Dawn Images

Oh, how I love Halloween! It's that one special day of the year when you get the free metaphorical hall pass to literally dress up as anything or anyone and no one will judge you for it.

Imagine you decide to don black lipstick on an ordinary day; the dirty, confused and judgmental stares that will follow will probably not be worth the trouble!

However, on Halloween, you can paint your face black and no one will bat an eyelash -- in fact, you may even get a compliment or two!

Personally, I enjoy dressing up more than I enjoy celebrating the actual holiday. Like look 1 below suggests, the creativity just oozes out! That being said, the easy part is getting inspired; the hard part is creating the look that is in your head.

Just keep in mind that you have to start somewhere so it's best to stop overthinking, start creating and most of all, have fun -- here we go!

Look 1: American Horror Story: Asylum-inspired make-up

American Horror Story is one of the most gripping shows on television right now; every season has a new spooky theme and story. I couldn't resist recreating the following look which has been inspired by the promo poster from season two, Asylum.

For the face: Start off with applying white Kryolan TV paint stick all over the face and blend for a smooth finish. Finish off with a white face powder or talcum powder to set the makeup.

For eyes: Outline the hollows of your eyes and underneath the eye with black eye pencil. After, fill it with black water-activated aqua liner, like the one by Kryolan. The dripping part needs to be executed by not letting the liner drip too much off the brush by mixing just the right amount of water.

For hair: The hair is slicked back and lightened using white, liquid shoe polish. White hairspray can do the trick too.

Look 2: A leopard never changes her spots

Who hasn't dressed up as a feline atleast once in their life on Halloween? It is, after all, the most common go-to look among most females, second to the sultry vampire. A typical cat wasn't exciting enough for me though so opted to create a more intense, leopard inspired look.

For the face: Start with using a very pale foundation shade and apply it all over the face, blending well. Use contour shade of choice for shaping the jawline, nose and other areas of the face sharply using a defined brush; I used a mix of The Balm's Bahama Mama and Christine Contour Palette.

Highlight the rest of the face with white matte highlighter or you can use white eyeshadow as an alternative, which is what I did.

For eyes: Shape the eyes with an edgy, winged look using eye marker or liquid liner, depending what you have more control over. Smudge the black liner below lower lash for drama and grunge.

For the spots: Use a photograph of an actual leopard as a reference and add spot details on forehead and chin using black water-activated aqua eyeliner (I used Kryolan again) with a thin brush.

Look 3: The Mummy returns

Another favourite look of the season, I wanted to put my own spin on a scary mummy and give her a glam makeover.

For the face: I used Kryolan TV paint stick in 070 but this time, I kept it splotchy on purpose to give a dull feel to the skin. I did some heavy contouring and created shadows around the eyes by using darker shades of brown, burgundy and caramel eyeshadows.

For this look, I used the "I Heart Chocolate" palette by Makeup Revolution London. I finished the look off by lightly rubbing gold pigments around eyes for a bit of drama and detail.

For the scar: I used clear eyelash glue and layered tissue paper on it. I worked around it till I got the desired roughness and texture. After it dried, I applied foundation and mixed a few eye shades to make it look like an old scar.

For lips: I used Kryolan TV paint stick in 070 white and dabbed a mix of maroon lipstick and black eye pencil on the inner area of the lips.

For the mummy wrap: Just get linen bandages from any medical store or pharmacy and wrap around your face. Brush a little dark eyeshadow to make it look old and dirty; it's that simple!

Look 4: Walking Dead meets Chucky

This look was a pure accident. I started off thinking I might look like a fairy but ended looking like a witch, an awesome one, if I can say so myself!

For the face: I used grass green by Snazaroo, which is a green water-activated paint, for the base. I fixed/set the paint after it dried with Ben Nye neutral setting powder.

For contouring, as well as highlighting, I used the "Ï Heart Makeup" eyeshadow palette by Makeup Revolution London, as well as some random shimmery eye shadows I had lying around. The red shadow used under the eyes is also a matte unbranded eyeshadow. I used a stippling sponge to create subtle gold texture on the forehead.

I made the gold glitter tear drop on one side using Espee glitter liquid eyeliner.

For lips: I shaped the lips in the desired pattern with black eye pencil, then filled the inside of the black shape with green eyeliner. The lower lip was outlined using lime green eyeliner for depth. After blending the black with the green, I dabbed some gold eyeshadow pigments on the middle of my pout and dabbed a little green glitter on the lower lips.

For eyes: Line the waterline with black kajal. Close eyes and fill upper lid with black eye pencil or eyeliner and then lightly flick out illustrated lashes on the upper corners of the lids. Finish off by dabbing details with white eyeliner in the center of the upper eyelids to make them look like eyes.

Complete the look with a wig of your choice and some gold studs, if you want and voila, you're all set to scare people!