THIS IS HALLOWEEN: Broken Doll

It’s the end of our Halloween tutorial EXTRAVAGANZA and the day itself is almost upon us, so I might just wet myself with excitement. Let’s all hope not.

This look is my absolute favourite, and I’m pretty sure it’s also the one I’ll be wearing on Halloween itself (or, actually, November 1^st, when we’re off to a party), so it’s dear to my little heart. Horrifying dolls that murder people appear in all sorts of films, most recently in the UK one called Annabelle (look at it RUN), and they are very disturbing and creepy and therefore perfect for this time of year.

The best thing about this costume is that it looks much more complicated than it is – a super pleasant surprise for me when I was doing it. As with all my looks, it’s achieved only with makeup and not face paint because my skin would go mental, but if your skin is less mental and you’d prefer to use face paint, it’s easy to substitute in.

YOU WILL NEED:

PRIMER (I used Revlon PhotoReady)

FOUNDATION that’s a TEENSY BIT paler than you’d normally use OR face paint of a similar shade depending on your skin tone (I used L’Oréal True Match in Ivory)

HIGHLIGHTER (liquid or cream is easiest for this - I used Benefit High Beam)

BLACK EYELINER PENCIL (this has appeared in every one of my Halloween tutorials – it’s the Max Factor Kohl)

WHITE EYELINER PENCIL (I used a Mac pencil in Fascinating)

GREY EYELINER PENCIL (I used Seventeen Eye Kohl)

MID- AND DARK BROWN EYESHADOWS (I used the shades Nudie and Sexpresso from the Too Faced Natural Eyes Palette)

FALSE EYELASHES (two sets – I used Eylure 141s on the top and 080s on the bottom)

An EYEBROW PENCIL (your normal shade will be fine – I used Soap & Glory’s Archery in Brownie Points)

CREAM BLUSHER in quite a bright pink (I used ELF Studio Cream Blush in Seductress – everything has such sexy names now, gosh)

LIPSTICK also in quite a bright pink or red (I used ELF Moisturising Lipstick in Pink Minx)

LIP LINER in a similar shade (I used Rimmel Exaggerate in East End Snob) SETTING SPRAY (you know the drill now, guys – Urban Decay All Nighter)

STEP ONE.

Apply your primer and then your base – you are a china doll, remember, so I used a Beauty Blender to get even, flawless coverage (please excuse my mad hair).

STEP TWO.

Go a bit mental with highlighter. I applied it (liberally) to the tops of my cheeks, forehead and nose – sort of where I’d usually put it but in much, much greater volume to look shiny like porcelain. I also went for the chin and quite a lot on my upper lip, as you can see in the picture, because later I’ll be trying to make them look much bigger and poutier than they are in real life.

STEP THREE.

Tightline your eyes in black and do your waterlines in white – you can be very rough with this as you’ll go over it later. Then, take your black pencil and draw most of a circle around your eyes (you can neaten it with a liner brush) – stop about a bit above and below your tear duct. At the top, roughly follow the shape of your eye socket, although not exactly because then the line will be wonky, unless you are magic and have perfect round socket bones. At the bottom, only go about a centimetre under your lashline (or it’ll look strange later on) and just curve round to meet the other line.

STEP FOUR.

Use your white pencil to fill in the space between your lower lashline and the bottom edge of the circle. Also cover the inner corners of your eyes and your lower lashes. Colouring in with a white pencil can look a bit patchy, so I went over it with a brush afterwards to even it out.

STEP FIVE.

Cover your lid with your mid-brown shadow, all the way up to the line. Depending on your skin tone, you could also use a dusky pink or purple for this – the aim is to make your eyes look as though they’re a little bit sunken into your head. Then, take your darker shadow and follow the upper pencil line, smudging it in as you go, but stopping at the corner.

STEP SIX.

Line your upper lashline with the black pencil – if you like, you could use liquid here, but I think pencil makes it look a bit softer and more doll-like. Then, draw three or four extra lines at the lower corners, like eyelashes. These will make the false eyelashes look a bit more dramatic and also act as a bit of a backup in case they fall off.

STEP SEVEN.

Apply mascara just to your upper lashes and then go in with the false ones. On the top I used Eylure 141s, which are very fluttery and with a lot of volume. On the bottom, turn the lash strip upside down and stick it along the outer edge of the pencil line. I was expecting this to be difficult and not stick as easily (hence the drawn-on lashes) but actually it was really easy and it stuck perfectly. Yay!

STEP EIGHT.

At this point you might want to touch up your base a bit if any of it’s become smudged or lost under all the eye faffing, and also add foundation over your lips and eyebrows. Then, fill in just the top line of your eyebrow with a thin line (this will make it look painted on) that also extends a little further in the outer corner down towards your eye. I curved the shape much more than I usually would to exaggerate the roundness of the whole eye area. Finally, add cream blush - more than you'd normally use - in a circular shape (no contouring!) right on the apples of your cheeks.

STEP NINE.

With a lip pencil, exaggerate your cupid’s bow and draw the shape inwards, cutting off the outer corners of your lips. Then (helpfully not pictured here) fill in with lipstick. You might need to touch up the foundation on the outer corners if it doesn’t look obvious enough.

STEP TEN.

You are an evil, broken dolly who wants to murder everyone, right? So your face is a bit cracked from where people have thrown you on the floor in terror after your head has rotated all the way by itself or something. I drew the cracks by starting with either a dot or a small jagged shape and then extending short, light lines out with the black pencil, and then adding a bit of shadow with the grey to give it depth.

STEP ELEVEN.

Take a brief, misty shower in setting spray and you are DONE. The costume part is pretty simple – I had a floral dress on but a blouse with a dress over the top would also work, or any kind of nightdress. I did my hair in two plaits tied with ribbons (not really visible in the picture) but you could also just leave your hair loose or curl it and wear a ribbon at the top – the world is your oyster. I recently got hold of these adorable T-bar shoes from ASOS which I wore with some frilly socks, too. For the party I’m going to I may also cover my hands in fake blood, just for funsies.

Well done! You are an evil dolly. I would suggest – but, I mean, I’m not the boss of you – just going to a Halloween party and not murdering any innocent families with your terrifying tiny doll hands.

THUS CONCLUDES our lovely Halloween tutorials! I am so so excited about this entire holiday. What is everyone else going as?