Obviously Halloween is one of the best times to be a fan of indie beauty and indie makeup brands. No one – and I mean no one – appreciates Halloween and all things spooky quite like indie makeup artists. A quick scroll through the #indiemakeupbrands hashtag on Instagram will quickly clue you in to the passion that these makeup artists feel for the most makeup-y holiday of the year. They’ve been planning their October 2018 since last November 2017, and indie beauty brands are showing up with some spooky and stunning Halloween makeup collections for us to covet.
There is, um, an embarrassing amount of information in this post, so to spare you the anxiety and anguish of scrolling through it, we’ve done our best to sort it for you.
Halloween Indie Makeup by Type
Notoriously Morbid
Hope you haven’t forgotten about Notoriously Morbid! Their 2018 Halloween Advent Calender flew off of the shelves as soon as it was released, but if you didn’t snag one, don’t worry! They’ll still be releasing a special Halloween collection starting on October 12, and what we know is that two products, Ghostly Tales & Ghastly Tales, will be for sale.
The nice thing about brands like Notoriously Morbid, whose name clues you in to their goth-y tendencies, is that their entire inventory is basically a Halloween collection. So if you miss out or aren’t super enchanted by a limited edition Halloween product, you’re sure to find plenty of other spooky options to soothe your needs.
Notoriously Morbid is extra special, though, because they have some of the best subscription boxes in the indie beauty community. They offer both the Vanishing Cabinet (with exclusive/rare makeup shared monthly) and Mystic Monthly (exclusive, themed liquid lipsticks in completely unique and beautiful shades). I’ve been an on-and-off member of both for at least a year, and it’s turned me into an indie beauty fanatic.
If we had to guess based on the hints that Notoriously Morbid is dropping, we’re guessing it’s going to be two super-metallic duochrome or multichrome eyeshadows. In fact, we’d put money on it!
Update 10/11: We’ve had a couple of sneak peeks, and confirmation that Ghostly Tales and Ghastly Tales are actually multichromatic highlight palettes! (We’re so good.) Check these beautiful babies out:
Ghostly Tales Highlight Palette: Annabelle, Sarah, Whaley
Ghastly Tales Highlight Palette: Borden, Bathsheba, Amity
Ghostly Tales is a cool-toned palette and Ghastly Tales is a bit more warm-toned. You can buy these palettes for $42.50 each, or buy your favorite shades individually for $18 each. The pans are larger than typical eyeshadow pans, and a little goes a long way!
Each shade has its own product page featuring a detailed description of the shade as well as face swatches and pan photographs from multiple lighting angles. I highly encourage you to check out the gloriously ethereal look that these can give you, it’ll inspire your creativity, for sure!
SHOP NOTORIOUSLY MORBID GHOSTLY TALES & GHASTLY TALES HERE
Darling Girl
If you’ve never poked around the Darling Girl website, you’ll want to set aside a good bit of time to do so. They have so many products, and they’re all really interesting and unique. Darling Girl has several collections, and they’re always releasing new products. They recently released a Book of Spells collection, which is pretty much sold out, but they’ve yet to put out their official Halloween line..
According to some hints on Instagram, the collection is going to be inspired by the Addams Family. We’ve peeked at a few of the collection’s shadows so far. The most exciting shadow shade, But Debbie… Pastels?, and it’s “a gorgeous peachy orange with pink to golden green shift and aqua sparkle.” Um, yes, please?! That also perfectly encapsulates the Joan Cusack character, Debbie Jellinsky, from Addams Family Values. We’ve also seen the gleaming “Cara Mia,” a silvery taupe with green sheen and pink/gold sparkles.
Update 10/11: this collection, called When You’re an Addams, will be released on Saturday 10/13, and has been fully previewed!
Mini collector tins will be available for $23, and full size sets will be available for $35. Darling Girl puts together cute, themed tins of their collections, and this one is pretty adorable.
SHOP THE DARLING GIRL WHEN YOU’RE AN ADDAMS COLLECTION HERE
Fyrinnae
This beauty brand is one of the most well-respected in the community due to their consistency, and creativity. Their Pixie Epoxy might be one of the best eye bases for glitter & pigments on the planet, and I would absolutely recommend using it under every indie shadow you ever use. Nothing brings out the best parts of indie makeup like Fyrinnae’s Pixie Epoxy!
Anyway, enough waxing, it’s time to discuss the Fyrinnae Halloween 2018 collection. They’ve zeroed in on one of their most luxurious and fantastic products, Exquisites, which are multi-chrome eyeshadow pigments. For Halloween 2018, Fyrinnae has created five non-limited edition shades for $14 each.
