All-Natural Homemade Face Paint & Fake Blood for Halloween

One of the most fun aspects of Halloween is creating a scary, spooky, or glamorous look from face paint. You can go from normal-looking suburban mom to goddess of the night in 15 minutes of mirror time!

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But those paints do not come cheap and might be good for one use only. And how about this for really scary: HealthyStuff.org tested 31 different face paint kits available at mass marketers like Target and at Halloween stores and found that all of the face-painting kits contained toxic metals. Half had cadmium in them and one-third had arsenic.

That's not the kind of Halloween treat we want! Read on for tips on making your own face paints and using stuff that's already in your cosmetic bag to create the perfect disguise.

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It's actually surprisingly easy to make face paint ... just take organic pigments, like loose mineral eye shadows, and mix them with lotion. Ta-daa! You can make any color of the rainbow and create any look. This would even be fun to do with your kids if they enjoy making up their faces at other times of year.

Want something a little, well, gorier? You can make a fake wound with Vaseline, red food coloring, cocoa, and tissue.

How about some fake blood? Mix 2/3 cup white corn syrup, 1 tsp. red food coloring, 2-3 drops blue food coloring to darken, and 1 squirt dish soap (helps blood to run well).

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Looking for a more glamorous look for yourself or your little vampire? Check out this rockstar vampire makeup using only purple shadow and black eyeliner!

Here's where your makeup-buying mistakes can come in handy too. You know that foundation that looked much darker in the tube? Perfect for an ethereal pale face. Katy Perry-style bright pink blush was a fail on you? It would look darling on your little princess. Did you fall for the bright-orange lipstick trend? Make your face a jack-o-lantern. Way to re-purpose!

What's your best face-painting tip?

Image via Olivia Proenca/Flickr

Written by Amy Kuras for CafeMom's blog, The Stir.

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