Halloween is just around the corner, and we love a good pop-culture costume — but not everyone loves to dress up. If you’re creative and want the best of both worlds, why not opt for a show-stopping costume using makeup?
When it comes to makeup-based costumes, Toronto makeup artist Pouja Thamotharan (@blendsbypouja on TikTok, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube) understands the assignment. As you can see in her Slice.ca TikTok below, she fully embraced the upcoming release of Avatar: The Way of Water with a unique and blue-in-the-best way look.
@slicedotca get in, we’re going to planet pandora #halloweenmakeup #avatarcostume #makeuptutorial ♬ Fall October Halloween horror classic(177261) – rareNote
Read on to learn how to create your own Avatar-inspired makeup look this Halloween – as well as for a few bonus makeup-based ideas for the spooky season.
Related: Halloween costume ideas 2022: how to dress up as Emma Chamberlain.
Products used to create Pouja’s ‘Avatar’-inspired look
In addition to her face paint, Pouja used:
- Wet N Wild Mega Glo Highlighter Palette
- Gavissi Beauty Retro Liner in “Skate Date”
- Rare Beauty Kind Words Lipstick in “Lively”
- ColourPop Cosmetics Palette in Blue Moon
- Essence Makeup All About Matt! setting powder
- NYX Cosmetics Jumbo Lash in “Fringe Glam”
How to create the ‘Avatar’-theme makeup look
Ready to give the look a try? Pouja’s advice is to use a light hand (gradual build-up with product is your friend here) and to try not to stress about making it look too “perfect.”
“When I caught myself being a perfectionist, the look would come out worse,” she explains. “So I took a deep breath, reviewed the picture inspo of the character and realized that none of the lines were perfect. When you control the creative part of the look, it’ll turn out so much better.”
- Start with a clean face. It’s important to start with a totally clean face with nothing on it “so that the face paint doesn’t slip and slide,” Pouja explains. “My face paint is more of a cream base and does not dry matte, so having anything on the skin will cause it to slip around.”
- Layer on the blue. First, Pouja applies a clean layer of dark blue face paint, followed by a lighter-blue face paint to highlight key points in the face (Pouja notes that you can see this if you look at Avatar characters).
- Set it. To lock this in, Pouja then set her face with a translucent powder.
- Add in the shadows and shimmer. Next, using a dark-blue eyeshadow, Pouja began drawing shadows. “Here is where I’d say creative ability takes over,” she tells us. “You can have fun with it, and it does not need to be perfect.” In addition to shading in shadows, Pouja added silver glitter “to counteract the blue, bringing out the yellow in my eyes.” To emulate the “wet look” of Avatar characters, she also used touches of highlighter.
- Draw on the dots. Using a white eyeliner, Pouja added white dots on the face and drew a faux lower lash line to give “more of an animated” look.
- A little lipstick. For finishing touches, Pouja added a pink/purple lipstick to the lips and nose.
A bonus tip? When the Halloween party is over, don’t forget to save your skin by fully removing the makeup. “I literally just use micellar water to remove the majority of it, and then use Dove bar soap to get rid of the rest,” Pouja says. “I like to use a reusable makeup wipe since it’s less harsh on the skin. Sometimes, I’ll even use a makeup melting balm.”
You may also like: Pythia’s Halloween Wicked Witch tutorial and product must-haves.
Want more easy Halloween costumes with makeup?
Not feeling totally blue, but love the idea of a makeup-based costume for Halloween this year? Pouja’s Stranger Things-inspired tutorial is a jaw-dropping option, but you can also go for a simpler (but still stunning) look.
“There are lots of costumes you can do using just eyeliner and a little bit of fake blood!” Pouja tells us. “Liquid latex is also another very easy product to work with on Halloween to create a fake scratch or gash on the face or body. There are lots of YouTube tutorials on how to do this.”
“Some of my go-to looks that are easy and can be done in under 30 minutes are a vampire, skull outline (drawing a whole skull takes longer), devil or scratched-up face.”
“My favourite ‘I look like I took a long time but I didn’t’ is the comic book character/pop art makeup look,” Pouja says. You can check out her pop-art look on Pouja’s Instagram here.
You may also like: A stress-free guide to hosting an adults-only Halloween party.
