Halloween is just around the corner – and that means that the frantic last-minute search for costumes is at its peak.
But if you still don’t have an outfit lined up for this most spooky of holidays, one talented make-up artist has an alternative that will allow you to create an incredible costume while wearing nothing… but some body paint and a few jewels.
In a new video created by Cosmopolitan.com, talented artist Mia Kennington, from London, totally transforms topless model Madeleine Stephenson into a spooky – and very cheeky – devil, painting her bare naked top half with an intricate day-of-the-dead esque design, which she jazzed up with some jewels to cover the woman’s nipples.
Before and after: Make-up artist Mia Kennington designs body art on Madeleine Stephenson
Not complete without glitter: Mia describes herself as a ‘glitter creature’ so of course she had to add some to her work
A nice alternative: Mia provides a nice alternative to spending money on an expensive costume
Spider-Man inspiration: Mia gets most of her ideas from street art and comic books
The fascinating time-lapse clip documents every aspect of the process, going from the moment Mia began drawing her design on Madeleine’s skin to the final result – which was inspired, Mia revealed, by Marvel character Spider-Man.
Although daring, Mia’s look certainly provides a nice alternative to blowing the bucks on intricate costumes for a single night – and now, with this mesmerizing video as inspiration, anyone can create their own version of body art.
Mia paints the designs on Madeleine’s body while using gems as a creative tool to cover her nipples. She then starts piling on the body paint using Spider-Man’s signature color red to start.
Now, she moves on to white paint, covering and filling the top half of Madeleine’s body. She then switches over to a smaller brush and uses black body paint to do the intricate and detailed designs the require skinnier lines such as the spider legs on Madeleine’s chest.
But there’ still plenty of space on left to be covered on the woman’s chest so Mia decided to revert back to a thicker brush but this time use blue paint to coat her outer arm, stomach and chest.
The first steps: After Mia outlines the designs on Mia’s body, she uses a think brush to start to fill in the spaces
No space left unfilled: Mia also uses a tiny brush to paint tiny designs onto Madeleine body
Almost complete: To add some color, Mia paints a purple hue on Madeleine’s hand
And to make sure the no part of her body goes untouched, Mia uses a smaller brush again to cover the lines that were previously drawn on Madeleine’s body, using blue and black paint.
Mia also uses red paint to draw tiny lines and patterns on her subject’s chest and outer arm.
And for the finishes touches, Mia brings out the bright red glitter and uses the added sparkle to fill in the center of the spider design and on her stomach and arm.
After she does with the glitter, she goes back and makes sure that both arms are equally decorated with black paint. And to add a pop of color, the make-up artist designs Madeleine’s hands and the part of her arm near her elbow.
Last detail: For the finishing touch, Mia draws a tiny heart on the top of Madeleine’s cheek
Ready for Halloween: Madeleine flaunts her body art in series of poses for the camera
And with a few seconds left in the video, Mia takes another tiny brush but this time dips it in white paint to place tiny lines on her arms and neck.
And for the finale, Mia moves her way up to Madeleine’s face where she draws a delicate heart on top of her cheek.
Now that the body art is complete, Madeleine takes a few extra moments to model and show off the finished product for the camera.
Mia gathers most of her ideas for her body art from comic books and street art, according to Cosmopolitan. But if you’re looking for a last minute costume idea that’s not comic book related, look at her Instagram account – thrillsoftomorrow for inspiration.