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How to Do Vampire Makeup

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  • Introduction

    • Vampires never get old. Not just in the sense that they're immortal... vampires are always popular, too! From the old school ghoul cool of Bela Lugosi to the quippy vamps of Buffy the Vampire Slayer to the romantic bloodsuckers of Stephenie Meyer's hit Twilight books, for generations vampires have been the coolest monsters around.
    • In this guide, we'll show you how to become an undead bloodsucker... Or at least how to look like one, anyway. (Sorry, you're on your own figuring out the immortality part.)

  • Step 1: The Low-Budget Vampire

    • Maybe you just want to throw a costume together in a hurry, or you're broke. Well, you can still become a perfectly respectable bloodsucking freak without a lot of time or money.
    1. Obviously, the first thing you'll need is some fangs.
      1. Around Halloween you'll find very inexpensive, plastic fangs at the local drugstore. They can get the job done, but they usually look pretty cheap and they can be very uncomfortable. They also make it difficult to talk.
      2. You're much better off with more elaborate fangs from companies like Scarecrow.Vampfangs.com: Scarecrow Dental Fit Fangs These fangs come in a variety of styles and they offer instructions for how to custom fit them in your mouth. You use putty to help keep them in place.
      3. Alternately, companies like Dental Distortions offer teeth that are basically a more elaborate and comfortable version of the drugstore kind.Vampfangs.com: Dental Distortions Pro FX Veneers You just pop them into your mouth and forget about them. (The major drawback is how they distort your voice. You'll have to practice with them to avoid shlurring when you shpeak.)
    2. You can get by with very little makeup. All you really need is some pale foundation or white greasepaint from a costume shop (you can even get by with just some baby powder,) an eyeliner pencil and some dark lipstick (ideally black.)
      • - It will be useful to have different shades of eyeshadow and blush to play around with, but they're not really necessary. The only essentials are fangs, something to lighten your face with, eyeliner and a dark lipstick.
    3. Ideally you should do most of your makeup without a shirt, or at least with a towel around your neck so you don't mess up your clothes.
    4. Apply your makeup in a well-lit room so you can see what you're doing.mookychick: Alternative, goth and dark makeup tips
    5. The first step is to use the foundation, greasepaint or powder to lighten your face.
      1. Be sure to lighten your ears and neck, too.ThirdEyeHealth.com: Gothic Makeup Tips If just your face is pale it can look strange, especially in photos.
      2. If you lighten your face with greasepaint or a liquid or cream foundation, you should probably powder your face afterwards to set the makeup.Teen Vogue: Everlasting LoveApril 11. 2008 This will make your makeup less likely to smear or crack.
      3. If you try to just use baby powder to lighten your face you probably won't look as pale as you would using greasepaint or foundation, but the results may be a little more realistic and it's less of a hassle.
      4. When applying powder, always breathe out so you don't take too much into your lungs.
    6. Vampires aren't known for their healthy glow. You want to look sickly.
      1. This can be accomplished with some eyeshadow beneath your eyes to make dark circles.LoveToKnow: Halloween Vampire Makeup A corpse-like gray is good, but shades of blue, brown, green and purple also work very well. See what works best with your skin tone.
      2. Alternately, you can just put some of the dark lipstick on the tip of your finger, dab it under your eyes and carefully smear it in.
    7. If you have eyeshadow or blush handy you can get more elaborate with shading your face to make it look spooky.About.com: Makeup for Vampire Beauty
      1. Shade beneath your cheekbones to make them stand out.About.com: Makeup for Evil Beauty Don't use a cheery pink or any other color that will make you look healthy! You want to stick with sickly colors: gray, brown, etc.
      2. If you want to look older, smile into the mirror to crinkle your face and rub a little bit of dark makeup into the creases.PNTA: Age & Character Makeup Don't use too much, or your face will just look dirty. After you do this, be sure to powder to set the makeup in place.
    8. If you're a girl, you can use the eyeliner to line your eyes. There are many possible looks, but the standard Elvira eyes always work well for vampires.
    9. Guys can wear eyeliner (or "guyliner") too, but bear in mind that this will probably make you look more delicate and feminine.POPSUGAR: What Do You Think of Makeup on Men?July 31, 2008
      • - This is fine if you're going for a more romantic, Anne Rice-style vampire, but it's problematic if you're try to look scary.
    10. Girls will look great with some dark lipstick.About.com: Makeup for Deathly Beauty Guys are often better off just using pale foundation or some baby powder on their lips to make them pale.
    11. Use the eyeliner pencil on your eyebrows to emphasize them and make them look more evil.About.com: Makeup for Vampire Beauty
      1. You want to sweep it along the grain of your hair growth, applying the pencil tip to the eyebrow hair and not the skin. Don't get too extreme.
      2. If you're a blond, don't use a black pencil because it will make your brows stand out too much. Stick with a brown.
    12. After you apply the pencil, you should once again use some powder to help it set.
    13. You can style your hair however you like, but for an old-fashioned look you can slick it back with hair gel.BellaOnline: Halloween Face Painting
    14. If you have dark hair, use the black eyeliner pencil to give yourself a widow's peak.About.com: What Ever Do I Wear for Halloween???
    15. If you want to look more gruesome, you can use some blood-red lipstick to make a trickle of fake blood down your chin.

