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Great zombie make-up comes down to one decision: how far gone do you want to look? Pick your level of decay, keep it skin-safe, and let a real zombie costume carry the rest, because the make-up only has to sell the face. This guide walks through five zombie looks, from a no-latex classic you can paint in ten minutes to a full gory bite, each matched to a zombie costume we design and check across 30+ measurements before it ships. Halloween is the one night Britain properly commits to dressing up, with UK shoppers forecast to spend around £537 million on it in 2025 (GlobalData), so the face is worth getting right. One rule before any of it: patch test your paint on your inner arm a day or two ahead in case your skin reacts, as most face-paint makers advise.
Table of Contents
- What make-up do you need to be a zombie?
- The classic decayed zombie (no latex needed)
- The Thriller dancing-zombie look
- The fresh gory bite
- The glam zombie
- Zombie make-up for kids
- Taking it off without wrecking your skin
- Frequently asked questions
What make-up do you need to be a zombie?
Less than you think. Every zombie face is built on the same four building blocks, and you can stop at any level: a pale base, then patchy grey, green, yellow and purple to fake decomposing skin; sunken eyes shadowed dark into the socket; a few fine purple veins; and, if you want it, blood. No special kit needed. Climb the ladder from there and it goes paint, then liquid latex with a little torn tissue for peeling skin, then skin-safe gelatine for raised wounds, then shop-bought prosthetics for the full film treatment.
The mistakes that give a beginner away are always the same, and make-up artists flag the same ones every year: leaving the edge of a latex wound or a prosthetic sitting on top of the skin instead of blending it in, piling on adhesive in the hope it holds better when it just slips, and badly underestimating how long the whole thing takes the first time. Start simpler than you think you need to. On safety, use a proper cosmetic-grade face paint that meets UK cosmetics rules; a toy-safety mark such as EN 71 is a useful extra sign of testing but not a substitute, and craft or poster paint is never safe on skin. Check the label if you are painting a child under three, whose paint needs a separate safety assessment.
The classic decayed zombie (no latex needed)
This is the look most people picture, and it is the one that needs no adhesives at all. Wash a pale, grey-toned base over the face and neck, then stipple green, yellow and a bruised purple in uneven patches so the skin reads as rotting rather than painted. Hollow the eyes with dark shadow pushed up into the socket and under the cheekbones, drag a little down from the lash line, and paint two or three fine veins at the temple. A light spatter of blood at the mouth finishes it. Short on time? The partial look, one eye and cheek done properly and the rest left bare, reads as decay in a photo and takes five minutes.
A paint-only face works because the costume does the heavy lifting. An all-over printed zombie suit or a tattered, dirt-toned outfit sells "walking dead" from across the room, so your face only has to hold up close. Browse the full range in our zombie costumes hub, or start with the wider genre in our guide to the best Halloween costumes. Whichever zombie fancy dress you pick, a plain decayed face on top is all it asks for.
The Thriller dancing-zombie look
Ask most people to picture a zombie and they picture the Thriller look: the undead dancer from the most famous horror music video of the 1980s. It is one of the best group costumes going, because it pairs a simple retro outfit with a paint-led face that anyone can manage. For the make-up, build the classic decayed base above, then push it further: a yellow-green wash, eyes hollowed hard and ringed dark, and cracked, peeling texture dragged across the cheeks for that sickly, sunken stare. The outfit is pure 80s, a red-and-black jacket over slim dark trousers. We do not make that exact jacket, but a decayed, dirt-toned costume from our zombie costumes range gives you the face-and-body base, and the look scales beautifully to a whole troupe of dancing dead.
The fresh gory bite (latex, tissue and blood)
Women's Zombie Horror Nurse Costume
For a fresh, just-been-bitten wound you need texture, and this is where liquid latex earns its place. Dab it on in thin layers, press a little torn tissue paper into the wet latex to build a raised, ragged edge, then let it dry and peel a section open. Paint the centre deep red, darken the edges to a congealed brown, ring the whole thing with a purple-yellow bruise, and finish with glossy fake blood dripping down. It is the goriest look here and the most fiddly, so give yourself time. The Women's Zombie Horror Nurse Costume is built for exactly this: it comes with a tattered dress, a camisole and a blood-spattered effect already in the print, plus a nurse's hat and a creepy mask, so your gory face becomes the centrepiece of a look that is finished head to toe straight out of the pack.
