How to: Half Frankenstein Halloween makeup

Halloween is, oh, only the best holiday ever. It is so great, in fact it is my wedding anniversary.  Happy 10 years, babe! For the first five years of my marriage, I did not get dressed up out of respect for the sacred-ness of getting married on that day. Being the makeup artist I am, I decided 5 years is good, and I started getting dressed up again!

I am also competitive, mainly with myself. So every year I have to out-do myself.

Today, I'm going to show you what I did in 2015 for Halloween. I didn’t take enough pics of what I did for last year's awesomeness, so this is what you get, peeps.

The first thing that I do to plan year after year is search Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram for spooky inspiration. This process usually takes weeks, and I find a few things I like and will create from a compilation.

While researching for this, I found and fell in love with Lex from Made Yew Look. She is down to earth, a great artist, and is fun to follow. I used much her video, and made some tweaks.

FrankensteinMakeup Tutorial (MadeYewLook)

One of the things I did differently was to use liquid latex to create the center wound.  Lex was able to use a Mehron Special Effects kit which I did not have access to. Instead I went to my local costume shop, Disguise the Limit.

Liquid latex is very similar to lash glue. I found that it is easy to build up, so I was able to make the edges of the wound thinner, and thicker toward the center. In the video, Lex cut the wound open, however with the liquid latex, I found it was easier to create the two sides of the wound separately.

The latex does take quite a while to dry, so ensure you have about 32 years available. (hah!)

I did my eye makeup before hand, but realized later that I could have better used my time creating the wound, then doing the eyes.

I did them smoky with purple, inspired by Lex, and color theory. Purple is a great compliment to the green. Lex used a cooler green than I did, as was the purple, I went with warmer hues to make it a bit more different.

The liquid latex dried a milky clear, and absorbed any color I laid over it very nicely. I used a primer all over first, then mixed a green and white face paint with my regular foundation for a hue of green.

I contoured with green face paint at the hair line, cheek bone and jawline, then set with a translucent powder. I then used a variety of green eyeshadows to create more depth with further contouring. For blush I used a very bright pink just on the apple of my cheek.

As Lex showed, I used a brown eye shadow in the center of the wound before using fake blood, though I decided I should have used more to make the blood darker.

For the stitching, I found the thread I had, even though it was thick, was still too thin. I used a sparing bit of liquid latex as glue to triple and twist the thread. I used a brown eye liner to create the "holes" that the stitching needed.

I made the string too long in my practice round, but loved that as I made faces, and changed expression, it showed that the thread was real stitching, not just drawn on lines.

I used the Liquid latex as glue to attach the thread to my face where the stitches would enter the wound.

I did a basic beauty makeup for the other side, adding a plum color eyeshadow, and blush on the far side of the wound, to create "irritation" to the skin. Add realism.

Taking the wound off was easy an relatively painless. Again, think lash glue. Or Elmer's glue when you were a kid, and had to peal it off. What is super cool, is the stitching came off at the same time.

I am so glad that I practiced before the big night.

I got a better feel for the makeup I don’t use daily, latex, blood, stitching, green all over my face…

I also looked at other Halloween makeup ideas, and decided I wanted more drama with veins.

For the veins, I took a basic triangular sponge, gouged irregular holes in it. I then dipped the sponge in a dark green eyeshadow powder, and sponged the veins in place, never going over the same place twice.

Again, I like the drama, and am competitive, so had to out do my practice round.

This was accomplished with a better executed wound, but then I also extended the center wound down my chest, onto my collar bone, and on my hand.

I used a liquid liner to create cracks coming off the wound, and eye.

I used more brown beneath the blood, and extended the veins onto my chest.

On the Frankenstein side I used dark green to vein, and on the beauty side I used purples, and a deep red color shadow.

I already had purple contacts, and decided again to be like Lex and go with the yellow eye. Everywhere I went, they were out of neon green, my first choice. The result was still awesome though!

I have no idea what I will be doing this year, as usual I will go big, not home.

I still have tons of the liquid latex even after a practice round before the big night, so I plan on using that again. That’s about all I know!