This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at U Conn chapter.

It’s that time of year again… the one when you can walk around with stage blood on your face and have it be socially acceptable! In celebration, I decided it would be a fun idea to put up a makeup tutorial. I had the chance to meet up with Farzana Zubair, a student in her sophomore year here at UConn, who is simply wonderful with makeup. She showed me some tips and tricks to achieve the perfect look with makeup that you can just pull right out of your collection, and if not, the entire list of products will be listed below the tutorial. This look may appear intimidating to do yourself, but when it’s all broken down into steps, it’s a very simple process. You just need to put some time aside to do it! Farzana was kind enough to give detailed instructions on how to achieve both looks. Here is what she did:

Vampire Makeup Tutorial

“This makeup look is more for people who want a simple costume—a quick makeup job with any dark outfit of your choosing. Vampires are quite varied in the horror genre; you have the more gruesome, ghoulish Buffy the Vampire Slayer type, or the beautiful vampires in Interview with a Vampire, or the deranged Nosferatu. For this look, I decided to take a more simple but fool-proof approach; dark, sultry makeup and gorey blood. It’s a look that you can make your own with different teeth, colors, contacts—whatever you wish to make your night all the more fun.

Also, disclaimer: you do not need to use all the products that I am using. You can cater this look to fit whatever makeup you have or are willing to buy! But in case you’re interested, I mention most, if not all, the products.

Here’s my bare face before the makeup:

Eyes:

I usually start things off with the eyes to make sure I don’t have to redo my foundation in case of fall out. But do whatever’s comfortable for you!

1. I applied an eyeshadow primer (Lorac Behind the Scenes) to make sure all my makeup remains vibrant for the entire night. I then messily applied a burgundy cream eyeshadow (Maybelline Pomegranate Punch) as a base, going all over the lid and on the lower lash line as well. Vampires tend to look a bit sleep deprived and dead, so I made sure to take the cream shadow down pretty far.

2. I took a creamy black eyeliner pencil (Urban Decay Perversion) and applied that messily to my upper lash line. Using a small detail brush, I then smudged that eyeliner till it smoked out pretty much all over the lid. I winged it out slightly in the process. This provides a general shape for the rest of the eye makeup and makes sure it stays dark and smokey.

3. I then took a matte burgundy plum color (Unbridled from Lorac Unzipped Palette) and applied that all over the lid, blending into the crease with a fluffy blending brush. I extended that color outwards a bit to give my eyes a more elongated look. I applied that same color to my lower lash line. Then, on a clean blending brush, I took a light matte mauve color (Unconditional from Lorac Unzipped) and blended out the edges of that plum color. This makes sure that there are no harsh edges without adding too much darkness. Using yet another blending brush, I took a dark matte black eyeshadow (Serious from Nude Tude) and blended that into the crease; make sure you only go into the crease with the black and use a light hand; it’s a buildable color and can be kind of hard to fix if you mess up. Apply some of that black eyeshadow on the outer half of the lower lashline.

At this point, you might look like you’ve gotten punched in the face. On each eye.

That’s okay, there’s a method to my madness.

4. I took a very light eyeshadow (Virgin from Naked I Palette) and applied that to my brow bone, blending just enough that I regained a more feline shape to the eyeshadow. I then took a shimmery taupe color (Sidecar from Naked I Palette) and used a tiny detail brush to apply that into the inner corner of each eye. Using a black liquid eyeliner (Stila All Day Waterproof Eyeliner), I created a pretty severely winged eyeliner on the upper lashline. You can use gel liner with an eyeliner brush if you’re more comfortable with that—just make sure it’s really black and really winged!

5. I smoked out the black eyeliner with the same black eyeshadow, using a detail brush. I then took my black pencil liner and swiped that across my lower waterline, making sure that I pointed the inner corner. This gives the eye a much more dark and sultry look.

At this point, I’d consider the eyes done! I’m weird and do my mascara last, but you could totally apply your mascara now. I’d say a few heavy coats of your blackest mascara and maybe some falsies to make your eyes look really glamorous.

Onto the face!

Face:

Vampires are always portrayed as these pale, deathly figures.

I am neither pale, nor deathly. I’m actually very brown and lively, so gotta work with what cha got!

6. For my foundation, I mixed my usual foundation (Mac Matchmaster Shade 6) and a little bit of my roommate’s foundation (Mac Studio Fix Fluid in NC15) to get a more “dead” appearance to my face. I buffed a couple coats onto my face with a buffing brush (Real Techniques Expert Face Brush) and applied concealer to my blemishes and under eye area (if you really want a sleep deprived look, skip this step). I used setting powder on my under eye area, but set wherever you need to—the more oily your face, the more you’d want to powder. Don’t worry about over-powdering—vampires sort of look like over-powdered statues.

7. I used my bronzer (Nars Casino) just to contour right beneath my cheekbones, my jawline, and on the sides of my forehead. I wanted to stay away from warming up my face; only use the bare minimum needed to create shape. I then took a medium brown eyeshadow (Buck from Naked I Palette) and contoured on the sides of my nose to make it look a bit sharper. If you are paler, I’d say use a lighter color and if you’re darker, use a deeper color. I took my highlighting powder (Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector in Topaz) and applied that to the tops of my cheekbones and down the center of my nose. I didn’t use blush because…well, you’re a vampire. Stop looking alive. I finished off with a finishing powder all over the face (Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in Dim Light).

Lips:

8. In order to prevent feathering, I used a dark red lip liner first (Jordana Lip Liner in Plum). I overdrew the lips slightly to make them look more… succulent and blood filled? I then used an incredibly dark purple lip color over the lip liner (OCC Lip Tar in Black Dahlia). Be careful and make sure the lines are sharp! I used a lip brush to apply this because with colors this bold, you don’t want uneven edges.

And now, here’s the fun part: Blood!

I bought some Graftobian blood gel online a couple days before doing this tutorial. It’s a very thick, dark blood and can stain skin and clothes, so be careful! Use whichever blood you like best.

I just smeared the blood all over my mouth and neck because drinking blood wouldn’t really be a clean sport in my vampire world.

Then add your teeth (which I had forgotten to buy) and you’re done! Wear your favorite vampire outfit and look like the hot deadly person you are!”

Products Used:

Eyes:

Lorac Behind the Scenes Eyeshadow Primer

Maybelline Color Tattoo in Pomegranate Punch

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Perversion

Lorac Unzipped Palette

theBalm NUDE’tude Eyeshadow Palette

Urban Decay Naked Palette

Stila All Day Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner in Intense Black

Face: