Cosplay4Everyday: Daenerys Targaryen

Welcome back to my Cosplay4Everyday feature, which I’ve been having so much fun with that I’ve kind of neglected my other blog duties– I have ignored the iTunes Single of the Week for about a month now, there isn’t much going on red carpet-wise during the summer, I haven’t been to the movies lately, and I’m not currently involved with any television shows.  I have been reading, though, and what I’m reading right now is A Dance With Dragons, the fifth installment in George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” series.  The fourth book, A Feast For Crows, took me forever to get through because it didn’t feature a lot of my favorite characters at all– no Tyrion, very little Jon Snow, and worst of all, no Daenerys.  I’ve been in a Game of Thrones mindset since the fourth season began airing, and now that it’s over I feel a little bereft;  the internet having basically blown up the other day when erstwhile Eddard Stark actor Sean Bean all but revealed that the popular fan theory known as “R+L=J” is spot-on, it seems a lot of other people are, too.  I don’t know what implications this being true would have for my beloved khaleesi, but in any case, Jon’s still a bastard (sorry, Jon, I still love you), and the Iron Throne is still in my humble opinion the future seat of Dany.  She’s the Mother of Dragons and completely badass in her own right, besides having the best claim to the throne by birthright.

Anyway, Dany rocks some enviable hairstyles throughout the show, but almost all are variations on a basic double crown braid.  The hair is totally a wig on the show, as actress Emilia Clarke is really a brunette, so in that spirit, as well as the spirit of Cosplay4Everyday being all about clandestine cosplay in real life, I’m not going all out– working with my real hair, which is also brunette.  Let’s start with the makeup, since Dany’s is so simple.

Stuff You’ll Need:

• Your favorite foundation– as you know by now, mine is Hard Candy’s Just Face It in Ultra Light.  Don’t bother with powder, unless you really need it, since Dany’s look is very natural and dewy.
•  Blush in a pinky tone, not too peachy, but not pure pink either.  I always use a lipstick because I like the texture and I’m frugal; the Estee Lauder Heathermist Pink I used in the Mary Queen of Scots cosplay will work great here.
• Eyeshadow in a duo of matte browns, one dark and one very pale, plus an extra shimmer in white if you want to play up the shine.  My favorite matte browns are from Lancome;  I’ve had them forever (they were part of the free gift from some perfume I bought a million years ago), a Maquiriche duo in Sable and Cappuccino.  For the shimmer, I always go with the white shade from my New York Color trio called Spotlight, but be warned that a little of it goes a long way.
• Brown eyeliner– I’m working with a pencil this time around, Maybelline’s Expert Eyes in Light Brown.  If you want to go a tad smokier, you can use a wet brown eyeshadow– the dark brown shade from my Hard Candy Under the Moon Mod Quad would be excellent for this, though it’s shimmer, so go light.
• Your usual black mascara, in my case New York Color’s Instant Lash.
• Lipstick in a light brown tone.  I’m using Estee Lauder’s Cafe Latte, which looks dark in the tube but goes on much lighter than it looks.
• Brown eyebrow pencil or powder– the eyeliner or the darker matte eyeshadow can pull double duty here.

Okay, got everything?  Let’s make up.

1. Start with your foundation– don’t forget your eyelids.  Gotta prime.
2. Give yourself a smile in the mirror and apply your blush to the apples of your cheeks– where you would get sunburned first.  Dany spends a lot of time in the sun, traveling between the cities she’s conquering like a boss.  Well, at least till she got to Meereen, where she’s doing a bit more of the royalty thing.  Blend well for the most natural look.
3. Eye time!  Start with your liner, whether it’s a pencil or a wet shadow.  Trace your upper lash line, right up against it.  Don’t overdo it– just a little definition.  Then smudge a bit on your lower lash line, just as you normally would, and blend.  Next apply your lighter matte brown shadow in a medium-thick line across your eyelid, followed by your darker brown in the crease.  Blend. Go back to your light brown and sweep over the brow bone, blend once more, and if you want some shimmer, add your white over this, up to the brow line.  Blend again, then add your mascara;  just one coat is necessary.
4. Pencil or powder in your brows– Dany’s eyebrows are quite bold, so go as free as you feel comfortable with.
5. Put on your lipstick, and you’re all done.

