ahh, I have not posted for a while

Stuey and I went to his sister's wedding this weekend and hence have not had anytime to either work on our cosplay or blog Q__Q.  I do, however, have some new pictures of Gachapin to share with you guys.  This is basically a wig review.

Remember this wig?  It's the wig I bought from ebay for my Eruka cosplay.  It was a very cheap wig ($24) and definitely lived up to its price.  The wig itself was thin and tangled very easily. However, it works with Eruka because she wears a big hat that covers up the very thin part of the wig.  Now, I have to somehow transform this sucker into Murumuru's hair.

I know for sure that the volume of this wig is not nearly enough and that it will be hard to make ponytails with one wig, so I ordered two LONG ponytails from Arda wigs in silver to match my current wig.

As you can see, the pony tail I got is a little big lighter than the wig I have in this picture, but in reality, they are pretty darn close.  The biggest difference is probably the quality of the ebay wig compared to Arda's.  Well, there's no comparison.  Arda's ponytail is not only silky, but also very easy to brush.  The volume of the ponytail is amazingly full but also makes it super heavy.  I might have to somehow dye the wig a little bit with a lavender colored sharpie...but we will see.

I definitely recommend ordering from Arda, however, they are a lot more expensive compared to the cheap ebay wigs.  (The ponytails were about $20 a piece with shipping)  I have also received my black rock shooter wig from Cosplaywigsusa, however, it's ponytails are not nearly as full as the ones from Arda.  I also need to figure out something in order to add some blue highlights to my black wig...any suggestions?

- Mimi -

Wig Review - Red Wig for MZMA

Wig review?!  I've never done one of those before, but I might as well give it a shot.  I mean, I'll be working with it for the next couple of months anyways.  Here goes nothing! :P

I ordered the Short Medium Layered Cosplay Shag - True Red from CosplayWigsUSA as a suitable match for MZMA from Black Rock Shooter: The Game.  It arrived in a wonderful manila colored, bubble wrap lined envelope and included the wig and a wig cap.

This wig is perfectly colored for MZMA's hair.  The length at the moment is a little long, but we will shorten and style it eventually to be more appropriate. The tips of the hair are feathered out nicely, and the wig itself is pretty full.  The wig cap that came with the package is pretty nice quality as well.  I think I'll be happy with this wig :) 

**The following pictures highlight both the wig and our amazing new wig model Gachapin :D (he's a dinosaur in case you were wondering).  **

Gachapin, the wig, and the CosplayWigsUSA card.

Back view of the wig

Side view of the wig, and Gachapin looking forlorn.

Gachapin in his "I'm a sexy model" pose.  He has a bright future ahead of him :P

Gachapin modeling the wig cap.  Very nice.

We will most likely have pictures of ourselves with the wigs on at some point, but for now Gachapin works very nicely.  We may feature him modeling some of our other wigs and cosplay apparel as well.  Comment if you have any other pose suggestions for him in the future XD.

Thanks!

-Stuart-

Cosplay makeup: The Essentials - Base

I am no Michelle Phan, and also not a person that wears makeup everyday (assuming that lip-gloss doesn't count.)  I do, however, wear makeup for "special" occasions such as cosplay.  I am a firm believer in wearing makeup for cosplay because 1) it makes you look better on photos, 2) it makes you look more "in character".

I know there are some naturalists who would completely disagree with me, but since everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I will respect your point-of-view.

Now, on to the main point.  I have tested various makeup products in the past, and the list below are the ones that I like the most and think are the most important items for my cosplay makeup.  These products usually go on my face in the order they are listed ^^

1. Toner - Thayers Witch Hazel Toner: Rose with Aloe Vera (Alcohol-free)
This product cleans my face very nicely by taking out all the excess grease.  It doesn't contain alcohol, so it does not dry out the skin.  The best thing about this toner is probably it's cheap price tag and the fact that it leaves a nice light rose scent on you after you use it.

2. Moisturizer - Cetaphil Moisturizing Lotion
I have a combination skin that is oily in some parts and very dry in other parts.  The toner above takes care of my oily parts, and this moisturizer takes care of my dry parts.  It is very smooth and non-greasy, so it just softens your facial skin.  Again, the best thing about it is that  it is much cheaper than most of the moisturizers out there.

