I remember years ago buying Halloween makeup to do a face for Halloween. I went as a dead bride. Pretty much the only makeup you could find at department and dime stores back then was the cheap stuff that was usually a very vivid shade of orange. And black. You could always find black.
But I wasn't just going as a dead bride by painting my face white and adding some black circles around my eyes. No, the folks I was going out to Halloween parties with were into horror movies and they had amassed many books on horror movie makeup. And we needed special (read expensive) type colors (many shades of gray along with black and white) to get the desired dimensional dead persons face effect (those in the know understand cotton, corn syrup and a blow dryer). I admit the effect was pretty spectacular, even if having to find a place that sold movie make-up took a bit of time (and to you kids who just cocked your head in that "huh" kind of way, this was before the internet so no, it really wasn't that easy) and buying a ton of makeup that was only used on Halloween wasn't exactly cost effective.
These days, even some of your standard Halloween shops carry some pretty decent makeup to transform your face into whatever ghoulish creature you care to be. But alas, unless you are, ahem, different, that makeup pretty much only comes out once or twice a year. You wear it to whatever Halloween party your neighborhood has, you put on the makeup to scare the kids that knock on your door on Halloween, or you paint your face to try to win best costume at your place of employment.
The problem is, for some jobs it's either just not practical or you're not allowed to wear costumes to work on Halloween. Fireman, policeman, airline pilots. I happen to work in a profession where it is just not cool to wear costumes to work. But the fact that halloween is my favorite holiday makes me want to participate on some level so wearing a bit of this Tarte for True Blood blush will have to do. My own little secret homage to my favorite holiday. Well outwardly anyway. I'm still looking for that orange pumpkin bra to wear on Halloween under my work clothes!
Tarte for True Blood is a limited edition cheek stain inspired by the HBO True Blood series. It's not cheap at $30 but you could actually use it year round. You can find it at Sephora.com here.
Yeah, where I live makeup is used year round, if you know what I mean.
Posted by: @makfan | October 25, 2011 at 05:42 AM
I remember my living dead costume. That was the best.
Posted by: MOM | October 30, 2011 at 02:01 PM