Hair is the hard part.  Let’s do this.

Stuff You’ll Need:

• 6 hair ties
• Brush
• Tail comb
• Hairspray

If you’ve noticed, I’m not big on pins.  If a hair tie can’t accomplish the look I’m going for, I scrap it.  Usually.  Unless I just have to have the hairdo, but even then, the fewer the better.  Anyway, let’s do some hair.

1. Get as close to a center part as you can, then separate a small chunk of hair right around the temple– leave a strand in front of each ear.  We’re going to braid back both sides.  Take your strand and do the first three turns as if you were starting a normal French braid.  Now comes the tricky part.  The braids aren’t normal French braids.  They’re Dutch braids, which means they’re inverted.  When you grab a new piece of hair to add to the braid as you go back, you need to cross it under the main braid instead of over.  Keep up this process till you reach the back of your head, using a tail comb to keep things smooth if need be, then braid away from your head normally for a couple of turns and tie off.  Repeat on the other side.
2. Connect these two braids at the back of the head, tie off, and remove the extra ties if you want, though the going might be tricky.
3. We’re going to cheat a bit on the second tier of braids, because OMG I forgot how much I hate Dutch braiding.  Also, if your hair is super fine and flyaway like mine, you might not have enough hair left over to make a second set of Dutch.  Take a section of hair from above the ear, leaving a tendril in front of the ear as I said before, and just braid it normally, away from your head.  Tie off and repeat on the other side.  If these braids look too skinny compared to the Dutch braids, go for it and Dutch ’em, or continue to cheat as I did and just fluff them out so they’re looser.
4. Connect these two braids at the back of the head– below the first set, but over top of the ends of the first set.
5. Connect ALL the braids at the back above your loose bottom layer.  If you want to take out the extra ties, you might have to give them a snip.
6. Secure with hairspray– if you need a little extra volume, flip your hair upside down and spray underneath, even teasing a bit if necessary.
7. The little strands you left in front of your ears?  You can either curl them or leave them wispy– I’ve seen khaleesi do it both ways.  I left mine be, because they were very fine– my hair is a cross between baby hair and a haystack.

Tah Dah!  You are the Mother of Dragons.

Apologies for the lighting, as this is the first of these I’ve finished at night (the Dutch braids were giving me fits).  Here’s a look at the back (thank you, Fluffy Stepson, for assisting me):

Daenerys wears a lot of blue, and a lot of natural fabrics.  I played with this by wearing a giraffe-print camisole topped with a blue paisley sheer blouse.  Halter tops would look good, or anything animal print or blue.  I’ve rarely seen her wear jewelry, so you don’t really need it, but if you do, go for something bold like arm cuffs, big hoops, or statement necklaces– think Bronze Age.

Hope this is helpful if you’re looking to cop this style.  This isn’t one of my better cosplays due to the texture of my hair, but if yours is thicker you’ll probably have less of a headache than I did.  Thanks for reading, and see you next time out.

Cosplay4Everyday: Mary, Queen of Scots

I really enjoyed putting together my first Cosplay4Everyday post, and will be doing a lot more of these in the future.  The idea here is taking inspiration from your favorite characters and translating it into your everyday life– not necessarily going all out, since we all have to work and do other things where our love of costume may not be exactly practical, but still allowing ourselves the freedom to play around a bit.  My first post was about the character of Elsa from Frozen, and it was such a blast I immediately started looking for other subject matter. I didn’t have to look far– I was already stealing some of the great hair looks on display in the CW’s series Reign, a loose (and very entertaining) interpretation of the life of Mary, Queen of Scots.  The show is not exactly faithful to history or to period fashion, instead creatively showcasing a modern sensibility that permeates the characters’ style of dress while remaining influenced by the clothing and hairstyles of the time.  That makes it a natural fit for this feature, so let’s play!  Hair first this time, so we can get it out of the way for the makeup work later…

Stuff You’ll Need:

