One character trait that Chris and I share is the “go big or go home” mindset.
If we are going to do something we gotta do it ALL THE WAY UP. So I’ve put together my favorite Halloween lewks we have executed in the past with our friends. Hopefully this will provide inspiration if you’re still wanting to partake in festivities this year and aren’t sure where to begin. And, in case you were wondering when we were going to grow up and not dress up, this post will answer that for you.
NEVER.
The Mad Hatter & Queen of Hearts.
Chris’s costume was an old poker dealer costume he already so I added sequin rope trim around the pockets and lapel and made a big bow out of rainbow fabric from Hobby Lobby. He ordered the hat from Amazon and then I added the sash, cards and feathers to complete the Mad Hatter vibe. The most important thing you need to remember from any of this, is anybody can be one hot glue gun away from something FABULOUS at all times.
My costume I purchased from Fredrick’s of Hollywood. I cannot even type that with a straight face! I will say this costume was probably one of my most covering looks for it to be from such a risqué place!
Our group pic for that night.
Angie and Josh were Barbie & Ken, Lori was Pretty Woman, which she killed it! That’s a costume I have been wanting to execute for years! It’s on my radar. And Tim is Buddy the Elf…lame Tim.
Another occasion we were Gru and his Minions.
Josh took one for the team and sported a prosthetic nose and bald cap.
I think Angie found our costumes on Esty, however I can no longer find them. I wore Angie’s halo extensions for this night and it started my love affair with extensions for Halloween.
The majority of our in depth costumes have been for Fantasy Fest in Key West.
In preparation for our first Fantasy Fest I knew I wanted to execute full on mermaid hair with extensions.
My hair stylist and dear friend, Lindsey Crider, and I had researched for months! Which extensions to get, which colors we wanted to use, how she was going to place the color and where.
She was going to come over on a Sunday afternoon and do it at my house. That morning I got the phone call my Grandfather had peacefully lost his battle with pancreatic cancer in his sleep. I had had many wonderful years with him. His passing at home with dignity was an answer to a prayer and all he had wanted from the moment he was diagnosed.
I texted Lindsey that our plans wouldn’t work out after all but I was thankful we had not already executed the mermaid hair because my Grandma would not have been happy with me standing in the receiving line greeting friends and family looking like a bag of tropical skittles!! She told me to keep her in the loop and we would absolutely figure out a way to work it out. His funeral was on a Wednesday morning. Lindsey met me at my house when I got back into town Wednesday night and stayed with me rinsing hair in my kitchen sink and putting extensions in until 1 am!!!
We flew out to Key West the next morning.
For her to take the time to give me my happy moment during a time of grief, I will never forget that.
So whenever I see Lindsey out and about, I treat her to car bomb shots as my thank you. It’s our thing now!
Lindsey used the tape in extensions and Pravana hair color. (I can’t remember which brand extensions we used.)
Fantasy Fest is a week long festival. There are certain themes to each day or you can just dress up however you want as a group, which is what we kind of did. I am set and ready! I’ve got my ballin mermaid hair, what can go wrong?!
Angie and I got henna tattoo’s while intoxicated. We smeared it EVERYWHERE. ALL OVER OURSELVES. And the bad part was Chris kept telling us not to do it, don’t do it, you’re going to mess it up. So I had to listen to his mouth ALL weekend saying I told ya so!! Blah blah blahhhh.
If he had just let us get them when we first got there and were sober and not drinking yet, it would’ve been fine!
Guess what, henna doesn’t come off, like its there for the long haul. And we look like a damn mess. Angie’s arm pit is BLACK!!!! It’s all on my FACE! DAMN IT WE MESSED THIS UP BAD! So Angie’s mom tells us to try a dry eraser, the Mr. Clean one. She swears she told us not to scrub.
We scrubbed.
