How to paint your children's faces for Halloween

Makeup tips and ideas for eerily beautiful Halloween faces

Halloween schminken | Mädchen mit Hexenhut auf einer Bank

Applying make-up for creepy Halloween faces is anything but difficult.With the right tips and tricks, every beginner becomes a pro - and that with only a few, but skillful brushstrokes. Practice makes perfect is the motto here, so you don't need to shy away from more elaborate Halloween make-ups.

To make your children's Halloween costumes really stand out, it's important that you choose the face painting to match the costume or the theme of your Halloween party.

However, bear in mind that even when applying Halloween make-up you should never make decisions over your kids' heads:Involve your children in the decision, which makeup colors, motifs and additional details should adorn their face. For example, look up various tutorials together and create your own Halloween artwork from several variations. In general, you should choose the select makeup tutorials appropriate to your kids' age and personality.Good preparation always pays off in the end.

You can usually find inspiration for great Halloween costumes in your children's current favorite characters from films, books or children's TV shows.

Of course, you can also opt for absolute classics when choosing a costume. Above all, vampires, witches, zombies and skeletons are popular Halloween motifs. The basic rule is: anything that you and especially your children like is allowed.

But also the age plays a big role in choosing a motif. While toddlers of two years cannot sit still for so long, older children are more interested in detailed designs that may take a bit more time.

For younger children, especially light and small motifs with as few strokes as possible are the best choice.From three years old, somewhat larger ideas are fine. For example, you can paint the face in one color and decorate it with small details.

In the following years your kids will surely have practiced their patience, so that larger and more detailed motifs can be tackled for Halloween.

Halloween schminken | Als Monster geschminktes Mädchen

If you've decided on a costume with matching face paint, a trial run is recommended. This will make you more confident for face painting at Halloween and you will know which brushstrokes and make-up colors to use. To achieve the best result, there are a few make-up tips in advance that will make your creative hours easier.

To achieve the best possible make-up result, it is helpful to keep the hair out of the face . For children with long hair, lovely braided hairstyles. Depending on the costume, the braided hairstyle can even match the entire look.

Also keep cotton swabs and makeup removal wipes handy. If small things don't turn out well, you'll always have the option to correct them. Try to stay calm when applying make-up for Halloween. It doesn't all have to work immediately: good things take time, and with this approach you will get a little better with each trial.

These items you need for children's face painting at Halloween

Delicate children's skin should only come into contact with conventional make-up as late as possible. Therefore choosing the right tools for spooky, beautiful Halloween make-up is all the more important.

Water-based children's make-up and the right brushes protect sensitive children's skin and lead to beautiful results. To get an overview of the products needed, HABA has summarized the most important ones for you here.overview of the products needed , HABA has summarized the most important ones for you here.

Halloween schminken | Zubehör zum Kinderschminken steht auf dem Tisch

a small bowl of water\r \r
Makeup brushes made of synthetic hair in sizes 2, 3 and 5
antibacterial cosmetic sponges
water-based children's make-up in various colors
makeup crayons or makeup ink (free from parabens and harmful substances)
cotton swabs
a mirror
fake blood
hair chalk
cosmetic & polyester glitter

Which make-up is suitable for children's skin?

Water-based children's make-up is the best choice for delicate children's skin. This is also known as theatrical make-up. Whether make-up crayons or makeup ink – children's make-up should be free of parabens and harmful substances. When buying make-up for Halloween, make sure that the make-up products are CE-certified and thus legally approved as cosmetics. The make-up colors should also have high brightness and coverage.

Good children's make-up is characterized by the fact that it contains no oil. That clogs the pores and could have painful consequences, especially for children with skin sensitivities. Powdery products should only be used in very rare cases. While makeup crayons are mainly suitable for rough sketches of individual motifs, water-based children's make-up is also suitable for smaller details.

For your make-up work, it's best to buy only the primary colors and individual colors that you absolutely need. If you have the colors black and white, you can mix them with other make-up colors to get more shades.Makeup brushes and antibacterial cosmetic sponges should always be washed well so that you can use them for further make-up ideas.