• Some means of curling your hair. Whether you prefer a curling iron, rollers, or the good old sock bun like I used, we’re gonna need some texture and volume.   If you work with sponge rollers or the sock bun (or hair donut– they make those now, but I’ve found the sock still works better), you’ll want to sleep on it overnight, but if you’re in a hurry, the iron or hot rollers are just fine.   You don’t need perfect curls, just texture.
• A headband, the wider and more ornate the better.  I used a leaf-patterned headband I picked up on sale at Claire’s.  Metal or fabric-covered is preferable to plain plastic, especially if you have very dark hair like myself, so it stands out better and is, believe it or not, more comfortable.  I am the owner of a very large head, and plastic headbands tend to crack and snap on me.  Those stretchy headbands won’t work for this style either– they’ll get lost in your hair.  (I can’t wear them anyway– they work their way off my gargantuan occiput and fall off.)
• A brush (duh)
• Two small hair ties
• Ornamentation of your choosing– whether thin ribbons, bead strings, or hair jewels. Or just improvise– I used odd earrings.  Whatever you use is up to you.  Or you can skip this altogether for a more low-key look.
• Hairspray

Got your doodads together?  Okay, let’s work.

1. First things first– get that hair curled.  Put a few curling iron twists all over your head, or use hot rollers, or take your sponge rollers out, or just remove your sock.  Once you’ve got your curls, mist them with a little hairspray and let that dry before you gently brush them out.  It doesn’t matter if they still look like curls when you’re done– you just want some bounce.
2. You should have a nice messy fluffy head of hair now.  Get your part straight– center is best, but the look still works if your natural part is offsides.  Your hair around the part should look smooth and controlled as opposed to rest of your hair.
3. Place your headband.  Placement is a bit tricky but easy.  You want a good inch or two of your part showing in front, and you don’t want to pull ALL of your hair back in it– you need to leave two good-sized strands in front of the band on either side.  The strand right in front of each of your ears is perfect.  Once the band is on, push it just a hair forward to volumize the front just a bit.
4. Now comes the fun part.  Each of those strands of hair in front of your ears is going to become a different type of braid.  It doesn’t matter which goes on which side, but we’ll do the regular braid first.  If you’re working with ribbon or bead strands, this is the braid you’ll want to weave them into.  Just take the strand and make it a skinny little braid all the way down to the end of the hair, and secure it with one of the itsy-bitsy hair ties.  If your ties are too big or won’t stay on, you can tie off with a little thread in close to your natural color.
5. The other strand is about to become a unicorn braid.  If you know how to do this already, great.  If you don’t, a quick primer:  divide the strand in half, and twist both strands tight clockwise.  Then start at the top and twist them together counterclockwise.  Secure at the end.
6. If you’re using hair jewels or earrings like I did, stick them in the regular braid randomly.  If you’re feeling extra dressy, you can add them to the unicorn braid too, but that braid won’t hold earrings in particularly well and might make it fall apart.
7. Mist with a touch of hairspray and voila!

All righty then, now we get to play in some makeup.  Unlike Elsa’s cool pink and violet palette, Mary’s look relies on warm earth tones.  Browns make me look really pale, but sometimes I like that.

Stuff You’ll Need:

• Eyeshadow in a trio of warm browns.  Whether you use shimmer or matte is up to you;  I prefer shimmer because it makes my eyes stand out more (I wear glasses, as you may have noticed) and carries the added bonus of disguising any stray eyebrow hairs you missed or just didn’t bother with (I have eyebrow game, so I don’t mess with them).  I mentioned in my Elsa post that I don’t do pricey makeup.  I picked up a new quad at Wally World by Hard Candy which I’m loving at the moment.  It’s a Mod Quad called Under the Moon and it’s extremely versatile.  It contains a gorgeous cool violet (not used here), a warm chocolate, a pinky beige, and a rich cream color.  Therefore, you can do a warm or a cool look with it, depending on which shadows you use.  All are shimmer, and the shadow is baked, which means you can use it wet, which we’re going to do.
• Crayon and/or liquid eyeliner, in black.  I skipped the liquid this time around;  I’ve seen it in use on Reign, but with wet shadow, I consider it a little bit TOO intense.  So I stuck with my trusty Rimmel crayon in Steel.
• Brown brow pencil or brow powder (I used an eyeshadow– an ancient free sample of Maquiriche from Lancome called Sable, a dark matte brown).
• Mascara of your choice, but always black, please.  I’m getting a lot of mileage out of my New York Color Instant Lash.
• Your favorite foundation.  No need to go super warm if you’re pale like me;  you’ll just look like a clown.  Use what works for you.  I’m a Hard Candy girl myself;  I use the Just Face It foundation in Ultra Light, which pulls triple duty as concealer AND powder, leaving a shine-free finish without looking pancake-y.  Seriously, I love this stuff.
• A peach-toned blush.  As always, I used a lipstick, in this case an Estee Lauder shade called Frosted Apricot (also as always, lipstick is my splurge item).  This is just me; use real blush if you prefer it.
• A matte lipstick in an unobtrusive color close to that of your natural lips.  I used another Estee Lauder lipstick called Heathermist Pink.
• A contouring agent.  You can use bronzer or a product made for contouring, but I improvised (again!) and used an eyeshadow of sorts.  I don’t know if they still make it;  I picked it up at the Dolla Holla Tree, so it may be a discontinued item, but it comes in a tube with a rollerball, and it’s called Roller Color by Maybelline, in a color called Twirling Taupe. I’ve had it for some time, and it works great  as a contouring powder; that’s what I mainly use it for, rather than its intended purpose as an eyeshadow.

