Tony Stark: I am motherfuckin' Robert Downey Jr

So halloween is over, and I feel cracked out like the costume junkie that I am.



I wanted to try a challenge....
I wanted to make myself look like an extraordinarily handsome man. 

I meditated on my finest make-up skills, acquired a black t-shirt and a small, round, light, and set to work one night at 3 am.

YES, I SAID 3 AM. BECAUSE I AM A CRAZY PERSON WHO APPARENTLY DOESN'T NEED TO SLEEP.


Anyway.

Check out what I came up with for my first make-up and costume run.

Some of the preliminary foundation and contouring, to elongate my nose, thicken my brows, make my cheekbones pop and my mouth and jaw to look more masculine. 

Finished product, handsome-man brooding face included. 

Potts? 

Where could she be? I forgot my Social Security Number again. 

Tony Motherfuckin' Stark. 

What I would do differently next time: 

- Slick my hair back with gel 
-Get actual black crepe wool for realistic facial hair (sometimes eye liner and a sponge just doesn't cut it.) 
-Not attempt this at 3 am. 

Questions? Comments? Requests?
Leave me a note!

A 'stache by any other name

Easy Costume idea: 

HOW TO BE A HIPSTER. 

I found some stick on mustaches in a box and subsequently spent the rest of my day wearing one.
Time well spent. 

Commission work: Cowardly Lion

So I was commissioned to make a Cowardly Lion Costume for under $100. This is how I did it (though not a very good step-by-step guide, as I did seem to forget to photograph most of the steps. Oops....) 

Sculpting the ears out of polymer clay. 

Clay is baked and hardened, and now painted. 

Working on the body suit piece - basically an adult footie pajamas with a zipper in the back. 

More polymer clay sculpted for the feet.

Attaching the lion claws to the feet and make it basically indestructible with superglue and duct-tape

Glueing/sewing the fur over the polymer clay. 

Wish I had a better photo, but this is pretty much the finished product for the feet: lion toes jutted off the end, and the rest easily tied over the top of a man's sneaker with elastic bands. 

Now Sculpting for the Hands. 

Attaching nails to paws and gluing/sewing fur over. 

Adding little leathery touches. 

Finished Mittens. 

Hood and lining of hood with ears. 

Now all attached! 

Hood with cowl, ears, and curly mane. 

The body suit finished. Chest fur, Tail, and Padded knees. 

My client was so thrilled! 

IT crowd: Moss costume

After I found out my managers were pretty dorky, I came to work on Halloween dressed like this. It earned plenty of laughs. 

Key elements of a Moss costume: 

-A checkered shirt 

-A zig-zag brown tie 

-Baggy pants (preferably corduroys because that's what he wears, but I went with tweed. Close enough). 

-Frizzy dark hair 

-Big nerdy glasses 

-Converse 

I spent the night in character, wreaking awkward havoc on our unfortunate customers. When my boss asked me to do something, I asked her if I could just send an email instead. 

She was not amused. 

Hobbiton in Halloween: Yes, more Frodo (because you can never have enough)

Continuing my "What I dressed up to go to work as" series, I took my cliche route and pulled on my favorite literary character's clothes.

Considering I already posted a Frodo make-up run through test and blabbed for some time, I won't go into too much detail about this here. I will say that I added to the costume by dirtying the shirt with watered down grey and yellow acrylic paint (for dirt and sweat stains), taking my Frodo Costume in a decidedly au natural "I haven't showered in 6 months" sort of vein.

We're not the in the Shire anymore, Toto.

I also dyed my hair dark brown (IT CAME OUT BLACK -_____-  ) and dirtied my face again, which made customers at work treat me like a homeless person. 

And after the third person called me Harry Potter, I nearly rage-quit. 


But without further ado.
Enjoy my nerdiness.

Spring Paris Look, straight from Mordor.

"You're Late." 

Posing like a dork in front of my apartment, before heading off to work (and yes, I sadly had to wear shoes at work. My hobbit self was sad.)

