Make-up tips to make you devilishly pretty for Halloween

Enter the glamorous Halloween spirit via your make-up bag. Lisa Haynes reveals how to pull off wickedly dark beauty.

DON’T hide your face behind a mask this Halloween. Embrace the fright night season and tap into the dark side for some beauty inspiration.

Engage with your inner vamp for the sultry Gothic look: think smoky eyes, plum lips, porcelain skin and blackened nails.

Your look should be more devilishly beautiful than frightening, but you can still go OTT for after-dark fun on Oct 31. Play on your best features with these beauty tricks and treats.

GHOSTLY PALE

Avoid the white face paint and aim for an ethereal, supernatural glow, almost as though you’re lit from within.

Illuminating products applied after your base will achieve a pale, satin finish that looks gorgeous, not ghoulish.

Hannah Murray, Topshop beauty make-up artist, recommends using an illuminating finishing powder that captures the light. “Use a large powder brush and sweep over the t-zone for an on-trend candlelit matte finish — it should look and feel like a silky veil on your skin.”

HALLOWEEN DRAMA

Create a paler complexion using a face powder a few shades lighter than your natural skin tone. Contrast with blood red lips and pinky-red eye shadow for a spooky, possessed look.

BLACK OUT

Dark, mysterious eyes create instant drama. If you’re a fan of smoky peepers, up the intensity by layering on more kohl and blend, blend, blend. A softly smudged look is far easier to achieve than an accurate, intense line.

“Make sure you build up the colour gradually,” advises beauty consultant Kate Hughes.

“Add black liner generously and blend liner up from the lash line, leaving intense colour at the root of lashes for maximum impact.”

Ensure brows are defined but not overdone to avoid horror story comparisons with Count Dracula.

Be inspired by a mysterious moonlight sky and layer eye shadow over the liner in an inky blue or Byzantium purple for a smoky look with extra spook factor.

VELVET LIPS

Every glamour Goth loves crushed velvet and you can emulate the texture on your lips. Create a luxurious matte look with a deep plum or burgundy lipstick that makes it look as though you’ve been devouring winter berries.

“It’s the modern way to wear a very classic matte lip,” says make-up guru, Francois Nars.

“Try a matte velvet-look jumbo lip crayon — the creaminess of the texture makes them very easy to wear.”

Increase the velvet effect by applying once, blotting with tissue paper and re-applying for extra density.

HALLOWEEN DRAMA

Add some bite to your lips with a pencil outline in a boldly contrasting shade. Use a darker berry tone for the outer edge of the lips and fill in with a blood-soaked stain or lipstick for an intriguing two-tone pout.

STUFF WE LIKE: DRESS-UP DRAMATICS

Go easy on the make-up and decorate your face with Accessorize’s deliciously dark Halloween Flocked Face & Body Stickers or Cobweb Body Stickers, both €5.90.

Transform into a nocturnal creature with Illamasqua’s Goth Nail Polish Collection containing Swarm speckled black glitter nail varnish and batshaped false lashes, €31.50.

Give your eyes some serious definition with Bobbi Brown’s Long Wear Gel Eyeliner, €22.50. It lasts an age and has a really intense black colour that works a trick and a treat.

Wear a crushed velvet texture on your talons with Models Own’s Velvet Goth Nail Polish Collection, available in five deeply dramatic shades, €7.50.

Who needs Halloween costumes when you can dress up your talons with these press-on dark and sparkly Little Mix Jesy Nails, €2.58.