These days, we’re all watching the bottom line. But Halloween is a fun ritual we don’t want to miss out on. And let’s face it — when we walk into a Halloween party, we want heads to turn. In an ideal world, there would be a professional makeup supply house and vintage store that carried our size in every town. Fortunately, with the Internet, you can quickly order up the perfect little things to create whatever costume you like.

If you talk to anybody in theater, they’ll let you know the gold standard in stage makeup is Ben Nye (www.bennyemakeup.com). Ben Nye makeup has been used in Hollywood for everything and everyone from The Fly to Marilyn Monroe. They make these convenient little color wheels that come in skin tones, pearlized versions — for that Ziggy Stardust look —, brights, etc. They are heavily pigmented, so if you have any skin issues or tattoos you want covered, you’re covered. They also have special latexes, bruise, blood and tooth colors.

For wonderful quality costume or accessory items for a great price, www.3wishes.com is the ticket. They’ve got a huge assortment of items in many colors and lots of items are available in plus sizes, too. Be creative — their card stockings could be the foundation of a female Joker costume.

If you need a hat for your costume — but don’t want to pay Stetson or Fleur de Paris prices, www.greathatz.com is for you. Some of their hats are under $5! A cowboy hat (Bret Michaels!), fedora or beret might be just the piece to make your costume.

Most Rite Aids carry a full complement of Wet ‘n Wild nail polish for 99 cents. If yours doesn’t, check out glow in the dark polish at www.amazon.com. It goes on barely visible, but shows up under black light. That might be just the ticket if you want a different look at the party for very little cash, but have to wake up in the morning for your J-O-B.

If you have more time on your hands than money, start looking around the house for supplies. Comics from the Sunday paper glued with glue stick onto cardboard or old sheets can be morphed into an outfit, same with tinfoil. Leggings, tights, long T-shirts can all be decorated with Crazy Glue and glitter, beads, feathers and rhinestones. Speaking of feathers, if you need some, www.ostrich.com has an insane selection.

When you make your costume, be smart. Don’t use anything near your eyes or mouth that’s not approved for such use. That means, guys, lipstick can’t be used as eye makeup. Special testing is done to ensure safety near your eyes. I once had a makeup artist apply lashes to me with surgical glue. That was a nightmare; my eyes looked like fried eggs for weeks.

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Contact Tamar at tfleishman@graffitiwv.com