smoochmotif:

[Please take heed: the linked content is not under my control and some of it is slut shamey and body shamey and iirc there may be a few binarist/transphobic comments in the makeup tutorial? So tread lightly and remember to take these with a grain of salt. Amassing knowledge is the point, even if you don’t use it all.]

• Iron your costume! If you’re sewing, iron your fabric before you work with it (and don’t forget to pre-wash it, either).
• If you’re at a con, bring safety pins with you. Bring them with you everywhere. You never know when you might need one. Bring a  compact mirror, too.
• Do you need a certain shade of lipstick that’s IMPOSSIBLE to find? Don’t waste a shit ton of money. Mix some eyeshadow or eyeliner or other face-safe pigment into a glob of vaseline until it’s an even consistency. You can store the lipstick in a contacts case! (video tutorial)
• Practice posing! Learn the basic mistakes people make in posing for pictures and figure out what looks best for you. This guide is super helpful, as is this video, and these links: [1] [2] [3] [this one has the video in it i think]
• Even if your character wears literally no makeup, you probably should! Even if it’s just a little bit of foundation and some eyeliner, it’ll keep you from looking strung out and greasy in pictures. I learned a ton from this tutorial set. This post is also really helpful.
• Wigs are your friends.
• No really, they are. By using your real hair you run a risk of doing actual damage to your body or, like a friend of mine, going back to your agricultural college after a con weekend with fuchsia hair. Wigs can be expensive, but so can hair-care, and you only have to buy and style a wig once (if cared for properly). I buy most of my wigs off of ebay and 95% of my wig experiences have been perfectly fine! On average my wigs have cost me about $15 per, even the extremely long ones! Unless you need a lacefront or something with incredible body (and there are ways around that, too!) there’s no reason to break the bank on a wig. 
• (If you DO need a REALLY GOOD WIG for whatever reasons, Arda, MatchWigs, Amphigory, and Cosworx all have good recommendations.)
• But whatever wig you buy, don’t leave it unstyled. This guide is pretty helpful, but the things I suggest investing in are: 
  - a blowdryer
  - a wig head 
  - got2b glued hair spray (ESSENTIAL!!!)
  - scissors (really any old scissors will do. it’s how you use them that’s important!)
  - a comb (or an assortment of combs) (these can be bought at the dollar store)
  - plastic curlers
• An unstyled wig is obvious and often too long and looks bad. Even if your makeup and clothes are pristine, a bad wig or bad hair can make your cosplay blow hard.
• A wig from Party City is also a bad idea. It’ll cost you about as much as a wig from ebay and it will immediately and eternally look like butt. There are some tricks you can use to battle this but I’m not sure how effective they are. 
• If you’re going to wear a wig (or a bald cap), get a wig cap and learn how to use it! 
• (I will be filming a wig styling tutorial very soon to show you how to tackle wigcraft and wigzardry if you’re wary of screwing up.)
• Choose a costume you can feel confident wearing! If you’re constantly worried about how much of your butt is hanging out of your microshorts, or if you can’t see where you’re going, it’s going to be way less fun (and possibly dangerous).

I’ve accumulated my supplies over a long period of time! Makeup and wigs and fabric and basically everything about cosplay is expensive, and even the little things add up. Learn where your Goodwills and thrift shops are and shop wisely! If you’re going to buy a wig off of ebay, keep in mind that you’ll need to order it about a month in advance to make sure it gets to you on time. 

westerfuck:

For a while my Dave Strider cosplay included $400 Gucci shades I found on the ground at Disneyland and a $60 pair of black Vans I found on the street and honestly I feel it’s the most canon cosplay I ever did

silencedrowns:

identivitycosplay:

silencedrowns:

I’m a cosplayer, I’ve worn contacts for almost 18 years, and I’ve seen so much horrifyingly dangerous behavior with colored contacts and general eye safety in the pursuit of our hobby that it makes me want to scream. I’ve ranted about this before on Twitter (and often) so I decided to make a megapost about it.

I AM NOT EXAGGERATING ABOUT FUCKING UP YOUR EYES FOREVER. I have seen people LOSE AN EYE or get permanent eye damage from unsafe behavior; I’ve also seen people carted off to the hospital over it. Colored contacts and heavy eye makeup can be entirely safe, but you have to know how to use and wear them properly! 

This post will be very long, but I encourage everyone who has an interest in colored lenses (especially circle lenses!) or cosplay makeup to read it. I don’t want you to lose an eye.

Keep reading

YES THANK YOU FOR ALL OF THIS. I’ve been wearing prescription contacts for 20 years and I want to yell at people sometimes.

ALSO IF YOU’RE GOING TO USE AN EYE MAKEUP REMOVER CHECK TO SEE IF ITS CONTACT LENS SAFE. It will say on the bottle “safe for use with contact lens”. You should still be careful though and if you get some in your eye, take your contacts out asap! And remove your lens before you remove your makeup because your makeup remover + contact lens = no bueno. Wash your hands first though/remove makeup from hands before doing so.

Thank you for bringing that up! I didn’t even think to mention this because I’ve used the same eye makeup remover for ages and it’s contact lens safe.

wildwildwasteland:

no offense but if any of us fallout peeps are still kicking on october 23rd 2077 what are our plans. we’ve only got 60 years to either start a prime doomsday cult or plan the world’s wildest old folks apocalypse cosplay party of all time