Halloween Makeup: Classic Pin-Up Girl

Gregory Arlt, Director of Makup Artistry at MAC Cosmetics:

Hi I'm Gregory Arlt, Director of Makeup Artistry from MAC Cosmetics and I'm going to show you a really fun Halloween look. I'm actually going to transform Nanelle to the lovely Dita Von Teese who's actually one of my clients.

I've started by using a beautiful foundation and powder. Dita's skin is a little on the lighter side. When you think of Old Hollywood makeup, the skin is a little on the pale side but make sure your foundation really matches your skin tone. A light vanilla-colored eye shadow right under the eyebrow and all the way down to the lashes as a base. I'm using a color that's about two or three shades lighter than her skin to really open up the eye. And I'm using a flat brush and really applying the eye shadow all over the eye area.

The next step would be to add a little bit of a crease color just under the bone of the eye to really show off the eyelid. So what I'm going to do is take a small amount of a neutral shadow - any color works. I like a sort of beige color. In this case I'm using a soft gray and just using it in the crease back and forth. So for the eyebrows it's all about drama. So when you're doing a retro pin-up makeup look, Marilyn Monroe, go crazy, go dark, because nine out of ten times you'll probably wear a dark wig. Even if you have a blonde bombshell wig, an eyebrow really does make all the difference in the world. So what I'm doing is using an eyeshadow in the brows. I'm using it with an angled brush and I'm just shaping her brows the perfect pin-up way. I'm just using the darkest gray brown shadow. You can also use black, it's a little more intense. In order to get that real bombshell eyebrow, make sure you truly arch it right at the top of the brow. So now what I'm going to do is just add a lighter slightly pearlized shadow under the brow as a highlight to really make sure that eyebrow pops.

So the next, and in my opinion, one of the most important steps in the makeup application is the cat liner. The retro pin-up liquid eyeliner. A little bit of this gel liner and take the line as thin as possible right on the lash line using the brush. Hold the brush flat against the skin and just take it right across the eye. This takes a steady hand and some practice. So if you're bored at home on a Friday night (alone), practice your eyeliner before Halloween. So when you get to the end of the eye what you're going to want to do is take your brush and use the very tip of the brush to get that perfect point.

So now that we've got this perfect eyeliner on her eyes what I want to do is to add a little definition on her eyes - but not too much. So take the same color that you've used in the crease of her eye and just apply a little bit right under the lash line just for fullness. Very, very soft.

So now we're going to move into the eyelashes. Let's start with mascara. Even though I will be applying false lashes to the outer corner of the eye, mascara makes a really good anchor for those lashes. So what I'm going to do is just apply the mascara, really separating them because I want her eyes to have that beautiful fan-like look. And using it right on the outer corners as well, wiggling the mascara wand through her eyelashes so they're really nice and separate. And now the icing on the eyelash cake. We're going to add some false lashes just to the outer corner. If you're a little more brave, go ahead and do a whole strip. But I feel Nanelle's perfect having it right on the ends, just to have that really elongated flawless pin-up eye.

Okay, when it comes to cheeks, think pink. Retro pin-up girls always have that really perfect, powdery pink cheek. So you're going to take your blush, perfect pink blush, with a soft blush brush and hit brush on both sides of the brush and go right on the apple of the cheek to get that perfect rounded cheek look. You don't want it to be like the 80s up and down all through the temples and the contour. You want it right on the apple, so give yourself a nice little smile, because everybody likes to see someone smiling back at them in the mirror.

Almost last but certainly not least: the lips. When you're doing a retro pin-up girl, think red. Bright reds, brick reds, ruby reds, any kind of red you want. I'm actually going to do a classic 1950s red by using a cherry-colored-red lip liner and I'm just going to follow her lip shape. And if your lips are naturally on the pointy side make sure you round them off, because in the 40s it was all about that perfectly rounded mouth. Very, very Marilyn Monroe and very soft. I found that if you're a little skittish with the red lip pencil, use small little strokes - almost like you're sketching the pencil on. Now I'm going to take a lip brush with nothing on it and blend that pencil right into the mouth.

So the lipstick that I've chosen is a true classic red lipstick, a total bombshell red, a fire engine red. As I'd said any shade of red works, but I really thought a perfect bright lip would look amazing against her light skin tone. So the Halloween makeup look is truly complete with a fabulous retro inspired black wig and Dita's signature beauty mark which goes on the left side right by the eye.