Attention: Children's make-up does not last forever.Always keep an eye on the expiration date of each product. By testing on less sensitive areas such as the forearm, you can try out products you have been using for a while. If the skin reacts with redness or itching, you should dispose of the products and buy new make-up.

Step-by-step face painting instructions & templates for Halloween

Now you probably want to to get started right away and paint your first template. What are you waiting for? Grab all your face painting supplies and eagerly wield your brushes and sponges.

For starters you can refer to the ideas and instructions provided by HABA Ideas and instructions orient and recreate them. But feel free to also paint your own Halloween creations.

Paint a skeleton / skull

Halloween schminken | Junge wird im Gesicht als Skelett geschminkt

Required materials:

Sponge
Brush
Face paint in the colors black & white
black eyeshadow
Cotton swabs
a small bowl of water

Instructions:

First prepare your child's face. Wash it thoroughly and apply cream so the face paint holds better afterwards and does not clog the pores immediately.
Now prime the face with white face paint. To do this, dampen your sponge slightly with water and then apply the color across the face. Leave the eye area free. Face painting tip: If you don't want just a white-primed face, you can also create shadows and give the skeleton more creepiness. For this take a larger brush with which you apply black eyeshadow along the cheekbones and at the hairline up to the forehead and blend thoroughly.
With a brush, then apply, using light hand movements, the outlines of the eye sockets (that is, a larger circle around each eye) as well as the nose and mouth. You can outline the nose up to halfway along the nasal bone. For the mouth, follow your child's natural lip shape. At the corners of the mouth draw a line to the middle of the cheeks (approximately level with the lower earlobe).
You can intensify the lines drawn from the mouth as you wish. Along these lines paint smaller vertical lines to suggest the skeleton's teeth. Makeup pencils also work well for this.
Then fill in the pre-drawn eye sockets, nose, and lips with black.
And your eerily beautiful skeleton is finished.

Paint a vampire

Halloween schminken | Junge als Vampir verkleidet und geschminkt

Required materials:

Children's face paint in the colors ivory, white & black
Dark purple, brown and optionally black eyeshadow
Makeup brush
Sponge Black makeup pencil
optional: kohl pencil in your child's eyebrow color
Cotton swabs
a small bowl of water

Instructions:

First prepare your child's skin by cleansing the face and applying cream.
Then you can get started: you begin with the base. Since a vampire is said to have a kind of porcelain skin, you do not prime the face with white, but with ivory. Apply it very thinly with a makeup brush. Face painting tip: For more depth you can blend black eyeshadow onto the cheekbones with a brush to create nice shading.
With a little brown eyeshadow, work into the inner corners of the eyes and blend it upwards toward the eyebrows. You can, if you like, finely retrace these with a kohl pencil.
Now it's time for the vampire's enchanting eyes. For this, apply dark purple eyeshadow on your child's mobile lid and then blend it outward. Depending on how dark you want it, apply the color progressively darker.
Above the eyebrows, draw two black triangles with a flourish, pointing upward. Then fill them in completely.
Paint your vampire's lips in a nice red. Of course, a real vampire mustn't be without fangs. Using black makeup pencils or a brush and black face paint, paint two pointed teeth under the lower lip. Then fill them in with white paint.
And your vampire is finished.

Paint a mummy

Halloween schminken | Junge als Mumie im Gesicht geschminkt

Required materials:

Sponge
Brush
Face paint in the colors black & white
black eyeshadow
Fake blood
Cotton swabs
a small bowl of water

Instructions:

First prepare the delicate child's skin by washing it thoroughly and applying cream. This helps the face paint hold better and not penetrate the pores immediately.
Then go straight to the base. For this, take a moistened sponge with which you apply the white color evenly across the face. Similar to painting the skeleton, you also leave the eye area free for the mummy.
With a brush, outline the eyes in a slightly oval shape. Paint over the pre-drawn shape directly with black.
Paint the mummy's nose as a black teardrop shape with the point facing upward.
Now it's time for the impressive scars. Draw several lines distributed across the face and add small vertical strokes to them.
For an extra creepy look you can use fake blood for the makeup. For example, apply it to the scars to make them stand out even more. You don't even need store-bought Halloween fake blood, because it's very easy to make yourself.

