6 Beauty Tricks You Can Try Only on Halloween

When we see fluttery, feathered lashes on runway models, they look so pretty, they send chills down our spine. They just don’t translate easily to real life—except on Halloween. Buy strips of feathery faux lashes to complement your costume, or if you’re feeling creative, make custom ones, suggests Nars makeup pro Jenny Smith, who helped design gorgeous feather fringe for Marchesa’s spring runway. Her technique: Buy feathers (real or fake) at a craft store and cut into tiny lashlike clumps. Dip in clear lash glue and nestle into the roots of your real lashes; gently hold in place until dry. You can cluster the feathers toward the center of your lid for a sweet wide-eyed look or at the outer corner for a more mysterious vixen-y vibe. “It may surprise you how creepy or innocent you can become just by changing the look of your eyes,” Smith says.

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You can fight frizz on the other 364 days of the year. On Halloween, go with it. Play it up, tease it and think big—really, really big. Got thick hair? Steal a trick from Naeem Khan’s spring runway: The models’ top layers were curled into tight ringlets and then teased for maximum volume. The models’ hair also got a big boost from poufy clip-in hairpieces pinned underneath those curls. At the show, Bumble and Bumble stylist Laurent Dufourg tediously set straight extensions into pin curls, but to create your own pouf-boosters at home, you can use a crimper or curling iron. Just be sure the extensions are heat-safe first, to avoid a scary faux-hair meltdown.

Video: How to fight frizz >

We generally recommend using shimmer in moderation, but October 31 is one night when you’re encouraged to let your inner Tinkerbell loose on the town. For maximum glimmer, buy loose, finely milled face glitter to dust on your lids, brow bone and cheekbones. Stila celebrity makeup artist Sarah Lucero preps the skin with a small amount of Vaseline or Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream and then sweeps the glitter on using a soft, rounded eyeshadow brush. “This gives you a very glossy and sexy effect, and the shimmer will stay put,” she says. You can also pat loose glitter on top of lipstick for a cool jewel-encrusted pout. Lucero’s other big glitter tip: Before you head to your Halloween bash, toss Scotch tape in your handbag—it’s the best tool for mopping up stray glitter that flecks onto your skin or clothes.

When black lipstick beckons, don’t just buy a novelty tube that resembles driveway tar. If you can resist the gravitational pull of the drugstore’s Wet ‘n’ Wild display (we know, it’s hard), take a few seconds to whip up your own Goth hue. “Backstage at Fashion Week, I mix black Stila Smudge Pot gel eyeliner with some red lipstick to create the perfect vampy dark lip,” says Lucero. A nice firm lip brush is the ideal tool for blending and applying your witchy new lipstick brew.

Video: How to wear red lipstick >

Think “full sleeves” are sexy but would never dare to get a permanent set of your own? Channel your inner tattoo artist and draw your own temporary designs—they make for a pretty fierce costume on their own. Map out your design using subtle flesh-toned lip pencil, says Chantel Miller, the MAC pro who helped create the amazing faux tattoos on Rodarte’s spring runway. “If you’re doing arm cuffs, keep in mind that you will need to draw on the arm you normally write with, so choose simple lines and shapes that you can easily re-create with your less exercised drawing hand,” she says. Not artistic? Use stencils from an art supply store. Then trace the design with “ink”—water-resistant black eyeliner. Clean up mistakes and keep lines sleek using a small makeup brush dipped in cleanser. When you’re done, mist on aerosol hairspray for extra smudge-proofing.

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Curious what you’d look like with Lohan-length waves or a platinum-blond shade? Fright night’s the right time to test-drive some fun fantasy hair. To keep your wig from cramping your style, try these tricks from Bumble and Bumble stylist Aura Friedman, who helps Lady Gaga with her hair antics. Buy knee-high nylons in the shade of your facial skin, and stretch one over your scalp as a wig cap—it’ll keep your hair flat, and the edges won’t be noticeable if they peek out (rather than wearing your real hair in a pony or bun under the cap, just bobby-pin it flat around your scalp one section at a time). To prevent your wig from flying off on the dance floor, push bobby pins through the netting at its roots to secure. Finally, add accessories. “A hair band or hat helps a wig look more natural,” Friedman says. “The hairline is usually the telltale giveaway of a wig, so if you camouflage that area, it will look more realistic.”