Film-inspired Halloween looks from the makeup you already own

Halloween face paint is a scam. You buy a £12 palette of greasy colours, use it once, and find it welded to the bottom of a drawer two years later. You really don’t need any of it if you have a full drawer of everyday makeup already.

Easy Halloween makeup with normal makeup is entirely doable, and film characters are the best source of ideas, because everyone recognises them.

A black eyeliner, a red lipstick, a pale foundation or powder and a bit of eyeshadow will get you through all eight of these looks.

Before you start

Prep matters more than you’d think. You’ll be wearing heavier product for longer, often in a hot, crowded room. Moisturise, then use a primer if you have one. If you don’thave a primer then a thin layer of moisturiser left to sink in for five minutes does most of the job. Set everything with powder at the end, especially anything pale, because pale base shows every crease by ten o’clock.

Keep cotton buds and micellar water next to you. You’ll need them. Most of these looks rely on sharp lines, and a cotton bud dipped in micellar water is the fastest eraser there is.

Morticia Addams, The Addams Family (1991)

Anjelica Huston’s Morticia is the easiest high impact look on this list. On set, Huston wore what she described as “stickers attached to my temples” with rubber bands that met behind her head, pulling her eyes into that long, lifted shape. You’re not doing that. You’ll fake it with liner instead.

Use your palest foundation or concealer all over, then set with a light powder.

Draw a long, sharp wing with black liner, flicking it up towards the end of your eyebrow.

Pile on the mascara, or false lashes if you have a pair lurking somewhere.

Finish with a deep red or plum lipstick, blotted, then applied again.

Wear your hair down, dead straight, parted in the middle. Stand very still and look unimpressed.

Wednesday Addams, The Addams Family (1991)

While you’re in the Addams house, Christina Ricci’s Wednesday is the ultimate zero-effort option. Wednesday barely wears makeup. She just looks as though she’s never seen daylight and disapproves of everyone who has.

Skip blusher and bronzer completely.

Use a concealer a touch lighter than your skin under the eyes and around the nose, to take out any warmth.

Brush your brows flat and straight.

A tiny bit of grey eyeshadow under the lower lashes gives a tired, haunted look.

Two plaits and a white collar do the rest. Don’t smile in a single photo.

Lydia Deetz, Beetlejuice (1988)

Winona Ryder’s goth teenager is having a moment again thanks to the 2024 sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, where an older Lydia is back alongside Jenna Ortega as her daughter.

The original 1988 look is simple. Pale skin, a dark lip and a heavy, slightly smudged eye.

Go a shade lighter than usual with your base, or just use powder over your normal foundation.

Smudge black or dark brown eyeshadow all round the eye, then blend it out so there are no hard edges.

A near-black lipstick is ideal, but a deep red topped with a slick of black eyeshadow pressed on with your finger works too.

The real signature is the fringe. Spiky and short, if you’ve got one to style.

Nikki, Obsession (2026)

If you’ve watched Obsession, you’ll know that Nikki has one of the most unsettling makeup looks to emerge from recent horror. Her everyday appearance is fairly natural, which makes the scene where her face seems subtly wrong all the more disturbing. The effect plays with the uncanny valley: she looks almost human, but something about her features feels off. The original look was created using carefully placed makeup and shading rather than relying entirely on elaborate prosthetics.

For a Halloween version, you can exaggerate the features with products you probably already own. It won’t recreate the film’s effects exactly, but that’s rather the point.

Start with your usual foundation and a matte finish.

Use brown or grey eyeshadow to create deeper shadows around the eyes and alongside the nose.

With a fine eyeliner brush, subtly exaggerate the corners of your mouth and the lines around your lips, blending the edges so they look like shadows rather than drawn-on stripes.

Use dark liner around the eyes to make them appear more intense, keeping both sides as symmetrical as possible.

Finish with a neutral lip and slightly undone hair. If you want the full Nikki effect, add a red-and-black zebra-print top.

The trick is restraint. You want people to look twice and wonder what’s wrong, rather than immediately recognise a conventional monster. That’s what makes this one so creepy.