The glam zombie (pretty and undead)
Womens Zombie Bride Costume
Glam zombie, or "pretty dead", is the look that has caught on fast, and it is gentler on your skin because it skips the gore. Start with a flawless, washed-out pale base as if you have applied full make-up and then died in it. Smoke the eyes into deep, hollow sockets, wash a bruised pink or deep red under the eyes and across the cheekbones, sculpt the cheekbones sharp, and finish on a dark berry lip cracked with a little black. No latex, no blood, just drama. The Womens Zombie Bride Costume was made for this face: a tattered wedding dress that looks like it has crawled out of the grave, so an elegant, undead face reads as a bride who never made it down the aisle. It is a strong two-hander with a partner in a plain suit for any spooky fancy dress party.
Zombie make-up for kids (keep it cartoon, keep it safe)
Kids Slime Zombie Morphsuit
For children, skip the realism and skip the adhesives. Use a cosmetic-grade water-based paint only, no latex or gelatine, and keep the look cartoon rather than nightmare: flat green skin, big round dark circles around the eyes, a few comic stitches, no torn flesh and no real blood. It washes off easily and it will not frighten the youngest ones at the door. Better still, let the suit be the scary bit so their face barely needs painting. The Kids Slime Zombie Morphsuit is an exclusive design of ours: a full zombie Morphsuit with an oozy, see-through bag of green slime built into the torso that kids love, and it has a screaming zombie face printed on the hood, so the youngest ones can skip the make-up altogether and still see out through the fabric the whole time. The rest of the range lives in our kids zombie costumes hub.
Taking it off without wrecking your skin
The look is only half the job; getting it off gently is the other half. Halloween make-up carries heavier waxes, pigments and sometimes adhesives than everyday cosmetics, so do not scrub. Work an oil cleanser or cold cream into dry skin first to dissolve the paint, then add water to lift it away, and take a cotton bud carefully around the eyes. If you used latex or a prosthetic, peel it slowly rather than tearing, softening a stubborn edge with a dedicated make-up or adhesive remover rather than pulling. Rushing is what leaves you red and blotchy the morning after.
Look after the costume the same way and it goes again next year. For our fabric costumes that means a cold hand wash and air dry, never a tumble dryer, and a sponge wipe-down for anything with a print or a mask. Every costume in this guide ships with everything shown in its photos, checked across 30+ measurements per design and backed by more than 500,000 quality checks a year, so the outfit that does the heavy lifting behind your make-up turns up looking like it should. That is the Morph Promise, and it holds whether you are painting a full gory bite or just a quick green face.
Frequently asked questions
What make-up do you need to be a zombie?
At its simplest, a pale base plus grey, green, yellow and purple to fake decaying skin, dark shadow to hollow the eyes, and a little blood. That is enough for a convincing look with no special kit. Add liquid latex and torn tissue for raised wounds, or shop-bought prosthetics, only if you want a fresh gory bite.
How do you do easy zombie make-up without latex?
Wash a pale grey base over your face, stipple green, yellow and purple in patches for rotting skin, hollow the eyes with dark shadow and paint a few fine veins. For a five-minute version, do one eye and cheek properly and leave the rest bare. Let a printed zombie costume carry the rest of the look.
Do you need to patch test face paint before Halloween?
Yes, it is worth it. Patch test any face paint on your inner arm a day or two before, as most makers advise, in case your skin reacts to a pigment, a preservative or latex. Use a cosmetic-grade paint that meets UK cosmetics rules, never craft or poster paint, and take extra care with children under three, whose paint needs a separate safety assessment.
How do you get zombie make-up off?
Work an oil cleanser or cold cream into dry skin to dissolve the paint, then add water to rinse it away, rather than scrubbing. Peel any latex or prosthetic slowly, softening a stubborn edge with a little isopropyl myristate first. Rushing is what leaves skin red and blotchy the next day.
Is zombie make-up safe for kids?
Keep it to a cosmetic-grade, water-based face paint with no latex or gelatine, and patch test it on the inner arm first. Paint for children under three needs a separate safety assessment, so check the label. A cartoon-green face rather than realistic gore is easier to remove and far less likely to upset the youngest trick-or-treaters.
How do you do the Thriller zombie make-up look?
Build the classic decayed base, then push it yellow-green with hard hollow eyes and cracked, peeling texture for the 80s music-video dancing-zombie stare. The outfit does the rest: a red-and-black jacket over a decayed, dirt-toned zombie costume, ideally worn by a whole group. It is one of the strongest group zombie looks you can put together.
Zombie make-up is the rare Halloween skill where doing less often looks better, especially when a proper zombie costume is doing the work below the neck. Pick your level, from a two-minute partial face to a full latex bite, patch test first, and match it to one of the zombie costumes and fancy dress above. Then go and scare someone, kindly.