Dirtied shirt, Drop-front Trousers, Vest, and Travelling coat. 

The whole ensemble.

SUPER GEEK MODE ACTIVATED

Comments? Questions? Want instructions, better pictures, or to let me know that I should get out more? 

Reply below to fill me in. 

Black Books: I spent the day dressed as my favorite Irishman

In my ever continuing obsession with British Television, I have stumbled upon a delightful little show called "Black Books." I immediately took the characters to heart (while laughing my ass off as they dig themselves into deeper and deeper trouble). I highly recommend if you haven't seen it. 

Well. Long story short, I dyed my hair black. Let the record please state that it was an accident. 

However, in the aftermath, I discovered that in my usual morning cranky moods, I could pull his look off rather well. 

Oh Bernard. God bless your Irish heart. 

So I pulled together some props, smoked a couple cigarettes, and come up with this. 

Want to look like Bernard too?
Here's how.


Key elements: 
-A dark blazer
-A gem-tone shirt (dark red or dark blue)
-Dark messy hair (a wig would suffice!)
-A hangover and a scowl
-Props like books, booze, and smokes.


Here is my make-up plan:

I thickened my brows with a black eyeliner pencil. Then I applied a mauve tone under my eyes and around my mouth and jaw line. I applied a hot pink lip-liner on my bottom eyelids for that eternal hung-over/exhausted look. And finally, I took a rough sponge and applied a five o'clock shadow with a dark brown cream based make-up.

Then I made my hair messy, put on a wrinkled blue shirt with my Navy blue blazer and started drinking heavily and shouting insults in an Irish accent.

Scourge of the Seven Seas: So I went to work as a Pirate

Remember how we talked about destroying Pillow cases in my post about the zombie make-up? I re-used the same piece a few days later when my boss announced that we would get to come to work in costume. 

As you can imagine, I was thrilled to death. 

And so I threw this together, in about 45 minutes one morning. Key elements: 

-Eyepatch (ripped from black cloth and hot glued together in seconds) 

-Plastic Sword 

-Bandanna over my hair (wish I had a pirate hat but this is acceptable) 

-Fluffy white shirt 

-Adventure boots (mine happen to still be filthy from my recent excursions into the desert, as you can see...) 

-Knick-knacks. I.e.... Rings, necklaces... you know, things Pirates pick up on successful Commandeerings. 

I also lined my eyes Jack-Sparrow style and dirtied my face with some black eye shadow. 

I had loads of fun working that shift, and found my sword to come in handy. As the night wore on, and my patience wore thin, I began brandishing my weapon at customers to tell them to walk the plank (after they refused to leave even 30 minutes after our normal closing hours). Only around Halloween would I get away with such wonderful behavior.

Pilot Zombie: Easy Halloween Plans

So I went to a Zombie in Downtown Long Beach. I wanted something original - something I knew I wouldn't see (aka, white girl going as a black cat on halloween. PUh-LEEZE). So I pulled together some of my favorite old military paraphenalia and came up with this in the matter of about 30 minutes. 

My first step was to make me look wounded. I didn't want to destroy a shirt so I took an old pillow case and cut some holes for my head and arms. Then I tore off the bottom to make it all ragged. Afterwards, I cut slashes in it, and rimmed the edges with black and red paint, to make it look like a mix of old and fresh blood. 

Then I went to work on my face. 

I put on a while creamy foundation, to make my face look pale. Afterwards I came in with a muave color, and went under my eyes, in the hollows of my cheeks, under the eyebrows, and around my mouth. Then the fun part! I dabbed red creamy theatre make-up around my browline, running down the side of my face, and on one side of my nose, around an eye. Afterwards, I took red acrylic paint and splattered it all over me. 

 And voila! A wild zombie appears. 

You could do this with anything. Tear up a shirt (or pants, or jacket, etc), paint your face, and then add some characterization. A zombie sailor. A zombie accountant. Zombie MacDonald's worker. You get the idea. 

For shits and giggles, I attacked my SO with mad zombie skillz as well. He was delighted. 

Happy Haunting!