Zombie make-up (how to do it)

It's Halloween soon guys!

I've been seeing so many stuff about it for the past week, it's only natural for me to contribute as well.

Tonight, there is this host noir cosplay party in my city, but I was unable to go so I was kinda sad about it. I actually never in my life cosplayed, and I would love to do so. I also love costuming and everything about it so after watching a few HW inspired videos on youtube, I came up with this little zombie look.

Basically, I was bored and alone at home, so I decided to try it out. It's the basic zombie look, nothing fancy or too complicated. I am a passionate amateur MUA so I don't have access to that much professional make-up as I would want to so I wanted to try out if I could pull it out without the fake blood and latex.

I haven't made a tutorial, but I will tell you what I used and how so you get the general idea.

So this is how it turned out in the end:

Is it good? I like how it turned out for the first try.

This is the home version, but I will put what you can use if you can get your hands on it. The reason it is a home version is because here we don't have Halloween themed shops, since we don't really celebrate HW and it's a lot harder to find fake blood etc and not to mention it is more expensive.

So this is what you will need:

• Liquid foundation
• Setting powder
• White powder
• Red, black, gray, purple, blue and green eyeshadow
• Red lipstick (I used it instead of red face-paint)
• Tissues
• Blush (if you have it - I didn't use it here)
• Eyelash adhesive (or liquid latex - I'll really try to get it next time, I bet it sticks a lot better)
• Sponges and/or brushes that you don't really use (since they will probably be messed up afterwards)
• Some random moisturizer cream 
• Scissors

I think that's it, I hope I didn't forget anything.

How to do it:

I have to say that I had leftover make-up on my face from uni, but that's not really important, since I painted over it. That's why I still have mascara on~ xD I guess you can go for the sexy version of a zombie, with more elaborate make-up, but this was done quickly so I didn't feel like doing that this time.

First use liquid foundation and put it all over your face. It will work as a base. You don't have to cover every little spot, since you're gonna look messed up in the end anyways.

Set it with some powder. Now I recommend to use white powder around your eyes, so that they look a lot whiter for the start.

Then take one tissue and separate it into two or three layers, depending of how many it has. Rip off uneven pieces, don't cut it, it's supposed to look ripped. the tissue is gonna be the ripped skin.

Take a brush or a sponge ( I used a brush) and place the eyelash glue on the spot you want to make the ripped skin. Put a part of the ripped tissue over it and let it dry. Put more glue over the tissue and tape another one. Do this until you have 3 or 4 layers (4 in my case). Try not to wrinkle it, but it's okay even so. It doesn't have to be completely glued at the ends, it will look more rotten that way, and it gives you artistic freedom :3

When it all dries out, take a sponge, or using your fingers put liquid foundation over the tissue. Since the tissue is white, this will give it a more "natural" feel, it will resemble skin a bit more. It will still look fake, but it's all good. Again, you might not cover all the white, but it's okay, you'll fix it later.

Next step is, take your scissors and carefully cut in the middle part of the tissues (look out, you don't want to scratch or cut your skin). Make the cut in any way and shape you want, but don't do it too wide. You can always expand it later.

Close up on the wound when it was finished.

But we're still far from what's on the picture. When you get the shape you want rip it a bit so it looks more natural. Then, we can start applying the colors.

You want to use the colors mentioned above, since they are the best for this look. Now, I didn't do it in this order, but it has the same effect. Use the green lightly with a powder brush and apply it all over your face to give it a "sickish" effect. Don't overdo it, or you will look like The Hulk.

Then take a small brush (I used an angled one) and apply the black inside the ripped "skin" (the tissue). The deepest part of the wound should be the darkest. Add black, gray, blue and a bit of green to your liking. Then cover the tissue skin with a strong red blush or red eye-shadow wish a powder brush (like above). Fill in the wound with red eye-shadow over the black and on the borders of the ripped "flesh". Do it on the outer borders where the tissue is ripped. When you think you had enough move onto the eyes.

Don't be afraid to go overboard with the eyes. Lots of black and gray, and red too, a bit of green and blue. Make huge bags under your eyes, and on the top lid too, make your eyes look hollow. Use red on your waterline so your eyes look more "bloody".

Use gray or black with a powder brush to add contour to your face. Under your cheeks, on sides of your nose, inner angles of your eyes, under your mouth. Do it wherever you find it necessary. 

Repeat these steps until you have the result you want.

Now to start off with the blood.

I don't have the fancy fake blood as I already said, so I was thinking what I could use instead of it. Nothing in my kitchen could do the trick (but you can find some cool recipes for making your own fake blood) so on a whim I used a random cream I had (Balea) and mixed with my red Inglot eye-shadow. The cream is not too thick nor too liquid so it will stay on your face, but it's a bit harder to put it if you want to make it look realistic (like blood is dripping from your ching for example). So use a good thin brush and apply with caution. Apply it inside the wound generously, and let it drip a bit so it looks all gory. Use the red lipstick to make the tissue around the wound look more bloody and sticky. Keep applying the fake blood around your wound(s) and corners of your lips, put it on your neck or under your eyes, wherever you find it best. 

Use the red lipstick on your lips, but don't apply it like you normally would, make it messy. Then use the darker red eye-shadow and with a small brush give it more depth. In my case, I extended it a bit, so it would kinda blend out with the wound. Unconsciously I think I tried to make a "chelsea smile" but I don't think this is the right way to do it. This type of make-up is more for the rotten bloody zombie look. 

Use black eye-shadow on the inner side of your lips, so it looks a bit more decayed. Add more blood where you want it and that's basically it. You can shade out you nostrils with the gray and/or red.

In the end (or at the beginning) add contact lenses in red, white, yellow, pale green or blue or even sclera black or white lenses if you have them. I obviously used my red vampire lenses, since they are the only one I own that go with this look.

Mess up your hair and voila, we're done!

I hope you understand that this is not a professional way to do this, but it's good if you don't have enough money or resources to get the pro products. It's a good Halloween idea, at least for me. Zombies are always in~ ^^

It took me around an hour or more to do this, but if you want to add more wounds ( I only had one + two random red spots) it will take more time, since you have to do all this mentioned about multiple times. You need more tissues, more adhesive and more fake blood.

I hope you enjoyed and that it helps you with making your Zombie look or at least for inspiring you to create one in your own way.

Thank you for reading~ ^^

(critiques and reviews are very welcome)

xoxo