With only a couple of months left to halloween, it’s time to dust up your makeup brushes, palettes, and pick your halloween costumes.
If you always opt for a subtle look, these 30 scary halloween makeup ideas & looks will be sure to inspire your haunted night. From sfx makeup to illusion makeup, there’s something for everyone.
1) Dripping Pumpkin
This dripping pumpkin halloween makeup with a melted wax effect will be a sure head turner.
2) Deck Of Cards Illusion Makeup
This deck of cards illusion makeup is handprinted to perfection.
3) Dark & Shadowy Makeup
This look incorporates smoky textures, sharp contouring, and intricate detailing around the eyes and mouth, producing an eerie, mysterious aesthetic. It’s perfect for a creepy, otherworldly vibe, emphasizing a spooky yet glamorous approach to Halloween makeup.
4) Multiples Illusion Makeup
The design is intricately detailed to make the additional eyes appear realistic, blending seamlessly with the natural features and adding a disorienting, mesmerizing effect. This style is ideal for anyone looking to captivate and disturb with a unique, mind-bending Halloween makeup.
5) Superman Halloween Makeup
This Spiderman design features a realistic spiderweb pattern and classic red-and-blue Spiderman colors on one side of the face, while keeping the other side natural or glam. This half-mask effect blends superhero style with a touch of Halloween drama, perfect for fans of comic-inspired looks looking to add a spooky twist.
6) Peeling Illusion Makeup
This Halloween makeup look features an illusion effect, where portions of the face are painted to appear as if sections of skin are missing or peeling away. This expertly executed technique uses realistic shadowing and textures to create a striking, unsettling effect, making the wearer look as if they are transforming into another creature or breaking through their own skin. It’s an ideal choice for those aiming to impress with an eerie, high-skill Halloween look.
7) Demon Horn Halloween Makeup
This Halloween makeup look features striking demon horns, crafted with prosthetics or makeup techniques to protrude from the forehead. Dark contouring around the horns and detailed shadow work enhance the look’s demonic, supernatural effect. This dramatic design is ideal for those wanting to embody a sinister, powerful character for Halloween, combining classic horror elements with a gothic, intense flair.
8) Skull Illusion
This Halloween makeup look uses detailed shadowing and bold textures to create an intense and frightening effect. The design combines dark colors, harsh contouring, and realistic gore effects to make the face appear twisted or scarred. It’s perfect for those looking to embody a truly scary character, with elements of horror that evoke a haunting, nightmarish aesthetic.
9) Distorted Halloween Makeup
This Halloween makeup showcases an illusion created with special effects (SFX) techniques, making parts of the face appear distorted or surreal. The design plays with light and shadow to give a three-dimensional effect, making the wearer’s features look twisted or layered. This advanced SFX makeup is perfect for those seeking a spine-chilling, reality-bending Halloween look that draws attention to intricate details and optical illusions.
10) Alien Makeup
This look is perfect for anyone with an alien halloween costume.
11) Underwater Illusion Makeup
This look is perfect for a supernatural halloween theme look.
12) Simple & Glam
This look is perfect for anyone who doesn’t want an over the top look.
13) Monster Energy Drink Illusion Makeup
This Halloween makeup features an illusion effect inspired by a Monster Energy drink, showcasing vibrant colors and dynamic sfx designs. The look creatively incorporates the drink’s branding elements, blending them into a monstrous or otherworldly creature, complete with sharp contours and striking highlights. This unique and playful approach makes it perfect for those wanting to stand out with a fun yet spooky theme.
14) The Joker Halloween Makeup
The perfect joker makeup for the joker franchise lovers.
15) Hollowed Out
This Halloween makeup look features a spooky, dark aesthetic with intense shading and intricate details. It captures a haunting vibe with elements like hollowed-out features or eerie effects, creating a sinister yet stylish appearance. Ideal for those looking to embody a classic Halloween horror look with a refined, artistic touch.
16) Spooky Forest
This Halloween makeup features a simple yet eerie design with tree branches extending across the face, creating a haunting, natural effect. The dark lines resemble twisted branches, perfect for a subtle, spooky look with minimal effort. This style is ideal for those wanting an easy yet impactful Halloween aesthetic.
17) Multiple Eyes Illusion
This Halloween makeup look features a surreal, multiple-eye illusion. Realistically painted extra eyes create a disorienting effect, making the face appear as if it has several sets of eyes. This look is perfect for those wanting a simple yet visually striking and eerie aesthetic, ideal for Halloween.
18) Mind Control
This Halloween makeup look features a minimalist, eerie style, using pale tones and subtle shadows to create a ghostly appearance. The effect is understated yet haunting, perfect for those looking for a delicate and spooky Halloween look that evokes a mind control vibe.
19) Possessed Spider
This Halloween makeup look features a chilling, possessed spider theme, with realistic spider elements painted across the face. The design incorporates intense shadowing and detailing to give the illusion of spiders crawling on the skin, creating a truly unsettling effect. It’s perfect for those seeking a creepy, horror-inspired look that combines surreal artistry with Halloween fright.
20) Bedazzled
This Halloween makeup look showcases a stunningly eerie design with detailed shading and artistic elements. The look combines dark, haunting features with an intricate style that might evoke a supernatural or possessed theme. It’s perfect for a bold and intense Halloween transformation.
21) Zombie
This Halloween makeup look is both captivating and haunting, with elements of intricate detailing that evoke a nightmarish, ghostly look. The style uses shadow and texture to create an intense, unsettling effect, ideal for embodying a classic yet artistic Halloween horror theme.
22) Open Head
This Halloween look combines dark tones and detailed shading to create a haunting and artistic effect. With carefully crafted lines and textures, the makeup brings an intense and chilling open head aura, perfect for a spooky transformation.
23) Simba
This look is the perfect look for anyone doing a samba lion king costume.
24) Peeled Off
This Halloween makeup look presents a dark and haunting aesthetic, with carefully shaded and detailed features to evoke a ghostly peeled off effect. The design is intense and dramatic, perfect for anyone aiming to achieve a memorable and chilling Halloween transformation.
25) Sally The Nightmare Before Christmas Makeup
This the nightmare before Christmas makeup look will be perfect for anyone that’s doing a Sally cosplay.
26) Trippy Gipsy Halloween Makeup
This look is a guaranteed conversation starter.
27) Masked Face Halloween Makeup
This masked face halloween makeup is a masterful work of art.
28)Human Cheetah Illusion Makeup
Complete your cheetah halloween costume with this human cheetah illusion makeup.
29) Face Within Face Illusion Halloween Makeup
There’ll be no need for a complex halloween costume when your illusion makeup looks this good!
30) Camouflage Body Paint Illusion Makeup
How perfect is this 5 hour camouflage body paint look?
Check out our Pinterest Page for more halloween makeup ideas for 2025.