Quick and Impressive Halloween Makeup Ideas for Last-Minute Plans

For some, this news is exciting and for others, it’s frightening, but Halloween is just about a week away. As quickly as the spooky season began, it has almost come to a close, and many of us are diligently planning costumes for the big day to send off the Halloween season with a bang. While I’m sure plenty of us celebrators have had our Halloween plans solidified for some time and our costumes in the works for a few weeks, there always seems to be some last-minute invite that throws us for a loop.

Whether it’s a company happy hour (costumes mandatory) or a last-minute house party where intricate ensembles are sure to be the norm, now is just about the time we start scrambling for a crunch-time Halloween costume idea. Before you go running to Amazon, remember that a good makeup look can be the easiest way to look dressed up. Ahead, some of the best—and easiest—last-minute Halloween makeup ideas that are sure to impress.

Celebrity makeup artist Ermahn Ospina channeled Pris from Blade Runner with this simple yet striking Halloween makeup look. To bring it to life, Ospina blended deep blue shades from Dior’s 5 Colors Couture Eyeshadow Palette ($68) around the lids and across the bridge of the nose to create a futuristic look. For the stark, black sections, the pro used Shiseido’s Kajal InkArtist Shadow Liner ($25).

The great thing about most of these last-minute Halloween makeup looks is that you can pair them with a simple, all-black ensemble like this subtle Black Swan style from Ospina. By creating a bold wing and extending the lines through the inner corners and out below the lash line, the graphic liner evokes the brooding energy of the black swan, and the red-wine-colored lip perfectly seals the deal. Throw some feathers in your hair and voila!

Jigsaw is one of the most recognizable—and terrifying—Halloween characters of all time, and his frightening marionette makeup look is shockingly easy to achieve, as demonstrated by TikTok creator @tias.mua. In the tutorial below, Tia creates a spot-on Jigsaw look with a few simple steps. She first lines the rim of a bottle cap with red pigment (you can use liquid liner, eyeshadow, lipstick, whatever floats your boat!) and stamps them on her cheeks to create perfect circles before filling in the centers with the iconic Jigsaw spiral. Then, she uses black liquid liner to create two marionette lines extending downwards from her lips before lining the red of her pout with black as well, buffing it in towards the center of the lips, too, before finishing the look with a red gloss. The style is so low-key that you can do it in minutes, but the resemblance is so uncanny that it will look like you’ve been planning it for months. Bonus points if you sport a suit jacket and red bowtie.

If you were to ask me my favorite spooky season movie, Jennifer’s Body would definitely be it, and for any other Megan Fox and early 2000s campy horror film fans who agree, Jennifer’s legendary prom night outfit is an easy, last-minute Halloween makeup idea that is sure to please. If you have a long white dress and a black choker, your costume is pretty much done, and as TikTok user @tuesdaymorningggg shows, a little liner and shadow where you wouldn’t normally put it will have you rocking Fox’s undead look in no time. No fake blood is needed—just a little mauve liner and red gloss, and you’re set.

Yes, it’s basic, but it’s timeless for a reason! If you’re in a pinch for a costume, a black cat never fails, and this makeup look by TikTok user @kayla.ryann puts a sexy, office-siren spin on classic black cat makeup. Kayla starts by creating the perfect cat eye, using KVD Beauty’s Tattoo Liner ($25) to flick her wings out from her lash line and continues the line deep into her inner corner, creating that feline shape. Then, she lines the tip of her nose and edges of her nostrils in the same liner, mimicking that of a cat’s nose, adding a line down her philtrum to connect to her lips before adding dots and whiskers to seal the deal. She also uses black liquid lipstick on her top lip to continue the cat-like effect.

When in doubt, any sort of makeup look that mimics fake blood and makes you look creepy and unsettling is a safe bet for a last-minute Halloween party. This genius hack by TikTok user @grwtzi makes the nondescript spooky character look easier than ever, as she uses red lipstick and a fork to make scratch-like marks on her cheek and forehead. Afterward, she extends the lines a bit further and adds dimension with brown shadow, and the result is shockingly life-like.