Freelance Lady: DIY Realistic Wounds for Halloween

Halloween! Yes! It's another Halloween post! Needless to say, it's one of the most exciting holidays of the year--for me, anyway.

I love going to Halloween stores, just to see the cool stuff that they have, and what I love even more is imagining what I could do with all of it. Unfortunately, though, my budget doesn't allow for excessive spending on unnecessary things, so I use inexpensive items to create my own Halloween "effects."

Like gun shot wounds.

Mhm. That's right. You can create realistic gun shot wounds using items (most, anyway) already hanging out around your house.

So, what will you need?

Fake skin (you can find this for about $2-4 bucks at your local Halloween supply store)
White glue (or spirit gum)
Foundation (closely matched to your skin tone)
Pressed powder (closely matched to your skin tone) - optional
Eyeshadow (red, purple, black, blue, green, yellow)
Fake blood (find the edible recipe here)
Foam makeup applicators
Toothpick (or dental floss picks)

First of all, grab a pinch of the fake skin and smooth it between your fingers so that it's easier to work with. Set it aside and apply a small amount of glue or spirit gum to the area of your body where you want the wound to be. Place the fake skin onto the wound and use your finger to gently blend it into your skin by rubbing the edges outward.

It'll look kind of weird at first, almost like a giant mole or wart on your skin. Next, you'll want to use a dental floss pick or a toothpick to cut a slit in the fake skin. Pull the skin away from the center to create a gaping hole. Then, use foundation to color the fake skin so that it closely matches your skin tone. I like to paint the foundation on, and then use a pressed powder to kind of dry it out a bit.

Don't mind the fibers. You can remove them if they bother you too much, but I like to keep them there for effect. It's kind of like the skin is falling off.

Once you've got the fake skin looking like your real skin, color the hole with black paint and start adding color around the edges. Use purples, pinks, reds, and even a little yellow.

You can even open the hole a bit more if you'd like, and paint the insides to make it look like the skin is dying off.

Finally, you'll want to add fake blood to fill the hole, and you'll also want to blend more around the edges so that it looks more like your real skin.