Beauty Boy: Suicide Squad: Joker tutorial

Header image for Interrobang article CREDIT: FOLLOW THE STEPS BELOW AND YOU TOO CAN ROCK A BADASS JOKER COSTUME.
JOSHUA R. WALLER

Probably one of the most popular costumes this Halloween for men will be the new version of the ever so famous Joker. Unlike the Jokers in the past who were animated looking, the Jared Leto Joker is much more simple and stripped down but creepy as hell. When done properly, this look can make for an awesome Halloween costume.

The first thing you are going to have to do is shave your face, including your eyebrows…ha, ha, ha. If you aren’t feeling too dedicated to this look, you will have to do an eyebrow block. The easiest way to do this is by gliding on a non-toxic glue stick over your eyebrows, going against the hair and then going with the hair. You may need to do this multiple times so make sure to powder with translucent powder between each layer. Once your brow hair is laying flat, scrape off a piece of the glue stick and layer it on top of your brows. Do this until you can no longer feel texture from the hair of your brows.

Once this is done, pat on translucent powder on top of your brows to set them and remove any stickiness. If you have really dark brow hair, you may need to apply an orange concealer (then powder) to counteract the darkness of the hair.

The Joker

Next is the base for the Joker complexion. Since this version of the Joker isn’t so cartoon looking, I would avoid painting your face white as this will look unrealistic. You need to make the complexion look ghastly and translucent. To achieve this, mix a light colour of foundation with a small amount of “clown white” paint. Apply evenly (dab with a sponge) over the entire face, neck, brows and ears. If you miss a spot the whole illusion will be ruined. Once covered, powder thoroughly to set the makeup.

For the eyes, applying a heavy coating of black kohl liner around the entire eyelid and smudge it outwards to create a seamless edge. Next use grey and black eye shadows with a fluffy eye shadow brush to intensify and give the eyes a hollow effect. Lastly, apply some red eye shadow or paint to the waterline and blend it into the black liner.

If you need to achieve a slimmer face, like Jared Leto’s, I would recommend contouring your cheekbones, jaw line as well as your temples with a grey powder or eye shadow. Start lightly and apply more until the effect is achieved without looking too artificial.

Next for the lips, apply a blood red lipstick until you achieve an opaque finish. The Joker does not have perfectly defined lips or an accentuate Cupid’s bow, so it’s ok if it looks a bit sloppy. To add more definition, apply some black shadow to the center of the lips.

Now for the intricate details, use a black liquid liner or black paint with a fine brush, write “damaged” across the forehead, a “J” under the left eye and then small, faint “nicks” all over the face.

Lastly, slick your hair back and spray a green hair spray evenly over entire hair and then comb through.

The Joker

This Halloween, if you are going to recreate the new iconic Joker look, make sure to follow these steps to achieve a well put together character. Keep everything subtle yet dramatic at the same time and you will be able to effectively pull off the Suicide Squad Joker.