Dressing up for Halloween doesn't have to take a lot of time or effort. These ideas work great for last-minute costume party invites, for adults who wish to spice up their treat-or-treating chaperoning or anyone who is trying to do dress-up on a tight budget. All three make-up schemes below work great when worn with formal wear (tuxedos/recycled bridesmaids gowns), funky items bought at the thrift store or even an all-black ensemble from your own wardrobe. You can add wigs or hats as a way of dealing with your hair, or wear something with a hood.

The Skull
A full or half-face skeleton is very easy to do. You will need white and black for a full face. Having a bit of red, blue or green is good for the half face. You will also want a picture of a skull to help guide you. The whole face is covered with a white base to start. Then to accentuate bone structure, you use black to shadow your temples, hollow around the eyes and color the tip of your nose. The area around the mouth and hollows under the cheekbones also get blacked out to form the lower jaw. You can either carefully paint and leave bits of white to be the teeth, or you can paint white on top of the black again to make them afterward. For skeleton costumes ideas you might like to take an idea from the movie The Corpse Bride.

For the half face skull, it helps to draw an irregular line down the center of the face before you start your white base using a black eye pencil. The detailing is the same as the full skull only you leave one side of your face clean. Adding a thin edge of red to the skull side of the center line makes it look more like the skin was torn off. A touch of blue or green on the "flesh" side of the line suggests rotting.

For more info and ideas, you might like How To Do Skeleton Makeup.

The Vampire
Again this is an easy one and only requires black and white makeup for the most basic version. Fangs can be 50 cent plastic ones from the Halloween store, or expensive ones cast to fit precisely over your own teeth. Lipstick in red or black is a nice addition and for those who wish to be more gory, a bit of fake blood can be added.

A pale face can be done with either white base makeup, or just white face powder. Don't forget to extend the makeup down onto your neck and over your ears for the best effect. Vampires are known for their dramatic gazes, and you can simply lines the eyes with a bit of black, or make deep sunken circles. A touch of shading under the cheekbones calls more attention to the eyes as well. If you wish, you can slick back your hair and shade a "widow's peak" at your hairline on your forehead. If you shade your hands pale to match your face, it adds to the vampire look.

Depending on what sort of vampire you feel like, you can leave your lips deathly pale, color them blood red, or darken them to midnight black. Vampires who have been on a rampage may wish to have fake blood on their lips or dripping slightly down their chins.

For more info and ideas, you might like How To Do Vampire Makeup.

The Living Dead
Zombies offer a wide interpretation for what it means to be the living dead. Blue, green, red, black and white makeup can be used to make a fine zombie. A tint of green, blue or white is a good base color for being one of the living dead. Dark circles around the eyes, shadowed temples, sunken cheeks and bruises are good accents to add next. The variations are almost endless depending on how decayed you want to be.

For more info, you might like Zombie World Record.