Visual Kei On a Budget: A Photo Tutorial

Okay, I know it is almost an oxy-moron. Visaul Kei and budget don't even belong in the same post, much less the same sentence!

If you are familiar with cosplay, the Final Fantasy games, J-pop, or anime at all, then you have an idea of what Visual Kei is.

But only the vaguest of ideas...

See, Visual Kei is a music genre that encompasses a bizarre combination of what happened when 80's hair bands, Jpop, and punk smashed together, and created something altogether new. Born in Japan, it mixes cosplay, metal, gothic and glam. Visual kei bands are very extravagant, and you can usually tell a Visual Kei band or artist by their elaborate costumes, crazy-impossible hairstyles, and bold, daring makeup, usually applied over some variety of lighteining foundation. Want an idea of what I'm talking about? A simple example:

"Dir En Grey" Get the idea? Of course, this is not our favorite Visual Kei band, but this promo shot has the most varied imagery on which to base a generalized idea of the genre. *smile*

So, two days before Halloween, Willamina tells me she would love to be Visual Kei for her costume. Being me, I tell her that's no problem, and I can make that happen. She protested, saying we had nothing that would work for a costume that elaborate, and I gave her a short list of things to acquire from our closets, and the costuming bucket while I went out shopping.

A little while later, I returned with a can of hairspray, some red lipliner (I needed some anyway), a small jar of ivory foundation, a tube of white clown makeup, and some black eyeliner (useful for both her and her sister's costume). Total cost; about $20

Yes, that's all we're working with here. Budget-minded enough for you yet?

No? Okay, I didn't really have to buy the $7 hairspray, and I couldn't find red lipliner at the dollar shop, so sue me. *wink* If I had, though, or we'd had some liquid foundation at the house, I could have gotten away with spending a mere $6, tax included. Better? *grin*

When I returned, she had gathered my little stretchy vest, a red scarf, some leftover red hairspray from some other event, her little sister's white dress shirt, a couple of punk lace-up arm warmers I got on clearance last year after Halloween, some gold chains she had lying around, her black exercise pants, a punky leather collar, black pleather boots, and a sleeveless little t-shirt-like overcoat that buttons in the front. You know the kind that proper young ladies wear over their plain, long-sleeved dresses in the winter?

So with all of these disparate items, I got to work.

First came the sketch. A working example of what I planned on creating. Not pretty, but functional, and it gave a decent idea to W as to what I intended for her. But still she couldn't fathom how, exactly, I was going to pull it off with the seemingly meager supplies we had brought together.

Then I dressed her partially and set her in the chair for hair and makeup.

Doesn't she look so very excited? This, my loves, is a picture of teen disbelief. She was willing to let me try, but didn't think it would turn out very well, despite the fact that I told her that her hair alone would take me nearly two hours to complete...

Somewhat more excited here, about 45 minutes into her hairstyling. Resting frequently to assuage the complaints of "yanking my hair out of my head", these sacrifices were necessary for "the look" she wanted. We still have not touched the colored hairspray in this shot, this is the (dyed) color of her hair.

Of course, after a lot more time, and application of the colored hairspray to the tips of her spikes only, we achieved this (spray drift caused the blended-color effect).

Makeup was quick by comparison, custom-mixing the shade of pale that I could easily blend with the natural shade of her neck, drawing on the bold lip design and eye makeup, and finishing off with kanji on her cheek just for spice; the Japanese character for "candy". Perfect for trick-or-treating!

Hoping to grab a cheap pair of ears for her sister's costume before our homeschool group's Halloween party, we dropped off at a local big box store. We didn't find any pink kitty ears, but we did find something perfect for W's costume!

A broken umbrella, and I knew just what to do with it, too!

Ah, sweet broken umbrella, discarded, unloved. The most overlooked piece of costuming potential to ever sit abandoned on the ground at my feet...

Oh yes, I had plans for that umbrella, and my plans involved a pair of scissors and some safety pins.

After that, it was simply a matter of finding a suitable backdrop for a photo of the finished product.

Costume bonus; every time the spikes were pushed down, they sprang back into place!

Halloween in an Economic Slump

Well, our Halloween was great. We went to the same neighborhood as every year. Our nearly mile-long walk netted the girls about 2.5lbs of candy each, and everyone loved Willamina's costume.

