Hi Guys,

I absolutely love Halloween! I have fond memories of dressing up for Halloween as a child and as an adult actually! I mean who doesn't love an excuse to get dressed up, and when else do you really get the chance?  Now I have kids there is a whole new excitement around it too! This week I am sharing all my tips for the perfect Halloween party, from the dressing up, to throwing a party, and I have  an achievable special effects make-up look to go with! I gave a sneak peek earlier in the week on my Snapchat and Instagram (@aminaali_mua).

Sneak peek of my #Halloween look. To see the full look head to my snapchat- aminaali_mua - 🕸👻🎃 #halloween #halloweenmakeup #sfxmakeup #specialeffectsmakeup

A photo posted by Amina Ali (@aminaali_mua) on Oct 16, 2016 at 1:04pm PDT

1.Decor.

First things first, you need some spooky decor! Whether I am having a party or not, I like to get into the spirit of Halloween and  decorate the house and front door with some cobwebs, spiders, pumpkins, and a few skeletons maybe. I am absolutely loving Home Bargains range of decorations at the moment. Every time I go in I seem to pick something up and the prices are so reasonable I don't mind spending, even if it is just for one day. Festive Lights also have some great props like hanging ghosts and witches. You can really dress up the entrance to your house for a spooky welcome, and so everyone one knows where the party is at!

2. Food and Drink.
No party is complete without food and drink. I like to keep snacks on a Halloween Party quite light. Crisps, nibbles, biscuits and drinks. However making things Halloween-themed is always fun, so decorating a cake with spider legs or adding some slimy sweets to a trifle are things that just give an extra something special to the food. Oh and don't forget the sweets for the trick or treaters!

3. Games.

A game or two adds some extra fun to a party. My memories of Halloween always include bobbing for apples. Such a fun, but difficult game! If you are hosting a party you could also do a pumpkin carving competition and an award for best dressed!

4. Costumes.

This leads me onto clothing. I can't get over how fantastic costumes actually are these days! Long gone are the days of throwing on a black bin liner or cutting some holes into a sheet! There are so many convincing costumes at low cost prices. I'm particularly loving George at Asda's range this year! They have a Beetlejuice costume that is to die for. Excuse the pun!

5. Make-up.

As you know, I don't need any excuse to be applying make-up! But I find one of the worst things about Halloween is when you put all the effort into having a party and people don't make the effort to dress up! Or worse, when you turn up to one and you're the only one who has gone all out! It is so easy to make an effort so I have put together an easy Halloween make-up look that anyone can achieve.  It is part glam, part skeleton - I just couldn't resist going half glam. I'm calling it Glamoween this year!

Firstly draw a line across your face, which will be where the scar is going to go. This separates the glam half from the skeleton half. Next, using toilet roll and liquid latex, scrunch up a sheet of toilet  paper and stick it along the scar line. The messier the better! I used Liquid Latex (£2) from Freedom Makeup's Halloween range (the same creators of Makeup Revolution London). It sounded daunting to me at first but all this stuff is so readily available nowadays there is no excuse not to use it. I picked up all my special effects items from  Superdrug. Next I rubbed a spoolie through soap and applied it to my skeleton side eyebrow to stick the eyebrow to the skin. This way the white face paint would apply over it smoothly. I then applied foundation to my glam side and filled in my eyebrow.

Once this was done I moved onto the glam. Now this part is for you to be as creative as you like. I went for a smokey eye as I thought it would suit the look and is quite dramatic! I contoured quite heavily and added highlight of course. Make sure you apply your foundation over the tissue as this will give the illusion of skin. The  strip lash I used (yes lash as it was only applied to the glam side)  is Nouveau Lashes in 'Glamour style 2' (£4.95).



I then moved onto the skeleton side, using the Makeup Revolution 'Ghost Contour Stick' (£4) again from Superdrug. This has a black and white side perfect for creating that skeletal look. To create the skeleton I applied the white stick all over the skin but left a part under my cheekbone to create a gap illusion where my teeth would be. I also coloured the eye socket and nose in black. Finally, using a gel liner, I drew over my lips. To add extra colour and set the face paint you could apply black and white coloured powder.


Lastly, I added some of Freedom Makeup's 'Fake Blood' (£2) along the scar line. I squeezed a drip out for extra effect on my forehead too! And that was it. The look was complete.