Harley Quinn

Here we are at day 26 of the 31 days of Halloween Makeup Challenge with this super cute Harley Quinn look! There are quite a few products involved, especially if you’re trying to do a complete transformation. I channeled Margot Robbie, who played Harley in the Suicide Squad movie for this look, so shout out to the makeup artist in charge of creating such an iconic makeup look. Keep reading to find out how to do my version of Harley Quinn.

Costume

In true Anniessa fashion, I painted on my “costume” rather than wearing one like a normal person. My red shirt is actually water activated red Mehron Paradise Paint with a bit or black Snazaroo body paint at the very edge. The simple shading on the shirt was created with Makeup Geek eyeshadow in the color Cherry Cola.

The “Puddin” collar is probably my favorite aspect of the whole makeup, but I’ll warn you, it is pretty tricky. Why? Because you have to draw on the letters backwards in order for them to be readable. That means you’ll need to double check the way you paint on the letters in order to make sure they don’t come out backward to whoever is in front of you to read it. Here’s how I did it: First, I painted on a white horizontal stripe across my throat to make the choker part with the Snazaroo body paint. Then, with a very tiny brush I painted on the letters with the Mehron Metallic Gold Powder, after mixing it with the proper mixing fluid.  I talk in more detail about how to use this product in this post. To ensure the letters come out right, write them out on a piece of paper as normal and hold it up to the mirror, copying the direction of the letters you see. Remember this technique for later when you draw on Harley’s face tattoo. After the gold letters, take a tiny brush with black paint and outline each letter. You can shade under the choker and on top of it slightly with some brown eyeshadow to make it appear as if it is actually sitting on top of the skin and casting a shadow.

As far as the wig, I had the hardest time finding the perfect one, so I made one instead. I got a regular blonde wig with a middle part from Target, styled it in pigtails, and used colored hair spray to get the half red, half blue Harley Quinn signature. My contacts are prescription colored contacts by Desio in the color Innocent White.

Face

The base face makeup is not complicated at all. Just do foundation and concealer as you normally would, keeping in mind that the concealer will be mainly to prime the eyes rather than brighten underneath them. After all, we are going for a very grungy and smokey look. I used the Make Up Forever Ultra HD Foundation Stick and the Tarte Shape Tape Concealer.  To set under the eyes and over the lids, I used the Anastasia Beverly Hills Banana powder from the powder contour kit. After setting the rest of the face with the Becca Perfect Skin Mineral Powder, I contoured with the Anastasia Beverly Hills Fawn contour color in the same kit. I didn’t add blush because Margot Robbie appears very pale in the movie and doesn’t really have much warmth to her face.

I think the lettering of the face tattoos are the most difficult part, next to the lettering of the collar because it is really easy to messy up if you have an unsteady hand. I just looked up Harley’s face tattoos and tried to mimic the tattoo’s font the best I could. She has “Rotten” written across her jawline and a little heart under one eye. To create these, I used a black liquid eyeliner with a very thin brush: the L.A. Colors Liquid Liner. After using the same mirror technique as I did on the collar to help me out, I waited for the eyeliner to dry and pat over it lightly with my foundation brush to give it a more faded and authentic tattoo look.

The lips are super easy. Grab some red lipstick and smudge it around. I literally took my fingers and wiped them at the edge of one side of my mouth to create the perfect smear. The Milani lipstick in the color Velvet Merlot was the perfect red for Harley.

Eyes

Each eye is purposely smudged and very grungy looking. The very first step was the use a black eyeliner pencil as an eyeshadow base all over the lid, and set that with black eyeshadow. Make sure you blend the top edge into the crease and also on the lower lash line. After you put on the colored shadow, the black may have gotten lost a bit, so go back in and touch it up as needed.

*Pro tip: put your wig on before you do this part so that you can see which side to use red shadows and which side to use blue shadows for! On the red side, I used the Nabi Lip Liner Hot Red as a shadow base, drawing the little streak marks downward from the outer corner of the eye as well as a bit under the eye. To set the base and smoke out the red color, I blended a red eyeshadow from the Morphe 35U palette. On the blue side, I used the Italia Deluxe ultra fine eyeliner royal blue shadow base. To set that blue base, I used the electric blue color in the Morphe Jaclyn Hill palette.

By the end, if it looks like you’ve been a hot mess, crying, you’re doing something right.Lastly, I poped on some false lashes. I used the Flutter Lashes in the style Arielle.

And now you’re the sweet and sour, sexy Harley Quinn! See you tomorrow for more 31 days of Halloween makeup!