Day#20: Vampire
Vampire
Here we are on day 20 of 31 days of Halloween. I can’t believe we have already come so far! I had to include a Vampire look in this makeup challenge because they are so classic. The beauty with this is that you can make it as glam or as scary as you want, and it works well on the facial structures of both men and women. This look is pretty simple, and can be a great last minute Halloween party idea. Let’s dive in.
Costume
I am obsessed with the Gothic/Victorian Era that you mostly see Vampires in the movies in. The clothing is so awesome and works so well for this character. I, however, didn’t need a full costume to get the makeup shots you see here, so worked with some various pieces of black fabric I already had. Some press-on nails went with this really well to amp up the glam factor. Contacts really make everything stand out, but are optional. Mine are from Ttdeye and are awesome because they are prescription, allowing me to actually be able to see if I wore them out. I guess a Vampire that can actually see its prey would be more legit.
All you really MUST have are some badass Vampire fangs. You can get these from any Halloween store and it comes with instructions on how to apply them. If you get the same kind I did that have to be molded to your teeth with polymorph plastic, make sure you do all of that before applying your makeup. The process for mine took a couple minutes to set and mold to my teeth. But once they were set, I was able to take them out and set them aside for later.
Face
The base of all this makeup is actually regular beauty makeup with some bloody bits added in. I started with foundation that is pretty pale: Make Up Forever Ultra HD Foundation stick- Y225. I then highlighted and contoured with the Anastasia Beverly Hills Cream Contour Kit in the Fair set. This highighting under the eyes really served well as an eyeshadow base, more so than to conceal the under eye area. We actually want some red and blue tones to come through, which is why I didn’t go in with a heavy duty full coverage concealer. You’ll see why a little later on. To set everything in place, I used the RCMA No Color Powder all over the face.
Next, I went with the Saucebox Cosmetics dark grey color from the Etude Palette for to VERY heavily contour all the hollows of my face, neck, and collar bones. This means I went in with the darkest color under my cheekbones, nose, my temples and hairline, my jawbone, down the sides of my neck, and under my collar bones as well as in the little divets above my collarbone. I then used the bright white highlight in the Revolution HD Powder Contour Palette to heavily highlight the high points of my face. These points include the very tops of my cheekbones, center of the forehead, down the bridge of the nose, and over the collarbones. This is important to make us look more gaunt and starving, craving blood…you know, all the Vampire stuff.
On the brows I actually used a black eyeliner. My hair is black, but even if I wore a different colored wig, I still feel very vampy with bold black brows. I used the Wet N Wild Proline felt tip eyeliner for this step. I then moved onto the eyes.
Eyes
I created a very dark halo-style smokey eye. I felt that sticking with red and black tones would work perfectly for many skin tones. Starting with the Anastasia Beverly Hills Renaissance Palette, I created the start of the halo. This technique basically just means that the color is mostly concentrated on the inner and outer corners of the eye with a nice blend into the crease, leaving a little hole in the center of the lid for another color to take the spotlight. Using the Venitian Red color in the palette to start the halo, I blended the color pretty in the traditional halo shape. I then blended Realgar on top to bring a red tone higher upward and outward. Next I grabber my Morphe 35U Palette and used the matte red shade to pack more tightly onto the inner and outer corners of the halo. Even more tightly into the corners, I then went in with the black shadow from the Lorac Pro Palette. Under the eyes, I took the darkest red shade under the lower lash line and the black on mostly the outer two thirds of the lower lash line. I was not shy about how up onto the brow bone or how far down under the lower lashes I blended these shades because I wanted the eyes to really stand out as crazed and intense. Speaking of crazed, I applied some false lashes by Flutter Lashes Ersatz Collection in the style called Crazed.
*As a side note: To make this technique work, try to use the brushes strategically. As I always say, make them work for you, instead of trying to make them work for a step they aren’t meant for. For example, use a smaller brush on an area you want the color to be more concentrated. Also, if you are trying to blend in a gradient effect, use three different brushes -one with one color, one with the other, and a clean one so that you can use the leftover product of the first color to help blend out the second color and the clean brush to smooth and finish it off.
Now that I had these brushes with a ton of red and black product on them, I used the remainder of what was on them to blend through the contours of my face, intensifying them even more. I only had to dip back into the shadows I used on the eyes once or twice to cover the contours of both my face and neck.