These beauties are pretty self-explanatory, but in case you need some verbiage, they have descriptions like “light but vivid warm green which becomes golden peach then pink, with a softly shimmering finish.”
Even cooler than The Exquisites, themselves, is the fact that 15% of every sale from September 20 – October 20 will go to Red Rover, an animal companion organization!
SHOP THE FYRINNAE HALLOWEEN COLLECTION HERE
Clionadh Cosmetics
Don’t be intimidated by the name of this brand, it’s just Irish! If you’re familiar with Gaelic, you’ll know that the word “clionadh” is actually pronounced like “fresh…” Just kidding! Gaelic is an incredibly complex language, but not that intense. “Clionadh” is probably pronounced “clee-oh-na,” or something similar, like Fiona with a “cl” instead of an “f.” If you aren’t getting my jokes here, I encourage you to look up some Gaelic name pronunciations to get you more acquainted with the… enigmatic Gaelic language.
So far, their Halloween offerings are more on the seasonal side than the spooky side. Clionadh’s Harvest Moon Collection includes 11 pressed shadows in the most warm, cozy, soothing fall shades. I’m always excited to see mustard and rust tones together, and this palette brings in a bunch of green tones that make this so realistic that it’s almost nostalgic.
This series of pressed shadows includes five matte shadows, two shimmers, two metallic shadows, and two duochromes. To me, that’s the perfect combination of finishes, and the number of looks you can create with these shades is nearly endless. Get the entire set for CAD$55 (or USD$42.44) or buy each shade individually for CAD$5.50 (or USD$4.24) each.
SHOP THE CLIONADH COSMETICS HARVEST MOON COLLECTION HERE
In addition to the gorgeous eyeshadows in the Harvest Moon collection, a little bird (read: Instagram) told us that Clionadh will also be re-releasing a couple of fan-favorites. There are two duochrome eyeshadow palettes, one called Witchcraft and one called Alchemy, and they look i n s a n e.
Clionadh Witchcraft Eyeshadow Palette
Clionadh Alchemy Eyeshadow Palette
You can buy these individually for CAD$80 (or USD$61.73) each, or together as a bundle for CAD$145 (or USD$111.88). Each shadow can also be purchased individually for CAD$14 (or USD$10.80).
SHOP THE WITCHCRAFT VS. ALCHEMY COLLECTION HERE
The higher price shouldn’t be too surprising – after all, this is an indie brand and they’re not making thousands upon thousands of these palettes which, just for the components, is more expensive. Additionally, Clionadh is one of the few indie beauty brands that actually hand-mixed and hand-pressed their eyeshadow formulas. This can result in more pigmented, powerful shadows, and they’re usually worth the price.
Oh My Glitter (OMG)
Oh My Glitter is bringing their A-game to the indie makeup community. Their limited-edition, limited-run Lexicon Palette is probably the single most Halloween-y indie beauty offering we’ve seen to date.
Not only is it full of a Halloween Queen’s favorite product, glitter, but each palette has a handcrafted Ouija planchette with an all-seeing eye, a la the spell book from Hocus Pocus. Each palette will have a different color scheme as they are each handmade with the same unique, highly spooky, completely un-stackable palette design. There are still some presale spots left, and you can secure your Lexicon Palette for £60 (or $78.56).
SHOP THE OMG LEXICON PALETTE HERE
Eclectic Beauty Cosmetics
This one is a mysterious one… This beauty brand hasn’t even officially launched yet, but according to their Instagram, we can expect to see them debut the Ofrenda Palette on October 13th.
“Ofrenda” is Spanish for “offering,” which is a collection of items placed together, kind of like an altar dedicated to people who have passed away. They are an integral and beautiful part of the Spanish culture going all the way back to the Aztecs. You’ll see them often DÃa de Muertos celebrations, they’ll include everything from photos to candles to jewelry.
The art on the palette is gorgeous, and the colors are an equal mix of bold and subdued. The brights are really bright and include orange and yellow potential mattes, but it looks like a few of the brighter colors might actually be shimmers or even metallics…? The neutrals couldn’t be more neutral: white, black, and grey. I’m interested to see swatches of this when it comes out, but we’ll be stalking the Eclectic Beauty Cosmetics Instagram until then!
Update 10/14: The palette has launched, and we have more info about those nine shadows! There are five matte shades, two mattes with glitter, and two shimmer shades. The palette is $40, and the shadow formula is completely vegan!
SHOP THE ECLECTIC BEAUTY OFRENDA PALETTE HERE
Makeup Maniacs
Now, we make a departure from eyeshadows to take a look at these adorable highlighters from Makeup Maniacs. The collection of two, appropriately called Cats n Bats, feature gigantic 57mm pans with extremely shimmery and colorful highlighters that can be used on face, body, or even lips!
