DIY Zombie Makeup With Corn Syrup
Zombie makeup can be made at home with corn syrup and common kitchen pantry items such as flour and cornstarch. Zombie makeup is used to create the ghoulish skin color of the dead, flesh wounds such as bites, large wounds, small gashes and cuts and realistic looking blood. You can make all of these items to create your own zombie makeup that not only looks scary but is edible, non-toxic and easy on your budget.
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Things You'll Need
- Flour
- Cornstarch
- Fork
- Bowl
- Large spoon
- Light corn syrup
- 4 disposable paper cups
- Liquid food coloring, basic color set
- Foam makeup applicator
- Tissue paper
- Black eye liner
- Petroleum jelly
- Cocoa powder
- Corn starch
Instructions
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Mix together 1 tablespoon flour and 3 tablespoons cornstarch in a bowl using a fork. Slowly drizzle 3/4 cup light corn syrup and 1/4 cup water into the bowl and stir it with a large spoon until it has a smooth, creamy consistency.
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Divide the mixture equally into four disposable paper cups. Add liquid food coloring to all but one of the mixtures. Experiment with basic colors, adding different colors together until you create a gray tint, a black tint and a green or yellow tint.
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Separate the tissue paper into single layers. Tear the tissue layers lengthwise into 2-inch wide strips. Apply the untinted makeup to your face with a foam makeup applicator, starting with your forehead. Do not put the corn syrup makeup onto your eyes. Once you cover the forehead, press strips of tissue paper into the makeup. The makeup will soak through the tissue paper. If there are dry spots on the tissue, add more plain makeup to the tissue's surface to moisten it. Paint makeup onto one area of your face at a time and cover it with tissue. Wait 15 minutes.
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Cover your face with a layer of gray makeup. Apply streaks of black makeup on your cheeks, just under the cheek bone. Apply green makeup around the corners of your mouth and blend yellow into its edges if you want to be a well preserved or moldy zombie. Use black eyeliner to color in your eyes. Draw vertical lines on your lips to make them appear split and chapped. Dust your face with flour.
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Make a flesh wound. Mix three drops red food coloring into a quarter sized amount of petroleum jelly. Add pinches of cocoa powder to the mixture until it takes on a dark blood-like tint. Separate a sheet of tissue paper and tear it into a 3-inch by 2-inch square. Place the tissue over your neck or wherever you want the wound to be. Cover it with the blood colored petroleum jelly. Mold the tissue with your fingers, raising the edges higher than the center of the wound. Apply petroleum jelly into the center of the wound. Add cocoa powder to the wound edges and to the center of the wound.
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Make a batch of realistic looking blood to splatter onto your costume. Mix 1/2 cup corn starch with 1/3 cup warm water. Stir it until the corn starch has dissolved. Stir in 2/3 cup light corn syrup, 1 tablespoon powdered cocoa and four teaspoons of red food coloring. Add two drops of yellow or green food coloring, one at a time, stirring and checking the color between each addition until you get the right color-- real blood has a red-brown tint to it. Pick up the fake blood with a spoon and fling it at your costume. Add rivulets of blood down the front of your shirt, on the cuffs of sleeves and the bottom shirt hem. Apply blood to your bottom lip, chin and neck to complete the zombie look.
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Tips & Warnings
You can use mortician's wax or spirit gum to adhere parts of turkey or chicken bones to simulate grotesque looking broken bones poking out of your skin, or add smooth edged bits of Plexiglas to your face.
