Celebrity Halloween Makeup Ideas From Sultry to Straight-Up Scary

Private jets, high-dollar swag bags, and maybe courtside seats — the list of things celebrities love more than Halloween is a very short one. Every year, an increasingly large crop of stars compete to be that year’s social media-crowned “Halloween queen”, fighting it out with elaborate home decor, cute festive nails, and custom-designed costumes. Over the past few years, celebrity Halloween makeup has gotten increasingly elaborate, edging out spooky season manicures and even actual costumes as the preferred form of self-expression. Whether applied as part of a carefully-planned themed look or just to channel the holiday’s best scary-fun motifs, the inspiration is truly endless.

If you think about it, there is great celebrity divide over Halloween. Half of Hollywood views the holiday as a time to play dress-up in glamorous red lipstick, sultry eye makeup, and cool colored contacts, and the other half wants to put all of their time, money, and resources into looking as terrifying — realistically terrifying, at that — as possible. The best celebrity Halloween makeup falls somewhere in the middle — Cardi B’s elaborate Morticia Addams costume, Rihanna’s hot pink skeleton paint, and Kylie Jenner’s Elvira look are just a few examples. Below, all the best celebrity Halloween makeup inspiration to get you started — with just a few weeks to go, here’s no time to waste.

Olivia Rodrigo

For her Betty Boop costume in 2022, Rodrigo got to dive into the best retro makeup motifs: drawn-on beauty marks, long, spidery lashes, and tons and tons of blush. Of course, her cherry-red lipstick is the element most crucial to the iconic cartoon character.

Megan Fox

Celebrity-as-celebrity is always a popular Halloween move in Hollywood, especially when it can be pulled off this perfectly. For her Pamela Anderson costume, Fox went for tons of beachy ‘00s bronzer and the most rose-tinted lipgloss worn by any one human ever.

Vanessa Hudgens

Hudgens’ spiked eyeliner and blush overload are a prime example of IRL Halloween makeup wearability — no matter if you’re off to a party or a pumpkin patch, the edgy, goth-lite eye makeup works in any situation.

Rihanna

Trust Rihanna to nail the optimal blend of spooky-scary and stylish-sexy makeup with her glammed-up skeleton costume. While the colors really pop, it’s her siren-red lipstick and long, flowing waves that makes the Halloween makeup so effortlessly chic.

Kylie Jenner

The way the current eyeliner trends are going, Jenner’s makeup for her Elvira costume might be mainstream pretty soon. Here, she kept plenty of white liner toward the inner corners of her eyes for a larger-than-life stare that could turn you to stone.

Kourtney Kardashian

Even among Halloween-obsessed celebrities, Kardashian stands out. She usually unveils anywhere from three to five custom costumes (and corresponding makeup looks) in any given spooky season, but her Nancy Spungen costume is one of her all-time best — that steely smoky eye can be worn on any night out, Halloween or otherwise.

Beyoncé

Always a perfectionist, Beyoncé’s punny tribute to Toni Braxton (she’s Phoni Braxton!) is both wildly accurate and seriously sleek. To pair with Braxton’s signature pixie cut, Bey found a brick red lipstick and soft contour shade in spot-on matches to the originals.

Hailey Bieber

Bieber’s Sea Witch costume owes everything to her incredible eyeshadow. The shimmery, murky shades of sea-green rim her eyes for an enchanted effect that’s just as pretty as it is moody.

Kendall Jenner

Not all Halloween makeup as to be especially elaborate or even scary — just look at Jenner’s sweet cowgirl makeup, inspired by Toy Story. The star of the show is her bright pink blush, concentrated at the apples of her cheeks for a doll-like look.

Cardi B

You’d be forgiven if you thought these were stills from a million-dollar video shoot rather than photos of Cardi B’s excitingly elaborate Morticia Addams costume — they’re both highly detailed and seriously spooky. Committing to the bit, Cardi is covered in head-to-toe body makeup for a pallid, undead glow.

Lupita Nyong’o

Nyong’o’s fabulous Clueless costume not making it on this list? As if. Nyong’o showed off her ‘90s-loving side with a full-on tribute to Dionne Davenport, complete with glossy red lips, matching nail polish, and green contact lenses.

Mindy Kaling

Kaling showed off a complete series of Halloween costumes inspired by female comedy legends, including Reese Witherspoon as Elle Woods and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Veep’s Selina Meyer. To match each outfit, Kaling incorporated plenty of brilliant beauty touches like hot pink lipstick and a perfectly-combed bob wig.