Don’t quite have the time to craft an ingenious costume for upcoming Halloweekend? The quick and easy “zombie look” is a great solution. Plus, with the number of Zombie-themed Halloween parties happening locally this weekend, you’ll definitely look the part. (Read more about such themed parties here: http://goo.gl/Ao1T3N.) The only tools you’ll need are basic makeup (Girls, you most likely have these items. Guys, they can be easily borrowed from a female friend.), baby powder, a comb, hairspray, corn syrup, food coloring, and clothes you can stain, rip, get filthy, and otherwise generally ruin. From there, follow these simple steps.
1. Apply makeup. You can use makeup to create the illusion of a deathly pallor.
A white/grey, purple or green tint works well for most people. Go to the drugstore and look for under-eye concealer or foundation base in these colors. Also purchase some dark eye shadow, eyeliner and baby powder. Apply the base over your entire face and down your neck to get that unhealthy pallor. Get directly under a light source and start using eye shadow to accent sunken areas of your face, such as your eye sockets. Find shadows and darken those a lot. Black out your eyes completely, but keep it under control. Use baby powder on your face to make your skin look dull and dead.
2. Mess up your hair.
Try to make your hair look like you just rolled out of a grave. Backcomb it at the roots. Apply hairspray, then use a small comb to brush hair in the “opposite” direction (toward the roots). Do this in small sections.
Apply baby powder. Rub some baby powder into your hair to make it look grey and ashen. If you have long hair, you can either leave it down or pull it into a messy up-do. An extremely crooked ponytail, ratty braids or a falling-apart bun look appropriately disheveled.
3. Make fake blood. For one fluid cup (probably more than you’ll ever use), do this:
1 cup of corn syrup or pancake syrup.
1-2 tbsp of red food coloring.
Some chocolate syrup, like the kind you put on ice cream (not a “shell” type).
Mix well and add small amounts of water until desired consistency/smearing factor is achieved.
To get a more paste-like or thicker consistency, petroleum jelly works very well. Just mix the food dyes in, or used a crushed maroon or red eye shadow.
4. Apply fake blood. Here’s the fun part, unless you get sick easily.
Give yourself some wounds of some kind. Dribble blood into your hairline and let it run down your face, arms, legs and hands. If you want bullet holes, get a really black marker and draw holes on your shirt. Then dribble down some fake blood around it. For the “I just got done munching on the neighbor” look, pour a fair amount of blood into your hand, and then “eat” it, to get a nice mouth smear. Then, put some more in your mouth (this mix is non-toxic, unlike some others) and let it dribble down your chin and throat.
If you have time, allow some blood to dry a little (about 10 minutes) and then re-apply another layer differently, to get a nice effect. Try to go for dark colored fake blood, as bright red blood will give you a cartoony appearance.
5. Get your costume looking right. Here are the basic steps for getting your clothes properly trashed.
Go outside and roll around in dirt. Try and find some mud and roll in it. While applying fake blood, make sure you’re messy, and get it on your clothes. This stuff runs and seeps in quite well and looks extremely convincing. Use a knife or other pointed implement (carefully!) and rip holes into your costume.
6. Act zombie-like.
Zombies are slow, stiff, dim-witted, can’t talk well, if at all, and crave human flesh. Make moaning and gasping sounds when you breathe through your mouth. It adds great effect. Your jaw should hang slack at most times. If you must make other noises, talk in gibberish or moan louder/higher. Moaning always works.
7. Clean up.
Take a shower. Make sure you put your clothes somewhere that they won’t get something else ruined. This blood mixture will usually come off pretty quickly with hot water, but make sure you scrub down and wash your hair several times. If you have light hair, it might get stained. If you’re not throwing your clothes away, put them in the washer by themselves. Usually the blood will wash out.
*Tips and tricks courtesy of “WikiHow”.