These vegan formulas are hand-pressed and come in cute little clam shell compacts. Take a peek at the Makeup Maniacs Instagram for a peek at swatches of Bats and swatches of Cats. Each one is $15 and is available now on the Makeup Maniacs website!
SHOP MAKEUP MANIACS CATS N BATS NOW
F.A.I.R. Beauty
Don’t worry, F.A.I.R. Beauty’s name has nothing to do with skin tone. Their name is an acronym that stands for Fantasies Are In Reach, and judging by their products, fantasy plays a big role in their creative process.This year, their Halloween bundle includes six eyeshadow shades and one super-sized highlighter with cute embossed symbol on a handful of the pans.
Pick up the entire F.A.I.R. Beauty Halloween bundle for $43, or grab the eyeshadows individually for $6 and the highlighter for $12.
SHOP THE F.A.I.R. BEAUTY HALLOWEEN COLLECTION NOW
Glamour Edge Beauty
You gotta respect a brand that doesn’t hide their appreciation of chunky glitter. Glamour Edge has put together a foursome of eyeshadows – two mattes, a duochrome, and a startlingly chunky glitter – in a cute, slick little quad palette called Fall Into Dawn.
Don’t freak out when you see that the palette is “sold out” – it’s actually not even on sale yet! It’s released on Friday 10/12. Once it’s live, the Fall Into Dawn palettes will be $28 each which is a pretty good deal for an indie shadow palette, even if there are only four shades. The duochrome reminds me of Wet n Wild’s Midnight Mermaid highlighter which is stunning. The mattes are simple, but nice, and definitely great for the fall season.
And now, let’s address that glitter. It’s… ostentatious. It’s bold. It’s shiny. It’s full of stars and polygons in gold, teal, green, and a few silver flecks which creates this super pretty, bronzey-gold effect. The glitter is best used on your face, but you can use it near your eyes “at your own risk,” according to Glamour Edge.
SHOP THE GLAMOUR EDGE FALL INTO DAWN PALETTE HERE
GlitzNGoods
In case you haven’t quite had your fill of glitter, Etsy-based shop Glitz N Goods is gonna get you all fixed up. They’ve released six Halloween-inspired pressed glitters.
These are all vegan glitter formulas and are 100% cosmetic-grade glitter, so they won’t irritate your eyes! The suspension medium is made with coconut oil, and GlitznGoods claims that you don’t even need a primer or glitter glue… Could it be true? After seeing those swatches, I’m pretty tempted to find out! Best of all, these little pans are only $2.50 each, or create your own custom 15-pan palette for $15!
SHOP THE GLITZNGOODS HALLOWEEN GLITTER COLLECTION NOW
Makeup Slayve
Now, back to eyeshadow. Makeup Slayve had released their Autumn Equinox palette in late September and quickly sold out. Luckily, they’re restocking the palette on Friday, 10/12 so you’ll have a chance to pick up this warm, wearable set for your collection.
This mostly matte, 9-pan palette is neutral-to-cool, but includes cozy fall shades like mustard, dark lavender, and navy blue. The glitters and shimmers come in the form of a matching deep lavender metallic, a white gold metallic, and a vibrant, peacock blue metallic. The palette is $35 and may run out of stock again, so snag it if you’re in love!
SHOP THE MAKEUP SLAYVE AUTUMN EQUINOX PALETTE HERE
Black Moon Cosmetics
We’re back to brands that live life as if every day were Halloween with Black Moon Cosmetics. They became famous for their lipsticks, and for suing Manny MUA and Jeffree Star, but mostly for their lipstick formula. Pretty much anything from their shop is going to fill you with spooky, goth girl goodness, but their Halloween-inspired Lip Duos are definitely a step above.
The lip duos include two coordinated Black Moon Cosmetics liquid-to-matte lipsticks. The Creature of the Night Lip Duo contains the shades Ashes and Gloom, and Slime & Sleepwalker duo contains… well, Slime (which isn’t out yet) and Sleepwalker. That’s the thing about these duos… they’re only a sneak peek. We don’t actually know anything about them outside of what these photos tell us, and Black Moon is staying tight-lipped about this project, to boot.
The Lip Duos are usually $36, so we can expect to see these for the same price considering most of the shades already exist. Also, regarding the mysterious Slime shade, this Instagram post has me wondering if maybe we’re in for a Double Dare-esque shade…
Update 10/14: Well, well, well, if the latest sneak peek isn’t a neon-slime liquid lipstick! There’s no date for release yet, but we’re getting close!
