Did you really think I would celebrate Women in Horror Month and not use it as an excuse to get a little bloody?

If you’re like me then your Valentine’s Day isn’t spent watching romantic comedies while surrounded by flowers, chocolates and gifts from your sweetheart. No, my Valentine’s Day is less Something Borrowed and more My Bloody Valentine.

This year, I decided to do another Anti-Valentine’s Day look. Now that I have the Modern Renaissance palette in my collection, there’s no way I could pass up the opportunity to slather the shade “Love Letter” all over my eyes – which is exactly what I did.

For the horror element, what better way to say “Be My Valentine” than carving “Be Mine” into their chest?

Products Used:

ABH Modern Renaissance (Love Letter, Venetian Red, Burnt Orange)

Nyx Brow Precise Pencil

Hard Candy Lashoholic Mascara

Wet N Wild Pressed Glitter Shadow

Elf Liquid Liner

Colourpop Ultra Matte Liquid Lipstick in “Tulle”

Mehron Coagulated Blood Gel

Liquid Latex

My Pretty Zombie Shadow in “Fresh Scab”

It's officially time to get spooky, y'all. I’m way too excited for Halloween so naturally, I couldn’t help myself and decided to break into my special fx kit. I was inspired by my girl Mykie from Glam and Gore to recreate this “literal cut crease” look that she did a while back. Mykie is by far, one of my favorites on YouTube. She’s insanely talented and creative; her videos have inspired many of my makeup looks – both in beauty and special fx. She also has a ton of videos on her channel for beginners that feature quick and easy tutorials, how to put together your fx kit, how to build prosthetics, and more. If you love special fx as much as I do then you should definitely check out her channel and her Instagram for more inspiration.

Now, for this look you’re going to just need a few things as this look doesn’t require a lot of products. The beauty makeup is a basic neutral eye look with winged liner. So all you’ll need to do is prime your eyes like you normally would and then set it with translucent powder or an eyeshadow that matches your skin tone. Next, take a fluffy blending brush and a shadow that’s a shade darker than your skin tone to use as a transition shade and blend it into your crease. Next, take a black eyeliner and tightline your upper lid to help define your lash line and then take your liquid liner and make a wing sharper than Freddy Kruger’s claws. Last, apply some mascara (add lashes if you want to add some drama) and you’re good to go.

This is where the special fx comes in. First, I used a red lip liner to map out my cut crease. Basically, just use a light hand and draw a line going above your crease and then slightly flick the end like you would when doing winged liner.

Next, I took a small definer brush and a deep red eyeshadow that has blue and purple undertones to blend out the lip liner and define the cut crease. The eye shadow I used was “Fresh Scab” from My Pretty Zombie. This eyeshadow is honestly; one of my favorite eyeshadows ever and it’s perfect for creating that bruising effect that really make this look work. Make sure to blend the shadow up into the crease and avoid the lid. Then, take a dark blue or purple eyeshadow and the same small definer brush and deepen the crease. The key is to go back and forth between blending and defining until you get your desired look.

This next part is where it gets a bit tricky because you need to be very careful because you’ll be working on your eyelid. The best products to use for adding the blood into the cut crease are bloods that are a thick, gel-like consistency so they stay in place and won’t drip into your eyes. Some good products to consider are:

Ben Nye Scab Blood (one of my favorites. It’s thick and chunky and gross looking)

Mehron Coagulated Blood Gel (This is what I used for this look. It’s thick and wet looking and doesn’t budge)

For a more in-depth look at the many different fake blood options that are available, check out this video from MadeYewLook. Lex is another YouTuber that is a talented special fx artist and body painter and you should definitely check out her channel.

When applying the blood, please use something that doesn’t have sharp edges so that you don’t accidentally scrap, scratch, or cut your lid. You can use a q-tip, a small, rounded pallet knife, or a wooden cuticle pusher to carefully apply the product to the crease. You can make it as gross or as neat as you want, just make sure you’re applying the product carefully and safely!

Here’s a list of the exact products I used:

KVD Lock-it Cream Concealer

KVD Shade and Light Eye Palette

Wet n Wild Black Eyeliner

Elf Liquid Liner

Hard Candy Lashaholic Mascara

Elf Brow Cream in Deep Brunette

Jordana Tinted Brow Gel in Brunette

My Pretty Zombie eyeshadow in “Fresh Scab"

Mehron Coagulated Blood Gel

And you’re finished! Now, you have a simple, bloody makeup eye makeup to creep up any look. If you recreate this look let me know!

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and what better way to celebrate than with playing with makeup? We all know Valentine’s Day is just another excuse to do the most with your makeup anyway.

I was inspired by one of my favorite films, My Bloody Valentine, for this quick look. Perfect for a romantic night out with your boo or a night in with your best friends. Totally casual.

What I Used:

Brows:

L’Oreal – Brow Stylist in “Deep Brunette”

Jordana – Brow Gel in “Dark Brown”

Eyes:

Too Faced – Sweet Peach Palette

My Pretty Zombie – “Everything Looks Better on a Meat Hook” shadow

Maybelline – Gel Liner in “Blackest Black”

Rimmel – Rockin’ Curves Mascara

Milani – Liquid Eyeliner for the heart

Special FX:

Mehron 3-D Blood Gel

Mehron Coagulated Blood Gel

Ben Nye Bruise Wheel

Zombie Blood in Black.

Now remember kids, the fastest way to a girl’s heart is through her rib cage.

Happy Valentine’s Day.

