The Red Queen

Now let's have an overwiew on this project. My goal was to make it look as same as possible with the original costume. For comparison, lets look at them side by side. The picture on the left is from here. The picture on the right is me.

The colours don't look quite the same. The lighting is very different though. While keeping in mind that Helena Bonham Carters appearance has been digitally mastered in the movie, I think my costume looks good. I can't make my head grow, you know!

Here are some pictures:

Owerall, I think this was one of the best costumes I've ever made. It was a long project, but totally worth it.

These pictures were taken in my grandparents home. They live in a beautiful old house just about a kilometer away from our place. The drawing room was a perfect setting for the Red Queen.

Now it's time to say good bye to the Red Queen. My next project will be something magical that lives in the water. Can you guess it? Comment your thougths. Also, feedback on the Red Queen costume is more than welcom. Until next time!

Makeup For the Queen

In this post, I will tell you about the struggle of finding the perfect wig, how to wear your hair under it, and, of course, how to make a make up similar to the one Helena Bonham-Carter had in Alice in Wonderland (2010).

First, the wig. I've mentioned before that I live about half an hour journey away from the nearest city. Well, I live even further away from the nearest city with a shop selling decent wigs. (I don't even know how far away.) AND I had to get a very specific looking wig. So, I did what anyone would do nowadays: started a search in the internet. After hours of search, I decided that this was the best one.

The bad thing about buying something online, is that you can't be  100% sure about what you're going to get. So if any of you readers are thinking of buying this wig, here's how it really looks. It's a bit brigther red than in the sellers picture. The crown that comes with the wig is terrible, but you can easily replace it  with a better one.

Wearing a wig can be troublesome for people with long hair. How to get your hair as flat as possible, and preferably so well-attached that it stays on its place when you put your wig on and take it off several times? I got the idea for my way of doing it from a friend of mine, whos got really long and thick hair.

How to do it:
Separate your hair into two sections. Make two french plaits (regular pigtails work too). If you have bangs, use hairpins to get them away from your face. Attach the plaits tightly around your head with hairpins. Finish with hairspray.

The make up for this costume almost gave me a mental breakdown. Getting a perfect matt white skin with cheap face paint (the only face paint I found without ordering it online) is very frustrating. But before I start raging about how difficult it is to put on make up, lets get to that part of this post, where a person who isn't good at make up stuff tells you about make up stuff.

What I used:
-hairmousse
-hairspray
-white facepaint
-white inliner kajal
-two shades of blue facepaint
-blue eyeshadow
-black eyeliner
-black mascara
-three sets of fake eyelashes
-red lipliner
-red lipstick

A lot of makeup stuff

For a start here's how I look without makeup.

Step 1: Eybrows
This step is all about hiding the eyebrows so they don't show from under the make up. I used hairmousse and hairspray. I used a very small amount of hairmousse to flatten my eyebrows. Then I sprayed some hairspray to my finger and applied it to my eyebrows. Sounds wierd but works!

Step 2: White facepaint
To get that matt white skin I had so much difficulties with, the most important thing is to have quality facepaint. Don't buy anything that seems too cheap! I spread the facepaint to my face with a make up sponge to get an even result. I used white inliner kajal for my inner eyelids.

Step 3: Blue to the eyes
The Red Queen has a great over-the-top eye make up, which  I just love. I used a small brush to draw outlines of the make up and then applied two layers of two different shades of blue facepaint with a bigger brush. I finished the look with blue eyeshadow.

I know, the eyebrows are visible here.

Step 4: Eyeliner
In this makeup, eyeliner can be used for much more than highlighting eyes. I did that, too, but more importantly, eyeliner is great for drawing the Red Queens thin, curvy eyebrows high above where peoples eyebrows normally are. It's also rather useful for making a beauty spot.

Step 5: Mascara
Adding mascara to the upper eyelashes creates a good base for applying fake eyelashes. I wanted my upper eyelashes to look very thick and rich, but the lower lashes to be a bit more separated and thin, so I didn't use mascara for my lower lashes.

Step 6: Eyelashes
I use fake eyelashes almost every time I wear a costume, beacause they make eyes really stand out and give the make up a festive look. This time I have two sets of fake lashes on my upper eyelashes and one set on my lower eyelashes.

Step 7: Lips
Probably the most characteristic thing about this make up is lips drawn in to the shape of a heart. The best result comes with a steady hand and lipliner. I drew the heart slightly under my bottom lip and exaggereted the cupids bow.

Here's some pictures of the finished look.

My 'photographer' wasn't home, so I had to take selfies.

Hair showing underneath the wig :P

So that's it about make up. I know I  haven't been posting stuff for a while. I'm sorry. I've been incredibly busy with shcool work and dance lessons. I really like studying, but high school is a lot of work.