So get this...

.

 I've wanted to make YouTube videos for a while but I don't feel comfortable in front of the camera and don't have the means to make them. I think YouTube is a good platform to interact with people but I just can't do it. 

So I have an idea. I'm not 100% comfortable with snap chat but it's an easier platform for me to use. Last weekend I decided to practice my makeup for Abaddon and put pictures up on snap chat. I like this. We can interact. I can be as detailed or not as detailed as I want in a tutorial and it's just fun.

I hope to do this every weekend from now until the end of October. That's 17 weekends. Minus a few because I'll be on the road for cons or concerts or have family in town. But you get the idea. 

I have a small list going of looks that I want to try. Most are supernatural related because that's where my head is lately and to be honest it might be a permanate state of mind. Oops. Oh well. 

If there's a look you want to see me try go ahead and comment below or send it to me on Twitter. I'm willing to try :) 

Anyway here's my Abaddon from last weekend. 

Compared to when I did this look two years ago I might be improving :) 

SeaCon cosplay competition

"And now we'll be judging the cosplay contest"

Shit. Here it comes.

"Please make your way to the front of the room and get in line. Castiels to the back of the room please."

Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Put my jacket back on. is my hair okay? Is my makeup alright? Do i even look human? Dont trip and your walking up there. For the love of chuck dont trip. Okay i can do this. I can do the thing. No big deal. My costume looks great. Oh shit theres another abaddon. ... and another. They all look better than i do. Keep your cool. This is going to be okay.

Okay. I found the line. Omg the girl in front of me looks so bad ass. the trinkets on her belt are amazing. The girl behind me has pie. Omg is that a human samulet?

"And now we'll have our first group of cosplayers up on stage"

Up. Up on stage? Oh hell no. I did not sign up for this. Everyone else is nervous too. Quick make a joke to calm everyone down. Okay that worked now what.

Still nervous. thank god im not in the first group. I can see whats going to happen first. Im such an awkward penguin.

Okay he lines them up and lets people take pictures. Oh her costume is great! Look at that person smile. He puts his hand over each of their heads and they scream for their favourites. The favourites are the final three of that group. The rest are escorted off the stage and given a print of J2 as a participation prize.

Okay my group is next. Oh shit. My group is next. Don trip. Dont trip dont trip. Dont let the girl in front of trip in those heels either. Her pie smells so good. Edible props. Good idea. Im hungry. And nauseous. Maybe we'll wait to eat for a while.

Oh god theyre taking pictures. I hate taking pictures. Quick whats a good abaddon pose. *strikes pose* (basically i didnt move at all and kept my hands at mt side. Great pose, kat.) This is ridiculous. Dont smile. Abaddon doesnt smile. Dont laugh. Why are you lauging? I guess its kinda funny.

Okay. His hand is above my head. Barely any screams. ... i dont understand. What did i do wrong? The other two abaddons were in the final few. What did i do wrong. I dont understand.

Okay dont cry. Dont cry. Its just adrenaline leaving your system. Dont cry dammit. Take your final lap around the stage,get your picture, and go find tasha.

Look at you, bad ass. You just went through your first cosplay contest. Sit down before you pass out.

Note to self: learn how to pose and take pictures.

And that is basically how my first cosplay competition went down. Sorry it has taken two months to even talk about SPNcon. In a nut shell it was the greatest weekend of my life. I have plans to go again and again and again. More cosplay competition too! ... just need to learn how to portray the characters better.

If you have any ideas let me know. I have another competition in a couple of months and i want to do a photo shoot for some of my cosplays as well. So excited. So nervous.

Carry On My Wayward Son

I'm sorry if this is rambly but it's just where my head is at the moment. 

Supernatural has been picked up for its 12th season! Grab your salt, weild your angel blades, and hop in the front seat because this show is going to go for another year!! I was worried about it being renewed because of the way the plot has been leaning but we've got a whole other season to say goodbye so yay! 

I've recently converted my roommate into a supernatural fan and it's been the best of times. We're headed to the Seattle stop of the Supernatural tour next week (six days, I can't handle this). I'll be cosplaying at all the events we're going to.

Four cosplays for three days and I'm still holding two of the costumes. Cross your fingers that I can finish at least one of them in time.

Friday Night Karaoke - Castiel 

Saturday - Abaddon

Sunday - Amara / Darkness

If you see me at con come say hi. If you aren't going to con and wanna hang out and see what con is like my snapchat is : awelshollow 

I've been snapping the progress of Darkness' dress for the last couple days. So if you wanna see a girl go crazy as she is hand stitching a dress from a bed sheet... Check it out. 

Congrats to the Cast, Crew, and Fandom of supernatural. We did it fam! 

