Let’s be honest – it can be difficult to pick your Halloween costume. Unless you’re a Halloween super fan, not many of us want to shell out $100+ for those ultra luxe costumes. Plus, even if you’re picking the higher quality version, many costumes are still made of strange polyester, synthetic material that ends up being incredibly uncomfortable as the night wears on. However, you also don’t want to be the only person who showed up to the party without a costume – plus, half the fun of Halloween is dressing up! So, what’s a busy girl to do when she’s running low on both time and ideas? Turn to your makeup collection!

There are many looks that require very little clothing-wise, which means you can basically spend a bit of time on your face, and then just pull on a solid colored outfit to complete it. And these aren’t as lame as the ‘Costume 404’ t-shirts that people craft as last minute solutions. They’re all super chic and will have everyone complimenting you all night. Not that great with a makeup brush? Not to worry. The YouTube beauty gurus basically talk you through every step of the process, and since it’s a video, you can see exactly what they’re doing and how it looks (meaning that you can easily spot if you’ve gone astray a bit, and correct it before proceeding to the next step).

Dust off all your brushes, get out those colors that you can’t wear on a daily basis, and rock one of these 13 hot makeup looks for your Halloween 2015.

13 Half Skull Mask 

Skull masks are really popular this year and so we thought it would be great to show you how to do a half skull mask. The tutorial above is great because Kara shows you what items you need in order to create this beautiful design and how to properly apply the makeup yourself. We hope you enjoy this look as much as we do!

12 Vampire

I know, I know – the vampire costume is pretty much the oldest one in the book, and generally involves some type of (faux) neck puncture wound, as well as a dribble of blood from the corner of your mouth. However, this tutorial by YouTube guru makeupbyleyla takes things to a different level. Fans of The Vampire Diaries will recognize this look as the look a vampire gets when they begin to crave blood – a really cool pattern around the eye, paired with a dark vampy lip. Basically, if you can master a smoky eye, you can do this – it’s just a very dark smoky eye, incorporating some moody red tones, with a few painted on vessels. You’ll be by far the coolest vampire at the party with this look.

11 Deer

For those who would prefer to dress up as an adorable woodland creature rather than a frightening zombie or horror figure, this tutorial is perfect for you. It starts with a fairly basic, clean template, and then the ‘deer-like’ features are painted on with white makeup. The look is completed with the use of black eyeliner on the tip of the nose, and the upper lip, to really get that deer snout look. If you’re looking for a simple costume, you can easily pair this makeup look with a tan or beige dress – and you’re done! For something a bit more cheeky and clever, just look to Lauren Conrad’s idea – put on your most glamorous, fabulous outfit, add this makeup look, and you’re a party animal!

10 Barbie

Everyone knows about YouTube beauty guru Michelle Phan, so it’s only fitting that we include one of her videos. Her tutorial for a Barbie transformation is from 2009, but let’s be serious – Barbie is such an iconic, fun figure that she remains a popular costume choice for girly girls year after year. This look basically starts as a clean, fresh face, and uses some clever eyeshadow and contouring to shape those doll-like Barbie eyes. Add some big false lashes, keep all the colors bubblegum pink (including, of course, a perfect pink lip) and you’re basically all set! Just pair with your girliest dress, and maybe convince someone to be your Ken.

9 Elsa from Frozen

Whether you’re a child or an adult, there’s no denying that Frozen is one of the most popular Disney movies (or, perhaps, movies!) of the past year. So, when you’re searching for a Halloween makeup look, why not get a little frosted? This tutorial couldn’t be simpler – to get the look of a Disney character, you simply need to use a bit of a brighter eyeshadow than you might wear on a regular basis (and shape it a little bit differently), some frosty blush, and a pink lip. Finish the look with a great braid, and you’ll have everyone at the party belting ‘Let It Go” all night long.

8 Pop Art

The pop-art makeup look has been popular for several years, and it shows no signs of going out of style – just as many girls will be painting their faces with exaggerated lines and polka dots as before, because it’s just so fabulous and has such an impact. This look starts a little differently than many tutorials – you basically have to draw on those pop art black lines. You might feel like you look a bit strange at first, but trust the tutorial! After you’ve made your face look a bit more two-dimensional with the lines, you can add in some ultra-bright colors on the eyelid and lip, even more black contrasting lines, and then finish it all off by painting small dots over the entire face. Trust us – if you put in the time with this look, you’ll have everyone at the party super impressed.

