Egyptian Cleopatra Halloween Look Tutorial

I was going to dress up as Cleopatra last year and my boyfriend was going to be a mummy, but due to the weird weather that day we didn’t get a chance to go out.

I think of Cleopatra as having a gold/bronze complexion with sharp features, with a strong eye look full of teals and golds; she would have short blunt bangs and dark straight hair. I had so much fun creating this look and I’m so happy with how it turned out!

This look is very affordable and easy, great for when you find yourself unprepared right before Halloween. I don’t like spending too much on a costume, and I usually use clothes, makeup and accessories I already have; it is not hard to look like a queen with few products and on a small budget with some creativity!

Costume Guide:

This look is heavy in accessories so feel free to throw on as much golden jewelry as you want! I’m wearing an H&M beaded necklace, a gold JLo top from Khols and a head piece I purchased from Ricky’s for around $4.

• I draped some of the diamond strands over the top of the crown so my eyes wouldn’t be covered; this also made the crown look more elaborate.
• I was inspired by Kim Kardashian’s contouring guide so make sure you research that if you’re not familiar with it.
• I made my eyebrows golden and concentrated teal around my eyes to make my eyes pop. It’s nice, huh?

Hair Guide:

Since I thought short and blunt bangs were an important part of this look, I created faux bangs by braiding my hair forward and pinning it straight across my forehead afterwards. I brought enough hair from the crown to cover my forehead and I created a dutch headband braid; I then teased the resulting ‘bangs’ hair to give it a fuller effect. I teased the rest of the hair at the roots and straightened the rest.

For an in depth tutorial on how you can create the dutch headband braid, check out Youtube videos like this one below, that’s how I learned!

Makeup Guide:

For the makeup I mainly used Laura Mercier’s “Color Bloc” from the Sephora In the Glow kit, the ELF Disney Maleficent palette, Wet n Wild’s “On Cloud Nine” and a teal NYX eyeliner. I added some sparkle with a blue round confetti that I cut in the shape of an Egyptian ‘cat eye’ and attached it with eye lash glue. If you can’t find something similar, use a different color eyeshadow (I tried a dark magenta and it looked beautiful, very rich!) to fill in the cat eye, or any other rhinestones or glitter will do just great!

Here are my detailed steps:

1. To achieve a sculpted bronze and glowing face I used face contouring products heavy in shimmer and with a pearl finish; I was inspired by Kim Kardashian’s contouring guide. I first applied Garnier’s BB Cream ($13) all over the face and set it with a shimmery powder from the Color Bloc. I contoured my face strongly with Nars’ Laguna and Laura Mercier’s Color Bloc copper shades using a small brush for added drama and precision. I then highlighted with Benefit’s High Beam the high points of my face and also set that with a shimmery hold powder.

   – Garnier BB Cream ‘Light/Medium’
   – Laura Mercier ‘Color Bloc’
   – Benefit ‘High Beam’
   – Nars ‘Laguna’
   – Various size brushes from big to small

2. I began my eye makeup by priming my eyes with Elf’s eyelid primer, since we want all the colors to be very bright. Next, I drew the eye shape with the Teal NYX eyeliner and filled it in with a teal costume makeup crayon as a base. I packed on the Browbone shade from the “On Cloud Nine” Wet n Wild palette in the middle of my eyelid and near my tear duct following the eye shape I originally drew. I then darkened the outline of the eye shape using Elf’s “Forest of Thornes” (it’s such a gorgeous color!) and lightly blended that out.

   

   Next I lined my .eyes with a black liquid liner, following the shadow and blue confetti add on; I made the bottom eyelash line thicker than the top for added drama. I added a copper/gold color on the brow bone and brows to look gilded, and darkened the rest of the eyebrows with a black Kohl pencil. I used a shimmery brown color near the bridge of my nose to give the look a sinister touch.

   – Elf’s Disney Maleficent palette
   – Wet n Wild Mega Liquid Eyeliner
   – Kohl eyeliner ‘Black’
   – Laura Mercier ‘Color Bloc’
   – Wet n Wild “On Cloud Nine” palette
   – NYX Teal eyeliner
   – Blue costume makeup crayon

3. For the lips I used the Think Pink lipstick and padded on some Color Bloc copper shadow on top. I then concentrated some gold powder on the cupid’s bow and in the middle of my bottom lip.

   

   – Laura Mercier ‘Color Bloc’
   – Wet n Wild Matte ‘Think Pink’ lipstick
   – Some gold glitter or pigment

And there you go, my spooky friends.

I think this post was much longer than I had anticipated (I guess it shows how much I’m loving it!) so I will end it right here.

I hope you enjoyed this Cleopatra look and that you can try it out for yourself!