3 Halloween Costume Ideas You Can Do With Just Makeup

After its canals, the Italian city is probably best known as the place to score ornate masks (yup, even better than New Orleans). But if you can’t buy one of those beauties, Najor shows you how to create a two-dimensional, yet pretty incredible version using just three products.

Rather than going in and making the mask outline with liquid liner (a tough task even for the pros), the easiest way to get the shape right is with an eye or lip pencil in a shade that best matches your skin tone and then going over the lines with the liquid.

Start by creating a V-shape between your brows, following the shape of your brow and extending the sides out towards your temple. Then add Vs above, making them smaller as you move toward your hairline. Make the bottom of the mask by mirroring the top line, following the curve of your lower lids until you reach the outer corners. Now, trace over your lines with an inky black liner, which features a rounded felt tip to make drawing all those fine lines super easy. Once you’ve got the shape, add some flare! Create curls, tear-drop shapes, and dots starting at the outer corners of your mask. Go nuts—the design is all up to you.

Once you’ve perfected the shape, load up a flat eyeshadow brush with rosy eyeshadow or powder blush, and blend the color inside the lines of the mask to create dimension.

Venetian masks aren’t really complete without some major sparkle, so don’t leave home without adding glittery accents to the dots and lines.

Glitter eyeshadow totally works here (just pat on with a brush). But the easiest is actually a glitter eyeliner, like Urban Decay’s Moondust Liquid Glitter, which has a brush tip to precisely place sparkles wherever you want ’em. Don’t hold back — you’ll shine all night long with this look.

If you’ve ever wanted to be a superhero, now’s your chance. Here, Najor whipped up an ultra-modern take on a classic bat mask.

Sweep gold shadow all over your lids (we love SHEGLAM Jelly Crystal Glaze Stick in Golden Girl), going from the inner corner of your eyes all the way up towards your brows and extending past the outer corner.

To form the “mask,” use a liquid liner to draw on top of the gold shadow and along your crease. Try a liquid eyeliner pen so you can literally draw on your mask without any awkward angling. Then make free-hand dashes all over, extending outward toward your brows, temples, and inner and outer corners of your eyes. Add some feathery lines underneath your lower lashline. “This look isn’t meant to be precise, but rather painterly and organic,” says Najor. Translation? Have fun with it. Finally, connect the two sides of the “mask” with a few extra dashes across the bridge of your nose.

For a stand-out touch, add a hint of metallic blue to the inner corners of your eyes and right along the lower lashline. Then make lashes super lush by curling them and adding a few coats of volumizing mascara.

It’s surprisingly easy to transform yourself into a stunning lil butterfly with makeup. To keep it from looking like something you’d get at a carnival, Najar made our model smolder with rich jewel tones and a ton of smoke.

To get the organic pattern of a real butterfly’s wings, press an indigo-blue shade (try Maybelline’s eyeshadow stick in I am Electric), onto your lids with your fingertip for maximum saturation. Then “wiggle in place to diffuse the edges for a blurred effect,” says Najor. This is another design where you’re going for painterly, not perfect, so don’t worry about the shadow not being precisely blended out.

Obviously, every special butterfly needs her wings. Even if you’re not a pro artist, it’s easy to draw a striking set with an eyeliner. If you’re nervous about getting the shape right, use the same technique as with the Venetian Mask: Start with a flesh-toned pencil and then trace over it with the liquid liner.

Here, Najor drew two wings around the outer corner of each eye. Start one wing at the tail end of the brows, then extend out toward your temple and finish at the outer corner of your eye. Then start at the same spot for the second wing, but extend down toward your cheekbone and finish in the middle of your lower lashline.