Now that we have all our toys together, let’s play the makeup game.

1. Go ahead and apply your foundation as you normally do.  Remember to prime your eyelids.  This is a step people often skip, but trust me when I say it helps your color go on easier and stay put longer.  No need for a fancy product just for priming;  your foundation will do.
2. Apply your blush sparingly and blend.  Mary’s look is fresh, not overdone, so keep it light.  Concentrate on the apples of the cheeks rather than the cheekbones for a more natural glow.
3. Contour beneath your cheekbones and on the sides of your nose.  Blend well.
4. On to the eyes!  If you’ve never worked with wet shadows (I’m a relative newbie myself), be warned that they go on super bright.  This is also the only instance in which I’m going to tell you it’s okay to use the little sponge-tip applicators that makeup companies, no matter how high-end, always saddle you with.  Get yourself a little puddle of water for dipping your brush in (just like watercolors when we were kids!  Yay!).  You can use a dish, or a lid, or even close up your sink and use it.  Dip in and shake off the excess (I pat the brush on the back of my hand or my wrist), then dig into your chocolate color.  Use just the edge of the brush for now.  Then apply to your upper lid as you would a liner– just right up against the lash line.  You can wing it out very subtly if you’re comfortable with that and have a steady hand.  Next, using a different brush pad (or the other end, if it’s double-sided), wet the brush and go for your beige tone.  This is your main lid color, so coat your whole lid (it’s okay if you get some in the crease, we’re going to blend in a minute anyway).  Now, using your original brush pad, re-wet and go back to your chocolate.  This is for your crease.  Just like working with dry color, you want to gently push it into the crease with a windshield-wiper motion, but since it’s wet, use a slightly lighter hand so you don’t overdo it and look like you have a black eye.  Finally, break out yet another brush pad (very important this time not to reuse), wet, and dip into your cream color.  Apply this over the whole area between your brow and your crease.  If your original chocolate line is looking muddy after applying the lid color, you can go back over it.  Blend everything (except the chocolate against the lash line) with a dry, regular brush with soft bristles.
5. Apply your eyeliner.  Be as free as you want to with it.  On the show Mary and her various ladies-in-waiting often utilize kohl, which can be quite a dramatic look, so don’t feel like you have to skimp.  Do both the under-eye line and the wet line, and if you want to supplement your shadow liner, go for it;  a subtle wing is okay here too.
6. Mascara.  Once again, feel free to be bold.  Go for two coats or even three, remembering to comb your lashes between each coat to eliminate “crummies”.
7. Pencil or powder in your brows.  If you’ve got game, you can even skip this step, but I did it anyway just for a more polished look.
8. Finally, add your lipstick.  Since we have dramatic eyes, you should go lightly.  Mary’s lip color is usually very natural-looking, so a shade close to your real lips is a must, and a shimmer shade will look too fake.  Blot thoroughly, as you really want your color to be more of a stain than a veneer.

Bam!  All finished:

(Yes, that’s a scar under my left eye.  I get enough sleep, thanks).

