Halloween Challenge: Use what you have

For this year’s Halloween blog post, I decided to make myself a challenge:

Use only what I already have to make my costumes.

I know that this challenge could be different for everyone depending on what is actually in a person’s closet. And even though I have more “costume” items than many people, I tried to use as much of my normal wardrobe as possible. Because for some reason, most people don’t own 8 different wigs and a myriad of cosplay clothing (how strange) and I thought it may be harder to relate to this challenge if I didn’t at least TRY use some “typical” items.

Bridal Wear

My first costume challenge was to use my wedding gown in some way. From personal experience, I know most women tend to save their gowns for one reason or another. So why not use it on Halloween?!

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I went for a slightly different Bridal variation with “The Bride of Dracula” look. It was a bit of a challenge to not get any “blood” on the dress, but very simple to put together, and a blast to do the makeup for!

The Addams Family

A classic for Halloween characters is the beloved Wednesday Adams. Her costume is also one of the easiest to create – all you need is a simple black dress with sleeves and a white collar.

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I’ve seen this look done with long black sleeves, short black sleeves, white cuffs, no cuffs, rounded and pointed collars. The options are up to you! As long as you can add those signature braids and a scowl/eerie smile, she is easy to recognize! Of course, a slightly menacing prop doesn’t hurt!

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

A couple of years ago I worked on a Lara Croft costume based off the 2013 release of Tomb Raider. It has been one of my favorite games to play, even though I spend half my time yelling at the TV or wincing at my own game overs. Those puzzles are a real killer sometimes…

After finishing the second and third installments of the game, I realized that some of my workout gear looked pretty similar to her wardrobe. Like, really similar. Costume worthy even. I almost felt like I was cheating with how easy this was to create.

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I already had the pendant from my first costume creation, and the wig as well. And while I realize it’s not typical for most people to keep a dollar store bow and arrow set on hand, I do enjoy the annual renaissance faire in New England. Which means, it’s a vital part of my yearly outfit and therefore, part of my accessory bin and acceptable to use in this challenge!

The real talent here was the rain. Not only did it create a lovely atmosphere and tone for the images, but it made some great patches of mud – natures makeup! Well, at least for this character. Surprisingly, I was happier with the outcome of smearing some mud on my face vs 15 minutes of applying various tones of brown shadows and eyeliners to create dirt. Nothing like the real thing!

Part of your world

If you’ve been following my Halloween posts over the past few years, you may have picked up on my tendency to include at least one Disney character each year. It’s a conscious choice and a small shoutout to my childhood and love for animation. This year, I challenged myself to recreate Ariel, a very summery character to make for the middle of Fall. Lucky for me, I happen to own a fun ocean print dress and bright red wig to recreate this look! And while I do own a pair of vibrant blue contacts, they were unfortunately dried out. Rather than risk a potential eye disease, I used the resources available to me (aka the google app store). Just a few eye color edits and it was like I was wearing my costume contacts! You wouldn’t have known those eyes weren’t natural unless I told you though, right?!

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To think I almost forgot the most important part of her costume: the dinglehopper! And a girl’s best friend when wearing a dress: pockets – all the better to hide your newly found items!

Challenge Accepted, and Completed!

I really enjoyed creating the costumes from what I already had this year. I saved money, and used some items I don’t typically get to wear.

Have you created a costume from items you already owned?

Have a Happy Halloween everyone!