Halloween is just around the corner at long last and while there are plenty of people out there like me that LOVE the holiday and dressing up for all the festivities around it, there are also plenty who don’t.  Fair enough.  You don’t have to love it but if you’re going to attend a Halloween shindig this year, don’t be one of those people.  Who, you ask?  The people who show up without putting any effort into dressing up for the occasion at all.  Those people suck the fun out of the beauty of Halloween!  Those people seem to think there is something uncool about dressing up in costume but this isn’t elementary school and there is nothing cool about being too cool to be silly and fun!  With all that said, I know that you guys reading are definitely not those people because you’re the best so the purpose of this post is to address some legitimate reasons for not dressing up: time and money!  Finding a costume can be tedious and inconvenient for those with a jam packed schedule.  Buying a costume can be expensive for those on a budget.  Well, Lost in Lala to the rescue with this DIY Zombie Costume tutorial! This costume requires about 20 minutes of get-ready time, a one stop shop or Internet order and less than $20… less than $10 if you keep your supplies to the absolute minimum! Basically, you’re gonna look sick at the parties this year and you have no excuse not to any more.  Welcome to club of freaks and weirdos, my friends… it’s pretty awesome here!

STEPS TO BECOME UNDEAD:

The first step is covering your face and neck in the foundation of your choice.  You can use your regular foundation if you want to look like a pretty zombie who’s only been dead about a week or you can Lindsay Lohan in Mean Girls it up like me and use grey/green/taupe shades to look like you’ve been rotting a while! I used the Ben Nye Death Wheel which costs $15-$20 but is a great purchase for all kinds of costumes for years to come! Any monster, witch, ghoul, etc. can be achieved using this wheel for base foundation.  If you’re not interested in the investment, you can spend $3-$5 dollars on a black and white face paint kits from any costume or party store and mix the two colors together to get a grey shade of your liking!

Using a paintbrush (or your fingers, which are FREE!) and some kid-friendly white school glue, paint the base for your wounds directly on your skin.  Do a test patch on your arm beforehand to ensure you’re not allergic.  If you’re in the clear, the glue won’t harm your skin after only a couple hours of wear and it only costs about a dollar!  Make sure the areas you paint onto your fade are jagged and oddly shaped, zombie skin doesn’t tear off symmetrically!

Next step is teepeeing yourself! No, not really.  This isn’t a mummy costume, folks.  The toilet paper is your zombie flesh that will give texture to your wounds.  Less is more because you want them to blend smoothly with your human skin so rip very small pieces.  You can always add more strips, if need be!

Using your paintbrush, press the toilet paper strips onto the glued areas you’ve chosen for your wounds.  Don’t worry about being neat, the messier the better!  Make sure all of the toilet paper is glued to your skin so it doesn’t tear off throughout the night but rough edges are perfect for torn zombie flesh! Layer up on toilet paper if need be!  You can patiently wait for the glue to completely dry or get your J-Lo on and use a hairdryer on its cool setting to speed up the process.

Use the foundation color you started off with to go over your dried toilet paper wounds and blend into the surrounding skin.  If you have a dark red shadow or face paint handy, you can also use it as a base color for the inside of your wounds.  This step isn’t necessary but it helps add depth and coverage to your zombie wounds.

Last but not least, BLOOD! I prefer scabby blood since you are undead and probably have been for a minute.  This blood is darker than regular blood and congeals nice and thick to give it an aged effect.  Blood will be your greatest cost for this DIY zombie face but you can find it for under 10$ and it will be an investment for many costumes to come!

That’s it! Tease your hair out so it’s wild and mangey, throw on some ripped jeans and tear a few holes in an old shirt with scissors or a cheese grater and you are ready for the night of terror!

Happy Halloween!!!