Pull your hair back. If you have long hair or bangs, keep it out of your face while you work. Put it up into a ponytail, and clip stray hairs out of the way with bobby pins or a headband. If you’re a guy, you may want to shave before applying any make-up or prosthetic. Latex and gelatin can get stuck in the hair, making it them quite painful to remove.
If you do decide to work with either liquid latex or gelatin, they will need to be applied at this point in the make-up process, that is, before you begin working with face paints. However, if you decide these products are too much work or you don’t have time to find them, just skip to the next step. You can still create a hideously decayed zombie look without them!
Create a mottled effect by subtly applying a second color over the white. You can go with grey for an ashen, decayed effect, red or purple for a bruised effect or green and yellow for a gangrenous effect. Use the best quality face paint you can find. Cheap, low-quality face paint will not blend well and is bad for your skin. Try to get your hands on some high-quality stage make up - it can usually be found in good costume stores.
Outline your lids with dark pencil eyeliner, then smudge it outward. Then use black or brown eyeshadow or face paint to fill in the dark circles beneath the eyes and around the eyelids. Blend around the edges with purple and red paint or shadow to create the illusion of freshly-bruised skin, or with green and yellow for an older looking bruise.
Apply the blood to your hairline and let it drip down your face, or cup some blood in your hand and dip your mouth in to make it look like you just fed! Use a toothbrush for blood spatter. Put some fake blood onto a toothbrush, aim the bristles at your face, and run your finger over the bristles from bottom to top. Create a dripping blood effect. Dip a sponge into the fake blood and squeeze it over your skin. The blood should run into a natural-looking drizzle.
You can also make your hair look messy and unkempt (for that “just out-of-the-coffin” look) by teasing or backcombing the hair using a small comb. Spritz with hairspray to hold in place. Sprinkle baby powder into your roots to achieve a graying, ashen effect.
Swish the mixture around your mouth and between your teeth, then spit out. Alternatively, you could use red food coloring for a bloody effect! When you’re done, brush your teeth with a little baking soda to remove the stains and restore your teeth to their original color.
Create bullet holes in your clothing by making circular marks with black permanent marker, then dribble or splatter fake blood around the edges. The great thing about zombie make-up is that you can wear it with any costume to instantly zombify it. Use your creativity to come up with a zombie version of whatever boring Halloween costume you were originally thinking of – become a zombie ballerina, a zombie tourist or a zombie pirate!
You should be able to find it at seasonal Halloween supply stores, or at beauty supply chains. Choose a color that looks appropriately pale and decaying.
Gently spread or stretch the area of skin you’re painting. It’s best to do this technique one area at a time (i. e. , forehead, one cheek, chin, etc. ). Using a clean paintbrush or makeup sponge, apply a thin layer of liquid latex to the area in small stippling motions. Keep your strokes light and short.
Apply another layer of latex to “build” your make up. Creating light layers of latex, instead of smearing on thick amounts, creates even coverage with minimal clumping. Mix a little bit of uncooked oatmeal with the latex, then apply in one or two small areas on the face. This is great for a gangrenous or scabby look. Put single-ply tissue between latex layers. Get a piece of toilet paper, and separate the sheets so that you have a single ply. Rip the edges until you have the shape and size you want. Hold it over an area with a base latex layer already underneath it, and paint another layer over it. It will help disguise the smoothness of your skin with a rotting texture.
Use scissors. You should carefully snip the latex until you create the wound you want. Be careful not to nick your skin! Use a toothpick. Simply stick it into the liquid latex and drag it through for a gaping wound.
Color the gelatin. Use a few drops of food coloring for an unnatural tone, or add a bit of liquid foundation in a tone close to your skin for a flesh-like look. Cut the gelatin into cubes. Store it in a bowl or resealable plastic bag.
