Milk Makeup is celebrating Spooky Season and our best-selling range of Hydro Grip/Hydro Ungrip products with Hydroween. For the occasion, we’re bringing Halloween Makeup inspiration, created with your favorite Milk products—courtesy of some talented members of our Milk Fam.
This time around, New York City-based multidisciplinary artist Anya Tisdale (she/her) has a take on mermaid Halloween makeup that King Triton’s daughters would absolutely be into.
As far as mythical creatures go, mermaids are top-tier. They appear in different forms across a range of cultures and media—who can forget Ariel from The Little Mermaid, arguably the most famous mermaid—but one thing remains pretty consistent: They’re not to be messed with. They’re powerful, beautiful—sometimes both at once. But always tread lightly. You never know if they’ll decide to eat your face or pull you beneath the waves to live in one of their underwater cities.
Anya Tisdale’s mermaid makeup, though? She’s just here to party. Get into this step-by-step mermaid makeup tutorial as she tells us how she achieved this look for her Halloween costume, which you might want to add to your list of mermaid makeup ideas and save for later.
1. PrimePrimer is crucial to any long-lasting makeup look, so Anya starts with our award-winning Hydro Grip Primer. It holds your makeup in place for up to 12 hours and leaves behind a hydrated, dewy finish—a perfect touch for easy mermaid makeup. Massage a pump or two onto clean skin and let it dry for one minute before applying your base makeup.
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2. BaseNext, Anya applies our Future Fluid All Over Cream Concealer in shade 21W around her eyes, blending it out with our Prism Sponge. “I like to use a shade that’s a bit darker than my skin tone, just so I can create a warm, glow-from-within look,” she says. Then she rolls on our Sunshine Skin Tint SPF 30 in Medium Tan, blending it into her concealer “to create a more even, seamless base,” Anya explains. “Then, I do the rest of my base, which includes my under eye concealer and contour, making sure it looks just how I want it to.”
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3. ShadowNow, for some color: Anya creates a wing shape on the outer third of her lids with our Color Chalk eyeshadow in Green Light. She blends the edges with a fluffy brush, creating a base shape for the rest of her eye makeup. She runs a bit of that same hue on the outer two thirds of her lower lash line, too. Next, she swipes Color Chalk in Dodge Ball on the center of her lid to create a cut-crease effect. Anya plays a little bit more with some shadows in her collection “to create new colors, shapes, and emulate that under-the-sea glittery, gorgeous makeup that I think a mermaid would wear.” She sprays her brush with our Hydro Grip Set + Refresh Spray so the shadows stick and look extra shimmery on her lids. The rest of Anya’s eyes are finished with a few coats of KUSH Mascara on her top and bottom lashes. “It doesn't clump, but it still gives you those very gorgeous, thick siren-like lashes,” she adds.
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4. Blush + Glow + BlingAnya applies our Lip + Cheek in Quickie to her cheek, blending it out with a brush. Fun fact: Quickie is the same color makeup artist Kat Ali used on Halle Bailey’s cheeks for her role as Ariel in 2023’s live-action Little Mermaid film. She swipes Color Chalk in Dodge Ball to the high points of her face to highlight, using her fingers to blend. For more pigment, feel free to build it up for a bolder pop of color. Now, it’s time for the bling: “I take different water droplet pearl embellishments, and I stick those to my lids to create that full mermaid glam.” Anya applies her gems with a tweezer to the inner and outer corners of her eyes. It’s those extra touches of bling + shimmer that level up your DIY mermaid makeup look.
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5. Lips + SetA light pastel pink lip works beautifully with the shadow colors—Anya swipes on Lip + Cheek in Quickie, sealing it in with a clear gloss over top. She also dabs some lip gloss across her lids to create a wet look. (Just be sure to make sure the gloss you’re using is eye safe.) She sets it all in place with our Hydro Grip Set + Refresh Spray to lock the makeup in for up to 12 hours and keep the look from smudging. It leaves behind a signature hydrated finish—extremely apropos for a creature who lives in the ocean. (Fish scales and mermaid tail not included.) And there you have it: a mermaid-approved Halloween makeup look you didn’t even have to get your hair wet for.
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