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HALLOWEEN HOW TO: Skull Make-Up Tutorial

Get the steps from this skull make-up tutorial for Halloween and costume parties!

Alison Alhamed
Alison AlhamedEditor in Chief, MODERN SALON
Read Alison's Posts
October 30, 2012
2 min to read



MODERN Facebook fan Aly Frank, who works at P!ay Hair Lounge in Simi Valley, California, created the spookiest skull face for MODERN's Facebook page--we HAD to ask her for the details.

Make-up used: Black and white no-smudge Halloween makeup, MAC cosmetics brown eyeshadows,Pandora Nars Duo black and white eyeshadows.

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"My brushes are mostly from MAC because they have lasted me for years and I love the quality," Frank says, "but feel free to use any brush you're comfortable with. For the neck area, use a sponge."


Step 1. Pick out a black and a white no-smudge face paint and three light-to-dark brown eyeshadows.

Step 2. Using a very thin brush and black face paint...

Step 3. ...outline the shape of the skull you want ("I always use Google for inspiration on images to use as an outline," Frank says.

Step 4. Using the thin brush, round out the bottom of the teeth to form a "U" and an upsidedown "U" on the bottom row.

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Step 5. Using a concealer brush and a smaller brush, fill in the black circles around the eyes and fill in teeth using white face paint.

Step 6. Use a fluffy brush with the middle brown shadow.

Step 7. Fill in just outside of black eyes to add shadow.

Step 8. Use a different fluffy brush to...

Step 9. ...fill in just underneath the middle brown and above the black around eyes.

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Step 10. Use a lip brush and the lightest brown...

Step 11. ...and apply to bottom of "teeth" to add a rotting effect.

Step 12. Using same lip brush and the darkest brown...

Step 13. ...apply next to "teeth" lines to make them look as if they are decaying.

Step 14. Use your small outlining brush and with the black face paint add very small cracks to the teeth.

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Step 15. Add any extra details or shadow to the face.

Step 16. Using a sponge and black paint, go all the way down your neck.

Step 17. With a concealer brush draw basic bone shapes...

Step 18. LASTLY, put on your costume and wow everyone!

WE WANT TO SEE YOUR WORK! Want to be modernsalon.com's next featured artist? Send your work, and info on how you did it (color formulas, steps on styling or cutting method, etc) to MODERN's Alison Shipley ashipley@vancepublishing.com.

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