This years Halloween costume was taking it back to my Scottish roots, and transforming into one of my favourite Disney princesses – Merida from Brave.

dscf0414My group of 6 friends decided that this year we would do a group costume and all choose a Disney character to be, then applying some blood and makeup to become undead.

The group included Merida, Ariel, Elsa, Violet Incredible, Tarzan & Aladdin

I chose to do Merida for my costume, mainly because I love her, but also I think that it is one of the more unique costumes that I haven’t really seen being done before, so I could put my own spin on her look easily with the use of some pieces I already owned and a little bit of creativity. The inspiration for the ‘injury’ came directly from the film, I thought that it would be simple but effective to create the look of my face being mauled by a bear.

The Makeup Look

Step 1:

Apply a normal makeup look of your choice, I went for a more neutral look, using my everyday face makeup and ‘Dusk til dawn’ eye palette by NYX, whichdscf0364 is a gorgeous mix of neutral shades, but with great pigmented shimmer shadows. As Merida is a very natural Princess who doesn’t actually appear to wear any makeup, I stayed away from using bold colours, so the lip colour that I went for is one of my favourites (N
YX Liquid Suede – Shade 04) As my injury was going to be on my face, I knew that this would be the main focus of attention so the neutral makeup look worked really well with the overall outcome.

Step 2:

Using liquid latex and tissue, create the effect of the 3-4 slash cuts down one side of the face, missing out the eye and eyebrow. Build up the layers to create the desired look of the cuts. Rip open sections of the latex to create a more realistic look of an open wound.

Step 3:

Add colour to the cuts, I used a combination of brown and red shades until I reached the most realistic look possibly. Begin with the darker colours in the centre of the cuts and blend out. Once the desired coverage is reached, apply fake blood to the cuts which will help to make the cuts look even more genuine. I then went back in with the brown shadow shades around the edges of the cuts to make them look slightly raised from the face.

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Step 4:

This is an optional addition, but I think that it really completes the look and makes it slightly more ‘scary’. Pop a white contact lens into the eye that is surrounded by the cuts, as if the bear has rendered you blind in one eye. Be careful as to which brands of contact lenses you use, as there has been recent reports of actually going blind from them, so make sure you do your research before use. I have used the ‘MezmerEyez’ contacts for my past 2 Halloween looks and I have had no problems with them.

 

The Outfit

I absolutely loved the outfit for my Merida costume, it was slightly more of a Disney bound, due to the fact that I either already owned the items or bought them from highstreet shops and I will definitely be reusing the pieces in my everyday life.

  • Navy velvet skater dress – Boohoo.com
  • Wig – Amazon.co.uk (Sold by: In Character)
  • Brown Ankle Boots – New Look
  • Brown bag – New Look
  • Brown belt – Pre-owned
  • Cream boot socks – Primark
  • Jewellery – Primark
  • Bow – Amazon
  • Arrow bag accessory – Primark (home decoration spray painted gold & attached to bag)

 

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