A better look at the headband (and my premature grays), since it wasn’t really visible in that pic (apologies for the crappy lighting in my computer room):

Your wardrobe pieces should have a kind of medieval flair.  It looks like I’m wearing a shawl in the first photo,  and a shawl is totes perfect, but it’s really a blouse worn over a tee. Bell sleeves are good, as is embroidery;  anything that looks like you’d wear it to a Renn Faire, really.  As for accessories, a big necklace or big earrings (but not both) will work great, as long as they have an Old-World look (like the Celtic knot necklace from the first photo, which would have admittedly looked better with a scoop-necked shirt.)

There are a ton of variations you can work with this look– the only necessary constants are the headband and earthy eyes.  You can channel any of Mary’s ladies with simple tweaks.

Lady Kenna

Kenna’s look is similar to Mary’s, but think boho instead of regal.  You can leave your hair straight, so that’s a bit of a break, and go crazy with the gypsy accessories.  A pinker tone for the lipstick and blush will work well, and instead of contouring go for highlighting.  For wardrobe, your keywords should be “Renaissance Hippie,” and just go from there– anything gauzy, flowing and summery will look wonderful here.  Other than Mary’s queenly style, Kenna’s more playful one is my favorite.

Lady Lola

To steal Lola’s style, you’ll want to keep those curls instead of brushing them out, and work with dry eyeshadows rather than wet to keep the makeup look unfussy;  you can skip eyeliner altogether.  Use your headband to push those curls forward, front and center!  Go bold with the brows, and choose more of a berry tone for the lips;  Lola’s palette is a little cooler, but still earthy. Clothing can be a richer fabric, like linen or crepe, and the accessories can be more luxe, as well;  Lola’s keyword is “Quality.”

Lady Greer

While Greer has been known to rock the headbands, it’s not her go-to style; she usually wears simple twists in the front, with or without the band.  Just curl the ends of your hair here.  Keep the contouring, and you can go for more color on the eyes, possibly adding a little green or gold if you wish.  Greer’s look is a little more in-your-face ostentatious wardrobe and accessory-wise, so feel free to break out your metallics and beading or sequins and wear all the jewelry you want.  Greer’s keyword is “Glam.”

Lady Aylee

The late, lamented Aylee always brought her braid game.  Look up tutorials for crazy intricate braids on Pinterest (I have some good tutorials on my”Hair-Raising” Pinterest board) if you want to copycat her wild ‘do’s.  Her keyword was “Romantic”, and choices in lace, feminine trims like ruffles or lacing, and small, demure accessories bring out her style.  Her makeup was the most fresh-faced of the group, so keep the blush very light and skip the eyeliner, and as with Lola, work with dry eye colors rather than wet.  You can opt for a tinted lip balm rather than a lipstick.  She was ultra-girly– almost little-girly– and revealing clothes or vampy lips or eyes would be out of place here.

So there you have it– an incredibly versatile base look that can be styled in a variety of ways.  A little something to inspire you to bring your love of costume into your daily routine without raising a plebeian eyebrow.  Hope you enjoyed it and have fun with it!  If you’d like to see my interpretation of any other characters from any of your other favorite nerdy TV shows and  movies, feel free to ask me in the comments– I’m always looking for new styles to try.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cosplay4Everyday: Elsa

Welcome to a new occasional feature I’m adding to the blog.  I’m calling it Cosplay4Everyday, and it’s all about letting your geek flag fly discreetly when you’re at work, at school, or out and about.  The point of this is not producing complete and total character transformations like you’d do at a Con or for a costume party, but taking quiet inspiration from our fictional heroes as we go about our day in a way that’s not going to make the Muggles freak out.  This can be accomplished in many ways– through makeup, hairstyle, and wardrobe.  My look today was inspired by my totem Disney Princess (ahem, Queen), Elsa from Frozen.  It’s not an all-out look.  For one, I’m brunette, and not feeling my inner blonde today or any day since approximately the mid-90’s, so I worked with my natural hair color.  I went for the overall shape of the hairdo and Elsa’s enviable computer-generated makeup palette.  We’ll start with the makeup, since that’s what I did first.

