Wigs and Costumes for Halloween or Fancy Dress ...

Wigs:

So with Halloween coming up this month I thought I'd do a few fun looks, you know me I love to play dress-ups at any given time :D  After looking through the local costume shop I was a little disappointed in the range of their wigs, I already have two and these seem to be the ones that were in the shop!!!! So onto the internet I was, looking for some wigs. The ones I found on Ebay were going to take 1-2 weeks at least to get here so Online Stores were my next option.

Click to view makeup tutorial on this look

There are quite a few out there but the one I settled on was 'The Wig Outlet' which is an Australian based online store that sells a huge variety of both costume and fashion wigs and some accessories and they are reasonably priced too.

Anyway, I ordered and purchased two wigs and a pair of stockings from them, this was on Monday at about 10.30am by Tuesday (yes the following day) I had my items in my hot little hands before 10.00am!!!!!!  I was also really happy with the way the wigs looked, they were both true to the picture on the site which is always nice :)

So what do you do when you buy a wig?  The first thing you need to do is to take it out of the packaging, give it a good shake and sit it on a wig stand or something similar so that it can rest and resume it's original style, do this for about 24hrs.  You may need to re-style it a little and ease out any creases that may have formed from the packaging but this shouldn't be too hard.

Never use a normal brush on your wig, you can get special wig brushes or just use a very large tooth comb, you know, like the ones that are made for combing wet hair.

For straight wigs, you can add some style by lightly spraying with a styling conditioner and then use rollers and a low heat setting dryer.

If your wig is 'pre-styled', just gently get the style back by lightly brushing or combing it.

For curly wigs, never brush or comb them, use your fingers to help resume it's style.

You can purchase wig caps or make your own using a old pair of stockings. Be sure to pin your hair as flat to your head as you can so that the wig sits nicely on your head.  To prevent the wig from slipping or moving around if it's a little too big, use some hidden bobby pins around the edges at the front, placing them in a 'x' (crossover) will give added hold.

Costumes:

click picture to see how I put this costume together

I've mentioned this before but I'm going to say it again, thrift stores, op-shops, secondhand stores and garage sales can be your best friends at this time of year.  With Halloween at the end of October and also the Christmas season fast approaching there will be more parties around and you may need a costume of some type.

I love putting costumes together, yeah I can easily buy a 'ready made' one but it's so much more fun to make your own. Secondhand stores are the best places to find old clothing that can be recycled into costumes with minimal effort and you get the benefit of having an 'Original' costume that no-one else will have BONUS!! Just google images of the type of 'look' you're after and then make a list of what you will need, you may be surprised to find most of the stuff around your own home! :D  I don't like to spend a lot of money on something I may never wear again but I do love to find a 'bargain' from the op-shop that I will be able to use time and time again, like my layered tulle petticote, I've used this skirt so many times for different looks and it only cost me $5.00 a couple of years ago!!! Now that's a 'bargain'.  Some things you can also make out of cardboard to give the 'effect' of what you want and don't be scared to dye or paint anything, get creative :)

Be sure to start looking around early, a couple of weeks or so before the event, remember the closer it gets to halloween the more people will be out looking for stuff.

I hope you found this post helpful and if you are in need of a wig, especially if you are Australian, go check out 'The Wig Outlet', I'm sure you won't be disappointed :D and keep your eyes open for my upcoming 'looks' using my wigs and the costumes that I put together myself for next to nothing !!! :)