alt_beauty_products

10 goth beauty must-haves

Maintaining a look as flashy and dramatic as goth or other alternative styles can take a fair bit of time, a toll on your skin and hair, and a lot of money. But it doesn’t have to! Herein, we’ve compiled some basic must-haves to live your best spooky glam life and save you time, frustration and cashdollar.

Read more: 5 alt beauty gurus whose looks you’ll want to steal

1. Setting spray

 

Keep it together all day (and all night). �� // ��: @takashimayasc #UrbanDecay

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This is a given, and while most Instagram beauty gurus have tuned the world into this trick for keeping your makeup on your face, its use has not always been such widespread knowledge. This one especially goes out to makeup-wearing bands who can’t suss why their black eyeliner ends up halfway down their cheeks by mid-set. You don’t have to live this way! Invest in some setting spray; trust me. I’m not going to guarantee that your face will stay on through an entire outdoor festival because of this, but it’s almost certain to make it through your set.

2. The perfect lip color for you

Black and “corpse nude” lipsticks are striking and en trend, but not necessarily the look for everyone. For instance, I love a good dead girl lip, but when I blush, it starts to look almost yellow. If you’re wearing black lipstick, it’s probably best to have whitened your teeth recently. And then, of course, there’s the conundrum of finding your perfect red, which is a long process of trial and error. Point is: There is no one-size-fits-all dramatic lip color. What looks stunning on a person of color might not necessarily work for the pasty-palest, and that’s fine! Be creative; don’t confine yourself to a “traditional” look if it doesn’t work for you. Do you.

3. I M A G I N A T I O N

Now, having given you the spiel about not sticking to traditional trends that don’t work for you, I’m going to take it all back and encourage experimentation to make anything you damn well please work for you. Cherry red lipstick, for instance, makes me look like Pennywise The Clown. However, because I don’t have the funds to justify tossing out makeup, I’ve found ways to make what I have work. For instance, I know that if I want to achieve a “vampiric” look, I need a darker red, so instead of giving up on that bright red I paid for, I use black lipstick with it to create an ombre effect so that I scare small children rather than get invited to make balloon animals at their birthday parties.

4. An immortality-promoting face routine
Lush Dark Angels

Thank you, Lush Cosmetics, for understanding the deep need for skin care items called “Dark Angels” and “Prince Of Darkness” and providing them to us. Jokes aside, the names aren’t the only great things about those products. Angels is a terrific exfoliant. And Prince is a fantastic moisturizer. And if you like your coffee black just like your metal, Lush also has a coffee face mask.

5. This natural face scrub

If you’re looking for a natural cleanser that’s less pricey, the grocery store is a good place to look. It’s Black Friday changed my life with this homemade scrub. All it takes are a few cheap, easily accessible ingredients that also happen to be edible. Remove the lemon juice and parsley from the recipe to avoid skin-lightening. For a vegan alternative, you can use pure maple syrup in place of honey.

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6. Cruelty-free and vegan goodies

 

tag someone! ��

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It's the humans who suck, my nihilistic friends. Let's protect the animals from them by using cruelty-free brands. PETA curates beauty content that promotes cruelty-free makeup, which is definitely worth perusing. Here’s their list of cruelty-free, vegan cosmetics brands, which includes brands such as Urban Decay, Kat Von D Beauty and Tarte.

7. Glitter

 

������ I love being underestimated #sambammua #worship13 #mua #motd

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Okay, so this isn’t a must-have, but it looks real cool with dark makeup. Don’t be afraid of a little sparkle!

8. Argan oil

Sweet, precious hair nectar, how I love thee. If you envy Morticia Addams’ hair, you’re going to want to pick up some of this. You can usually find it in sample size bottles from the brand OGX near cash registers at most health and beauty stores. A little goes a long way, so the sample size is perfect, and it just smells really, really nice. Fun fact: This is the (not so) secret elixir Creeper vocalist Will Gould uses to keep his raven locks tame and shiny!

9. This Nyx Beauty Blender dupe

[Photo by: Nyx Cosmetics]

My dear friend @rrchll tipped me off to this new blending sponge from Nyx that is black! It costs merely $8, opposed to the $20 beautyblender and, my friend testifies, works just as well!

10. Red eyeshadow

For the longest time, it was nearly impossible to find a great, well-pigmented red eyeshadow. That came as a huge point of frustration for those of us trying to perfect our Gerard Way cosplay back in 2005. Now, however, you can find endless shades of red to suit your needs! Makeup artist and the U.K.’s Emo Disco founder @charlotteclutterbuck_ recommends Illamasqua’s “Daemon” and “Berber” to, she says, “serve some serious 2005 Gerard Way realness.” Stock up on your crimsons while everyone is still into the trend, lest your Josh Dun cosplay suffer in a few years. (Also: Please tell me I’m not the only one who was super into dressing up like Gerard as a teenage girl.)

What would you add to this list? Sound off in the comments!