But it was nothing like last year. This year, it was obvious that the purse strings had been tightened in many households. Last year, the girls came home with about 3.5lbs of candy each, but that's not where it showed the most.

In the costuming department, very few folks had the outrageous and exciting costumes of previous years. There were lass home-made costumes, and less people out begging for candy, overall. The houses were also different. While our favorite neighborhood usually has every house open, and costumed adults and children handing out candy, this year, about 1/3 of the houses had their lights out. No candy, no celebration.

There are a couple of bright spots every year on our route; the

house that hands out fresh-made cotton candy, the house that gives away a single hot dog, grilled right there in their yard, mini play-dough, the haunted house garage, the family-friendly spooky movie carport, the spider in a tree that dropped on unsuspecting candy-hunters, adults posing as mannequins to surprise unsuspecting visitors, and all the garish decorations at every house, new designs and styles to enjoy each year. It's something to remember, and we look forward to it with giddy anticipation.

Well this year, there were no hot dogs, and no cotton candy. Only one house had real people posing still to scare the kids (and parents), the spider was suspiciously missing, and of the few houses that were actually decorated, many re-used last year's decor. What candy there was, ran out quicker than ever, and instead of the usual chocolate and rare goodies, there were several

houses that had been forced to resort to DumDum pops and tootsie rolls...

Yeah, it showed. Even the movie carport was gone, being reduced only to a small seating area with a creepy gauzy"doorway". Guess the cutting back included the utility bills too.

Not that is wasn't great. Far from it, in fact. All of the great celebratory feeling was still there, and people were happy. The weather was great, and everyone was as friendly as ever. We had a great time with our friends, and ended with our traditional dinner at a local pizza joint that we only ever visit on Halloween night.

But I noticed, and so did the other parents. The kids noticed things missing, but didn't seem to mind. It's sad when holidays and festivities have to suffer because of a bad economy, but I guess everything shrinks a little when things get tough. I guess I just didn't quite expect it. Not on Halloween, not in our favorite neighborhood.

Thinking we could maybe give the sugared-up kids a little more room to run after our initial fun, we dropped by a spot where we used to go. You know, the fabled neighborhood where they give out full-sized candy bars, and coupons for free Krispy Cream doughnuts? Well, usually, around 9pm, the houses there begin to close, but there are always a few stragglers with a bit of extra candy to give, waiting with their lights on for the later of the candy-gatherers.

Closed, lights off. All but one house in the entire neighborhood.

So, in a last-ditch effort to extend the fun, we drove around looking for college parties to crash. Always fun, a parent MUST go with the kids, but watching the newly-adult scramble in a frantic search for candy for the cute little kids that just appeared at their party is amusing to say the least.

We hit up a couple of parties successfully, and encountered a group of folks spinning fire behind a nearby coffee house before the kids (and parents) were simply too tired to carry on.

That's okay though, it was after midnight when we stopped our hunt for candy and amusement, and we would have been tired by then even if we hadn't had so much fun. *smile*

So that was the extent of our Halloween, and regardless of how hard the financial crisis effected us, and our community, we made the best of it, and had a lot of fun!

My little pink lion decided that her ruff was too itchy, and since we couldn't afford fake ears this year, and didn't have any leftover pink hairspray, this is how she went out trick-or treating. Everyone knew what she was though (some sort of pink kitty), and she still had loads of fun. *smile*

Blech

Well, the car I've had for only 4 months is now completely dead. I paid nearly 3k for it, it had a significant problem that required nearly $500 in repairs, and less than 3 days after I got it back from the mechanic, the transmission died completely.

No clue what I'm going to do about it either. I've already borrowed all that I can from my family, and I have no clue where I could go to find a reliable vehicle for the minuscule amount I could afford.

These things happen though, and we'll get through this the same way we've gotten through every other obstacle in our lives.

At least we have our health! :D

Public Slander on Craigslist

Interesting little note on Craigslist today, using my full name and everything.

Anyone know of a good slander/libel lawyer in Springfield?

Bizarre Foods Party

Well, it's coming up, this Sunday is the Bizarre foods party!

6:30pm, Downtown Springfield

A fantastic pre-Halloween adventure.

Call 631-2986 for more information and to RSVP.