For this one, I wore a blue skirt and blouse I've had for years-- the triangle cut hem of the skirt has always felt rather vampiresque to me-- with a pair of high heel boots. I borrowed the hooded cape from my Mom's costume bin: it was actually too long for me so I had to wear heels to pull it off.
Me versus a crucifix wielding vampire-hunter of a manager. After taking this photo she laughed and told me she'd have to show it to her bishop.
OK, so let's talk cosmetics:
I started off using a base of white eye-shadow to make my skin pale. I didn't have blood-red lipstick so I actually mixed purple and red lipstick to get the right color. I did a mix of red pastel and purple eye-shadow, and made use of eyeliner. So far, looking so cool.
Add in a mysterious cape: cool, cool, this is looking like an awesome costume, +5 points...
But here's the thing: you can't pull off a vampire costume without the fangs. And those aren't exactly something you can borrow. And when you're on a shoe-string budget that already broke the shoe string, spending $6 on a costume piece you only intend to wear once is not a great plan. They do have those little plastic fangs they make for kids and sell at party favor stores for cheap, but those have been too small for my mouth since approximately kindergarten so that was out.
So how did I get the fangs?
Prepare yourself for what may be the cheapest, gooniest vampire costume of all time:
No, your eyes do not deceive you. Those fangs do have little red stripes on them. Because those fangs are made out of a drinking straw, cut down to size and stuck over the ends of my teeth.
Accidental Fang Selfie!
Also closing my mouth for those photos ended up coating the fangs in lipstick and knocking them off my teeth, so I had to throw them away and make another pair. This time I used a little bit of chewing gum to stick them in place, and just kept my mouth open the entire time. Like so:
Someday I will regret making these photos available to the public.
Note that holding my mouth open like this made talking difficult. Also, swallowing.
Because of trouble with getting my fangs to stick, I ended up a few minutes late to work. They have us come a couple of hours before the store opens, so I had to wait outside the locked door for a minute until someone noticed me and came to open the door. This disrupted the morning production line meeting a little (I'm finding it very gratifying that these days everyone turns to look when I come in the door) so the General Manager said, "Well, you just had to make an entrance."
Carefully, around my fangs, I said, "I can't come in unless I'm invited."
Anyway, after the meeting I told the managers (who usually get photos of everyone in costume) that if they wanted a photo, they'd better take it right away because I didn't know how long I could keep those fangs in. They nabbed the two photos at the top (thankfully the fangs did look much better from a distance), then I headed back into the store to get to work.
Unfortunately... High heeled boots, floor length cloak, and slightly slippery linoleum... don't mix very well. I managed to trip on my cloak and landed on the ground hard. I wasn't hurt, but the fangs went flying.
So I tossed the fangs out and left the cloak in the break room. I kept the boots for a while, but they kept sliding around and there were a few times I was worried I'd break an ankle, so I put them away in the back as well and borrowed a pair of more sensible shoes from the shoe department. So by the time the store opened, I was just a girl in a dress with funny makeup. Oh well.
Time: About 40 minutes
Would I Actually Wear This For Halloween: Probably not. I mean, I was pleased with how it turned out (from a distance, anyway), but even ignoring the practical problems with the costume-- I just think vampires are kind of overdone. I know, I probably just offended someone. If you want to dress up as a vampire, go ahead, knock yourself out, you do you. I just think that, for my own purposes, I've seen so many vampire costumes that they're a little boring to me.
Most Appropriate Halloween Song: So you know that line in 'The Monster Mash' where Dracula shakes his fist and asks "Vhatever happened to my Transylvania Twist?" I always thought that was just made up, but it turns out that it was a real song that came out on the same album. So I'm going with Transylvania Twist by Bobby (Boris) Pickett.
Costume #17: Music
Woah, if you scroll past that picture on a computer screen the stripes on my skirt have kind of an optical illusion.
I was in the mood for something simple today that didn't involve tripping hazards, so I decided to have fun with cosmetics instead.
I used white eye-shadow on just half of my face, then used eyeliner to draw on the keyboard pattern, and filled in with black eye-shadow and black lipstick where needed. Then I used the eyeliner to draw some music notation on the other side of my face. ...And I am only just realizing that because I did it in the mirror, I walked around with backwards music notation on my face all day. Whoops.
Time: About 30 minutes. If I'd taken more time, it could've turned out a bit nicer-- straighter lines, better filling job on the black keys, etc, but this worked for the occasion.
Unexpected or Notable Reactions: There was a woman who gave me a long, strange look. Later she came up to me and asked if it was a tattoo. Ouch, can you imagine how much it would hurt to get a tattoo like that?
Would I Actually Wear This For Halloween: Probably only if there was some reason I had to wear normal clothes with my costume-- doing some work, or going on a hike, or wearing a big coat over my costume anyway because of an early snow. In general I think a costume that includes dressing up is more fun.
Most Appropriate Halloween Song: There's tons of spooky piano music in the world, but I decided to go with Victor's Piano Solo by Danny Elfman, from the movie The Corpse Bride. Hm, I used to have the sheet music for that, I need to look and see if I can find it again.
Costume #18: Disney
Hm, my belt was out of place for the photo. That kind of spoils the 'practically perfect in every way' vibe.
I'm Mary Poppins, ya'll!
This was a fairly simple costume. I wore black shoes and stockings, a black shirt, a white collared shirt, and a black jacket. I borrowed a black bowler hat from my Mom, and she helped me make a bow tie (OK, OK, she did it and then let me sew the hooks on at the end), then I added a red belt and an umbrella.
I kept the makeup pretty simple and put my hair in a bun.
Time: Maybe 20 minutes at most? This was a pretty quick one.
