8 Easy Halloween Makeup Ideas, Straight From Professional Makeup Artists

Celebrity makeup artist Kelsey Deenihan says a cat costume is one of her go-tos since it's simple to create and utilizes products you already have at home.

To get Deenihan's cat look, she recommends doing your base makeup using your own favorite products. Once done, take a golden eyeshadow over the lid and blend a brown one into the crease. Then use black liquid eyeliner to create a wing, and draw a round dot on the tip of your nose and whiskers on your cheeks. Once you've created your faux nose, apply mascara, and you're done!

Ami Mallon, jane iredale's global makeup artist and educator, recommends a pop-art look for the holiday. "Don’t let all Halloween makeup be a daunting, dare I say, scary task!" she says. "Although it may appear complicated and advanced, it’s quite simple to achieve."

For the look, Mallon says to do your makeup as you usually would. Then, to pop-ify your face, apply red liquid lipstick (like jane iredale’s Beyond Matte Lip Fixation Lip Stain) to your lips and, using the same shade, create rows of symmetrical dots all over your face.

Next, grab black liquid eyeliner and draw lines along your face in the areas you'd typically contour. "Trail the hairline and brows to form an exaggerated furrowed look, line under the cheekbone, jawline, and nose, and lastly, use liner to define the eyes, creating a winged shape," says Mallon. "Think a more bold version of your everyday contour."

For the last step, use white eyeliner as a highlight. "Line the inner rim of the eye and create a few small strips of white on the red lip to create the illusion of a highlight," says Mallon, "and voila!"

Working with NYX, makeup artist Mimi Choi created a broken ballerina look that's both cute and creepy.

To get this pretty yet scary ballerina makeup, apply your foundation, concealer, and contour as normal. Next, apply pink shadow all over the lid (she recommends a bold pink, like the shade in the Ultimate Shadow Palette in Brights). Then, using black eyeliner, apply a wing to your top lashline. Once that wing is complete, create a second wing just above your crease. Next, take a white pencil eyeliner and begin to draw cracks all over the face. Once finished, use a skin-toned eyeshadow shade around the lines to create a 3D illusion. Finish the look by applying nude lipstick and gloss.

Ulta Beauty pro team member Deney Adam knows how to perfect a mermaid Halloween look, no FX makeup necessary.

To start, he recommends applying a full face (including the eyes) as usual. Next, take fishnet stockings and cut them into whichever shape you'd like. He says the thicker the thread, the better, as it'll make the faux scales appear even more distinct. Next, hold the fishnets over wherever you'd like to create the scaley illusion, and using a bold eyeshadow palette (Deney recommends Juvia’s Place The Sweet Pinks Eyeshadow Palette) choose 4-5 complementary shades and pat them over the stocking using a flat concealer brush. You can also add shimmery shades to create a holographic look. Carefully remove the fishnets, and you're done.

Influencer and Dominique Cosmetics owner Christen Dominique recommends a Baby Spice-inspired costume for something simple and easy. "Baby Spice is always an easy costume and falls in line with the current '90s and early 2000s trends we're seeing right now," she says.

To get the look, she recommends doing your base makeup the way you usually would. Next, move to the eyes and add a soft wash of pink eyeshadow all over the lid and into the crease. Using a highlight (like the Dominique Cosmetics Skin Gloss in Sunset Glow), add a pop of brightness to the inner corner. Once done, you can use the same pink shadow as your blush, sweeping it on the apples of your cheeks. Finally, using the same highlighter, add a glow to the top of your cheekbones, and apply a glossy pink lip.

In addition to her cat look, Deenihan also explains how to do a creepy (but not too creepy) scarecrow.

For the makeup, Deenihan recommends a simple and natural base — essentially, your everyday foundation routine. Once that's done, apply coral blush to the apples of your cheeks for a bright and rosy glow. Feel free to layer it up if you'd like an effect that looks like the bright painted patches of a scarecrow. Then, apply any lip color you'd like, draw faux stitches (like little Xs) around your mouth with a liquid eyeliner, and use the same liner in your crease (not your lash line) to create a wing. Beneath the wing, apply neutral eyeshadows to ensure your coral cheeks are the focus of the look.

The beauty experts over at NYX Cosmetics also recommend an easy-to-create vampire look that's all about the eyes.

For the glam but spooky makeup, apply your foundation as normal, then use a brow pencil to fill in any sparse hairs and highlight underneath them using concealer. Next, cover the entire lid using black eyeliner (or something similar like NYX's Jumbo Eye Pencil). Then, blend a mix of purple and burgundy-toned shadows onto the lid and into the crease before adding black eyeliner to your waterline. Once done, shade the same colors you used on your lid beneath your lower lash line and apply mascara. Finally, use the same burgundy shade to create faux veins around your eyes. Top it all off with a vampy lipstick, and you're done.

For those who want something a bit creepy, Adam explains how to get a clown look.

First, apply your base as normal. Next, apply a full face of makeup as you typically would, then apply blush under the apples of your cheeks (Adam says the more, the better). Once done, take liquid eyeliner in whatever shade you'd like and create four points on each side of the face: one centered below the brow, one on the cheek, one at the inner corner of the eye, and one at the outer corner of the eye. Connect the dots, curving inward slightly to create the look of a star. Next, extend the top and bottom portions of the star. With a fluffy brush, fill in the star shape with matching eyeliner or cream shadow. Place dots on the top and bottom of the shape.

Next, it's on to lips. Using a lip liner, extend a line from the corner of each side of the mouth. Overline the lips coming up to meet the lines you created on either side of the mouth. Finally, fill them in with a matte liquid lipstick.