Face painting tip: For even more creepiness, blend black eyeshadow with a makeup brush to create subtle shading on the face. If the scars fade as a result, that's absolutely fine. The messier, the better. A mummy doesn't have to wear precise makeup. It's the imperfection that makes it so scary.

Paint a pumpkin face

Halloween schminken | Junge im Gesicht als Halloween-Kürbis geschminkt

Required materials:

Sponge
Brush
Face paint in the colors orange (or just yellow and red), black & white
Cotton swabs
a small bowl of water

Instructions:

First, thoroughly clean your child's face and apply cream as a protective barrier so the face paint doesn't penetrate the pores.
Now begin the base. You can paint the pumpkin face over the entire face or only halfway. Use a damp sponge to apply the orange children's face paint to your child's face (fully or only half). You can either buy the orange ready-made or mix it yourself from yellow and red.
Once you have primed the face orange, move on to the details of your pumpkin face. It's best to start with the eye area.
To do this, paint a triangle with a brush with the point facing the nasal bone around your child's eye. Then fill it with black. The entire lid should be covered. If that's not possible for various reasons, you can of course leave a little skin around the eye free.
Now the pumpkin's nose is next. Paint a triangle on the tip of the nose. Fill that with black as well.
Then continue with the mouth. Draw a jagged line slightly above the upper lip that then outlines the mouth generously and ends under the lower lip. Fill the resulting area with black face paint.
To give your pumpkin face more expression, you can outline the face with a brush and black paint. A jagged shape is also popular for the spooky pumpkin. Either outline the face only halfway or completely — it depends on what you decided at the start.
Finally, move on to the pumpkin's details. With a brush and white paint, paint white lines over some of your drawn lines. They represent a kind of shadow.
And your pumpkin face for Halloween is finished.

Paint a witch

Halloween schminken | Mädchen im Gesicht als Hexe geschminkt

Required materials:

Sponge
Brush
Face paint in the colors black, white & red
Makeup pencils in black & white
Cotton swabs
a small bowl of water
Eyeshadow in dark shades

Instructions:

First prepare the child's skin by cleaning it thoroughly and applying cream.
What would a witch be without her spiderweb and the accompanying spider? To make sure your witch doesn't have to do without, paint this first. Draw the spiderweb on the cheek. First paint a cross and then another cross diagonally over it so that you get several equally sized small segments. In them, draw a horizontal line from one segment to the next. Do this until you're all the way around. It's best to start drawing the individual parts of the web from the outside toward the inside.
Once the spiderweb is fully applied to the cheek, only the spider is missing. You can place it in the middle of the web or let it hang down from the web on a thread. For the spider, paint a larger circle as the body, a smaller circle for the head, and eight legs.
You can emphasize and darken your witch's eyes with dark eyeshadow. Depending on preference, eyeliner (feel free to apply generously) is also an option. Style your children's eyes as you wish. Feel free to let your creativity run wild.
If you want to use a few more colors, you can also outline the eyes in a wavy pattern and fill them with different shades.
Finally, apply a dark lipstick and your Halloween witch is ready.

