Steampunk 'Inspired' Costume

This is an ‘inspired’ look, I am not saying it’s exactly ‘Steam Punk’ because I know there are a lot of devoted people out there that would probably cringe looking at my attempt, hehehe I was just having fun getting the ‘look’ on a budget. Things to keep in mind are leather, lace, goggles, gadgetry, chains, clocks, keys, weaponry, victorian, industrial, ripped stockings, boots, bustles, jackets, corsets, nuts and bolts, belts .... once you start looking around it's amazing what you can come up with! :)

Goggles and Hat:


What you need:
Glue - I use 'PVA Wood Glue' for this kind of stuff because it's really strong and dries quick and it's non-toxic.
2 x toilet rolls (inserts)
Paint
Scissors
Decorative pieces eg. nuts, bolts, chains, clock faces etc
Old CD Case
Plastic rims from bottles or similar
Hat

Directions:

By using two toilet roll tubes or something similar you can make your own imitation steam punk goggles quite easily.

From the first roll simply cut out the shape you want for the base of your eye goggle, do this twice, once for each eye.

From the second roll cut off about ¾” and then cut down each side, the reason you cut it down the side is so that it can fit over the top of the inner goggle eye bases you cut out first.  Glue a small piece of cardboard in the slit to fill it in, allow to dry.

From an old cd case, carefully cut two circles to fit the outer goggle.  Place the outer goggle over the inner goggle eye bases and glue.  Glue the cd lenses to the outer goggles.

Find a plastic rim for your goggles, I used the leftover caps threads from cordial bottles for mine and they fit perfectly.  Paint them your desired colour. 

Paint the inner goggle eye bases and the outer goggles in the colours you want, try and contrast them a bit.  Once dry, you can attatch the plastic rims.  Allow to dry.

Now you can add all your bits and pieces to give it that ‘steam punk look.

I found a ‘halloween’ hat at spotlight, it was $4.99 less 25%.  I peeled of the skeleton badge that was on the front and painted it brown, leaving a band of black to suit the look I was going for.

Once I was happy with the hat I then attached the goggles to the top with glue.

Find some sort of strapping, remember, these are going to go on a hat so it doesn’t have to ‘work’ as a real set of goggles, I just used some faux suede fabric from an old skirt.  If you want to use them on your face, you may want to use some elastic at the back so they fit snuggly.

Add more bits and pieces until you're your happy with the look.

Outfit:

My old favourite ‘tulle’ skirt that’s done many of my looks 

Old brown skirt tucked up at the side and pinned, I tied an old compass where there was a hole in the skirt

Fishnet stockings

Grey/Brown combat style boots

White shirt

Jacket I bought years ago and really didn’t like but it works with this look

Crochet doily dyed brown placed on shoulder for effect and draped with faux suede strips of fabric and black lace

Elasticated belt – vintage

Glovelet made from faux suede fabric

Gun – Sam’s Warehouse - $2.00
Lantern - Garage Sale
Belt (army style) placed across body
Necklace - Diva
Necklace - Thrifted
Bracelets - Solid Rose and thrifted

I had so much fun putting this look together and was surprised when I started looking around how much I could use to get the right effect. I think the overall look came in under $10.00

You can see my makeup tutorial for this look HERE

Mermaid Inspired Tiara ... ☆ ♕ ☆

With Halloween coming up this month I thought I'd do a 'Mermaid' Hair and Makeup tutorial and I decided the look would be great with a crown or tiara. I went for an easy way for making mine that anyone can do, I'm not claiming to have invented this method, it's very popular in craft circles and has been around for years and years and a lot of people use it.

What you need:
Soft plastic file/folder or similar
PVA craft or wood glue (wood glue is excellent)
Pencil/Pen
Sequins
Glitter
Scissors

Using a piece of paper folded in half, sketch out half the shape of the tiara you want, cut it out then open it up and place it on your forehead to get the right fit. Once you're happy with it, place it on some plastic (I used an old school file) and glue it down. It's better to use a soft plastic file because cardboard will not be as strong and if you have one close to the sequin colour it would be best (I only had black :/).

Fill the paper shape in with glue, maybe do a section at a time so that the glue doesn't start to dry.

Grab yourself some sequins and glitter and start creating your design, it's easier to place the sequins using an old pencil with a tiny spot of glue on the end to pick them up with.

I covered mine all over in blue sequins, leaving a few out just to add interest and then sprinkled glitter over the top to fill in the gaps.

When your design is dry, check to be sure everything is stuck on properly and then go over it with another coat of glue, this will set clear but will give a bit more strength to it.  This is also the time you could add more glitter to your design if you want.

Once your tiara is completely dry, carefully cut it out.  You will find that because you used a plastic base it's easy to move and attach to your forehead with a little eyelash glue.

You can find my Mermaid Tutorial HERE, I don't adhere the crown to my face but it's easy to do just using a little eyelash glue.

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 !!! :)

Mardi Gras/Carnival Inspired Makeup Tutorial (Collab) and Costume

I teamed together with Miss Pixie Lulu to do a 'Mardi Gra/Carnival' Inspired look which was so much fun to do :)  I chose the path of 'Harlequin/Pantamime' for mine, lots of black and white with a touch of red/fushia to break it all up, I really love the finished result of both versions, the way they are completely contrasting shows how you can mix things up and get a real individual look.

See Lucy's version here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib50yWxuPt8&feature=channel_video_title

Working with black and white is not the easiest thing to do, it can get very messy so you need to be patient and allow a lot of time to get it right.  It's a perfect look for fancy dress/masquerade parties or any Mardi Gra and Carnival you might want to get involved in.

To complete the look I made my outfit up of items I already had, the only thing I purchased were the stockings, mask base and a few ribbons. Refer to previous blog post for DIY on mask and headpiece.

Outfit:

Papermache mask - art supply store $3.00 (DIY tut on previous blog post)
Headpiece (DIY tut on previous blog post)
striped singlet - tightrope (years ago)
puffy skirt, shrug, fingerless gloves (kittycat costume I already had) tail removed
patterned stockings - cosmetics plus $8.00
belt - Brisbane (already had)
black pumps - Brisbane (already had)
bracelet - diva (already had)
ring - diva (already had)
necklace - gift from friend 5 years ago
and a couple of balloons left over from my brother's birthday hahaha :)

** When you're planning a 'costume' for a fancy dress event try to use what you already have so that there is minimal outlay because these are not things that you will be wearing all the time so it's best not to spend too much money on them.  Go through your clothes and you might be surprised at what you come up with using a little imagination :) and if you don't have what you need, visit your local op-shop/thrift store for something, this way you will be pretty much guaranteed that no one else will be wearing the same as you! :)