Slayfire Cosmetics
Whoops! More glitter. So much more glitter, actually, from Slayfire Cosmetics. Much like the other glitter purveyors in this list, Slayfire is a specialist in sparkle to say the absolute least. This past week, they brought their Halloween-inspired Buried in Glitter Collection of eight glitter gels in brand new, spooky, autumnal shades.
Let’s cut to the chase: the best part of this bundle is that it’s made from biodegradable glitter. If you’re not up on the news, head to that link and read about why biodegradable glitter is an inevitable and required switch for all beauty lovers! So thanks, Slayfire, for being a great example of 21st century beauty.
Okay, so these eight glitters range from deep black to stark white, and have every shade of fall Halloween goodness represented in between. The other important thing to note about these glitters are that they aren’t loose, they’re glitter gels which means they contain a suspension and adhesion compound so you don’t need to glue it to your face! Slayfire suggests you apply it in thin layers and build up the power, all you need is a flat, synthetic makeup brush. You can find swatches of these glitter gels on the Slayfire Instagram page.
SHOP THE SLAYFIRE COSMETICS BURIED IN GLITTER COLLECTION NOW
Peachy Queen
Isn’t it weird when you stumble upon a brand that clearly has a huge customer base and following but you’ve somehow never heard of them? This time, it’s Peachy Queen, and I’m wondering where I missed this boat because they have an impressive display going on over there and I want a part of it. Peachy Queen’s Halloween offering is as cute as its brand name: the Pumpkin Spice Palette.
How incredibly adorable is this?! I’m so impressed with the production value for an indie beauty brand, and the price of the Pumpkin Spice palette is only $33.95 which, for this much beauty, is a pretty sweet deal. After all, it’s 12 shadows – five matte shadows, five diamond shimmers, and two shimmers – in a cute palette that won’t get boring. Peachy Queen has filled this palette with rusty orange shades, deep red-browns, and the requisite warm purples.
SHOP THE PEACHY QUEEN PUMPKIN SPICE PALETTE NOW
Baby Bat Beauty
Take a moment, hit the bathroom, and grab a snack because Baby Bat Beauty isn’t messing around when it comes to their Halloween offerings. Their “Halloween Collection” takes up an entire page. There are multiple things to discuss here, but we’ll start out with the Cemetary Mourning palette which might be competing for the most Halloween-y beauty product of this year.
How often do you see a 7-pan eyeshadow palette? Much less one in the shape of a bat?! The palette contains four matte shadows, two metallics, and one shimmer. The metallics are embossed with a cuter, smaller bat and the shimmer shadow is actually the blue one which is actually a deep purple with blue and purple sparks.
Next up – you’ll never guess – we have glitter. Two loose glitters in two shades: Wicked, a black holographic glitter, and Pumpkin Patch, a bright, metallic orange.
Each glitter comes in a 3g sifter jar for $5 each.
Finally we have another batch of lipsticks to add to this Halloween party! There are five new liquid lipstick shades from Baby Bat Beauty, and they range from glittery black with orange and silver sparks (Bewitched) to matte, oxblood-red Bloodlust.
Each lipstick claims to be a comfortable, matte formula and sells for $13.99 each.
Now for a new addition to the Halloween beauty list: bath products! Baby Bat Beauty threw together two spooky-gross soaps bath, one bath bomb, and a “bath crumble” to compliment the horror of their Halloween offerings.
The soaps are $3.99 each, the coffin-shaped bath bomb is $10, and the “Graveyard Dirt Bath Fizzy Crumble” is $10, as well.
As if there weren’t enough cute crap in this collection, Baby Bat has gone so far as to group these products in different combinations and package them in cuter, decorative, Halloween-themed bundles. Ugh, how annoying to want everything a brand makes, right?!
These bundles are all different prices and include all different products from the Halloween collection. One Book of Spells contains some of the bath products for $13, and the other Book of Spells contains the two sparkly lipsticks, loose glitter from the collection, and a mixing medium to best utilize the glitter for a cool $50. The bundles in the top row contain different variations of liquid lipstick and glitter combos, and run from $45 to $60.
SHOP THE BABY BAT BEAUTY HALLOWEEN COLLECTION HERE
Pretty Weird Cosmetics
Here’s one more glitter for your collection, this time from Pretty Weird Cosmetics. Their Spooky Babe Collection includes three chunky, loose glitters in Halloween-themed shades.
These glitters come in generous 15g jar for $4.50 each, or you can snag all three for $15. These are super-chunky, so they’re best for your body and non-eyeball face parts.
We will continuously update this list with any new Halloween releases from excellent indie beauty brands! If you know of one we missed, leave it in the comments, or tweet to us @broke_beautiful!