Halloween is coming and writing for Babble has got me thinking in all things Disney so I’ve kind of started this Disney character costume series that I have to admit is SO MUCH FUN!
My last in the series, and first ever, was Cinderella, remember? If not, go to Modern Day Cinderella Costume which links to makeup and hair tutorials at Babble Beauty and outfit and costume instructions at Babble Style, if you’re interested.
Well, the next character I chose to dress up as was Princess Merida from the movie Brave… have you seen it? Do you love it? Because I do, just so much. If you have seen it or even just know about Merida, you’d know that she has BIG RED HAIR and I do not. As you all know, my hair is blonde… but it is BIG and why on earth would I spend money on a wig when it’s far more fun to create the look myself, right? So my first thought in trying to achieve the red hair was that temporary Halloween color spray {which would really be AWESOME and I know this for a FACT because my mom used it on my hair when I was a kid to dress up as Cyndi Lauper for Halloween} but I read that it stained bleached/blonde hair, so even though I totally have a can of red on hand, that was out. Then I thought of hair chalking, but read horror stories of that too AND I had to get my WHOLE HEAD red, not just sections, so that was out too.
But then I came up with this temporary hair color idea that is genius! And of course I made it and thought I was totally original and when I was all finished, googled it, and of course other geniuses have already done it. But stillthis is my own concoction I created and really have no idea how anyone else has done it. But guess what?! IT TOTALLY WORKED! And almost all of it rinsed out after my first wash. My blonde is a tad bit drab and has a hint of strawberry highlights, but it doesn’t bother me. Blue would probably bother me, but I’m pretty sure with my next wash {and with a little purple shampoo} my blonde will be back to normal.
This really should work for brunettes as well, but I wouldn’t know for sure. Chime in in the comments if you’ve tried it and it’s amazing.
Here’s What You’ll Need…
1. A place to mix, use, & store it {I used an old wipes container, which worked really well and I saved the left over to use again ;}
2. Eye shadows of your color choice {If you’re like me, you NEVER throw away your makeup, so you have a ton of random old eye shadows on hand}
3. Baby powder {this is what we all used as “dry shampoo” before dry shampoo was invented}
4. Knife
5. Old blusher or stiff powder brush for application {as seen in the first photo}
Begin with the shadow you care about the least and wish to use all of. Scrape it out of its container and into your box with your knife and chop it into a fine powder.
Continue adding colors, then powder {but not too much powder because the powder gets “cakey” and really stiffens your hair up – I only used it once, as seen here} until you’ve created the color of choice and you have enough to coat your hairs with.
It should look like this…. specs of gold shimmer were a nice touch since this is a dry sort of look.
THIS WILL MAKE A HUGE MESS… just a warning, so lay down some towels and get to work! I wasn’t too precise about it, I just dipped and brushed and dipped and brushed until the color was what I wanted.
NOTE: While it’s more vibrant in the photos than it was in reality, the color was spot on. You can still see a bit of my blonde showing through and it had more of a light orangey feel, but it totally worked. I also used some hair extensions, which you can see better in the photo below.
Princess Merida DIY Costume + Hair and Makeup
I’m sure you’ve probably guessed but my DIY costume which you can see part of in the photos above with 2 different looks, a sexy version for all the ladies who want to look saucy on Halloween and a more authentic look for costume sticklers like me, are both coming tomorrow. yay.
Click through links below for my full DIYS…
* DIY Princess Merida Adult Costume Tutorial
DIY Princess Merida Hair & Makeup Tutorial
See all the photos of my final costume…
* DIY Princess Merida Costume
DIY Halloween Costumes // Princess Merida from Disney’s Brave
