A quick look into my past Halloween costumes from the recent years…

2013 – Zombie Dorothy

I personally feel that a Halloween costume should be somewhat scary, seeing as it’s the only day that being scary is socially acceptable. One of my favourite things to do for Halloween costumes is to take a regular character, such as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, and ‘zombify’ it to add the scary effect. I appreciate the fact that there are so many amazing pre-made costumes out there ready to buy, and these are great especially for last minute halloween looks, however as a Halloween enthusiast I like to spend most of October planning out my outfit and creating a look myself from things I already own or can find easily on the high street.

img_0339

Things I used for my Zombie Dorothy costume:

  • Long sleeved plain white tee
  • Light blue pinafore skater dress
  • Red & white striped over the knee socks
  • Red pumps
  • Red ribbon
  • Basket (Used as a bag)

I took all of the outfit and messed it up with the use of fake blood and an array of makeup, as well as ripping the sleeves of the t-shirt to create the classic zombie look.

I plaited my hair and tied off with the ribbon, this pulled the Dorothy look together, making sure everyone knew who I was trying to be.

The main aspect of the look to create the dead zombie vibe was the makeup, I wanted to keep it simple but effective with dark eye makeup and a red lip, then using fake blood alone I added the look of blood drips from my nose and eye and created a (slightly joker inspired) mauled lip/cheek look, as if I had eaten human flesh.

This look remains one of my favourite past costumes, and it was really the start of my obsession with Halloween and DIY costumes.

 

2014 – Addams Family

img_0074

In 2014 I attended a Halloween party with my family for a charity event. We decided to do a group costume and eventually came up with the Addams family idea. As the teenage girl I got to be Wednesday Addams, which I was very happy with, she’s definitely the best character. It took a fair amount of time and effort to organise the whole thing, especially as a DIY project instead of shop bought, however the results were amazing and we managed to win the prize for the best group costume!

Wednesday Addams:

  • Black jumper dress with white collar
  • Black plaited wigimg_2266
  • Cross necklace

This was probably one of the simplest DIY costumes I’ve ever done, after managing to find the PERFECT dress super cheap in Matalan I was pretty much set. All I had to do was add a hint of white face paint to make myself extremely pale, do a dark smokey eye look and draw on a widows peak with some eyeliner to blend in with the wig. Then channelling my inner Wednesday I was ready to remain in role all night.

Cousin It:

  • 2 Floor length blonde wigs (rapunzel)
  • Hawaiian table skirt
  • Black outfit
  • Sunglasses
  • Bowler hat

Thimg_2259is one was the most challenging outfit, trying to cover a human being completely with a wig is a difficult task, we ended up using a Hawaiian grass table skirt as a base layer to give the hair some thickness, in the end this layer isn’t visible but it helped massively. She then wore a wig the correct way round to cover the back, and then another to cover the front. The bowler hat covered the seams of the wigs, and with the added sunglasses the look was complete and looking amazing. If you are going to recreate this look, please be prepared to overheat all night under all that hair!!

Morticia Addams:

  • Long black velvet dress
  • Long black wig
  • Heeled black pointed toe boots

Gomez Addams:img_0043

  • Pinstriped black suit
  • White shirt
  • Black tie
  • Fake moustache
  • Cigar

Pugsley Addams:

  • Black and white striped top
  • Black shorts
  • Boy’s short black wig
  • Black and white striped socks/tights

Uncle Fester:

  • Monk’s robe
  • Brown belt

 

 

2015 – Billy the puppet (Saw)

Last year was my first Halloween as a University student, I wanted to find something that I could easily and cheaply put together with pieces of my existing wardrobe but still creating a scary and sort of girly look. After hours and hours of scrolling pinterest I came across a few female versions of Billy the puppet from Saw costumes. Billy himself is extremely creepy, but his look can be easily recreated with a few basic makeup bits that most people already own.

The Outfit:img_1114

  • White blouse/shirt
  • Black skater skirt
  • Red tutu (layered underneath black skirt)
  • Red bow-tie
  • Red suspenders

The Makeup:

  • White face paint – base layer
  • Dark smokey eye
  • Red lip liner – Swirl cheek design
  • Red lipstick
  • Black eyeliner – puppet mouth effect
  • Red contact lenses