Make sure you do the lips second to last, before the fake blood. But when you get to them, apply a dark, vampy lipstick and smudge it at the corners of the mouth to make it look like we just bit somebody. You’ll be putting some blood over this area later. The one I used is the NYX Matte Lipstick in the shade Siren. Note that this is a more dark, berry purple color than a red color. Choosing this made the overall vibe more spooky and better fit the special effects part of the look. If you want to make it less scary and more glam, maybe opt for a lighter, or a more true red shade.
Veins
This is my favorite part because it really brings out the creep factor and looks so real in person. I wanted to create the look of veins running underneath the skin, really standing out like they would if the skin were very thin and sick…in this case…craving blood. With the Ben Nye Bruise Wheel and a fine detail brush, I added in the veins using downward strokes. Create the lines by dragging the brush downward in squiggly lines, lightening the pressure you apply on the brush once you get to the ends of each line to taper them off. I used every color in the bruise wheel to vary the vein colors a bit. I made the majority of the lines coming outward in all directions from my eyes. Keep in mind that after creating the “bite wounds” later, you’ll want to continue the same vein-popping effect around that on your neck as well. I made the veins on the rest of my face lighter, thinner, and more sparce/spaced out. I also made sure to pat over each line with my finger after drawing it on so that it would blend into the skin better and look more realistic. Lighting tapping (not rubbing) over everything with a large powder brush and no additional product can help give this an under-the-skin look as opposed to just colored lines on your face. With the green and red shades, I lightly patted them onto various areas of my face to give the appearance that my skin is super unhealthy and is starting to rot. To apply this, I used a black makeup sponge that has a ton of holes in it and kind of looks like a balled up hairnet. You can find this anywhere paint is sold-its basically just a texture sponge. To get a similar effect, rip little pieces out of a white disposable makeup wedge and use that to lightly pat on the colors.
Bites
Here, we start adding in the special effects to create the bite wound on our Vampire. Using some Ben Nye Liquid Latex and a brush I didn’t mind ruining, I spread a thin layer onto one side of my neck. For a more full description of latex and how to properly use it, see my Little Red Riding Hood post. I then tore up a cotton ball and made two TINY strips of cotton to form the edges of the bite holes. I squished these little strips of cotton into circles and pressed them onto the wet latex layer on my neck, one next to the other. This will help give the impression of two holes where another Vampire’s teeth have sunken in. I soaked these cotton pieces with more latex and molded them into perfect circle shapes while they were still wet. I also blended the outside edges of each circle into my skin and kept the inside of each circle more puckered up. I applied a couple more layers of latex, making sure to poke down into the center of each circle after each one in order to start making the hole deeper. After this dried down, I powdered it with Translucent powder to get rid of the shine of the latex.
After that, I went over the top and around the wound with a La Femme Red blush to make it look irritated. This is the point at which I grabbed my bruise wheel again and created more veins coming from the wound and getting lighter and more sparse along the rest of my neck and chest. Make sure to color the inside of the holes with black and brown grease paint from the bruise wheel and spread a mixture of the brown and red along the opening, coming out from the holes. Make sure to drag these colors in small streaks, coming down from the holes. It will look great layered under the fake blood later.
Blood, Baby
Now we make everything come to life with some fake blood! Mine is by Rubies, but you can use any brand. You will want to use fresh blood as opposed to thickened (scab) blood and you can find it at any Halloween store. If you haven’t done so at this point, get your lipstick on and smudge it around the corners. Now is also a great time to pop back in those Vampire fangs!
Use an excess amount of fake blood on a small brush to “drip” the blood down your neck, starting at the opening of each bite hole. I even spread the blood around the neck lightly with my fingers to make it look a little less placed and perfect. You can also take that texture sponge from earlier and use it to create a “splatter” effect with the blood around your mouth and neck area. I stuck to the same areas where I smudged out the lipstick. As a sort of afterthought, I decided to make a large drip coming out of one of my nostrils and a bit of splatter texture around that. For a finishing touch, I spread some blood onto my fingertips and around my hands.
Oh yeah! This sexy, bloody, crazed Vampire is complete. This classic look makes my Halloween-obsessed heart so happy. Not to mention, I feel kind of at home with this character. It makes me feel like a badass. I hope you feel that way as well if you re-create this look or any of the looks in my 31 days of Halloween series. I’ll see you tomorrow for more!