22 Most Scary Halloween Makeup Ideas for Women 2024

Halloween is the perfect time to let your creativity and spooky side shine, and nothing completes a scary costume like the right makeup.

Whether you’re looking to shock your friends with a gruesome zombie transformation, terrify with a haunting doll face, or get dramatic with a twisted clown look, scary Halloween makeup takes your costume to the next level.

In this article, I’ve put together 22 terrifying Halloween makeup ideas for 2024 that will inspire you to craft a truly eerie look.

From classic horror characters to fresh, spine-chilling designs, these ideas are perfect for women wanting to take their Halloween makeup game to the next level.

22 Scary Halloween Makeup Ideas

1. Zombie Apocalypse

Create the classic zombie look with a decaying and undead vibe. Start by applying gray-green foundation for a sickly skin tone.

Darken your eyes with black eyeshadow to create hollow, sunken sockets. Use red and purple shades to mimic bruises or rotting flesh.

Add liquid latex or tissue to create peeling skin or exposed bones. Complete the look with fake blood around the mouth, neck, and wounds to appear freshly risen from the dead.

2. Vampire Queen

For a regal yet terrifying vampire look, apply a pale foundation to your face. Add dark red or black lipstick to emphasize sharp, blood-stained lips.

Use dark eyeshadow around your eyes to create a sunken, alluring effect. Fake fangs are essential—apply red lipstick or fake blood around your mouth for the bloodsucker effect.

For extra drama, contour with grays and purples to enhance the undead yet seductive appearance.

3. Skeleton Face

A black-and-white skeleton makeup look can be achieved with precision. Use white face paint as a base, covering your entire face.

Then, with black face paint, draw exaggerated cheekbones, hollow eyes, and a nose cavity. Line your lips and extend black lines to resemble teeth.

For an eerie finish, add cracks or shadows around the edges of the design to make the skeleton effect more realistic and terrifying.

4. Haunted Doll

To get the haunted doll look, start by applying a light foundation for a porcelain finish.

Draw exaggerated lashes under your eyes with black eyeliner to mimic the wide-eyed doll look.

Use pink blush heavily on the apples of your cheeks. To achieve the cracked porcelain effect, use black eyeliner to draw cracks on your face.

5. Witchy Glam

For a witchy glam look, blend spooky and stylish elements. Start with dark green or purple foundation, paired with black lipstick for a wicked appearance.

Smoky black eyeshadow and winged eyeliner give a dramatic flair. Add contour to your cheeks with dark shades to give a sharp, eerie appearance.

For added effect, draw intricate symbols or a pentagram on your forehead or cheeks.

6. Gothic Bride

Start by applying pale foundation to create a ghostly bride look. Draw dark, smoky eyes with black or deep purple eyeshadow.

Add black lipstick and use dark eyeshadow to create shadows under your cheekbones. Use eyeliner to draw small veins coming from your eyes or temples.

7. Scary Clown

To create a terrifying clown look, start with a white face paint base. Use black and red face paint to draw exaggerated eyebrows, large eyes, and a creepy wide smile.

Smudge the edges of your makeup for a more unhinged effect. Add a fake bloody smile for extra horror. This makeup takes a fun concept and makes it nightmarish.

8. Possessed Nun

Use white face paint as the base for this look, making your complexion ghostly pale.

Darken the area around your eyes with black eyeshadow, blending it out for a haunting appearance.

Draw small black veins around the eyes and forehead for a possessed, demonic look. Finish with a bloody cross or symbols on your face.

9. Spider Queen

Create a Spider Queen look by drawing realistic spider webs around your eyes or mouth using black eyeliner.

Start with a pale foundation base and add dark eyeshadow to create a haunting gaze. Apply black lipstick or dark purple for the lips.

To finish, use false eyelashes or draw tiny spiders creeping out of your web for an extra eerie touch.

10. Mummified Horror

Use bandages or gauze to wrap parts of your face for a mummified appearance. Apply gray and brown makeup to any exposed skin to resemble decaying flesh.