Unexpected or Notable Reactions: I had two people ask me if I was dressed up as Charlie Chaplin. In their defense, I didn't have the umbrella at the time, but still.
Would I Actually Wear This For Halloween: You know, I might? If I had more time and a budget, there are a lot of things I could do to make this costume better-- making a parrot-head umbrella handle, decorating the hat with cherries and daisies, getting a carpet bag, etc. Maybe I'll do that someday.
Most Appropriate Halloween Song: Whatever is playing in the soundtrack of the Scary Mary parody trailer. (Some people reading this have a low tolerance for horror movies **cough cough my sister cough** and shouldn't watch the below video)
Too creepy? I'll make it up to you by sending you to some more cheerful and funny parodies-- the Google Translate version of Mary Poppins, and the Crosswalk Musical version by James Corden.
Costume #19: Ancient Times
They got me to laugh right when they took the photo.
I have a long history with dressing up like an Ancient Egyptian-- well, OK, not that long, but I fell in love with Ancient Egypt sometime around when I was ten or eleven and read The Egypt Game for the first time. In Sixth grade I decided I wanted to dress up as Hatshepsut for Halloween-- she was a female Pharaoh (so she was legally the King of Egypt, not the Queen), and she wore a fake goatee, and she was pretty awesome. Pretty much nobody got the costume, though. Later on, in middle school, I dressed up like Bastet, the Egyptian Cat Goddess-- and had people ask me if I was a squirrel. Not the most encouraging reactions, but it gave me a lot of practice.
The outfit I borrowed from my Mom's costume bin, though a lot of the pieces are actually descended from that costume she made for me in Elementary school. I added an Egyptian-style cat pin that I own for some extra decoration.
For the makeup, I started with using some bronzer to give myself a bit of a tan, then mixed red and brown lipstick to try to imitate the clay based pigments that ancient Egyptians used to color lips and cheeks. I did blue eye shadow, then used eyeliner to draw in my eyebrows and the wadjet eyes (also called The Eye of Horus), finishing up with a little blue glitter.
I do research time period makeup when I'm doing these historical costumes, and I learned some interesting things. I had already known that ancient Egypt is where cosmetics are believed to have been invented, and both men and women wore makeup. Now, what was news to me is that the Egyptians believed that the kohl they used to paint their eyes warded off diseases. The fascinating thing is, they might have been right. Modern research suggests that the makeups they used had some antibacterial properties that helped to protect against eye infections.
Time: About 45 minutes
Unexpected or Notable Reactions: When I walked in the store in the morning, I got a standing ovation from the other employees-- so apparently this was a popular one.
Would I Actually Wear This For Halloween: Well I kind of have, twice, already. I think just going as a random Egyptian is much easier than going as a particular historical person or mythological character-- at least, easier if you get as sick as I do of people's eyes glazing over when you try to explain your costume. Unless you go as Cleopatra. Everyone guesses Cleopatra. Even when you wear a fake beard with your costume. (Apparently I'm not 100% over the fact that nobody recognized my Hatshepsut costume)
Most Appropriate Halloween Song: You probably saw this coming, but it's gotta be Walk Like An Egyptian by The Bangles.
Costume #20: Day of the Dead
Some of you have seen this one before, because this is my very favorite Halloween Costume of all time. I spent hours putting it together for the first time and I'm always excited by a chance to pull it out again. Man though, that belt keeps ending up in the wrong place on these outfits. I think it's time to lose that belt, it's not doing me any favors. But otherwise, I love this costume.
I've always been fascinated by this Mexican holiday. I think the idea at the core of it is a beautiful one, a celebration of the idea that death doesn't really end the love between family members, and that those relationships are eternal. But then you add in the packaging, this amazing mix of macabre and gorgeous-- I absolutely love the aesthetic. And now people keep giving me Dia de los Muertos themed stuff for Christmas so I'm growing a bit of a collection!
The skirt is a black layer skirt with red lace trimming that my Mom made (because she is amazing, as I've said before and will say again), which I wore with a black blouse. I took black gloves and stockings and used white acrylic paint to draw out all of the bones of the feet, hands, and lower arms and legs. You can't see the stockings in the photo above so here's a better look at them, I'm very proud of how they turned out:
The hat is a leftover from an old Zorro costume. I sewed black lace around the brim, then added red ribbon and fake flowers. I then took a bunch of those cheap plastic spider rings, cut off the ring parts, and glued them onto the hat. You'll have to zoom in to see, but as a finishing touch I actually added one spider hanging from a long white thread, like it's spinning a web.
With a face like this, who needs to be good a selfies?
For the makeup, I started out by using white eyeshadow to paint my face. I added the details with black eyeliner, and used black eyeshadow to fill in the nasal cavity and eye sockets. Then I used red lipstick to color in the hearts and flowers.
Time: About an hour and 15 minutes. The makeup takes some time just because it's so intricate. I'd recommend a few practice runs on this one.
Would I Actually Wear This for Halloween: I have, a couple of times! It's my favorite costume I've ever done, just the right mixture of beautiful and spooky.
Most Appropriate Halloween Song: Day of the Dead/Viva Calaca! by Voltaire (Honorary mention going to the entire soundtrack of The Book of Life, particularly No Matter Where You Are by Us the Duo)
Man, I need to watch The Book of Life again, it's a great movie.
Anyway, that's another week down! Next week's costumes are a little simpler, but there's still a few fun gems in there that I think you'll enjoy. (But none of them include that red belt. Hmph.) I guess I got my earlier wish for a cool fall because it's been cold and rainy here, but I hope you are warm and dry wherever you are now. See you next week!
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