Friday the 13^th is one of my favorite horror films. Aside from the Nightmare on Elm Street and Halloween series’, the Friday the 13^th series is one I can watch over and over again. I even have a tiny Jason Voorhees that sits on my dresser and watches me while I do my makeup. It’s casual.

So of course I had to recreate one of my favorite costumes that I’ve ever done. This is also probably one of the easiest special fx looks that I’ve ever done because it involves no liquid latex.

What you’ll need:

Eye shadow

Cream paints

3D Blood Gel

Coagulated Blood

Camp Crystal Lake shirt (I’ll link to the exact one I have)

Start by painting your face to look as dead as possible. Using my eye shadow pallet, I darkened my eyes using greys and dark brown to create a sunken-in appearance. Add more shadow as you go until you get your desired look.

Once you have that down, use your cream paints to start creating bruises and trauma around your face. I started by using mixing red and purple together, stippling on the color with a cosmetic sponge around my eye bone, cheek, and mouth. Add more color in the places where you want the deepest bruises to be. Incorporating brown and black helps to add depth to your bruises – this also helps when you figure out where you want your wounds to be.

Use an eyeliner to map out the places you want to lay the blood gel. Fill a mug with water and heat it up so that you can place your blood gel into it to get it warm. This makes the gelatin easy to use. When you take the gel out of the mug, wait until it gets warm to place it on your skin, please do not use it while it’s still super-hot. Use a spatula or a pallet knife to place the gel onto the places where you want your wound. Apply as much as you want, using your tool to smooth it out and add texture to the skin. You'll want to work fast so that the gel is still warm. It's easier to use while it's still warm because it starts to clump as it cools and then it will not stick onto your skin as well. 

You can create whatever kind of wound you want, make it look as simple or as gory as you choose. This gel is easy to manipulate and it’s more simple that liquid latex. Plus, it’s good for those that have a latex allergy.

Once your gel has dried a bit, use a black cream shade to darken certain places around the wound, the create depth. Use your coagulated blood to fill in certain areas around your wound and face. A helpful tip: add black eye shadow or cream paint to certain areas of the gel to darken it. The blood gel is a bright red and this helps to make it look more dried and add dimension. Now, it’s all about aesthetic. Use your materials to add any finishing touches you want.

And you’re finished!

This is a fast and simple way to create an undead look for Halloween. It’s also great for anyone that loves Friday the 13^th as much as I do. You can find these materials from any Halloween store for extremely cheap. I found my coagulated blood and 3D blood gel from Spirit Halloween for under $6. You can also find them on Amazon. Everything else were things I already had lying around. The camp counselor shirt is one I’ve had for years from Rotten Cotton, a great places to find horror movie shirts. I have one more tutorial left to put up. Even though it’s already Halloween, we all know I enjoy being spooky all-year around.

Happy Halloween!

Hello boils and ghouls

So as most of you know, I’m a huge fan of special fx makeup and whenever there’s an excuse for me to use it I take advantage of that. Ice Nine Kills is currently on their “Hell in the Hallways” tour alongside Secrets, Sylar, Cover Your Tracks, and Out Came the Wolves and I get the honor of helping promote their NC date.

Their latest album Every Trick in the Book features songs that were inspired by some of their favorite novels and the track “Hell in the Hallways” was inspired by Stephen King’s Carrie – a personal favorite of mine. I took this opportunity to put together a sort of “undead prom queen” look, instead of just covering myself in blood like my homegirl Carrie White (even though it’s so much fun).

For this look here’s what you’ll need:

Tissue Paper

Cream Paints

Eyeshadow

Eyeliner

Liquid Latex

And of course, Blood.

First- Do your makeup like you normally would for a night out. I did a simple smoky eye, incorporating darker colors to create a sunken-in look. Apply some lipstick and then smudge it, dragging it down the side of your mouth. Remember, we’re dead – we don’t really care if our lips are perfectly lined.

Next, create some bruises and trauma around your face and neck. Depending on the type of bruises you want/undertones, use colors that compliment that. I used reds, purples, and bit of yellow. I mixed the colors on my hand and then used a makeup sponge to dab it on my skin, using different variations of shades to create different depths.

Next- Decide where you want your scars or gashes and outline the spot with a lip liner or eyeliner. Then, grab your liquid latex and apply a thin layer with a sponge. Take your tissue and place it on top of the latex and then apply another layer of latex on top to further seal it. Repeat these steps until you get your desired thickness and shape. Take a pair of tweezers or a pallet knife to cut open the tissue to create your gash CAREFULLY. It seems simple enough but you don’t want to accidentally pull or cut your skin.

Now unless your latex is flesh colored you might need to take a foundation and apply it on top so the wound matches your skin. Before you do this, wait for the latex to dry and then powder it using a translucent powder or even baby powder. Sometimes it helps to take an eyeshadow close to your skin color and powder it around the edges.

Take a black or dark red shade and apply it inside the cut to create depth. Next, take various shades of reds and purples and stipple it around the edges of the cut to make it appear to be irritated.

Final step – blood. For this, you can use whatever kind of blood your heart desires. Depending on the look you want to achieve you could use Ben Nye’s Fresh Scab blood (thick, chunky, and appears wet), Coagulated blood gel (thick, appears wet, drips a bit but not a lot), Blood paste (thick, stays in place), or standard stage blood (thin, drips, great for splattering blood). For this particular look I used stage blood.

Apply any finishing touches you want and then you’re done!

I have a few more Halloween looks planned so stay tuned.