Halloween is just around the corner, and we love a good pop-culture costume — but not everyone loves to dress up. If you’re creative and want the best of both worlds, why not opt for a show-stopping costume using makeup?

When it comes to makeup-based costumes, Toronto makeup artist Pouja Thamotharan ( @blendsbypouja on TikTok, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube) understands the assignment. As you can see in her Slice.ca TikTok below, she fully embraced the upcoming release of Avatar: The Way of Water with a unique and blue-in-the-best way look.

Read on to learn how to create your own Avatar-inspired makeup look this Halloween – as well as for a few bonus makeup-based ideas for the spooky season.

Related: Halloween costume ideas 2022: how to dress up as Emma Chamberlain.

In addition to her face paint, Pouja used:

Ready to give the look a try? Pouja’s advice is to use a light hand (gradual build-up with product is your friend here) and to try not to stress about making it look too “perfect.”

“When I caught myself being a perfectionist, the look would come out worse,” she explains. “So I took a deep breath, reviewed the picture inspo of the character and realized that none of the lines were perfect. When you control the creative part of the look, it’ll turn out so much better.”

A bonus tip? When the Halloween party is over, don’t forget to save your skin by fully removing the makeup. “I literally just use micellar water to remove the majority of it, and then use Dove bar soap to get rid of the rest,” Pouja says. “I like to use a reusable makeup wipe since it’s less harsh on the skin. Sometimes, I’ll even use a makeup melting balm.” 

You may also like: Pythia’s Halloween Wicked Witch tutorial and product must-haves.

Not feeling totally blue, but love the idea of a makeup-based costume for Halloween this year? Pouja’s Stranger Things -inspired tutorial is a jaw-dropping option, but you can also go for a simpler (but still stunning) look. 

“There are lots of costumes you can do using just eyeliner and a little bit of fake blood!” Pouja tells us. “Liquid latex is also another very easy product to work with on Halloween to create a fake scratch or gash on the face or body. There are lots of YouTube tutorials on how to do this.”

“Some of my go-to looks that are easy and can be done in under 30 minutes are a vampire, skull outline (drawing a whole skull takes longer), devil or scratched-up face.”

“My favourite ‘I look like I took a long time but I didn’t’ is the comic book character/pop art makeup look,” Pouja says. You can check out her pop-art look on Pouja’s Instagram here .

You may also like: A stress-free guide to hosting an adults-only Halloween party.

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