First: what is Halloween?

Halloween is celebrated one day before All Saints’ Day/ All Hallows’ Day on October 31st. The custom of spiritually opening the gates between the world of the dead and the world of the living on the night of October 31 to November 1st is already an ancient tradition. The fact that people dress up on the night before November 1st probably started as a protection against the dead. The creepier or more "dead-like" you looked, the less chance you had of being recognized as a human being by the "real" dead. To this day, Halloween has a cult status as it once did, and every year there are new trendy characters people love to (re)create through make-up and costumes.

Inspiration for Halloween

Sources of inspiration for recreating a Halloween character are a dime a dozen. Here are some good starting points to help you shape a new character:

Source of inspiration #1: Traditional or even vintage Halloween characters such as ghosts, witches, vampires, zombies, fairies, clowns, etc., will help guide you roughly in one direction.

Source of inspiration #2: Trendy characters of the last few years, such as famous comic book characters or movie characters, are also a super source of inspiration for a new look.

Source of inspiration #3: nature can also be a great source of inspiration. Certain animal or plant species, for example, certainly look very unconventional and funky when implemented as a costume or make-up. Spend a day in the forest, at the seaside, or in a nearby zoo and get inspired by the colors, shapes, and movements of creatures and plants.

Source of inspiration #4: ever thought about going as a character from your favorite book? Or maybe your favorite author was active during a certain era, and his/her trademark was so unusual that other people immediately understand what it's about?

Source of inspiration #5: historical figures such as William Shakespeare, Einstein, Cleopatra, and many more can always are a good idea for a make-up/costume.

Source of inspiration #6: current affairs. Last year and this year, Halloween was influenced by a pandemic. Mandatory masks, restrictions, certain politicians or figures that have been particularly in the spotlight during this time can serve as sources of inspiration.

Source of inspiration #7: the "tried and true" social media. Be it Instagram, Pinterest, Tik Tok, or any other social media platform – you can find masses of inspiration for a specially created Halloween character.

From inspiration to a unique character

Once you've collected various ideas, it's now a matter of creating something unique from the smorgasbord of inspiration. You can do this as follows: draw a mind map with all the personalities/ideas that you find great. Now think about which attributes you particularly like. For example, do you find vampire teeth scary, but the make-up of a fairy as a contrast to that is also great? Then connect all the characters/ideas on your mind map and write down what you would like to implement. In the end, think about what can really be combined with each other and what can't, and cross out the things that are difficult to really be implemented. You'll keep going like this until you've finally invented a completely independent character. Then it's down to the nitty-gritty, namely the implementation with make-up and costume.

Implementation with Kryolan products

For the make-up of your Halloween character, you can get color inspiration in one of our stores worldwide. In addition to color palettes and a wide variety of products, you'll also find expert help on the spot. They can explain to you how which products behave on the skin and should or must be combined with each other. For example, if you need a bald cap, not only a Glatzan Bald Cap is enough, but you also need an adhesive and a remover.

Also, don't be afraid to mix colors as needed and experiment. In the end, it's the uniqueness that counts because there are already enough mayfly vampires on Halloween.