We scrubbed our asses off, because it was actually getting the henna off!! You know WHY the henna was coming off?! Because we were sand papering layers of our damn skin off!!! And then this burning sensation set in and Angie and I ran into the bathroom fighting over who was getting in the shower first to try and rinse it off. We were in too much pain to remember Angie had two showers.
Chris and josh were laughing so hard at our expense. Buncha buttholes.
Thankfully I didn’t scrub my face but I did my arm and leg and there were bad chemical burns where I had scrubbed. And the one on my leg was near my inner thigh so that’s a great place to have a bruise/war wound. It basically looked like I got donkey punched in the crotch.
We finally got it together to execute the group Mermaid Lewk.
Angie and I’s costumes were from Yandy. I beaded the tops and made our starfish crowns, which were heavy and one of the shells cut Angie’s face. Now you know why Angie and I cannot be trusted alone. We are walking disasters.
Chris’s costume is a prince costume from Amazon. We hemmed the pants into shorts.
Josh is like Martha Freaking Stewart so god knows how the hell he crafted his costume.
Barbarians was the theme for this night.
My feather mohawk is one of my favorite purchases to date. There is an incredible Etsy shop, Simins Creations, who specializes in custom head pieces for all occasions.
The Sunday of Fantasy Fest is the Zombie Bike!! It is AMAZING and so fun!
For this year, the bike ride happened to fall on Josh and Angie’s 1 year wedding anniversary. So I used my actual bridesmaid dress and we were a zombie wedding. We did go to a nice brunch in normal clothes that morning to celebrate!
We quickly learned I was a complete liability on a bike hungover.
Angie and I just kept referencing Pintrest ideas and pictures for our makeup and made it up as we went.
The guys were in charge of getting each other ready and as you can see from the picture above of Josh painting Chris’s face, they were full serious mode as well.
Fast forward to the next year, add in Carly and Shaun, and you’ve got the Suicide Squad-plus the infamous Mel T!
In order from left to right…
(The character examples below us didn’t match up exactly but you get the idea.)
Josh was Captain Boomerang.
Angie was Harley Quinn.
Chris was the Joker.
Carly was Katana. (Her character isn’t pictured.)
Shaun was El Diablo.
I was the Enchantress.
Chris had an actual grill made just like the one the Joker wore in the movie! It was a grill company out of Miami. He had to bite into a mold and everything. It was wild and awesome. See, go big or go home.
His gun holster and tattoos are from Etsy. I found his pants at a Goodwill. He ordered his shoes from Amazon and the chains were from a pop up Halloween Express. Keeping Chris from smacking us in the butt with Angie’s bat was really the hardest part of the evening. And my wig was suffocating!! it was all over me and the hair was getting caught in everything. Eventually I took it off and threw it away and then I just looked like Britney Spears and of course we all know I very content with that.
Here is a closer look at how I made this top.
The way I beaded this and the mermaid tops is exactly the same. It’s not hard, I promise! I started with a simple black bra and I bought strings of beads from Hobby Lobby. The silver looking trim was I think from the Christmas tree decor section. I glue it down in lines so it remains beaded on the line, which makes it a very easy and quick process.
The bottom is a black bathing suit bottom.
I cut the sides and added the o-rings so I could hook a chain hanging across the front and back to string all the hang down tassels from.
Vintage Circus!
My head piece is a head scarf from Zara, feathers from Hobby Lobby and a broach. My sequin high waisted shorts and bustle I ordered from Etsy.
Chris’s pants we already had from an old MC Hammer costume. I found the plain hat at the Halloween Express then added the cards to go off my fortune teller vibe.
My fortune telling ball would break later in the night. The light popped out of the bottom so it was just an empty giant ball. I gave it to the bartender and ordered a fish bowl moscow mule and drank out of it. It was pretty tricky to put down.
You’re probably thinking what do you do with all this stuff?! We have a costume closet.
I don’t know where I am in that bottom right picture but that’s my leg.
Zombie Baywatch for the annual bike ride!
