7 Last Minute Makeup Ideas For Halloween 2016

Whether your makeup bag is overspilling with random colored eyeshadows or you only own one palette that you use religiously, there are definitely some last minute Halloween makeup looks using only your own makeup you can turn to in a time of crisis. Some are pretty standard Halloween fare — cat or vampire, anyone? Others take a little creativity and repurposing to give you a look that will really stand out this Halloween. If you're willing to cover your entire face in the one green eyeshadow you never use, these ideas were made for you.

Personally, I live for a last minute Halloween look and value a frantic beauty throw down as much as a carefully planned spooky aesthetic. Setting aside my specially bought Halloween makeup aside, I set in to wreck my normal brushes with bright pigments and play around with my makeup, to get a feel of how this would work. I also found some great last minute Halloween makeup tutorials to follow for any of you prefer to follow along with the pros.

While these looks were easy enough to do and only took some reimagining of my makeup bag, the best bit was the fun I had with it. Getting Halloween looks out of normal makeup is a hoot, so remember: Have fun, go with your own flow and add any embellishments or differences you want — Oct. 31 will be over before you know it, so you might as well have some fun while it lasts.

1. A Vampire Via Contouring

Barry M Cosmetics Flawless Brightening Primer, $12, Amazon; Illamasqua Skin Base Foundation, $44, Amazon

First things first, these are my base products which will run under every of these looks. Remember that my face is covered in this before every tutorial and do the same with your own foundation — if you wear foundation — to have a clear canvas to work on top of. Here is what I look like with just these products on my face, in case you fancied a laugh.

For the vampire look, because we don't have fangs or fake blood, I figured we could give dramatic fact in a totally different way. I contoured my cheekbones hard, using black and gray shadows and a piece of paper to give a definitive line underneath.

For these colors, I used the Return of Sexy Palette by Too Faced (and continued to use it for almost every tutorial on this list.) Of course, you probably have a go to palette with all these colors in already — this is just mine. The shades I used are on the far right.

Return of Sexy Palette, $58, Amazon

You probably have your own way of doing your eyebrows and for all these looks, my brow looks were pretty much the same - just what I do on a day to day basis. Here's my products, in case you were interested.

Dark Brow Kit, $13, Amazon

While doing my brows, I decided to do a little contour along my temple. That's what's so fun about doing last minute makeup — you can add details as you go along.

My go to Halloween lipstick is an OCC Lip Tar in Black Dahlia — it's the perfect shade of gothy red lip, and I used it pretty often in these tutorials.

OCC Lip Tar, $16, Amazon

Finally, I finished the look off with a smokey eye. You can follow how to get the perfect smokey eye here, but here's some quick step by step instructions from me: Pale on the lid, black in the crease and gray to blend it all together. Here's an in-between selfie, as I was doing my smokey lids.

A little bit of mascara and you're done! A less cheesy, more sexy kind of vampire whose contour is just oh so on trend.

No, I didn't use a drop of fake blood — but you can still tell what I was going for, making this look killer in a pinch (no pun intended).

2. A Cat With Dramatic Liner

For the cat tutorial, please repeat all the above steps but without the contour shadow. Be prepared: This look requires a lot of liquid eyeliner. (And a steady hand, if you have one.)

First things first, a cat eye — because if anyone's going to have perfect winged liner, it's going to be a cat right? We all have our own ways of perfecting our winged eyeliner, and whatever works for you will work just as well here.

Next up: Whiskers. I used three dots and three likes for a simpler kind of whisker look. The kind of whiskers a toy cat may have. Why be realistic when you're doing the most basic Halloween look ever?

Finally, you need a nose to finish it all off. I prefer just painting the bottom of my nose for this one. It may be simple but damn is it effective: Pair with a black catsuit for a classic, sexy Halloween look.

3. Bambi With Browns & Tans

This Bambi tutorial is perfect for anyone who prefers using brown tones in their makeup and has a bunch of these shades around. Plus it's a totally cute twist on the animal makeup look for Halloween!

4. Miss Argentina With That Random Green Eyeshadow

For this tutorial, your best friend is going to be that green eyeshadow you use once a year, max. This look is fun because it's incredibly effective and doesn't require that much effort.

I used these two brushes for my look, the smaller for details and the larger to cover large spaces quickly. Because I'm sure if you're throwing together a Halloween makeup look with items from your makeup bag, you're also trying to do it as fast as possible.

From zero to 100 real quick: Just cover your whole face in green shadow. The thicker the layers the better, but if your color is really pigmented you won't need so much product - just make sure your whole face is covered!

Studio Liquid Liner (2 PK), $9, Amazon

I filled in details on my lids and cheeks with an old NYX shadow and blue liquid liner. (But mainly the shadow). I'd also added on a pink lip, using MAC lipstick in Milan Mode.

MAC Lipstick, $17, Nordstrom

With all that done, I threw on some mascara and had a pretty impressive Halloween face in hardly any time at all.

5. An '80s Goth With Graphic Eyeliner

Up there with the funnest of the looks on this list, I started by making my brows thicker with a square end to match the harsh extravagance of '80s goth makeup. Don't get too carried away, I come back to these brows later. As you can see, I kept my base and lips the same as the previous (non green) looks.

Next up: Purple shadow from the Too Faced palette I already showed you. And a more definitive brow helped along with liquid liner. Get ready, the next part is where it gets complicated.

Too Faced The Return Of Sexy Eye Shadow Palette, $58, Amazon

For this, I kind of made it up. With a deep, burning love of Siouxsie Sioux I had a pretty clear idea of what I was going for. All you really need to do is play with your liquid liner until there's more wings than you can count. (That is, if you can only count to five.) I added some dots for contrast too.

6. A Clown With Colorful Eyeshadow

If you weren't scared of clowns already, you must be by this point in 2016. I wanted to keep this look less terrifying and more cute, just to detract from the creepy clown sightings we've suffered through this year. To start? A buttload of the NYX blue shadow I've already used above. Again, this was on top of my normal foundation and eyebrow combo.

Baked Blush, $5, Amazon

Next, I used this E.L.F. blusher to do some cute little circles on my cheeks, and added blue liner details to my already blue lids.

Studio Liner (2 PK), $9, Amazon

The look was cute, and already recognizably clown-ish. To finish, I wanted to add a bright lip that would stand out and bring this whole look up a notch.

Unicorn Lipstick, $13, Amazon

The overdrawn lilac lips brought everything together, while not making this clown one that people will run from in the street. Pair with the brightest, silliest outfit you have for clown realness.

7. David Bowie

Pay homage to the legendary icon Bowie with this amazing tutorial that uses mainly eyeshadow to achieve that Aladdin Sane album cover look. Probably one of the most famous of Bowie's looks and TBH, one of the easiest to recreate.

Hopefully one of these last minute Halloween makeup tutorials will take your fancy, but if not? I'm sure they'll inspire you to have a little play around of your own. It's fun, it's different and most importantly, it doesn't cost you a thing.