Scar putty or scar wax turns your DIY Halloween costume skills up a notch when you're going for a somewhat gory effect. There's no need to buy scar putty online or run to your nearest Halloween costume shop when you can make the special effects makeup yourself from items you probably already have at home: Vaseline and flour. These scars are simple enough for even beginners.
How to Make Scar Wax
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Whether you call it scar putty or scar wax, the key quality of this dimensional Halloween makeup material is its pliability. Going the DIY route means you're free to mix as much as you want and to tint it however you like to match the rest of your Halloween makeup.
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1. Mix petroleum jelly and flour
Make your DIY scar wax by mixing one part Vaseline or any petroleum jelly to two generous parts flour in a bowl. Depending upon the consistency you'd like for the scar wax, the flour portion may be double to quadruple the Vaseline portion. A plastic knife comes in handy for stirring, plus it's useful later on when you apply the putty.
2. Stir until it makes a dough
Stir the mixture until it becomes like dough; feel free to dig in and mold it with your hands. If it feels too gooey, add a little more flour at a time until it makes a dough. If you add too much and it ends up feeling clumpy, mix in a little more petroleum jelly. During warm weather, the petroleum jelly may be a bit soft and make the scar putty too soupy. If that happens, just cool the petroleum jelly in the fridge for 20 minutes or so.
3. Add tints for desired effects
Plain scar putty is a bit whitish and not really like most human skin tones. To give it a little color, mix in some foundation makeup to match your skin tone for your usual human look. If your Halloween makeup is another color, such as greenish for a zombie, reptile or monster, mix in a little of your green Halloween makeup or some green eye shadow. Make it look infected or inflamed by adding in a little blush or red eye shadow. Extra Halloween makeup goes on later: The goal is to keep the scar wax as close to your Halloween or cosplay skin tone as possible.
Using Scar Wax
Roll a bit of scar wax into a snake-like shape for a gash-style scar or a flattened ball for a round fake wound or bullet holes. Press the scar wax onto your clean skin in the desired location, shaping it a bit with your fingers and smoothing it down to make it adhere to your skin. Apply additional scar putty wherever desired. It also works great for special effects makeup features, such as warts, or as nose putty to change the shape of your Halloween nose.
1. Create gashes and wounds
2. Add red for wound effects
Dab small amounts of fake blood or red eye shadow inside the DIY scars, making the area look like either fresh or healing fake wounds, as desired.
3. Add yellow or green for gross effects
Add a little yellow or green for a more disgusting look. Feel free to mix up a tiny batch of yellow or green scar putty to create the grossly colored portions of your Halloween look.