How to Do Dead Makeup

Mixing makeup to make yourself or someone else look dead is not difficult, but it does take the right colors. The stark white face with black around the eyes and cheeks will produce a startling appearance, but it will look more like a mime and less like a dead person. The trick to creating a dead face is to use colors with the correct tints. Colors with blue bases are the best for painting a dead face look.

Things You'll Need

• Gray-tinted grease makeup
• Blue-tinted off-white grease makeup
• Greenish-yellow grease makeup
• Makeup sponge
• Dish soap
• Computer
• Color printer
• Picture of fake dead person or zombie picture

Instructions

1. Print out a picture of a dead-looking person or a zombie that you want to recreate. Note where color changes occur, and how the color is spread over the face to appear as if the body is dead. Generally, this look is achieved by painting a yellow or bluish tint over the face to simulate the lack of blood flow.

2. Paint a bluish tinted off-white all over the face, ears and neck. Place this paint over all areas of exposed skin. Pay special attention to the creases around the nose, the area where the ears attach to the face and the hairline. If you neglect these areas the makeup will not look right. Use a makeup sponge to blend the color into the skin to make it look more natural and less painted. Make sure to dab a little of the paint over the lips or they will stand out too much from the rest of the face.

3. Dab a small amount of gray makeup onto the tip of the makeup sponge. Dab the sponge lightly under the cheekbones, around the temple areas, in the eye sockets and any other recessed area on the face. Blend the gray color into the white area to create a seamless look. This will make the makeup look realistic rather than like a clown costume.

4. Dab a very small amount of greenish-yellow paint under the eye sockets and around the mouth. You can also use a light blue color for these areas to make the face look like it has been dead for a while. The green or yellow paint will give a look closer to that of a zombie or someone who is freshly dead.

5. Wash the paint off your fingers with dish soap. Use the same soap to remove the makeup when you are tired of looking dead. Some face soaps may not be strong enough to remove the paint.

References

• NightmareFactory.com: How to Look Dead
• Zombie Maker: Basic Zombie Makeup