In this step-by-step makeup tutorial of a simple but oh-so effective Halloween look, Cosmo's Online Beauty Editor Bridget shows you (with the help of magic MAC Senior Artist Debbie Finnegan) how to create a stitched mouth effect with hollow eyes and ghostly skin. Follow the tips to nail the look yourself for Fright Night. Happy Halloween!
Step 1
First prep with a light moisturiser on clean skin and no lip balm as it will make the makeup slip. Apply a light layer of MAC Face & Body Foundation in White to lighten and brighten the complexion. Use a light concealer where necessary and MAC Invisible Powder to matte everything down. Next sculpt your cheeks with a grey eye shadow like MAC Copperplate – which is also good for filling in your brows.
Step 2
With a fluffy blending brush use the same eye shadow that you used on your cheeks around the socket of the eyes, on the lower lash lines and inner corners to 'hollow' them out.
Step 3
Use MAC PRO Acrylic Paint in Black Black or a liquid liner like the MAC Penultimate Eyeliner in Black to draw your stitched mouth. Start by drawing three dots to plot the placement of lines towards your earlobes, and then fill them in.
Step 4
Add short lines vertically to mimic stitches, starting from the middle of your mouth and working outward on both sides. Make the lines slightly smaller as you get closer to your ears.
Step 5
To make the black stand out more apply MAC PRO Acrylic Paint in Pure White between the gaps with a small angled brush and smudge them with a fluffy brush before the paint dries.
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Step 6
Add a seeping blood effect to the stitches by lightly tracing a red lip liner like MAC Lip Pencil in Redd between the black lines.
Step 7
Apply lots of eyeliner like the MAC Smoulder Khol Pencil top and bottom all the way around the eye for intense definition.
Head this way for more Halloween costume ideas, makeup tutorials, party music ideas and DIY decorations
Bridget March is the Multiplatform Beauty Birector at Harper’s Bazaar, overseeing all beauty and wellbeing content on the UK website and YouTube channel.
From news and interviews to tutorials and treatment reviews, she answers the beauty questions you’re searching for with expert advice (see the renowned #SkinSchool franchise for evidence), taking deep dives into the latest trends (from polynucleotides to Profhilo), and sharing the products A-listers really use (via the ‘Inside my beauty bag’ video series).
Bridget has written for various brands within the Hearst portfolio and beyond, and was formerly Digital Beauty Editor at Cosmopolitan. She lives with her husband and two sons (plus a baby on the way!) in the Cotswolds.
Follow Bridget on Instagram @bridgetmarch
