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Halloween Make-Up 101: Becoming A Mermaid
Slide Nr 1Enjoy Halloween parties, but don’t have much time and money to invest in a costume? Face painting is a great option for looking sensational on a budget. In this tutorial, made in collaboration with Colombian make-up artist Laura Quintero and the creatives at Espacio 85 (the first audiovisual “gym” for content creators), we show you how to transform into a mermaid this Halloween.
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Halloween Make-Up 101: Becoming A Mermaid.
Slide Nr 2Gather Your Supplies – You’ll need: Facial moisturiser and sunscreen (if desired). A full-coverage foundation, one shade lighter than your skin tone. An eyebrow pencil, the same shade as your natural hair colour. Concealer. 2 shimmer lipsticks: 1 dark blue, 1 light blue. High-quality powder eyeshadow in 7 colours: white, light blue/turquoise, blue, dark blue, magenta, dark purple, grey. Illuminator (e.g. highlighting powder or pen) in a warm tone. A mesh stocking. False eyelashes. Water-based body paint in blue and purple. Silver body glitter. Petroleum jelly. Brushes and applicators. Accent stones (optional). Coloured contact lenses (optional).
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Halloween Make-Up 101: Becoming A Mermaid.
Slide Nr 3Prep Your Skin – When talking about face painting, the skin is our canvas; we must prepare it before we begin by applying a moisturiser and sunscreen. “The skin must be completely clean, nourished and hydrated, since we’re going to use full-coverage cosmetic products and heavy pigments,” says Laura. In terms of products, we’ll use eyeshadows and body make-up in mostly cold tones: blue, purple, white, silver and pink. Let’s go!
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Halloween Make-Up 101: Becoming A Mermaid.
Slide Nr 4A Good Foundation – With our skin properly cleansed and nourished, it’s time to apply a full-coverage base. It’s important that the base is a shade lighter than your natural skin tone: we’re going to apply high-contrast colours on top, so this will help the colour stand out more and diffuse much better on the skin. Apply the base with a thick brush, then blend it with a sponge to achieve a uniform finish.
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Halloween Make-Up 101: Becoming A Mermaid.
Slide Nr 5Eyebrows: Accentuating The Eyes – Next we’ll do the eyebrows, using a brown eyebrow pencil and then blending it with a brush. Choose a pencil that’s the same shade of your natural hair, and be sure to fill your eyebrows in very well – we want the eyes to be super-charged, forming the most striking aspect of this look.
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Halloween Make-Up 101: Becoming A Mermaid.
Slide Nr 6Eyelids: Bright White Base – Continuing with the eyes, we’re going to colour the entire upper eye area – from the eyelid up to the arch of the brow – with white eyeshadow. “We’re using white as a base for the other colours, so they will show up better,” Laura says. Don’t forget to tap the brush before applying, so it’s not overloaded with powder.
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Halloween Make-Up 101: Becoming A Mermaid.
Slide Nr 7Turquoise & Blue: Shades Of The Sea – Now, we add some colour: taking a light blue or turquoise eyeshadow, apply a thick line in the crease of your eye, going from the inside of your eyelid to the outside. Then, using a darker tone of blue, apply from the outside to the inside of the eyelid, and then blend the two with a brush. “Remember that in make-up, light colours are used to highlight certain areas of the face, while the dark colours are used to disguise or give depth,” Laura comments.
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Halloween Make-Up 101: Becoming A Mermaid.
Slide Nr 8Add Depth – Finishing the base colour for the eyes, we apply a shade of darker blue eyeshadow to give depth to the look. The darker blue shadow is applied over the eye socket on the outside, blurring it towards the centre. Now, with a smaller brush, apply a magenta tone to the front of the eyelid, giving a pop of colour and some contrast. By mixing these tones, we get a beautiful, intense purple.
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Halloween Make-Up 101: Becoming A Mermaid.
Slide Nr 9Intensify Your Gaze – Returning to the turquoise eyeshadow, apply this generously under the eye in a thick line and then accentuate the look using a dark purple eyeshadow on the outside of the eye, taking it a little inwards. Next, put illuminator along the bone of the eyebrow and the very inside of the eye; we’ve chosen a warm illuminator in golden tones to achieve a contrast with the cold hues.
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Halloween Make-Up 101: Becoming A Mermaid.