Darken your eyes with black eyeshadow, and use dark lipstick or lip gloss to make your mouth appear dried and lifeless.

Add fake blood around the bandages to give a freshly unwrapped, terrifying effect.

11. Demon Slayer

A fierce demon-slayer look requires sharp contouring and bold, dark lines. Start with pale foundation and apply red or black face paint to create strong tribal markings or scars across your face.

Add dramatic eye makeup with winged eyeliner and dark smoky eyeshadow. Use fake blood to represent the aftermath of a battle with demons, making the look gritty and dangerous.

12. Frankenstein’s Monster

Apply green face paint all over to create Frankenstein’s monster’s iconic skin tone. Darken your eyes with black eyeshadow to add depth and hollow features.

Use black face paint or eyeliner to draw stitches across your face, forehead, and neck. Add shading around the stitches to give the illusion of sunken scars.

13. Cheshire Cat Gone Wrong

For a twisted Cheshire Cat, start with a wild, grinning mouth by drawing exaggerated teeth that stretch from ear to ear using black and white face paint.

Blend dark purple or black eyeshadow around your eyes to create a sinister effect.

Add some wild, messy face stripes, and don’t forget to make your eyes large and glowing, as if the cat is watching from the shadows.

14. Bloody Mary

To achieve the Bloody Mary look, start with pale foundation to give yourself a ghostly appearance.

Use red eyeliner or lipstick to create the illusion of blood dripping from your eyes. Darken the area around your eyes with black eyeshadow, making your gaze appear hollow and haunted.

Smudge dark red lipstick on your lips and blend down your chin to appear as if you’ve spoken her deadly name.

15. Creepy Doll Eyes

For this terrifying oversized doll-eye look, use white eyeliner to draw the illusion of larger, rounder eyes.

Draw a new lash line underneath your lower lashes to extend the size of your eyes. Use heavy black eyeliner to create long, doll-like eyelashes.

Add pink blush heavily to your cheeks and finish with pale, cracked skin to enhance the creepy vibe.

16. Twisted Joker

Start with a white face paint base, followed by black eyeshadow around the eyes for a messy, chaotic look.

Extend the red lipstick into a wide, uneven smile across your cheeks, adding some dripping blood for a more twisted appearance.

Smudge green hair color spray into your hair for a deranged and disheveled look.

17. Evil Fairy

For a dark fairy look, begin with a pale or shimmery foundation to create an ethereal base. Use black and deep purple eyeshadow to create dramatic, smoky eyes.

Draw delicate black vines or thorns on your forehead and cheeks. Dark lipstick and bold contouring add a fierce, otherworldly vibe.

18. Melting Face

Create the illusion of a melting face by using white face paint as a base and layering liquid latex to form dripping skin.

Blend dark eyeshadows and use darker shades on the edges of the “melt” to create shadows. Highlight the drips for a more 3D effect.

19. Bloody Nurse

Start with pale foundation, adding dark circles under the eyes for a tired, haunted appearance.

Use fake blood to create splatters across your face and neck, especially around the mouth and eyes.

Darken the lips and add shadow under the cheekbones for an emaciated look. Combine with a nurse’s uniform for a truly horrifying transformation.

20. Half Face Skull

For this look, cover half your face in regular makeup and the other half in black and white skeletal features.

Use white face paint for the skull side, shading in black to hollow out the eyes, nose, and cheeks. Extend the skull effect down your neck for a full half-human, half-death illusion.

21. The Exorcist

To get a possessed look, start with pale foundation and create dark under-eye circles for a sleepless, tormented appearance.

Add scratches or bruises on the skin with purples, reds, and black eyeshadows.

Use white contacts for a fully possessed gaze and finish with fake blood around the mouth or eyes for a truly horrifying appearance.

22. Slashed Face Illusion

For the slashed face illusion, use latex or thick wax to build up fake cuts across your face. Add red and black face paint inside the “slashes” to create depth, and fake blood for realism.

Use foundation to blend the edges, and contour with darker shades to make the gashes look deep and painful.