The Skeleton is one of the most classic Halloween costume characters out there. Since the days of the ancient Celts, superstitious people have been dressing as various ghosts, ghouls and monsters on All Hallows Eve. In these ancient days, costumes were a method of warding off evil spirits that were thought to be about on Halloween night. Although our reasons for dressing up for Halloween are a bit different today, dressing up as monsters and frightful things will always be a huge part of any Halloween celebration.

Skeletons and skulls have been a traditional Halloween symbol for centuries and it’s easy to see why. What could be scarier than seeing the inside of a human body? Celebrating the “day of the dead” wasn’t always a necessarily frightening thing. This day was once used to honor those that had passed on to greener pastures and to take the opportunity to pray for the souls of the deceased.

Skeletons are a traditional look associated with Halloween, but the makeup you need to use to create this look may seem intimidating. We have created a Skeleton look that is easy to accomplish with a few makeup tools found on the website.

These step-by-step instructions will easily transform you into a ghastly and frightful (and yes, skeletal) look that will create a truly haunting look for your ultimate Skeleton costume.

Here are the make-up items we're using to create this Skeleton Look:

• Skull Makeup Kit # WFSK01
• Colorset Setting Powder # DD321

Follow These Six Steps to Create Your Skeleton Look

Step One:  Using the Skull Makeup Kit (#WFSK01) found on the website, add a little water to the yellow color in the palette and apply this to the face with the sponge tip applicator that is included in the kit. Leave areas around the lips, eyes and nose uncovered. Allow this to dry for at least 5 minutes.

Step Two: With the black makeup stick found in the Skull makeup kit, outline the eyes, keeping the area fairly small. (You can always make this larger if desired.) Outline the nose with an upside-down heart shape beginning at the bridge of the nose and ending about ¼” above the tip of the nose. Draw teeth on the lips but do not extend these teeth past the corner of the mouth.

Step Three:  Fill in the eyes and the nose with the black makeup stick. Draw ovals on both sides of the mouth, about ½ the size of the eyes. Trace the temples (feel for them to make this easy) and make slight hook lines on the insides of the eyes that curve slightly around the brow. Draw lines on the forehead emphasizing the frontal bone. Outline the jaw.

Step Four:  Fill in the ovals with the black stick makeup. Draw cheekbones starting at the middle of the ears and end the line pointing slightly up at the bridge of the nose. Using your finger, blend the lines that you’ve drawn on the face as follows. Blend the forehead marks inward, temple lines outward, cheek lines downward and corner of the eyes away from the center. Add a mean-looking upward eyebrow line.

Step Five:  Use the white makeup stick to color in the teeth. Add highlights to the following places, drawing in white and then blending with your finger: forehead, cheekbones and eyebrows. Trace around filled in areas such as nose, mouth ovals, and jaw line; blend. Add lines going away from the teeth. The more highlights you add to the face, the whiter your skeletal look will ultimately be.

Step Six: Using Colorset Powder, (#DD321) powder your entire makeup look to set and to prevent smudging.

Now it’s time to get into a costume that is both bony and a bit skeletal! The website is filled with many skeleton looks that will go perfectly with this makeup look. For our featured skeleton look we have used the a Graveyard Groom costume(#IC1067) along with the Boneyard Bride costume (#IC1068). There ain’t no bones about it--being a skeleton for Halloween takes little guts. If you are bone to be wild, give one of these haunting looks a try!