Slide Nr 10Blemish Correction – Next, it’s time to correct any blemishes on the skin and remove any stray residue from the eyeshadow we applied. If you have circles under your eyes, an orange-toned concealer will help neutralise the dark tones under your skin. Be sure to apply a base and concealer over this in the same colour as your skin tone, so that the orange is not conspicuous (and so you don’t end up looking like a certain president…).
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Halloween Make-Up 101: Becoming A Mermaid.
Slide Nr 11Time To Contour! – The next step is to outline the area of the cheekbones and forehead. To do this, sparingly apply the light blue colour (that you used on your eyes) and then blend it well with a thicker brush to give depth, and to provide a more polished finish to the scale effect that we’ll do later.
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Halloween Make-Up 101: Becoming A Mermaid.
Slide Nr 12Shape & Illuminate – With the help of the illuminator, highlight the upper part of the cheekbone and the mouth so that the accessories that we add later will stand out more. Lightly apply the purple colour to the sides of the nose to outline it. Using the purple, light blue and illuminator, apply to the hairline and under the cheekbones, blending to create gradient effect.
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Halloween Make-Up 101: Becoming A Mermaid.
Slide Nr 13The Fish Effect – To achieve the scale effect, carefully hold a mesh sock or stocking against your face (careful not to move), and brush on sparkly, dark grey and purple tones below the cheekbone. “Don’t worry if you colour a bit outside of the lines, because this will give you depth. The important thing is not to move the mesh, ask for help if necessary,” Laura says.
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Halloween Make-Up 101: Becoming A Mermaid.
Slide Nr 14Peepers That Pop – Carefully add your false eyelashes, placing them on the natural eyelash line. Then apply eyeliner – black, and ideally liquid – remembering not to make the line too thick, since we only want to cover the line of the false eyelashes. In fantasy-style make-up, using coloured contact lenses (although not essential) is an excellent way to play up the drama – just don’t forget to put them in before adding the eyeliner and false eyelashes.
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Halloween Make-Up 101: Becoming A Mermaid.
Slide Nr 15Fantasy Lips – The next step is to make up the lips: we used a dark blue lipstick and contoured the lips carefully so that they look thicker. Next, we put a little lipstick in a lighter shade on the centre of the lips, blending it to the sides (without filling the lips completely) to catch the light.
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Halloween Make-Up 101: Becoming A Mermaid.
Slide Nr 16Highlight The Neck & Shoulders – Highlighting this part of the body is important, and lends the whole look a more polished and professional effect. Using the eyeshadow powders you have (or body make-up), highlight the shoulders, neck and collarbone in pink, white and blue tones. Dust with glitter or shimmer powder – putting bit of petroleum jelly on your brush before dipping in the glitter or shimmer powder will help it better adhere to your skin.
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Halloween Make-Up 101: Becoming A Mermaid.
Slide Nr 17Body Painting – Next cover your neck with water-based body paint in a vibrant blue tone, going all the way to the collarbone and the shoulders, then blurring with soft brush strokes using a flat body brush. “It’s better not to use oil-based paint, as it’s difficult to remove and diffuse,” Laura advises.
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Halloween Make-Up 101: Becoming A Mermaid.
Slide Nr 18Spiny Accents – After painting the neck well, apply purple body paint to generate more contrast. Then, with the help of your liquid eyeliner, use small strokes to paint small “thorns” at the base of the neck.
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Halloween Make-Up 101: Becoming A Mermaid.
Slide Nr 19More Scales? Of Course! – The devil is in the details: grab the mesh again and paint around the neck and collarbone, creating scales in blue, purple and pink. Sensational, isn’t it?
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Halloween Make-Up 101: Becoming A Mermaid.
Slide Nr 20Go Wild With Glitter – Now, just beneath the body paint you just did, apply a generous amount of petroleum jelly; this will help the body glitter to adhere. Add the glitter – preferably in a silver colour – from the shoulders downwards, giving shine and intensity to this part of the body.
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Halloween Make-Up 101: Becoming A Mermaid.
Slide Nr 21The Final Touch – Last but not least, add a few shiny “gems” or stickers (found in arts and crafts or make-up stores) for an artistic accent. Use the eyelash glue to apply them around the eyes and neck. Just be sure to choose accents that complement the colours we’ve used in the make-up.
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Halloween Make-Up 101: Becoming A Mermaid.
Slide Nr 22A Seaworthy Look – “Don’t forget that the hair is also part of the overall look: you can style it in waves and apply a bit of glitter for extra effect,” says Laura. Most importantly, be creative and have fun: in the end, all that matters is your personal taste and the effect you want to achieve. [All photos courtesy Santiago Galvis]
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