Halloween Face-Paint Ideas to Take Your Costume Up a Notch

To recreate this Sally look from "The Nightmare Before Christmas," you'll want to grab your key face-paint colors: blue (for the base), black (for detailing), white (for mixing), and red (if you want to skip traditional lipstick). A small art brush will help you create the perfect stitches.

This Te Fiti costume may look complicated, but it's actually extremely simple and requires one all-over face-paint color: green. Then, use a fluffy blush brush to sweep a luminescent-powder highlighter along your cheeks, nose, and chin to add dimension.

The best way to channel Yzma from "The Emperor's New Groove" is to invest in purple face paint. Instead of makeup brushes, use a range of tiny art brushes for details and makeup sponges for larger areas.

This look is all about creating dimension, so you'll want to load up on the black paint for shading. Adding swirls of white polka dots across the face also adds to the pop-art effect.

Snow White is a great costume, but the Evil Queen is a lot more interesting to paint on. Be sure to grab a detailing brush to emphasize her especially chiseled features, like her arched eyebrows and sharp cheekbones.

For costumes like this, where you want highly saturated pigment, wet your face paints beforehand. Put some water in a spray bottle (or, according to Jenkins, you can also use a hydrating setting spray), and mist it directly on the face paint before applying.

When you're working on a smaller area that needs fuller coverage, such as the entire area around your eyes like this Spider-Man mask, use a damp makeup sponge to apply the face paint. Then, go in with smaller brushes to paint on the lines.

For eye-makeup looks that will take your costume up a notch, like Ariel from "The Little Mermaid," try using a variety of PLouise base colors. Apply that first for a hit of pigment before setting it with your favorite eyeshadow.

For a costume like Cheshire Cat, where you'll need to do lots of layering, avoid water-activated face paints. Instead, try a cream-based face paint, and make sure you set it with setting powder.