Paint a zombie

Halloween schminken | Mädchen im Gesicht als Zombie geschminkt

Required materials:

Sponge
Brush
Face paint in the colors green, black & white
Makeup pencils
Cotton swabs
a small bowl of water

Instructions:

First prepare your children's skin for the makeup process. To do this, clean the face thoroughly and then apply cream. This helps the makeup hold better and prevents the pores from being clogged immediately by the face paint.
Now moisten a sponge and dip it into the green face paint. Apply the color evenly to your child's face. Leave the chin area and the lower parts under the cheekbones free.
With a brush and black face paint, paint the outlines along the green edge at the cheekbones. Become slightly wider at the level of the nose and fill the line equally high on both sides with color.
Near the eyebrows, create a line that resembles the eyelid shape and tapers upward at the outer ends. Here too, the lines can be drawn a bit thicker.
On the forehead, dab a kind of grid with the brush.
Paint the lips black. They should merge with the previously painted lower contour.
Now take the white paint and create small shadings on the forehead under the eyes and over the lips.
And your zombie for Halloween is finished.

For extra creepiness: make DIY fake blood

To make your scary look truly realistic and spooky, fake blood is just the thing for Halloween. To use it, you don't even have to dig deep into your wallet. Fake blood can be easily made yourself with just a few materials and food items. HABA shows you in this DIY how it's done:

Halloween schminken | Junge wird mit Kunstblut im Gesicht geschminkt

Required materials:

Beetroot or cherry juice
Cornstarch
Pot
Whisk
Food coloring, orange juice or soy sauce (optional, since you can use these to adjust intensity)

Instructions:

First add the juice together with the cornstarch into a sufficiently large pot and stir everything well. For every liter of juice you need about three tablespoons of cornstarch. Depending on how thin or thick you want your fake blood to be, add a bit more or less cornstarch.
Once you have stirred the cornstarch in until lump-free, heat the mixture. Also stir your fake blood vigorously from time to time during heating.
If you are still not completely satisfied with the color intensity, you can use food coloring, orange juice, or soy sauce to adjust and change the color of the blood.
Let the vegetable-based fake blood cool well before using it.
The cooled fake blood is now ready for use. With a brush or sponge you can apply it to desired spots. Make sure not to overdo it and not to give other children too much of a fright with your makeup ideas.
Fill any leftover fake blood into a container so you can use it again. But note that it is not good for longer than two weeks.

Alternative to face painting: make Halloween masks

Halloween schminken | Kinder liegen auf dem Boden und haben Kürbismasken auf

Not every child is interested in having their face painted. Whether due to pure disinterest or even allergies – Halloween face paint is not required. To still complete your Halloween costume, masks are a nice alternative. This way not only does your costume stand out better, you also spend great crafting time together together. Halloween masks can be easily made yourself.

Whether made from papier-mâché, rubber, plaster bandages or simple cardboard – there are many different ways to create spookily beautiful masks to match the costume and let your creativity run free while crafting for Halloween. The Halloween masks can cover the whole face or end halfway.

How best to make the masks? HABA has on the corresponding page great ideas and instructions provided, just waiting to be recreated by you.

Make Halloween masks

Frequently asked questions about applying makeup to children for Halloween

How do we remove Halloween makeup from the face?

As easy as children's face paint is to apply, it's just as easy to remove. For removing it, especially suitable are simple makeup-removing wipes or an oil shower gel.

Add a little of the shower gel to a damp washcloth and gently remove the makeup from your children's faces. Go once more with clean water over the face and wipe away the last traces of the makeup. With a dry towel you then pat the face dry. This prevents skin irritation and blemishes.

Should we practice the makeup for Halloween beforehand?

A trial run of your Halloween makeup is highly recommended. You should practice the face painting at least twice, so that on Halloween you are confident and know which details to tackle and how long the whole thing will roughly take. The more you practice the Halloween makeup, the better you will get, and a relaxed Halloween with your children is guaranteed.

Is cosmetic makeup suitable for children's face painting on Halloween?

Generally, only water-based children's face paint is recommended. Especially for Carnival and Halloween, when the whole face may be painted in different shades to match the costume, it's important to make sure that the face paint is skin-friendly. Of course, eyeshadows from the range of cosmetic makeup can be used, however, you should always pay attention to the ingredients. If you want to be completely sure, you can even make children's / carnival face paint yourself. You can read how that works in the DIY for carnival face painting.