When it comes to putting together your Halloween costume, the detail can make all the difference.
Most of us aren’t expert makeup artists, but with the help of YouTube‘s beauty gurus and hair and makeup enthusiasts, it’s easier than ever to attempt any costume that requires more than little-to-no amount of preparation.
Whether you’ve been planning this for months or finally decided at the last second to go for that ambitious costume, we’ve found some of the most popular costume ideas along with some mind-bending illusions and classic looks.
And even if you still haven’t found what you were looking for, someone has probably already made a tutorial for it.
1) Almost anything from Promise Phan
To say that Promise Phan’s tutorials are impressive is an understatement. In the majority of her videos, she’s virtually unrecognizable as she transforms into everyone from Angelina Jolie to Michael Jackson and Drake. Her Neytiri tutorial is what put her on the map, but what better way to creep your friends out than with something a little more jaw-dropping that anyone could do?
2) Bride of Frankenstein
Transforming into the bride of Frankenstein’s monster is a two-part process: you need the hair as well as the makeup. As requested by a fan, Iris puts together the ultimate look, from the stacked hair (aided by a soda bottle) to the ultra-pale look usually reserved for bodies reanimated by science.
3) Heath Ledger’s Joker makeup
It’s been a few years since The Dark Knight took us all for a ride, but Heath Ledger’s Joker remains a popular costume idea to this day. As part of her Gotham Modern series, Ashley tackles one of the Caped Crusader’s great adversaries. It takes a special attention to detail to capture the Joker’s level of insanity, and the best part of this costume is that if you mess up during the process, it only adds to the madness.
4) Game of Thrones’ Daenerys Targaryen
Michelle Phan, the most popular beauty guru on YouTube, has plenty of Halloween tutorials, but we chose to focus on one of the breakout characters from Game of Thrones, the mother of dragons. It’s mostly a natural look for Daenerys, but Phan nails down not only Dany’s look, but Emilia Clarke’s take on Dany.
But when it comes to styling your hair or wig, we turn to silviousplaits for help, who has done multiple hair tutorials for your favorite Game of Thrones characters. This one is rather simple, but if you’re braiding your own hair, be prepared to hold your arms up a lot.
5) Unzipped Face
You might not be able to slice your head in half, but you fool people into thinking you just unzipped your face. Karina of BeautifulYouTV demonstrates this illusion with a zipper, tissue, some liquid latex, and a lot of fake blood.
6) Miley Cyrus‘s entire look
Are you tired of Miley Cyrus yet? Plenty of people apparently aren’t, as her MTV Video Music Awards outfit has become one of this year’s most popular costumes. But if you missed your chance to buy an off-the-shelf version of the costume at the nearest Halloween store, it’s incredibly easy to make your own outfit. Alicia Bray covers everything from making that bear suit to the pigtails, and you don’t even need to have short hair to make it work.
7) Despicable Me Minions
There are bound to be plenty of minions out and about on Halloween, but the great thing about the breakout stars of Despicable Me is that no two are exactly alike. Making your own costume might work better than buying it, and while make can be optional, you can make yourself pop out more in the sea of minions.
8) Edward Scissorhands
Transforming into one of Johnny Depp’s most beloved characters is a lot easier while you still have hands, but with the help of pale makeup and contouring, you can give yourself Edward’s trademark gaunt look.
9) Samara from The Ring
What better way to transform into a creepy horror movie character than to accompany it with a creepy tutorial?
10) Zombies, Walking Dead-style
Zombies are big again this year, thanks in part to the AMC hit The Walking Dead, so it’s only fitting that consulting producer Greg Nicotero (who regularly creates the different variations of walkers on the show) would share his tips for the rest of us to nail down that iconic undead look.
Photo via audfaced/YouTube