  • Step 2: More Deluxe Vampires

    • You've followed the advice in our Low-Budget Vampire section, but you don't want to stop there! Well, if you have more money to spend and more time to play around, you can be a much more deluxe vampire.
    1. Special effects contact lenses are available from various retailers.About.com: Decorative Contact LensesSeptember 14, 2007
      1. You can give yourself animal eyes, red eyes, yellow eyes and other variations.
      2. For safety's sake, you need to have your lenses fitted by an eyecare professional.About.com: Decorative Contact LensesSeptember 14, 2007
      3. Prescription lenses are also available.
    2. You can add some wild color streaks to your hair, or you can add a little gray or white to make yourself look more distinguished.
      1. You can check out our guide for How to Highlight Hair.
      2. In a pinch, you can temporarily streak your hair with certain shades of lipstick. (You can even use white lipstick to make white streaks!)
    3. You can dramatically change your look with a wig.Great-Hairstyles.com: Wigs: The Good And The Bad You can go for something black and old-fashioned, dark blue and otherworldly, white and punkish... It's up to you.
      1. Wig costs vary widely. It pays to shop around.
      2. Wigs with bangs have no visible hairline, and this can help them look a lot more real.

  • Step 3: Super-Deluxe Vampires

    • If you're determined to be the very best bloodsucker you can be and you're willing to do whatever it takes to make that happen, we're here to help.
    1. There is really no ceiling on how much you can spend on quality, customized vampire fangs.Make Up Mania!: Custom Teeth Some fangs can cost hundreds of dollars. If you're desperate to spend money, you can find fangs that cost thousands.
      • - Always do your research before spending a lot of money on custom fangs. Get contact info for other people who have used this service, and make sure they were happy with the results.
    2. There are costume kits available that enable you to use latex appliances to give yourself a bumpy, monster forehead like the vampires in Buffy and Lost Boys. Woochie is an established brand, and other companies sell similar products.CINEMA SECRETS: Woochie
      1. Bear in mind that this sort of makeup can be complicated to put on, uncomfortable to wear, and it doesn't stand up well to rough treatment. Remember to follow all of the instructions!
      2. Instead of ordering one of these kits online, you're probably better off going to a costume shop so you can see the kit in person and ask the staff questions about it.
    3. If you want to go all out, you can give yourself hands a vampire makeover, too.
      1. You can color your hands with the same makeup you used to make your face pale. But only do the backs of your hands; if you do your palms, it'll just get all over everything.
      2. You can paint your nails black, blood red or some ghastly combination of the two. Weird-looking fingernails can be very eye-catching and will help make you look sexy and monstrous.waningmoon.com: Dark Wyccan's Gothic Guide to Nail Care
      3. You can use press-on nails for a more claw-like effect, but they usually won't stick to your fingers well and you should plan to lose a few before the night is through.HOWTODOTHINGS.COM: How To Apply Press-On Nails
      4. Many costume shops sell rubber monster hands.Elliot Brodsky's Rubber Room: A Show of Hands If you can find a pair that go with your skin tone, the effect can be striking. (Just be sure to wear long, loose sleeves to hide the fact that your monster hands end at your wrist.)
    4. Various manufacturers make "elf ears" that work well for pointed, vampire ears.Instructables.com: How to Apply Elf Ears
    5. These ears come with complete instructions and can be very effective. They can also be expensive and tricky to work with.Instructables.com: Elf ears... in 5 minutes!

  • Tips for Dark-Skinned Vampires in the Making

    • Sure, most of the vampires we see in the movies are chalky white. But for people with darker complexions, getting the right vampiric paleness can be difficult. There are a few specific techniques to get your skin as undead as possible.Morbid Outlook: Goths of Color
    1. You can use baby powder or a foundation a few shades lighter than your normal skin tone to make your skin look more pale.
    2. To help your makeup look more natural, you can use two different shades of foundation, with the lighter shade on your forehead.About.com: African-American Skin: How to Avoid 'Pancake Makeup' Look
    3. As a vampire of color, you probably shouldn't make yourself too pale.
      • - If you try to color yourself ghostly white you'll need way too much makeup and it'll be hard to maintain it all night.
    4. Alternately, you can color your skin with gold greasepaint or powder for a bold, sexy look.BeautyDen.com: Golden Glamour Anne Rice described the African vampires as gold-skinned in her book The Queen of the Damned. In the film adaptation, Aaliyah's vampire makeup was gold.Queen of the Damned: Queen of the Damned
    5. Of course, you can always just leave your skin its natural color.
      • - Keep in mind that some of the most memorable African-American movie vampires had dark skin. (Think of Wesley Snipes as the "Daywalker" Blade, or William Marshall in the cult classic Blacula.)

  • Conclusion

    • Now you're all vamped up and ready to venture out into the night. If you've followed the tips in this guide, you should look wonderfully ghastly. Just be sure to return to your coffin before the sun comes up!

 


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