Halloweening - Costumes - Zombie Hair and Makeup Tips

Good morning all!
It is Saturday, it is sunny, and I am enjoying a day inside. :) Probably silly as I am not enjoying the last bit of nice weather of 2011 but going to Battle to see the re-enactment of the 1066 Battle of Hastings will take 2 hours and at least £50 and after last week's shopping trip at the Knitting & Stitching show I really shouldnt spend any more money. Plus this way I can prepare all my blogs about Halloween costumes which is great for you guys :)

Today, while the memories of LZD are still fresh, I wanted to share my tips on zombie hair and makeup with you. I am by no means an expert but I have learned a few things over the years so it might be helpful. I mean, we cant all be as good as Steve the Zombie!

The below is a photo of my first zombie walk ever in 2008, it was the best ever as well I think but that is probably because the first is usually the newest if you get my drift. For my first time I went as the pre-prom prom queen, complete with curlers and bathrobe. Quite the standard zombie really but until that point I had zero experience of making myself look disgusting on purpose (though that is a statement that can be disputed of course hihi). On another funny note, when messing up this bathrobe in the park for lack of a garden I was stopped by the police because the people in the park thought I was a lunatic doing the laundry in the grass! LOL, well the police and I had a field day when the matter was explained hihi... Anyway, back to the hair and makeup issue:

Above you can see the bathrobe zombie outfit. For the hair I used those long bendable curlers, and added white theatre makeup afterwards to make them look dirty. I should have made it messier but the idea is there. For makeup I used white theatre makeup to make my face all pale, used black eyeshadow to make the eyes all dark and sickly-looking, and added purchased wounds to which I added liquid blood later on to get the dripping effect. The robe was made dirty in the park (see above) and I added red theatre makeup again to get bloody smear effects.
TIP: DO NOT use purchased blood for this, it is sticky and wont dry. You will leave blood stains everywhere. Theatre makeup gives the right effect and comes out in the wash if needed.

2009 was the year of Fairy Zombie, complete with ears and wings. Not a lot of people got that one but I thought it was a nifty idea. Opinions still differ on that one, I dont even know how I feel about it now really.

For the hair I didnt wash it so it looked really manky, and I once again added the white theatre makeup to make it even worse. Being a fairy I also added blue glitter gel in places. I tied half of it back and had a flower circlet as well but it's not shown here. For makeup, the usual white face, darkened eyes, and blood under one eye as if it was crying blood. I used theatre makeup for this and not purchased blood. I also added 'varicose' vains to my face with red and black theatre makeup. You can see some of it here, there was another batch on the cheek as well. It should have been made a little less painted but at the time really liked it :) I had blue lipstick (the fairy look) which Steve the Zombie said looked to nice so he added some of his homemade zombie blood which would dry and not remain sticky all day.

2010 was shared on my blog here. I wanted to use the same dress but without the fairy bit, so I skipped the ears and the wings, and went as Hippy Zombie. Frugal :)

The hair was the same idea, unwashed long hair (tends to look disgusting) with white theatre makeup added for extra gross-ness. Here you can also see the flower circlet which I had pinned down this time LOL. The makeup was very basic, I just couldnt get used to the bloodied face idea, so I had the usual pale face with darkened eyes. I also had very dark lipstick which I then smudged on purpose, making it look very messy. With red theatre makeup I addedbloody smudges on the neck also. Onsite, Steve the Zombie used his makeup to make my hands all bloody so that it wouldnt come off on others. This shows that simple can be better than trying too hard.

At EFF the bf and I also went as zombies, I went as the Elf Zombie (so ears but no wings) and the bf went as the Creepy Scientist Zombie.

I didnt use a lot of makeup this time as we mostly ran out of time. Same hair, same pale face with darkened eyes, but this time I tried the facial mask skin disease thing. Cover whole face or bits of it in face mask, peel of parts and let hang. Or you can paint the mask and wait for bits to fall off during the day. Also creepy as you get strange 3D effects.

2011 zombie walk used the same dress again but EFF style so with petticoat and corset. I think I finally made the perfect dress for me :) This was also the most disgusting look I ever made!

Hair: I teased my hair, added white theatre makeup, and made a ponytail but didnt pull it all through so had kind of a loop. I then pinned some of that loop up with hair combs as sliding pins would have never held for the entire day. I made it look messy on purpose, then added some roses for the prom-like effect. The roses are actually ones that I got a while back for about 10p each, they come on springs and I think are meant to hang off your table cloth.

I then pulled some bits out of the side to make it even more messy. The idea was to have a lovely updo that has gotten out of control due to constant zombie-ing.

The makeup was the best yet: pale face, darkened eyes, extra darkening around the cheekbones and a bit on the forehead. This year, for EFF I bought the best makeup ever: Snazaroo Cakeblood. It can be used as a paint or as 3D and gives a disgusting look and is also the stuff that Steve the Zombie uses all the time. I applied a lot on one spot on the side of my forehead, covered the hair with it as well and made a long line all the way down to the shoulder bone. I also covered my mouth and chin with this makeup also. I added lines of black theatre makeup which I then again covered with cakeblood on my lips and parts of the bloodied up parts to give it more effect. I then added some darkening around the 'wound' on the forehead. I think it worked really well! The usual cakeblood on the hands and we're ready.

So, should you want to go as a zombie for Halloween this year, I hope this helped a little bit and gave you some ideas :) Basically, all you need is white, red, and black theatre makeup, black eye shadown, Snazaroo's cake blood makeup (or another version if you're not in the UK), and some torn up clothes. Happy zombying! Brrraaaaiiinnns...

"/>