This "Extraterrestrial Mermaid" Proves You Shouldn't Scale Back This Halloween

We're calling it: one of this year's hottest Halloween costumes will definitely be "mermaid." And while there's plenty of gorgeously glittery sea siren inspiration on Instagram, makeup artist and body painter Emily Anderson took the trend one step further with her extraterrestrial take on the look.

According to her post on Reddit, Anderson predominantly used Mehron products — particularly the brand's Paradise Paints ($14) — to create the look. She also used real gold leaf on her eyebrows, lower lip, and hair to get that gilded glint.

While this masterpiece is definitely not for beauty newbies (or the faint of heart), Anderson did provide a tip for re-creating her incredible scales: "I first painted in the outlines in green, and then went over some points of the green paint with black," she explained. "Then [I] highlighted each one by blending out a line of white paint!"

If this sounds too labor-intensive, remember: you can use fishnet tights to DIY your own fabulously fishy look. But Anderson's incredible extraterrestrial mermaid has definitely inspired us to refrain from scaling back this Halloween.