Making your own Halloween costume: 5 last-minute Halloween costume ideas

Accessories and face painting ideas to match your vampire costume

To finish off your vampire costume you will need a pair of vampire fangs, which you can either order online or find in most fancy-dress shops.  

To complete your spooky vampire look, you will need to apply some foundation, which is lighter than your natural skin tone. This will help give your face that washed out very pale vampire look. To create a stronger contrast, you can also apply a thin layer of white theatre make-up. A little bit of dark eye shadow can also help to make you look like you have returned from the dead. Then put a few drops of blood around your lips with red lipstick, lip liner or a little fake blood - and voilà your vampire costume is finished.

Last-minute Halloween costume: how to make your own skeleton costume

Generally, there are two ways you can put a skeleton costume together with little to no hassle. Firstly, you will need a completely black outfit, if you are quite artistic, you can draw arms, leg bones and ribs onto the clothes by using some white fabric paint. If you are looking for something a bit quicker and easier you can go for the quicker option, which would be to create a contrast look as listed below:  

• Put a closer fitting white top and a slightly looser fitting black t-shirt together.
• Draw the rib arches and if necessary, the vertebral bones onto the black shirt.
• Then carefully cut around the drawn-on bones and put the black t-shirt over the white top.
• The white top will be now visible through the cut-out parts of the black t-shirt. The contrasting effect of black and white creates a quick and simple skeleton costume.

Accessories and face painting ideas to match your skeleton costume

One of the most important parts of a skeleton costume is applying some make-up to create a skull. Below we have put together step-by-step instructions on how to create a skull by using some make-up:

• Put some white make-up on your face and lips, however, leave out the areas around your eyes and nose.
• Outline your eyes with some black make-up. Then colour in the circles to create the black eye sockets.
• Paint your nose black and paint two black triangles over your nostrils, which should go up to the bridge of your nose.
• Use an eyeliner or a thin brush to draw a thin line across your lips to lengthen the corners of your mouth on either side.
• Now draw two lines, which cross over the original lines and your lips for some teeth. Then use an eyeliner pencil to carefully draw the roots of the teeth.
• Apply a little bit of black make-up below to your cheekbones. Next, blend it well from around your ears down to around the middle of your cheeks. This will create sunken cheeks for your skull make-up.

Accessories and face painting ideas to match your zombie costume

Not only does the costume play an important role, but face paint will help to give your zombie costume the finishing touches. Use white or grey theatre make-up to create the basis for your ‘returned from the dead’ look. Use black or dark brown eye shadow to add dark circles under your eyes.

You can either cover your lips with some white or grey make-up for an extra dead look, or why not bring out your lips with some dark red or brown lipstick. The aim here is to have very smudged and messy looking make-up as this will make your zombie costume look more authentic.  

How to make your own 20^th century Halloween costume

A 1920s costume is based around having a very classy look, which makes evening wear a great choice for the base of your costume. These clothes don't have to be expensive, however, it is important that you feel confident in them and style them extravagantly.

Accessories and face painting ideas to match your 20^th century Halloween costume

Women generally wear a cocktail dress for an authentic Roaring Twenties look. Sequins, fringes, pleated skirts and/or an asymmetrical pattern can all be used to create an exciting flapper costume. Accessories like hairbands and headbands with feathers, sequins or pearls and a long pearl necklace can be used to complete the look.

Since tomboyish looks were a defining feature of the Roaring Twenties, women can style themselves more androgynously. They could wear a white shirt, wide-leg trousers and a casually cut, light-coloured blazer to capture the revolutionary look of the style icon Marlene Dietrich.

When it comes to make-up and hairstyling, the same rules apply to both styles. Funky short hairstyles were really in during the Roaring Twenties, but longer hair can be put into a fake bob. The perfect Flapper make-up includes dark, narrow eyebrows in a dramatic arch, dark-rimmed eyes and dark red lips with a strongly accentuated lip line.

To transform yourself into a gentleman of the 20s, you need classy evening wear. Combed back or parted hair will help to finish off your look. If you want to dress a bit more casual, then you should stick to suit trousers, a shirt, braces and a cap or beanie for a more urban look.

Conclusion: quick and easy Halloween costumes you can find in your wardrobe

Many last-minute Halloween costumes are absolute classics that you can easily put together with clothes from your wardrobe and some clever make-up. If your costume is otherwise minimalist or modern, accessories such as vampire fangs or a witch's hat can enhance your last-minute Halloween costume. The goal is that everyone will recognise your disguise. Spooky make-up or a bit of fake blood will help to complete your spooky Halloween look.