3. Primer - Smashbox Photo Finish Foundation Primer
I like my cheap makeup products, but sometimes I also spend money on products that I truly fall in love with; and this is one of them.  I have never gotten a primer so smooth before.  It glides right on to your skin and makes it feel like silk.  I don't have too many large pores, so I cannot promise you that it will cover them up, but from the reviews I have read, they do a wonderful job at smoothing out the unevenness of your skin.  The product also doesn't leave your skin shiny like some other primers.

4. BB cream - Skin79 Super + Bb Triple Functions
Unlike Asian stereotypes, I don't own 10,000 BB creams.  I have only tried two and and settled with this one.  I have to say that this is definitely NOT the product for everyone.  For one thing, it is tinted and only comes in one shade.  It will make people with very fare skin look gray and people with dark skin look...gray.  However, it does work with my Asian yellow-tinted skin tone.  This product is thick and can be a little heavy compared to the other BB cream I have.   I usually apply it with a sponge by mixing it with my liquid foundation in 1:1 ratio.  I don't like the product by itself because of its thickness.  In case you are wondering, I do wear my BB cream/Foundation mixture on top of my primer.  I think it gives me a very even complexion.  To some, this practice might seem to be unnecessary since BB cream does claim to have similar effects as primer.  To me, I like the effect I get from layering my primer and BBcream + Foundation.

5. Foundation - MAC Studio Fix Fluid SPF 15
I have tried a range of liquid foundations, and in the end, I settled with MAC.  It's smooth, it's light, it's not greasy, and it has pretty good coverage.  Since I do use my foundation in combination with my BB cream, the coverage becomes exceptional.  MAC has nice collection of shades for everyone, so I do recommend going into a store and get your skin evaluated by the sales person.

6. Powder - Smashbox Halo Hydrating Perfecting Powder
I would post a Shiseido powder I used to use here, but since they are not making it anymore (Q_Q) I'm posting this new powder I got and love.  First of all, it is expensive, so expensive that I wasn't sure if it was worth it, but it is...so I guess my wallet wept a little but I'm happy.  The powder is compressed underneath a layer of blade which you have to rotate to make loose powder.  I think the compressed powder is pretty big, so the product will be lasting me for a while.  The powder itself is very smooth and applies very evenly, it is also long lasting unlike many other powders that kind of just melt away.  It was hard for me to decide on a shade, but I went with the light/medium one which works pretty nicely with my slightly tan Asian complexion.

The brush was included :D

Now onto some pictures of me wearing all of these things XD

Taken from Darren OSG, Photographs

This picture was taken after I had my makeup on for about 5 to 6 hours.  I did not reapply anything, and I think the powder/foundation stayed very well.  My nose is a little shiny~ >.>

Surprisingly, this Eruka photo is actually not edited (I know...).  You can see that my skin appears to be pretty smooth here from the makeup.

Last but not least, a picture of me without makeup:

Hahahaha!  Comment if you have questions regarding anything!!!

Mimi

Styling the Dr.Stein wig

Now that we have Katsucon behind us and ready to move on to the cosplay for AZ, I finally forced Stuart to send me the durpy pictures I took of him when I was styling his Dr.Stein wig. (Dr.Stein is a crazy teacher character from Soul Eater, in case you didn't know)  This is by no means a tutorial, for I have absolutely no experience in cutting hair.  However, this is a warning about wigs you get from ebay.

So we purchased a generic Dr.Stein wig from China on ebay.  The picture of the wig they provided looked like this:

It looks so nice in the picture: not very shiny, with nice feathered tips at the back.  The color is nice as well.  Wigs usually comes with long bangs so that the wearer can style it to his/her face.  Since the wig was only about $22, we jumped on the bandwagon of buying wigs from China.  Alas, that was perhaps not the best decision we have made in our life.  The wig that arrived looked rather shiny and thin...so thin that some layers of hair sewn on the wig already came off the moment Stuart tried it on.

And here comes in the Super Mimi that tries to save the day!  First of all, I had to make sure that all the threads on the wigs were intact and all the layers of hair were sewn on tightly.  I resew some of the layers that came undone.
This is what the wig looked like on Stuart before anything was done to it:

He looks like Kitaro from GeGeGe no Kitaro

Then I took out my mother's hair cutting scissors (what do you call those things?) and started to cut away all the unnecessary hair.

I obviously was very good at making this wig into an Ayanami Rei wig...This is what Stuart looked like after almost losing a piece of his ear.

Finally, I figured out that in order to cut layers into the wig, I had to brush vertically and cut vertically.  With the help of some hair gum, this is what the finally product looked like:

Not too bad right???? hahaha!!!

Until Next Time~
Mimi