After the previous year of me demonstrating what a wild card I was on the bike in a crowded situation Chris made me ride a tricycle. This was really the best option for the safety of everyone within 6 feet of me. I loved the tricycle! I had the cooler, the speaker and I was STABLE! I was the head betch in charge. I just kept playing the Lil Uzi Vert song that says, “all my friends are dead” over and overrrrr.
The Zombie Bike Ride is chaotic and a blast. You go slow because it is extremely crowded. People tailgate in their yards to watch the bikers come by. Some spectators run through the bikers handing out shots. It is a trippy sight to see!
Last year I threw my empty (plastic) shot glass at Josh and nailed him right in the face. That’s what you get for laughing at my chemical burns bro.
From our crew to yours, Happy Halloween!
Cheers to aging gracefully, never looking your age or acting it…because being you rocks!
- Lyv
2018 Costume - DIY Jellyfish
Last year I whipped out this DIY Jellyfish costume in one day at the last minute!
I mainly chose the Jellyfish idea, because I am a barracuda and had seen so many cool makeup looks on Instagram with glitter.
For the first time in my life I regretted the glitter. ALL the regrats!! I wanted to kick my own butt the next morning when I was trying to clean our bathroom post dress up fun!
Between the Halloween store and Hobby Lobby I found all the supplies I needed to complete the project. I bought a plain white corset, white LED tutu, Christmas tree garland and a few feather boas.
I hand painted the corset and tutu with pastel paint using sponges.
I cut the garland and boas into various lengths and sporadically glued them into the tutu for the jellyfish leg effect!
The googly eyes were from the kids craft section at Hobby Lobby. Probably not the proper use “googly eyes” were intended for BUT, here we are.
The gemstones I already had from previous gypsy craft projects so I glued those on for added dimension to lewk! Because the assembly for this costume was so last minute I used my trusty hot glue gun. However, if I had had more time I would’ve used E6000 because even the devil can’t pull a rhinestone off after you’ve used that honey!!!
TRUST AND BELIEVE.
Here is a glimpse into the makeup process! I used an image from Instagram as a guide of a girl who had executed a similar Jellyfish vibe. The gems on my forehead and chest were giant stickers with lots of individual gemstones on a clear background from the Gypsy Shrine. You can really create some neat looks with the gem stickers from the Gypsy Shrine! I’ll provide a link below for you to browse the website and link the products I used for you to shop at the end.
I used face paint to create the blue contour definition along my hairline and cheekbones. Jesus take the wheel on why I decided to add glitter to the contour as well. That shit went EVERYWHEREEEEE. I thought I was being so careful, pulled the rug back, put towels down…but no. The devil was in those bottles of glitter and he crawled out, multipled and glued himself to everything in my bathroom and house.
The makeup turned out cool and it was super fun for the Jellyfish costume HOWEVER, I should’ve done my makeup OUTSIDE and I should’ve made Chris pressure wash me off before I stepped foot back our house.
If you’re into crazy Halloween makeup but aren’t super confident in your abilities check with your local Sephora or MAC counters. Often times they have artist who specialize in artsy makeup this time of year. Typically they take appointments with a product purchase.
Despite almost having to bulldoze our bathroom because of the glitter, I did win 2nd place in the costume contest at the Woody!
What do you get when a Jellyfish, Catwoman and a Mermaid walk into a bar?!
Just me and my frandz.
Tara also used the gem stickers from the Gypsy Shrine for her catwoman makeup lewk! Also, she should wear that ponytail everyday.
I’ve linked Tara’s stickers she purchased at the end to shop as well.
Chris was a pirate and went fishing the next morning still wearing his guy-liner!!
This year we’ll be back with our usual Halloween crew and we’re doing a fun twist on the Flintstones as a group!
Thanks for joining me on another editor of maybe we’ll never grow up! And whatever you decide to be for Halloween, push your shoulders back and silently demand the attention of the room…
Because being you ROX!
Cheers frandz!
Lyv
SHOP
DAILY VIBES