Stuff You’ll Need:

• Shimmer eye shadows in lavender, plum, and ivory/white.  Unlike the YouTube makeup gurus, I’m not going to tell you which expensive MAC shade that only comes in a huge pricey palette to buy, I’m just going to give a guideline, because most of my stuff came from the bargain bin, and it works just as well.  I WILL let you know what I used, if you’re so inclined, and there are some products I really like.  There does need to be a contrast between the pale, pinkish lavender and the deeper plum color but they should be in the same color family– cool purples, not warmer red-toned ones.
• Crayon and liquid black eyeliners.  I’m not a fan of pencils because I have sensitive eyes, but the twist-up crayon type is awesome and even works on my wet lines without making my corneas swell out of my sockets.
• Brown brow pencil (I used a glittery gold one because I couldn’t find my brown, but don’t try this at home unless you’re an expert blender).
• Mascara (black, black, ALWAYS black, and for this look it should be a fairly new tube, unless you want to spend hours trying to glue fakes to your head only to have them come spidering down your cheek later).
• Light ivory foundation (lighter the better) and concealer (if necessary)
• Cool pink blush (NO peachy tones)
• Lipstick in a cool raspberry shade (frosted, and NOT pale).  I didn’t have an exact match but found Lancome’s Mirage (pale frosted pink) with a light overlay of Clinique’s Pink Chocolate (cool raspberry, but matte) blended together to make the perfect color.  (If I have high-end stuff, it’s usually lipstick.)
• The palest shimmer highlighter you can find.  I used ELF’s Shimmering Facial Whip in Spotlight, which is basically white, but bear in mind that this stuff is VERY runny and a little goes a long way.  You’ll wanna shake it a bit before using, and then blend it a bit in your fingers before applying.

Okay, got all your makeup together?  Good.  Let’s do this.

1. Go ahead and do your foundation and concealer (if you need it) first.  I didn’t set mine with powder because I didn’t want a matte look– nothing about Elsa is matte, she is all shimmer and glow.  Only use powder if you absolutely must, but other than that, just slap it on in your usual way.  Remember to use it on your entire eyelid area as a base for your eye shadow later.  If you have a more pigmented skin tone or a tan you’ll want to blend like crazy with a big fluffy brush.
2. Cheeks are easy.  Elsa doesn’t wear much blush.  Stick to your contour line under the cheekbone and blend well (use your fingers if you’re using cream blush, a medium size fluffy brush if using a powder type).  Elsa also has a little bit of pink right at the end of her nose (and I thought I was the only weirdo who put blush on her nose!)  Just a dot, right where you’d get sunburned first.  Blend, blend, you don’t want to look like Rudolph.  (Major admission time:  I use a lipstick as a blush.  I just prefer the consistency.  And the one I used today was from the Dolla Holla Tree.)  Now give yourself a big smile in the mirror and apply the shimmer highlighter to the apples of your cheeks, and blend.
3. Now begins the hard part:  eyes.  I’m a total klutz with eye makeup and usually don’t wear it, but this look is super easy if you’re good with makeup and totally doable if, like me, you suck at it.  First off, go ahead and coat your lids with the lavender shade (the lighter purple).  Go heavy as you like;  this is your primary color.  I used a lilac-y tone from Hard Candy’s “Pinking of You” palette– second from the right.  Don’t use those little foam brushes that come with.  They fall apart, they don’t give you enough color, they’re not at all precise, they just SUCK generally.  Especially if you’re clumsy at all.  Use a nice rounded brush, a real one, and just go to town.  Next, break out your plum shade (the darker purple).  I used one from a Dolla Holla Tree palette, so it doesn’t even have a name, but it’s darker than the ones in the Hard Candy set, which are all very similar once they’re on, and you want that contrast.  Using a small angled brush, you want to kind of push this darker color onto your lid at the inner and outer edges.  Don’t get any on the bridge of your nose, and don’t sweep out like a cat eye or smoky eye, that’s not what we’re going for.  Make sure to leave that nice light lavender area in the middle of the lid; Elsa has it and it will make your eyes look brighter.  Blend gently with the rounded brush, then with the same brush dip into that dark purple and sweep it into the crease with a windshield-wiper motion.  Just go as high as the bottom of the brow bone– stay in the crease.  Blend again, and maybe add some more lavender to the center lid if it’s not popping now after you blended.  Finally, it’s time for our ivory cream shade.  I used the white color from a New York Color three-pan set called NY Spotlight.  Use this in the highlight area across the brow bone from the crease color to the brow itself.  I used a flat bristle brush, but the brush isn’t really important with the highlight color.  Dab a bit from the inner corner to the bridge of your nose as well– it will make your eyes look farther apart (as a cartoon, Elsa’s are set kinda wide).  Blend.
4. Eyeliner time!  First do your bottom wet line with the crayon liner (I used Rimmel’s Exaggerate in Steel, which has a nice bit of shimmer and makes your eyes look wider rather than closing them in).  That’s all you do to the bottom.  It’s a good idea to use the crayon on your upper tight line as well, right up against the lower edge of the lashes.  It will  make your lashes appear darker and eliminate the need for more than one coat of mascara unless you’re just feeling super mascara-y today.  (I never do;  I sort of hate mascara.)  Now it’s time for the big guns:  ladies, get out your liquid liner.  VERY VERY CAREFULLY (really I cannot stress how carefully), draw a thin line on the upper lid, starting at the outer corner, RIGHTUPAGAINST the upper edge of your eyelashes.  Do NOT overdo, but don’t make it look like a wimpy Charlie Brown smile either.  Keep your hand steady, and don’t go all the way to the inner corner, just about two thirds of the way.  Allow it to set for a few seconds, then apply a little more lavender shadow and blend.  You don’t want the liner to be too bold, Elsa’s look is very demure.
5. Mascara.  If you want more than one coat, comb your lashes before adding a second.
6. Pencil in your brows.
7. Finish off with lipstick– you’ll want to use a shimmery one, so don’t bother with gloss, as it will kind of leach the color.  I used a blend of two shades.  My light frosted pink (Mirage) was TOO light.  It looked like Pepto Bismol shook the glitter.  I tempered it by dotting a matte dark raspberry shade (Pink Chocolate) over it and then rubbing my lips together as you do.  The result was perfect.

