Halloween makeup: Tauranga artist Alyshia Jones-Mathie shares her gruesome looks

Tauranga makeup artist and content creator Alyshia Jones-Mathie loves creating looks with "shock factor".

A former teacher who quit to be a makeup artist and content curator specialising in shockingly gruesome looks says Halloween is “the only time” she has an excuse to wear her creepiest creations.

Alyshia Jones-Mathie is a fulltime social media creator based in Tauranga.

She said she drew inspiration for her Halloween looks from horror movies or other artists online but the “shock factor” of her makeup designs set her apart.

“I’ve always been a horror movie fanatic since I was younger. I’ve always just loved creepy things,” Jones-Mathie said.

The 29-year-old self-taught artist said she loved art and drawing from a young age.

“I got into makeup when I was younger and then started doing [art] on my face and realised, oh this is cool,” she said.

Her first YouTube tutorial in 2015 was on makeup and beauty.

“Then people just really reacted well to all my scary stuff,” she said.

“I think that’s what set me apart from others as well, was my scary looks and giving people that shock factor.”

Tauranga makeup artist and content creator Alyshia Jones-Mathie in a mermaid-inspired look.

She said each design could take three to seven hours depending on its complexity.

Removing the designs was the “hardest part” of the process and could take up to an hour.

Jones-Mathie used a combination of eyeshadow, liquid eyeliner, “scab blood” and liquid latex for her horror looks, but said an at-home artist could create a great look with an eyeshadow pallet and eyeliner.

She said her advice for beginner artists was to watch tutorials and look for inspiration on Instagram and Pinterest.

Her online Halloween series started about two months ago.

“I got in 12 looks this year and I post them every week leading right up until Halloween.”

Her favourite was the Halloween dragon look or the “gothic skull”, including “drips” down her neck, roses and studs.

Jones-Mathie said Halloween reminded her of childhood Trick-or-Treating with her sisters, and eating lollies.

“I just really love it.”

The former early childhood teacher said she was doing content creation part-time until a year ago when she thought, “why not just give it a shot?”

“You’ve only got one chance at life and I [thought] just try and put my all into it.”

She has 61.4k followers on Instagram and 75.3k subscribers on YouTube.

Tauranga makeup and special effects artist Alyshia Jones-Mathie.

Her days consisted of filming, editing, emails, social media posts and brand collaborations.

“I can do everything from my phone - whether that be posting photos, editing photos and uploading videos - and doing makeup looks in the day.

“I’ll make sure I film the look... do my TikToks and my reels [and] transition video.”

She said she did not freelance but occasionally did special-effects makeup for friends and family, as the designs took many hours.

Jones-Mathie celebrated Halloween on Saturday with friends. She was dressed in one of her creepy designs.

“I’m moving my skin flap and everyone’s creeped out. They’re so confused [about] how I did it.

“They get really creeped out, especially with the eye contact[s],” she said.

But fear not, parents of Tauranga Trick-or-Treaters, Jones-Mathie was planning on doing a makeup look to greet those who arrived on her doorstep on Halloween night - but not something “too scary”.

The Warehouse nourish and wellbeing tribe lead Jenny Epke said “we’ve seen double-digit growth across our Halloween range this year, as Kiwis look for ways to dress up and celebrate the spooky season”.

Epke said popular Halloween products included a range of costumes for all ages and decorations to “make your home that bit scarier”.

Michaela Pointon is an NZME reporter based in the Bay of Plenty and was formerly a feature writer.