Aunt Gladys, Weapons (2025)

Aunt Gladys is proof that Halloween makeup doesn’t have to be beautifully blended to make an impression. Amy Madigan’s character in Weapons has bright hair, oversized glasses and a rather alarming combination of exaggerated colour and clownish makeup. It’s deliberately over the top, and that’s precisely why it works.

You won’t be recreating the film’s professional effects with your everyday makeup bag, but you can capture the spirit of the look without buying a special-effects kit.

Apply your usual foundation, then add a little extra blush in a noticeably bright shade.

Use red or berry lipstick, applying it a little less precisely than you normally would.

Add exaggerated blush or eyeshadow around the eyes, keeping the colours bold rather than carefully blended.

If you have a red or orange wig, style it with a short fringe. Otherwise, work with your own hair and focus on the makeup.

Finish with oversized glasses, a bright outfit and an expression that suggests you know something nobody else does.

The beauty of this look is that it doesn’t need to be perfect. In fact, the more unnervingly overdone it looks, the better.

Emily, Corpse Bride (2005)

Tim Burton and Mike Johnson’s stop-motion film gave us Emily, voiced by Helena Bonham Carter, a blue-skinned bride with enormous eyes. Blue skin isn’t happening without face paint. Instead, go for a cool, washed-out base and put all the colour on the eyes.

Use your palest foundation and set it with a translucent powder.

Sweep a blue or grey eyeshadow under your cheekbones in place of bronzer.

Take the same shadow round the whole eye, blending it wide.

Draw on huge lower lashes with a fine black liner, one stroke at a time.

Pale pink or nude lips. A bit of old net curtain works as a veil.

Odile, Black Swan (2010)

Natalie Portman’s black swan look was designed by makeup artist Judy Chin, and it’s the most dramatic look here. It’s also the one that takes the longest, so leave yourself at least forty minutes.

Start with a flawless, pale base.

Use black eyeshadow or liner to draw a sweeping wing shape that runs from the inner corner out towards your temple, like a feather.

Fill it in solidly, then add a thin line of silver or white shimmer along the top edge.

Blood-red lipstick, applied precisely This is where the cotton buds earn their keep. Don’t rush the edges.

Carrie (1976)

Sissy Spacek’s prom night is the lowest-effort costume in horror. It’s also quite a lot of fun. Wear a pale dress or nightie.

Do a soft, pretty makeup look with a bit of pink blush and nude lips, exactly as if you were going to a school dance. Then ruin it. Take a red lipstick and dab it on your fingertips, then smear it down your forehead, cheeks and hair.

A red cream blush does the same job. Pat, don’t rub, so it looks like it’s dripped. Keep it off your eyes.

Making it last all night

Halloween parties are hot, and pale base and dark lipstick are the first things to go. Blot before you set. Press a tissue over your face after foundation, then powder, and your base will hold far longer. Do the same with lipstick: apply, blot, apply again. Two thin layers beat one thick one.

Carry the lipstick and a small powder compact in your pocket. That’s all you’ll need for touch-ups, and two things are far easier to keep track of than a whole makeup bag.

Dark liner smudges downwards as the evening goes on. If that happens, lean into it. Every look on this list gets better with a little bit of mess, apart from the black swan.

Taking it all off

Oil-based cleansers are the quickest way to tackle heavy eyeliner, pale foundation and dark lipstick. Massage over dry skin, add a little water, then rinse. Follow with your normal cleanser and moisturiser. Your skin has been through enough for one evening.

Before bed, check your hairline and the backs of your ears for any lingering foundation. It’s always the backs of the ears. If you’ve recreated Carrie’s prom-night look, give your hair a little extra attention, too.

And there you have it: eight film-inspired Halloween transformations, all created with makeup you probably already own. No £12 face-paint palette destined to languish in a drawer until 2028, and no elaborate kit you’ll never use again.

Now turn off the lights, put on a horror film and enjoy the fact that, for once, looking terrifying didn’t cost you a fortune. Just remember to take the makeup off before you fall asleep. Nobody wants to wake up looking like the villain in the sequel.

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