Voila!  Your makeup is done.  Now it’s time to mess with your hair.

Stuff You’ll Need:

• Comb
• Brush
• Small hair tie
• Hairspray

Got all that?  Okay.  Down to business.

1. Brush out your hair as normal.
2. Back-comb the hair around your face to give you a little more body.  Work from the back of the strand you’re working with rather than the front;  this is not the 80’s.
3. Once you’ve finished the teasing, gently brush the front of the back-combed hair so it doesn’t look like a rat’s nest while maintaining that lift at the roots.
4. Start French-braiding at the back of your head, not the front.  If you have varying lengths of hair, this still doesn’t have to be tricky;  just leave them loose for now.  You want the strands to be fairly thick, so use large hanks of hair when you start adding from each side.  Once you’ve got all the hair into the braid, flip said braid to the front of your left shoulder and continue braiding normally to as close to the very ends as you can get.
5. Finish off the braid with the hair tie.  You can add a little ribbon if you want to, but it’s not mandatory.
6. Fluff out the free-hanging part of the braid a bit for volume, since Elsa’s is super-thick.  Fluff as much as you can without completely destroying it.  If pieces of hair start falling out of the braid around your face, that’s okay.
7. Using the brush, direct any hanging tresses around your face back onto your head in the general direction of the braid.  Like I said, this is perfectly okay, as Elsa has plenty of wisp action going on at the front of her hair.
8. Once you have the front arranged to your satisfaction, finish off with a spritz of hairspray.

BOOM!  You’re all done:

You might want to wear something in shades of blue with this look.  I have on a blue-patterned over black smocked top by Connected Apparel (worn with jean capris and bronze beaded Guess ballet flats).  You can go all out and wear snowflake jewelry (or blue topaz like I did).  Since my Elsa is based primarily on the hair and makeup rather than the clothes, get creative with how you want to express her wardrobe.  Think like this:  If Elsa worked where I do/went to my school/went to the movies/went to the club/whatever, what would she wear out of my closet?  Crystal blue is awesome, and rosemaling is totally allowed.

A bit of a better view, since the lighting in that shot sucked:

 

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this little tutorial.  If you want to request a character for me to help work into your everyday life, shoot a comment at me below.  I might even consider overcoming my fear of video if you think it would be more helpful!  Oh, and follow my blog on Facebook!