The Snow Queen: A Darker Twist

I was working on my dress the other night, trying desperately to get it ready, and it just didn't come together like I wanted.  I didn't look bad but it didn't look finished either.  I was very upset because I had this vision in my head of how I wanted things to be and it wasn't turning out like I had hoped.  I didn't have the time to figure out how I could make it look like I wanted either. 

It was very disappointing.  Fire was still an option; I have five or six red dresses that would work for the occasion.  I have all the makeup I would need to make a fiery red look.  Still, I was really looking forward to doing an ice costume.  Briefly I thought about a dress that I had made for my changeling character when I first started playing.  It was this pale pool blue and would have been a great substitute but ever since we moved I haven't been able to find it.

I moped around the apartment.  I chose the red dress I was going to wear, and the shoes.  I packed all the appropriate makeup.  It still didn't keep me from feeling sad.  I knew it would look nice but that wasn't the point.  So in a slightly less-happy state I went to bed.  The next morning I told my fiancee that I had to fall back on plan B, but he could see that I was upset.  Suddenly he remembered a dress I had made when I first started playing.  It was dark blue and black and very very daring (it requires tape). 

I had totally forgotten it even existed.  I was very excited.  While I was really looking forward to the dress the thing I was looking forward to most was the over all look.  Because it is such a darkly colored dress I have decided to take a darker approach to this wintery theme.  Much like the look Emilie Simon has in her video for Fleur de Saison.  I plan to wear my long black wig and probably do red lips for a Snow White feel.  Thank goodness for Glamour 101!

Pics to come!

The Snow Queen: Makeup and Hair

First of all I would like to say that my Lime Crime lipsticks came in this weekend!  I'm always very excited to get my shipment from them in because the packaging is always so cute.  Now they are including a sticker--I plan to put mine on my laptop--as well as a poster for their new Carousel lip glosses.  I'll be getting the ruby red, gold and purple as soon as I can (maybe stocking stuffers?).

Glamour 101 and Chinchilla

I already own two of their other colors: Cosmopop, a creamsicle orange, and Retrofuturist ,a bright true red.  I often use Cosmopop with a dusting of Treasure Chest, LC's gold eyeshadow, over it for Anat's costuming.  You can find all of their products here at www.limecrimemakeup.com.

So now that I've got that out of my system I figured that I would do a post on how I come up with makeup ideas and what I plan to do for this particular look.  Since there was a Featured Game this weekend I didn't get a chance to sew.

The Makeup:

When I think about how I want to do makeup for a particular costume or character there are a few things I try to consider.  Obviously the color of a costume will affect the colors you use with your makeup but the personality of a character is also greatly brought to life through makeup.   Do you want a soft natural look?  A glamorous old Hollywood starlet?  Maybe you want to do something over-stylized?  Do you want a bright punk-rock look?  Dark goth?  I love makeup because it is a fun tool that can completely transform the way people think about you and the way you think about yourself.  You also don't necessarily need a lot of different makeup to create a lot of different looks.

Obviously when it comes to a costume like this the makeup is going to be a bit more theatrical.  This won't be a look normally worn by the character.  Instead it will be as much a part of creating an icy vision as the dress is. Ice brings to mind a palette dominated by pale blues, white and silver, so naturally these are the colors that I decided to focus on when bringing the look together. 

Makeup is never something I completely plan.  I don't know exactly what I am going to do until I actually sit down to put it on but that doesn't stop me from putting together a general idea.  Often times I get an idea in my head but it's usually vague concepts so I start with an internet search on looks that are similar to what I want so that I have something a little more concrete to work with.

Google is your friend...most of the time.  I've also used DeviantArt to find inspiration though it can be a little more dangerous.  It's surprising the number of "artistic nudes" you come across even when you think your search was fairly tame.  Sometimes if you have an idea that's a little more abstract this part is difficult.  When I have this problem with makeup or costumes I try to think of a film or book character that I can use for a starting point.  Usually once you get going you can come up with keywords that might get you better results. 

As you can see a theme emerges.  After scrolling through a couple of pages you generally can get a good grip on what aspects you like and want to bring into your own look.  In this case I personally didn't want to paint my whole face white.  I don't have white face makeup and I've been trying to keep this whole production at low cost so I didn't want to buy some.  I'm also very picky and I didn't want to over-do it.  Instead I wanted to do more like the third photo and bring hints of blue and silver onto my cheeks, forehead and lips like hints of frost.

The final part, next to actually putting it on anyway, is assembling all of the tools.  I plan to use several of LC's eye shadows (All but Mirror Mirror have been discontinued) as well as Chinchilla to help bring this look to life on Saturday (yes, it is that soon...eep!).  While I think my new lippy is a gorgeous color on its own I want the whole look to sort of glisten.  Think of the way snow glints in the light.

To add a shimmer to my lips I picked up a tube of Hard Candy's Prom Queen lip gloss which is sheer with white glitter.  I also picked up their silver eye tinsel Disco Ball which is essentially glitter that can be applied over mascara to add a bit of sparkle.  It's a nice subtlety to add to the whole look.  For my nails I picked up two polishes by Pure Ice.  One is a pale icy blue (A-list) and the other is clear with a blue sparkle (Oh, Baby!).  All of these are available at Walmart. 

Oh, Baby! Disco Ball, Prom Queen, A-list

The Hair:

Hair is usually the last thing I think of for a character, except in one where I built a character around Liz from Hellboy and a blue bob.  I own five wigs: two black, one brown, one blonde and the aforementioned blue.  I really want to get a baby pink one...but I'm getting off topic.  I like to use hair to help distinguish between characters.  It can also, like all the other elements, help lend to personality.  Not to mention it is often easier to have a wig then try to fight with your own hair before every game, and in some cases there is just no way to do it without one (again see blue wig). 

Now, when I first thought of what to do with my hair I figured I would just get a wig.  Something long and silvery white that I could pin up and fix how I wanted.  I figured I could find something else to use it for but ultimately it came down to cost and time. As I searched through images for inspiration on Google and DeviantArt I decided that maybe it would be better just to pull my hair back and then spray it with white and/or silver hair spray paint.  I figured I would take a simple route with something like this:

It's elegant and easy.  That way I wouldn't have to worry about covering every strand of red hair with white, I could just do an outer coating and it would suffice.  I also thought about using it to do some strategic painting of my skin like on my arms and neck.

I hope this helps give you an idea of what I'm going for.  I can't wait to see how everything pulls together.