Halloween is just around the corner, so let the last minute lazy girl Halloween costume ideas commence! Easy skeleton makeup is a fun, high impact (but super easy) way to play dress up for Halloween.
And you don’t even need a “real” costume.
Why easy skeleton makeup is a slam dunk idea for Halloween.
This look can be created with makeup products you already own.
Halloween makeup tutorials often trend around this time of year – but not all are created equal. I’ve seen so many intimidating, hard to do DIY makeup ideas for Halloween that would require 1) a lot of skill and 2) a whole lot of makeup I don’t own.
That’s what makes this easy skeleton makeup SO good.
This skull adjacent look is executed with neutral shades of eyeshadow, foundation, bronzer, and eyeliner. It’s honestly REALLY likely you already own all the makeup you’ll need for this skeleton makeup tutorial. Not only does this save you the time and energy with a trip to the store, but it also saves you money. Not to mention, you won’t need to load up your beauty collection with a ton of products you only pull out one time of year.
People will be VERY impressed.
I swear this pretty skeleton makeup situation is SO easy to pull off – but WOW does it impress people. Not only was this one of my most liked Instagram photos ever, but I had so many in-person comments about how good it looked. The truth is that most people don’t go wild with their makeup on Halloween – they opt for traditional costumes. This easy skull makeup looks like you put in a whole lot more effort than you really did!
You don’t need a “real” costume to pull this look off!
I truly didn’t even bother with a costume of any sort when I rocked my skeleton makeup for Halloween. I let the makeup be my costume!
I always think it’s fun to pair this skeleton Halloween makeup with some of the all black items in my capsule wardrobe. Pop on a black dress or black top and pants for an easy outfit to go with your skeleton face paint.
What you’ll need for this skull makeup look.
- Your everyday shade of foundation
- A bronzer shade that can be built up and layered for more pigment (if you keep around a “light” and “dark” shade of bronzer, opt for the darker shade). Cream bronzer is ideal!
- If you don’t have a cream bronzer on hand, keep a brown eyeliner (preferably matte) or brown eyeshadow nearby.
- Black eyeliner, preferably in liquid form.
- Black mascara.
- A neutral eyeshadow palette.
- Both face and eye makeup brushes .
How to create this easy skeleton makeup look for Halloween.
- Apply your foundation like normal. I do recommend applying over your eyelids and lips to wash them out!
- It’s time to start building out the structure of your skeleton face painting. To create the hollowed out face effect we’ll want to add a ton of shadows. You can start by bronzing across your face in your normal spots. I then like to take a liquid bronzer and “carve” out the cheekbone area, starting by my ear and curving around the cheek and down to the jaw. Shade the area on the side of the line you’ve just made that is furthest away from your nose (basically shading in half hour cheek down to your jaw). This “coloring in” creates a shadow effect that mimics a hollowed out cheek. If you don’t have bronzer shades on hand, you can also use brown eyeliner, eyeshadow, or even your eyebrow color.
- Also add extra shadows under your eyes (dark circles, baby!). You can also give yourself a skinny skeleton nose by heavily contouring the sides of your nose. Add extra drama by bringing the lines on the side of your nose up above your eyebrow.
- Do a lil’ neutral smokey eye! I’ll leave this step up to your imagination. Smokey eyes can come in all shapes and forms, but as long as you’re using a neutral palette, you’ll give off skeleton eye makeup vibes. If you’re brave, you can go with black eyeshadow to really hit the whole I’m deceased thing home.
- Fill in your brows as normal, or a little bolder. I emphasized the very front of each of my brows to further emphasize the skeletal nose.
- Line your eyes with black eyeliner, preferably liquid. I did not give myself winged eyeliner here, because I really wanted to mimic the naturally round shape of our eye sockets.
- Take that same black eyeliner and create your skeleton mouth. Liquid liner works really well for this step. I elongated the shape of my mouth by drawing horizontal lines on either side of my face, connecting to the natural corners of my lip. I then made vertical “dashes” across those two lines and over my lips, mimicking a skeleton grin and teeth.
- Also with your black eyeliner (again, preferably liquid), it’s time to carve out your skeleton nose. Our noses have tons of cartilage that waste away, leaving behind bone only. To recreate this shape, use black eyeliner to blacken out the tip of your nose. I extended the shape up a bit onto the bridge of my nose.
- Mascara as normal! You can also add a false lash if you so choose.
While this isn’t exactly colorful skeleton makeup a la candy skulls – it’s SO fun and SO easy.
Let me know in the comments below if you try out this easy skeleton makeup this Halloween!