Throwback Thursday: 31 days of Halloween makeup
Photos courtesy of Kaitlyn Armitano
Written by Cherrelle Rand
While most people were spending their days this past October getting their costumes ready or stressing about midterms, graphic design and motion media major Kaitlyn Armitano from Venezuela was doing both while donning full makeup almost every night all the way up until Halloween – which also happens to be her birthday.
This year was her third time around, having done the same last year in Hong Kong. Taking inspiration from movies, music videos and even suggestions from Facebook followers, she replicates different Halloween looks throughout the month of October.
Armitano’s look for Day 23 of this past October: Emily from The Corpse Bride.
Q: When you did you start?
A: Two years ago.
Q: Why?
A: Because I wanted to practice.
Q: What were you practicing for?
A: For myself, I’ve always liked makeup and I wanted to get better at it. And I had all this makeup I’d never used, because I just like makeup a lot. I’m a makeup collector. I do buy all the collectable sets. I’ve collected makeup through the years just because I’ve always loved makeup, and I love color, so I have all these different colors. I would play with makeup as a kid, but never anything serious. But then I was like, “Maybe I should actually do something other than just eye shadow,” so I did the whole face make up.
Day 17 of October 2014: a mummy.
So was Hong Kong your first time or your second time?
Second time, and I posted them online because it kind of gave me an incentive to do it every day. Because I knew people were going to see it and it would force me to do it every day. Also, because it was mostly for my family to see, because they like seeing that stuff, but then it got really big. Now everyone looks at it.
What’s your biggest challenge when doing the makeup?
Time, because I do it right before bed late at night. Time and school. I had projects to do and all-nighters.
Armitano as a werewolf on Day 24.
Do you ever feel like a failure when you miss a day?
I feel like I disappoint people, because my brother makes sure that I know that I disappointed him. It motivates me. When I don’t do it I feel like I let them down a bit, but they understand that school gets in the way and I do post that, “Oh, tonight I won’t be doing it because of this and that reason.”
What’s something you won’t do?
Nothing. I’ll do whatever I have the capacity to do. I can’t do latex stuff or prosthetics, because I don’t have the time to do it. Maybe later, because I’ll do this for the rest of my life, probably, but I don’t have the time now to do super detailed. I have a lot of people giving me suggestions. So there’s never really anything I won’t do.
Day 14 of this past October was a Na’vi from James Cameron’s “Avatar.”
Do you do videos?
Yes, but I haven’t had any time to post anything lately. I started that in Hong Kong, not the first year. I have all these files of all these videos that haven’t been posted ever.
For someone who wanted to start doing their own makeup, what would suggest?
A: Just do it. Just go out and buy a palette, buy whatever you think is cool. Look up pictures you like, copy it and then make it your own. Also, watch a lot of tutorials. If you see something you like, just try to replicate it so you know how to do it, and from there you can keep on going.
