6 Halloween-inspired beauty treatments (and their at-home counterparts)

There’s something deliciously fitting about giving your skin a fright in October. As the nights draw in and horror marathons fill every streaming queue, beauty too gets a little bit… eerie. Beauty’s most theatrical treatments are back in the spotlight, proving that spooky season isn’t all tricks; it’s also an excuse to treat yourself to something a little extreme.

The original shock-factor facial. Made famous by Kim Kardashian’s blood-smeared selfie, the Vampire Facial sounds like torture, but it’s actually a regenerative treatment that uses your own plasma to trick the skin into healing itself. A tiny vial of your blood is spun to separate the nutrient-rich plasma, which is then needled back into your face to boost collagen and elasticity.

Prefer to keep your blood inside your body? Try the Geske Microneedle Face & Body Roller 9-in-1, a clever at-home tool that mimics the collagen-boosting benefits (minus the medical-grade gore). Use it over serum to supercharge absorption and reveal a smoother, firmer complexion.

Related: 15 Halloween nail designs we want to try this spooky season

Forget carving – This is a pumpkin that belongs on your face, not your porch. Rich in exfoliating enzymes and vitamins A, C and E, the seasonal superfood leaves skin smoother than your Halloween pumpkin’s bald patch. Spas love pumpkin facials for their ability to dissolve dullness, unclog pores and reveal a healthy post-harvest glow.

At home, swap the clinic visit for Peter Thomas Roth’s Pumpkin Enzyme Mask. The cult formula smells suspiciously like pie yet performs like a peel, combining pumpkin enzymes, AHAs and crystals for a quick polish that rivals professional resurfacing.

If ever a beauty treatment made you look like a dead ringer for Michael Myers in the slasher series Halloween, it's an LED mask. LED (Light Emitting Diode) masks are typically made from a sheet of white silicone, fitted with tiny bulbs that emit varying wavelengths of light to treat multiple skin concerns.

We adore the full-body experience offered at salons, but this season we plan to terrify our neighbours with the CurrentBody Skin LED Light Therapy Mask or the Shark CryoGlow Under Eye Cooling + LED Mask . Both excellent at-home options for a mid-autumn collagen boost.

Cryotherapy might sound like something reserved for Bond villains, but up north we have made sub-zero self-care part of our beauty vernacular. Inside the chambers, air cooled to –140°C floods the skin, triggering circulation, collagen, and an instant serotonin spike. The result? A radiant flush that settles somewhere between endorphin-rush and frostbite.

Skip the chamber and reach for H&M Beauty’s Ice Globes instead. Pulled straight from the freezer, they deliver the same cold shock in a more civilised setting. Glide them over cheekbones and temples until you achieve that enviable glacial glow.

Of all the treatments that could double as a horror prop, acupuncture tops the list – a pincushion’s dream, a needle-phobe’s nightmare. Yet beyond the spectacle lies one of the most effective ways to revive skin from within. By boosting blood flow and collagen, it helps soften fine lines and melt tension from clenched jaws to furrowed brows.

For a gentler (and home-friendly) approach, try the Bed of Nails Acupressure Mat. It looks medieval, but a few minutes lying on its plastic spikes releases endorphins and relaxes facial muscles. Equally restorative, significantly less stabby.

What could be more Halloween than a bubbling, crackling mask that leaves you looking uncannily like a Nordic troll? Born in Korea, bubble masks harness oxygen to draw out grime and pollution while delivering an oddly satisfying fizz resulting in skincare ASMR for the spooky-inclined.

Opt for Biovène’s Bubble Mask Deep Clearing Facial Treatment, a foaming potion that purifies and brightens without stripping. The result: skin so clear it’s practically haunting.