I wanted to share some easy Halloween makeup so thought I would do something a little different for today’s post. One of my majors in college was Theater Arts and one of the required classes was stage makeup. That was such a fun class! Well, with Halloween just around the corner I wanted to share some easy horror makeup ideas that anyone can do. In addition, I’m going to share a very real-life story that could have been the setting of our very own horror movie! Keep reading for all the spooky details! Some links may contain affiliates, all opinions are my own.

our real-life horror movie

Have you ever found yourself in a place or situation and thought to yourself–“I’m pretty sure I’ve seen a scary movie that started just like this…”? That was the situation I found myself at the beginning of September as we were ending our big family road trip.

We had been driving in the car for hours. Our silver minivan smoothly meandering through western Colorado in and out of small towns, beautiful canyons, and up some steep mountain grades. It had been a long day and the kids had had it. We were all looking forward to reaching our hotel for the night where the kids couldn’t wait to jump in the pool and I couldn’t wait to finally wash a growing mountain of laundry that had been accumulating since we left Mississippi.

that’s when it all started going downhill…

With less than an hour left before we reached our hotel we pulled up to a stop sign in yet another small town and waited to turn left onto Main Street. It was actually the first sign of civilization we’d seen in hours (other than the occasional vehicle passing us in the opposite direction) but honestly, all I was thinking about was passing through as quickly as possible so we could just be done for the night. That’s when the car decided it was finished driving for the day. Mike attempted to turn left and continue our journey, but it was a no-go. It felt like the car was catching on something and it was impossible to move forward. So instead Mike backed off the highway to try and figure out the problem.

What was determined to be the problem was… well, we really had no idea. There was nothing stuck under the car, we didn’t have a flat tire (boy, that would have been a simple fix!), there were no parts hanging down from the car… it just wouldn’t drive forward, although it could drive in reverse with no problems. That’s about the time that a large pickup truck pulled over and a man got out and approached us.

did I mention it was starting to get dark at this point?

Of course my nervous natural self was on high alert, but he seemed harmless enough and after several minutes I had decided that he was in fact very unlikely to murder us and leave us on the side of the highway claiming our decrepit car as a souvenir. Finally, after many phone calls to insurance companies, auto repair shops, and motels (of which this town boasted a whopping three), it was determined that I would get in the car with this stranger and two of our children to check out one of the motels that wasn’t answering while Mike waited for the tow truck with the other two kids.

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Let me repeat–Mike was sending his pregnant wife and two of his babies off with a complete stranger while he waited on the side of a highway. In the dark. Spoiler alert, this part of the story all turned out fine. Our good Samaritan was actually just that–a very helpful and Christlike man who just wanted to help us out any way that he could. We got back from our little “adventure” just as the tow truck was retrieving our van and the rest of our brood. Then we made it to motel #3 which was luckily still open, had vacancies, and was completely non-smoking.

where’s my Halloween makeup? because I must be in a movie

The woman behind the check in desk was another angel placed in our path that night. When she found out there were six of us said, “oh, I’ll put you in the lodge so you’ll have more space”. That sounds great in theory, but it turns out that the lodge was one of the original buildings and was in the process of undergoing some major renovations. That means that we were the only people in the whole building.

Mike was still dealing with retrieving all of the belongings we would need for the night from the minivan at the auto repair shop. This means that I was left to walk in to our motel room for the first time all alone. I walked in through the front door on and walked past dark hallways and rooms full of covered furniture. Once I got into our room on the second story I realized that I had definitely spotted the outdated decor in a horror film before. There was no question the quilt had made an appearance in a summer camp horror scene. And I was pretty sure the shower curtain was the original from Psycho. No Halloween makeup needed, this was our very own horror movie.

and yet it could have been worse

My poor kids were such troopers all night long. Mike did such a good job of acting like we were having a grand adventure. Meanwhile, I tried my best to just keep my mouth shut. Eventually I fell into a restless sleep long after everyone else drifted off. 

So, after all this, what was wrong with our sweet ride of a minivan? We learned that one of the bolts that secures the brake pad had come completely off. This caused the brake to bind to the wheel which was preventing the car from moving forward. Not only that, but all the other ones were loose.

It turns out that the real horror story wasn’t being stranded on the side of a two lane highway. Or riding in a truck with a stranger. It wasn’t even sleeping in an old motel. The real horror story was what could have been the outcome if things had happened just a little differently.

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If we’d broken down an hour before we did we would have been completely out of cell phone range. Then we really would have been at the mercy of whomever happened to pull over.

If the bolt had come off when we were driving it could have caused the van to spin out. And if that had happened while we were driving up the mountain… well, none of us would probably be here today.

A million little things that happened could have been so different, so much worse. When you think about things from a broader picture with a different perspective it’s so easy to see all the ways that you’ve been blessed and watched over.

an easy Halloween makeup tutorial

Now, onto a fun makeup tutorial for Halloween! As I mentioned, I loved my stage makeup class in college. We learned so many different techniques and my favorite days were always when we got to do gory makeup. Zombies, vampires, it is so fun do something wit your makeup that is so majorly different than your everyday. In this tutorial I’ll be showing you a basic undead look. Then I’ll show you how you can easily tailor it for a more specific zombie or vampire persona.

 

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you thought–“this reminds me of the setting of a horror movie”?

Find more Halloween ideas over on Pinterest!