How to Take Care of Your Skin After Halloween

You spent hours re-creating one of this year's most impressive Halloween makeup tutorials, you went to the party and let everyone marvel at how awesome you looked—and got home and realized you have to take all that makeup off. Wondering how to remove all that gunk without irritating your skin or ending up as one big clogged pore? After Halloween, our skin can take a sharp nose dive into trouble if we aren’t proactive with giving it the proper care the night of Halloween. Here, we educate you on what's really in that costume makeup and help you learn the right steps to take it off so your skin can remain glowing, happy, and trouble-free!

What Halloween Makeup to Use?

First, you'll want to take a good, hard look at the ingredients in the makeup you're using. Unlike cosmetics designed for daily use, costume makeup isn't designed necessarily with skin care in mind. The goal is to give heavy coverage and bold colors for the best bang, scare, and impressions on Halloween night. Makeup may contain heavy oils that can cause breakouts, preservatives, and fragrances that can cause allergies or irritation, or even heavy metals that can be harmful to the skin.

If you are going to use it, the less time you wear it the better. Avoid it altogether if you have sensitive skin or are acne-prone, as it can make both of these conditions worse. And if that freaks you out, you may want to seek out stage makeup rather than costume makeup, which is a little more expensive (but not in the long run if it doesn’t cause your skin to break out or become inflamed).

Note: the majority of theater makeup is made with FDA-approved ingredients and most of them have the same high pigment payoff, but it's designed to sit on the skin for long periods of time and tends to be gentler on skin.

Tips for Taking Care of Your Skin After Halloween

Rule #1 of skincare: ALWAYS remove your makeup before bed. That said, there's nothing worse than scrubbing away at layers of long-wear makeup after a night out — especially when the look involves costume-grade face paint, eyelash glue, and a stay-all-day matte lip (and glitter, let’s not forget the glitter).

When makeup wipes aren't enough, there are removers designed for any kind of makeup, such as:

• Oil-based makeup removers
• Makeup remover balms
• Makeup removing face washes
• Waterproof mascara melting products

Here are some of the most common Halloween costume makeup choices and how to remove them without irritating your skin or hair:

1. Temporary Hair Dye. If you've used a temporary spray-on color you should just need a good shampoo. But be cautious: Extremely porous blonde hair can get stained by those sprays. Shampooing it a few times till the water runs clear, as well as leaving the shampoo in longer than normal will help. If you’re worried about it damaging your hair color, throw in a five minute hair mask while you shower the makeup and night off.
   
   
2. Eyelash Glue. For some of us, Halloween is just an excuse to break out our fake eyelashes, but a night of amazing lashes usually means a week of picking off eyelash glue—and that can leave you looking like you're suffering from conjunctivitis. Pulling it off does work, but if the glue is really close to the lash line and you're scared of tearing out some of your lashes then use an oil-based product to get it off. Dip a Q-tip in the product and run it along any residue. Let it marinate for a minute, then it should slide right off. Finish by washing your face
   
3. Product Overload. Perhaps you used an entire can of hairspray to turn yourself into a Troll doll or emptied out a full bottle of gel on your head to transform yourself into a favorite TV character or comic book hero. Don't try and brush everything out of your hair that night. Rinse your hair first and shampoo straight away. Then, use a rich conditioner and pack it on to restore your hair's moisture. While the conditioner is still in your hair, brush through it with a large paddle brush before you rinse to loosen the hair product without breaking dry hair pieces or knots.
4. Waterproof Makeup. This type of makeup is always hard to get off, but on Halloween, you probably applied a bit more than usual. Like a full face of spooky or retro makeup. You need a product with a lot of oil in it, ideally a natural one to avoid harsh chemicals that will irritate your skin as it removes the makeup. Avoid soap at all costs as this will strip your skin of natural oils and leave it feeling tight and dry!
5. Just the word is enough to invoke dread on how to get it all off and not look like a disco ball after a rough night the next day at work. A masking tape-type lint roller is great for removing sparkles and shimmery pigments that may have transferred from your costume onto your coat or furniture. To get it off your face and body, take a small piece of Scotch tape rolled on your finger and gently tap it over any glittery areas. Then, use a gentle, foamy cleanser and wash, wash, wash until the sparkle is no more!

As always, the last step to do after removing your Halloween makeup is to apply the best face cream and skin care products to help soothe your skin after being caked with artificial colors, glitter, and paint all evening. Wild Naturals has the gentle cleanser you want, plus the ultra-nourishing face serum, cream, body lotion, and more to keep your skin calm, repairing, and glowing! Shop the online store today and order before your Spooktacular Halloween party!