7 Effie Trinket

Once upon a Halloween, girls were all braiding their hair and carrying around their bow prop to dress up as Katniss Everdeen, but let’s be serious – when it comes to fun Halloween looks based largely around makeup, who could you possibly be except the fabulously colorful Effie Trinket (or, more broadly, anyone from the Capital, with their crazy style). For this look, you need to disguise your eyebrows for that ethereal look, then once you have a very pale and washed out base, start layering on splashes of vibrant colour. Makeup guru Kandee Johnson elevates the look with the use of false lashes that incorporate butterflies, but honestly, any kind of over the top lashes would work. I mean, you know those crazy feathered lashes you couldn’t possibly wear to the club, but you bought because they were just too fantastic to pass up? This is your chance.

6 Black and White Film Star

Many girls decide to go a bit old Hollywood when it comes to their Halloween makeup looks – after all, it’s super glam! However, this look by YouTube user ahitsrosa takes it to a new level. Rather than simply painting on a bow lip and using those old Hollywood colours, she actually starts the look by painting your entire face a shade of grey. Then, to avoid that strange two-dimensional look, she blends some different shades of grey to do some contouring and highlighting, taking things from amateur to super glam. Finish with a smoky eye and perfectly defined lip, and you’ll look like you stepped right off the screen as a silent film star.

5 Taylor Swift in Bad Blood

Taylor Swift’s Bad Blood music video was one of the most iconic music videos of the year – I mean, who can forget the sheer amount of girl power she managed to squeeze into just a few minutes? This makeup look is perfect if you’re looking for a fairly low-maintenance costume to wear with your #squad (although you can definitely rock it solo, too – Taylor would!). It’s not too tough to do – the two main features are a smoky, exaggerated cat eye and a deep burgundy lip. It might be too heavy to wear out in your everyday life, but on Halloween it’s perfect! Pair with your favorite black outfit and heels, and you’ll look like you’re another one of the powerful girls from the video.

4 Superbowl Katy Perry

While it may seem like the past Super Bowl was months and months ago, one of the hottest costumes of 2015 is Left Shark. Not sure what we’re talking about? Well, for the half-time performance, California girl Katy Perry had two back-up dancers dressed in shark costumes, and one of them was a lot more relaxed than the others, just dancing to the beat of his own drum. However, let’s be serious – no glam girl wants to sweat all night in an oversized shark costume. So, find a little shark stuffed animal as a costume prop, and just rock this fantastic makeup look. It’s not too over the top – just a bright red lip and a signature Katy Perry cat eye. You probably have all that you need in your makeup collection already, and all you need to complete the costume is something ridiculously bright – Katy Perry would be proud.

3 Sadness from Inside Out

When it comes to makeup, Halloween is one of the few times you can go absolutely all out. Any color, any bold look you want, it’s really the time to play around with all those over the top elements. Everyone loves a good Pixar movie, and one of the year’s latest, Inside Out, has earned a lot of fans – and will have a lot of Halloween imitators. So, who better to be than the quirky Sadness? YouTuber Ingrid Nilsen has done a great Sadness tutorial that walks you through all the steps. It requires a fair bit of commitment – after all, you need to paint your whole face blue – but it also requires a little less skill with a makeup brush than some of the makeup looks. Once you have your blue base, Ingrid walks you through some blue shadow and lipstick to complete the look. Add a blue wig, a pair of Sadness’ signature round glasses, toss on any plain white turtleneck in your closet, and you have a great costume.

2 Imperator Furiosa from Mad Max

Every woman who saw Mad Max: Fury Road noticed what a fantastic character Charlize Theron played – and any woman looking for a great Halloween costume with very little accessories and clothing requirements, look no further! The main feature of the look is the black stippling across the top half of your face, so you just need to do a crazy smoked-out eye and then stipple some black cream makeup across your forehead – for those who aren’t as skilled with a makeup brush, this look is basically foolproof, because the messier it looks the better. Tap some pigment onto the rest of your face to make it look a little grimy, pair with a roughed up white t-shirt, and you’re ready to go! Added bonus – since the makeup for this look is concentrated on the upper half of your face, you won’t have to worry about smudging your lip makeup over the course of the night (which, if you’re having a few drinks at a Halloween party, you will).

1 Emoji

Are you looking for a last minute costume, or perhaps just really not a fan of uncomfortable costumes? Well, the emoji costume is basically the easiest one you could pick, clothing-wise – you just wear all black (or, if you have it, all yellow), as the focus is pretty much all on your face. You start by painting a round swath of your face yellow – unlike for some costumes, you don’t need to extend the color all across your face and down your jaw and neck, as you’re trying to imitate that round emoji shape. Create an orangey border, and then comes the fun part – pick what look you want for the night! Sad? In love? YouTube beauty guru Madewelook even shows you how to do the basic black emoji eye, so that you can always just rock the eye and use your natural acting abilities to switch your look up throughout the night.

Sources: Youtube

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