DUO-you can buy it at the MAC counter or at Walgreens.
Okay-time to get this party started!
So first things first, make sure your face is clean, moisturized and ready to go. Put a headband on/ponytail so that you don't get any makeup in your hair-that's just not cute.
As always, I like to start with the eye area-especially if the rest of your face is going to be a lot lighter. Many of us like to use glitter during Halloween and that's great-just be EXTREMELY careful with it around/on your eye. That last thing you want is to be in the ER on Halloween with a scratched cornea. If you DO use glitter, make sure it is a fine grade glitter (really tiny particles) and mix it in with something creamy (cream eyeshadow) so that it will stay in place better. And again, don't limit the glitter just to the face-would it look good on your body? How about your hair? Another trick I like to use for eyes is Scotch tape-yeah, you read it right. Anywhere you would like a crisp, clean line on your face, use your Scotch tape as a stencil! It will give you a perfectly straight edge! If the tape is really sticky, put it on the back of your hand first (this will pick a little bit of dead skin-eew, I know)and the tape won't be quite as sticky. Go to town with it! Give yourself a plaid face using that Scotch tape-it's so much fun!
Now, for your face, don't make the same mistake I did in high school. I "dressed up" as a bored housewife (self-fulfilling prophecy, much?) and thought it would be cute to make a green-colored "mud mask". I mixed some of my mom's foundation with some green food coloring. Sure, it did the trick-I had a green face FOR ABOUT A WEEK! Seriously, I scrubbed like crazy to get it off, but who knew my pores were so thirsty for green food coloring? I managed to get it off, but I still had a weird "I'm about to throw up" hue to my face. Nice. So, a better trick to make ANY color face you want is to buy inexpensive, very lightly-colored foundation (I think a little piece of my heart just died while typing that) and some inexpensive powder eyeshadow (there goes another piece) in your desired color. Crush the eyeshadow and mix it into the foundation, and voila! You have makeup for your face, and it will come off much better than food-coloring. Promise.
Now, I'm not sure what you plan on dressing up as for Halloween, but keep in mind that any place on your face that you are trying to recede (sunken in cheekbones, eyes) you will use a very dark color. Any place that you would like to highlight (brow bone, bridge of nose), you will use very light colors. You can see what I'm talking about in the pictures. Of course, if you are a "slick chick", or you want to make sure your makeup doesn't come off throughout the night, you will need to set it. A great Halloween setting powder is baby powder! The talc in it will help absorb oil and keep your face intact! And of course, don't let me catch you going to bed with all that on your face! I don't care how many Bloody Marys you drank! Suck it up and take that paint off your face! Start off by using makeup remover wipes-this is especially important if you used a lot of glitter. You don't want to go straight to scrubbing your face with a bunch of glitter on it-otherwise, you'll go from being a Sexy Fairy to Freddy Krueger-it will "exfoliate" your skin to the point of burning. I know this because I learned it the hard way after dressing up as the Wicked Witch of the West and having glitter all over my face. My face was on fire (and not in a good way!) Once you've gotten most of your makeup off with the wipes, wash and moisturize your face as usual. Make sure to take extra good care of your skin the next few days-it may be a little sensitive...
So, enjoy all of the pictures and Happy Halloween!
1 Peter 3:3-4

Love,
Mel