Halloween Makeup Tips from Professional Makeup Artist, Ann Marie Weinert

Halloween is almost here, and with the holiday comes dressing up in outrageous or glamorous costumes, and along with that is makeup. People use makeup to compliment or complete their Halloween costumes, so who better to give makeup tips for Halloween then a professional makeup artist. Ann Marie Weinert who has her own webpage and resides in Chicago, agreed to answer my questions about using makeup for Halloween.

Could you talk a little bit about your professional background?

Ann Marie-Sure. I am a professional makeup artist. I have been doing makeup for 5 years, and I do mostly advertisement/commercial print type work. I have worked with LaSalle Bank, Tampax, Fave Search Engine, and my work has been published in many magazines. I also do some special fx/face & body painting, which I have done professional for Mini K.I.S.S. and Cool cigarettes. I use different kinds of makeup for the different projects.

What basic tips can you tell and that the average person should know when it comes to buying, applying, and using Halloween makeup?

Ann Marie-My best tip would be to avoid getting makeup at places like Wal-Mart or Walgreens, where they are getting the very "basics" of makeup. It's usually cheap, dry, and sometimes very unpleasant smelling. If you can, purchase Halloween makeup during the current season (as opposed to buying it the year before on discount, like my mom used to do when I was little!), and buy it at a year-around Costume place. Don't buy the cheesy packaged makeup that includes 3 colors of makeup, fake blood, and fangs. Pick out each color separately at the makeup counter, use makeup like Ben Nye or Mehron. It will cost more, but the makeup quality is far superior - the pigment (color of the makeup) is generally truer and stronger. It might take 5 coats of a crappy Walgreen's makeup to get a pure color. With Ben Nye or Mehron, you are going to get a bright/bold red, black, white, or any other color in 1 coat. If you are going to spend money on one thing while making your Halloween costume, it should be makeup.