Halloween makeup ideas: The most popular and spooky beauty looks for 2018

The most-searched for look is inspired by a 1993 film

Halloween is fast approaching, and with it comes the difficult decision of what costume to wear.

To make the choice easier, inspiration site Pinterest has narrowed down more than 300 million Halloween ideas by the most searched – and the results are not what you might expect.

In addition to traditional and unique costume ideas, with pins ranging from animals to avocado toast, the 2018 list of Pinfrights also revealed the site’s most-searched Halloween beauty look.

According to Pinterest, the most popular beauty style for those forgoing store-made costumes in favour of their own creative skills is Sally from The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Searches for the rag doll-inspired look from Tim Burton’s beloved Halloween movie are up 91 per cent this year – despite the film having been released in 1993.

Following Sally are celestial makeup looks, with a huge increase of 158 per cent. Although greatly varied, the popular celestial looks usually include smokey eye makeup in ethereal colours.

Beauty looks creating optical illusions are also hugely popular and are up by 75 per cent. It’s not just the cracked face look you’ve probably seen over recent years; makeup artists are becoming increasingly creative with optical illusions, from making it look like someone has a floating head to incredibly realistic third eyes.

Sally is the most searched for Halloween beauty look in 2018 (YouTube Sn0ok)

For full-body costumes, TV and movies seem to be a big inspiration this year, with Tonya Harding as the number one searched pin. The American figure skater was played by Margot Robbie in Oscar winning film I, Tonya, which came out in 2017.

Riverdale, Black Panther, Edna Mode from The Incredibles, and Mamma Mia characters also made the list.

If you plan on pairing with friends this Halloween, Pinterest has revealed that the most-searched for options include a family of dinosaurs, Neverland or carnival-inspired outfits.

In the lead up to Halloween, social media has become awash with lots of incredibly spooky makeup tutorials that you can recreate at home.

Here are five of the best and most striking makeup tutorials on Instagram:

Queen of Hearts

Haley Wight, a 22-year-old makeup artist from Portland, Oregon took inspiration from several iterations of the hot-tempered Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland when creating this eye-catching look, which she’s describes as “gorey slash glam”.

After applying a glue stick to her face, Wight uses liquid latex and tissue paper to create a heart shape around her left eye.

Using eyebrow scissors, she carefully creates an incision that goes the whole way around the heart shape.

She then uses a brush to apply red paint along the slit to create the illusion of a bloody cut.

For a breakdown of the entire look, visit Cosmo by Haley’s Instagram account or YouTube channel.

Melted pumpkin face

The tradition of making jack-o’-lanterns out of vegetables is believed to have originated in Ireland.

However, the carved pumpkin has since become a symbol of Halloween all over the world.

Marion Moretti, a 29-year-old French makeup artist and YouTuber, has created a makeup look that combines a menacing pumpkin with a melting face.

First, Moretti creates an orange base for her face by combining orange eyeshadow with foundation.

After painting black pumpkin features on the right side of her face, Moretti blends a gel with a matted loose powder to create a mixture that she uses to emulate drips on her face.

For a breakdown of the entire look, visit Marion Cameleon’s Instagram account or YouTube channel.

Corpse Bride

The Corpse Bride from Tim Burton’s 2005 animated feature film of the same night has proven a very popular choice of fancy dress for Halloween over the years.

With many people keen to fashion the look for themselves, British makeup artist Zoe Pratt has shared a step-by-step guide by demonstrating it on model Amber White.

First, Pratt paints a light white and blue base onto White’s face and torso.

She then uses a darker blue hue to create the illusion of a visible bones.

The final look pays homage to the original cartoon-like depiction of the character.

For a breakdown of the entire look, visit Pratt’s Instagram account.

Pennywise

Following the release of It last year, a film about a group children being terrorised by a horrifying evil being that takes on the appearance of a clown, it should come as no surprise that Pennywise has become a particularly popular fancy dress option for the scariest night of the year.

Jason Kerr, a makeup artist and beauty influencer, has devised a bold version of Pennywise by using a variety of makeup products including L’Oréal liquid lipstick, Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow and NYX Cosmetics blusher.

Kerr explained to Teen Vogue that he’s learnt a lot about makeup from watching YouTube tutorials.

“There is literally no rules to makeup,” he said. “It’s art, anyone and everyone should pick up a brush and get creative.”

For a breakdown of the entire look, visit Jason MUA’s Instagram account.

Upside down face

If you want to create an extraordinarily eerie makeup look for Halloween, then look no further than this reverse face construction by YouTuber Taylor R.

Taylor explains that she took inspiration from other makeup artists when creating the eye-catching look.

After using a glue stick on her face and applying translucent powder, the first facial feature that Taylor paints on her face is eyebrows, which she places underneath her eyes.

Then, after applying eye makeup, Taylor uses nose and scar wax to create a three-dimensional nose that she fixes on her forehead.

For a breakdown of the entire look, visit Taylor R’s Instagram account or YouTube channel.