American Horror Story Cult

It’s day 6 of the 31 days of Halloween challenge already! This look was inspired by the new season of the hit TV show, American Horror Story Cult. The promotional posters and commercials emphasized and hinted at the new season’s focus on Coulrophobia (the fear of Clowns), and Trypophobia (the irrational fear of holes). This makeup is inspired by those two fears combined. This was not meant to copy the artist who created the bee-hive style scalp look in the teaser trailers, it was meant to just be a fun and simple spin on the concept from my own perspective.

CULT CLOWN

First and foremost, block out your eyebrows. I use a palette knife (makeup spatula made of metal) to do this. First brush through your eyebrows with a brow brush and brush them in the direction they grow, which will likely be in all different directions (kind of fanned out and up). I take a bit of Elmer’s washable glue stick on the end of my little palette knife (yes, the purple stick glue), and smear it down over my eyebrows IN THE DIRECTION THEY GROW so that they lay down as flat as possible. Really press against the face to flatten the glue down. If you have dark brows like me, you’ll want to add a creamy concealer over the top in soft, patting motions. Don’t wipe or buff because this will remove the glue. Then set it all in place with an excess amount of translucent setting powder. You will have to do this 2-3 times if your brow hairs are super long or dark.

Next, work around the eyes with some water activated paint. I used a pale wash of red closest to the eye and orange fading outward to create color filling in the eye socket. Make it messy and patchy if you want because the lest perfect it looks, the more creepy it will be. The paint I used is from Kryolan.

Now the fun part. Grab some modeling wax! This is a special effects product that you can find from great brands like Mehron, and most pro fx stores will have this in a clear or skin tone color, but the one I used is clear. With your palette knife covered in makeup remover, scrape the wax out of the pot and start to mold it into a thick worm shape between your palms. Make sure your hands and nails are also covered in makeup remover or else it will become a sticky mess! Once it looks like a breakfast sausage link, begin to apply it to the face. You can lay down some adhesive first if you’ll be wearing this out and need it to last. Technically you’re supposed to use a product called Fixitve A to set it in place after you’ve molded and shaped it onto the face. When it comes to applying this to the face, stick it on the cheek bone area and leave it as thick as you can in the middle (we are going to poke some holes in it), but blend the edges of the wax into your skin around the whole thing by smoothing it down with the palette knife. Now take a relatively large makeup brush with a rounded handle and dip that end into makeup remover. Poke little holes in the middle of the wax and spin the brush so that it comes back out of the wax more easily without lifting the whole piece of wax off. Seal it up with that Fixitive A and let it dry. Repeat it on the other cheek.

With black paint, draw two thin vertical lines. One above the eye and one below the eye. You can line the eye in black as well if you’d like. Then paint on a creepy, long, clown smile with the same black paint. Overlining the lips can be creepy, right? I thought so. Mascara is optional. We are trying to be the opposite of cute for this look.

Create a dirty yellow color by mixing yellow with a bit of brown paint. Apply that to the whole piece on each cheek, making sure to get down into those holes. To give the holes depth and dimension, fill in the inside edged of the holes with some black and brown grease paint. Mine are from the Ben Nye Bruise Wheel. To add the finishing touches to the holes, mix the dirty yellow paint color with some clear lip gloss or you can even use real honey! Use a brush to apply that to the face in large globs, coming out of the holes and dripping down from the cheek area. This will really tie in the bee hive inspiration. If you want to go over the rest of the face with a pale white to sell the clown look, go for it.

And that’s it! You’re a weird clown with holes in your face. Gross.

Stay tuned for more looks in the #31daysofhalloween challenge!