Ten Cat Makeup Tips for a Halloween Costume

What's beautiful, alluring, and a bit mischievous? How about a cat-inspired makeup look for Halloween! Here's a list of ten tips for applying cat makeup. Add your favorite feline accessories to this makeup look and you're set. Easy props could include a headband with attached cat ears, a tail to pin on your back, and a leopard print scarf fastened around your neck or waist-you can be as simple or as crafty as you'd like.

There are a million ways to apply cat-inspired makeup. Everyone's going to do things a little bit differently and there's nothing wrong with that. Pick and choose what will work best for you. Parenthetically, the directions are aimed at females, but boys can obviously dress up like cats too. Modify accordingly.

Cat Makeup Tips #1: Decide if you want to paint your whole face.

When dressing up like a cat for Halloween, some people want a painted face look and others don't. Honesty, it's probably not that big of a deal either way. But if you want to paint your face a solid color before applying area-specific makeup, go for it. Obvious color choices include white, gray, brown, and black. Pick up a face paint from a local store and follow the directions while applying it on.

Cat Makeup Tips #2: If you decided against face paint, simply apply foundation as your base.

If you're opposed to the look or expense of painting your whole face, simply apply your normal combination of foundation and powder. You'll want a nice base to work with, but the color of the base doesn't inherently matter.

Cat Makeup Tips #3: Pick a direction to go with eye shadow.

Depending on your preferences, you may wish to stick to some neutral browns for eye shadow and keep the eye liner bold and noticeable. Or you may be interested in a more typical smoky eyes look-using dark shadows to form a sultry gradient from the lash line to the brow bone. There's no wrong or right; it just depends on what look you like best.

Cat Makeup Tips #4: If you decide on a bold eye liner, carefully create the lines you want.

With smoky eyes, eye liner is still helpful in creating depth and achieving an overall look, but specific placement isn't as crucial. With light, neutral shadows, where you apply eye liner and how you angle it will be extremely noticeable. Both liquid and pencil liners will work. Go with what you're comfortable wearing and adjust these directions as necessary. Generally, you'll apply the liner to your top lash line, extending from the inside corner of your eye to the outer edge. At this point, continue applying the liner for a centimeter longer at a forty-five degree angle up from the horizontal line your eyes naturally create. You can also create, from the outer corner of your eye, a line coming down at a forty-five degree angle. You can keep these angles linear or you can apply additional liner or shadow to make the lines more circular and fluid.

Cat Makeup Tips #5: Apply mascara to your lashes (and add false eyelashes too if you want).

If you want a big and bold finish, you can add some false eyelashes to your natural set, or you can just stick with what you already have. Layer a coat or two of mascara to the top and bottom lashes. Black mascara will probably give you the best finish, but you certainly don't need to buy a bottle you'll only use for one night; brown will work too.

Cat Makeup Tips #6: Apply or attach a cat nose.

You can simply purchase a faux cat nose to position on your face or you can paint the tip of your nose to resemble a cat. Using black face paint or a costume pencil, or even a combination of regular eye liner and black eye shadow, apply product on the tip of your nose-covering as much or as little as you'd like. You can create a circular edge, coloring your nose from one edge to the other. Or you can draw an isosceles triangle with the narrowest angle pointed down and ending slightly between nostrils: whatever you want. (If you painted your face black at the beginning, you might opt for using white for the nose and whiskers.)

Cat Makeup Tips #7: Apply or attach cat whiskers.

Typical of cat makeup is that three whiskers extend on each side of your face, beginning near the mouth and each ending at various points along the outer edge of the cheek. Just like the nose, you can buy whiskers that attach to the face or you can draw them on with costume makeup or regular black eye liner.

Cat Makeup Tips #8: Add a little blush if you want.

If you're feeling a little too monotone skin-wise, you can always apply a little bit of blush to the apples of your cheeks. It may not be necessarily true to the look of a cat, but it tends to give us humans a little nudge in the right direction.

Cat Makeup Tips #9: Choose a color for your lips.

Although you can choose any lip color for a cat Halloween look, black and red are two choices that seem to standout. Black lips will help keep the continuity of your cat costume while red lips will help maintain your femininity. Regardless of your color selection, you should first line your lips with a pencil liner and then add a lipstick and/or lip gloss over the lined lips.

Cat Makeup Tips #10: Pack your purse.

As with any makeup-intensive costume, it's useful to pack a purse with a mirror and a few supplies you can use to touch up your makeup if anything gets drastically messed up. Have a great Halloween!