Whether you’re aiming for ‘scary’ or ‘sweetness and light’ this Halloween, discover our favourite selection of pretty Halloween makeup looks you’ll actually want to wear…
Including really simple eye and lip-based ideas, as well as on-trend character recreations from Joker and Beetlejuice, you don’t need much more than a few essentials (and maybe some fake blood) for these simple yet impactful looks.
These are 10 of our favourite pretty Halloween makeup looks.
Bloody lip
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A super wet-look red lipstick is just the vampish style you need on Halloween and in great news, it’s easy to recreate. First, you want to apply a pure red liquid lipstick – the closer to the colour of blood the better for Halloween makeup. Then, add an additional clear gloss over the top for extra amounts of shine. Line your lips (as in the inspiration photo) with a black or deep berry toned pencil to add extra dimension to the look. Just make sure to add a little curl at the corners to really define your pout.
Glitter tears
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If you haven’t had much time to prepare a look, Glitter tears are our prediction for the most popular last-minute Halloween makeup look for 2024. You really only need one product – a liquid glitter or eyeshadow, and you can be as creative as you like with the colour. Simply drop the glitter down from your eyes as shown, and pair with lashings of mascara and a statement lipstick. It will add just the right amount of spookiness to even the most simple costume.
Queen of Hearts
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You can certainly steal hearts with this party-ready look, which we especially love because of the heart-shaped design on her lips. Plus, there’s an additional benefit: it has a super effective lip plumping effect by framing your cupid’s bow. The best way to easily achieve the look is to get creative with lip and eye liners that you probably already have: a pop of pink for your pout, a deep red tone for the heart over one eye and a black liner to create the spade shape. That way its a full ‘look’ but you don’t have to go out and buy lots of new products to achieve it.
Animal print
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Animal costumes are a mainstay of Halloween and this makeup look helps you take a walk on the wild side with ease. The trick is to use a highly pigmented, shimmery eyeshadow in a gold or yellow tone in a ‘C shape’ around your eyes and cheeks. Then, go in with a liquid eyeliner to create the ‘spots’, and finish with dabs of highlighter to make sure the makeup catches the light at whatever celebration you are attending.
Harley Quinn
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For occasions when only a full costume will do, the character of Harley Quinn allows you to keep some ‘sex appeal’ while embracing the fun of Halloween fancy dress. Plus, the new Joker film means you’ll be right on trend. For this look, it’s all about bringing out your boldest green and purple makeup shades. You can keep it looking more ‘pretty’ by doing your normal skin base and applying the shades really precisely around your brows and eyes.
Sophisticated clown
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Only have a black eyeliner to hand? Don’t fret – you can easily recreate a version of this grungy clown look. Use your liner to create the line-based shape above, over and below your eyes (it is easier with a creamy-textured pencil). Then, wet your finger or a small brush and gently smudge out the line so you get the blurred effect. You can also use this dampening technique to smudge the colour over your lids, and the addition of a little purple shadow around the edges gives the look extra dimension.
Skeleton outlines
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This pretty take on skeleton makeup sees you swap black and white tones for a statement-yet-flattering red. You can also keep the rest of your base and eye makeup as you would normally wear it, before drawing the ghoulish lines onto your face using a liquid eyeliner or eyeshadow (using an eyeshadow brush for clean precision). Just make sure you choose a highly pigmented product so you don’t have to keep redrawing the design.
Spiderweb wings
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We love this winged liner look for a spooky-yet-sophisticated nod to spiderwebs, which we can see being styled to perfection with a little black dress and boots, even if you’re short on time. Here’s a tip for making sure your wings are even too: place dots where you want your line to start and finish, and then connect them, starting from the outside, drawing in towards your lash line. A touch of silver sparkle and lots of mascara will also help lift the look.
Beetlejuice
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Don’t say it three times in a row, but Beetlejuice is definitely going to be another big costume trend this Halloween, as the long-awaited sequel arrives just in time for spooky season. You can go as big (or small) with this look as you want – white face paint is optional in our opinion! – and we love the inky purple lip colour in particular. Keep it neat to ensure it stays sophisticated, cleaning up any blurred lines around your eyes and lips with a Q-tip for a sharp finish if needed.
Stars
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Potentially wearable for festive parties as well as Halloween if you want to be a bit more creative this winter, this shooting star eye art makes a pretty statement. You also don’t actually have to carefully draw out the shapes if you aren’t that artistic. Instead, our tip is to use star-shaped stickers and then blend an eyeshadow over the edges gently to achieve the soft edge. The touch of glitter for the star’s ‘tail’ is the perfect finishing touch.
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