Love Yourself First

Always Keep Fighting

You Are Not Alone

2016

Next to Halloween, New Years is my favorite holiday. It's a time for reflection and a time for resolution. And though we do these things throughout the year, the world comes together and celebrates the birth of something new and it's beautiful.

I usually celebrate New Years by writing. I write about my resolutions throughout the year, what I achieved and what I learned. I write about my goals for the next year and what I want to accomplish. Small things, big things. Silly things, serious things. 

I usually take a selfie at 11:50pm December 31st and then another at midnight January 1st.

I like to make note of the firsts of the year. First song, first movie, first this first that.

I stay up for fireworks despite the fact I hate the noise.

I didn't do any of that this year. I passed out at ten and went to work the next morning. No journal entries. No selfies. No firsts. No fireworks.

Ever since I moved to Washington I've stopped doing things that I like. I stopped playing video games because I don't have a system. I stopped writing. I stopped painting. I stopped creative make up. Everything I love to do is packed away in a strange closet. Work keeps me busy so I don't think about these things but when I slow down enough to think about them I get sad. 

Which is why 2016 is going to be a year of selfishness. I need to integrate me back into my life. My words. My art. I don't have anywhere or anybody to be this year but me and I love the possibility. So yes, my resolution this year is selfishness and it's long over do. 

Halloween Music

A Halloween jam session is possibly the best kind of jam session. Listening to these tunes always brings a smile to my face. Here's my list for Spoopy tunes this year.

Max Ablitzer - Dark Violin songs 1&2 

The city of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra- Tim Burton album

- Little Preist from Sweeny Tod is probably my fav song on the album

Phantom of the Opera - Piano Solos

- phantom of the opera randomly starts playing at the mall I work at and its the best thing ever

Harry Potter Sound Tracks

Wizard Rock soundtracks

Hocus Pocus - I put a spell on you & come little children

Hex Girls - I'm gonna put a spell on you & Earth Wind Fire Air

Ghost Busters theme song

Purple People Eater

Monster Mash

Love Potion #9

Werewolves of London

Witch Doctor

thriller

Addams family theme song

Addams family Musical soundtrack

Anastasia - Dark of the night

Any Disney villain song

Little Mix - Black Magic 

Cat

Everybody wants to be a cat...

You'll Need:

Primer

Light brown eyeshadow

Brown eyeshadow

Rust/brownish red eyeshadow

Foundation

Black eyeliner

Brown eyeliner

Pink lip crayon

Start with a clean face

1) apply primer and foundation

2) use rust eyeshadow on lid, extending it up and out past the crease 

3) use black eye liner to create a cat eye, extending the outer corner and inner corner. Line bottom lash line

4) use light brown eyeshadow to feather the eyebrows up onto the forehead. 

5) drag brown eye shadow from the start of the eye brow down the bridge of the nose. This line should be balanced between the top of the nose and the side, extending lightly past the black eye liner.

6) drag light brown eye shadow from the inner corner of the black liner to where the bridge of the nose and the nostril meet.

7) use brown eye shaddow to color the tip of the nose, around the nostrils and avoiding the actual top of the nose tip.

8) use light brown eye shaddow to deepen the area between the bottom of the nose and the cuspids bow.

9) line top lip with brown eye liner and fill in. Set with brown eyeshadow if needed.

10) fill bottom lip with pink lip crayon. Avoid smacking lips together to keep the colors from blending.

11) use brown eyeliner to create the whisker dots above your mouth.

Costume:

There's a couple of ways to wear this look. You can wear it with regular people clothes, with pajamas (cats pajamas.. Get it?) or you could buy a cat costume at your local costume shop. Either way I'd add a pair of cat ears. 

I LOVED this makeup! I didn't want to wash this one off I was having so much fun making funny faces in the mirror. It made me feel sassy. Haha! 

Modern Vampire

Tired of Dracula dulling your sparkle? Do you play baseball in the rain? Is there a near by field of vampire cows who refuse to come out of their barn during the day and battle the vampire hunters at night? If so, you might be a modern vampire!

YOULL NEED

White face paint

Foundation that matches your tone

Eyeshadow of your shooting

Black eye liner 

Mascara

Sparkles 

Eyelash glue

Red lip stick

Fangs

Fake blood

Start with a clean face and primer

1) mix foundation and white face paint until the color is a few shades lighter than what the foundation was originally (not white). Apply evenly over face and down the neck. It will not match your skin tone so try to blend it out as best as you can.

2) apply eyeshadow, liner, and mascara in the look of your choosing. I went for a golden/brown smokey eye with wing liner. I don't own any colored contacts but I wanted to represent the vegetarian vampires eye colors.

3) Fill in eye brows, contour and highlight as your normally would. I used a soft taupe color eyeshadow to. It didn't make me look like I was wearing fake tanned.

4) apply red lipstick

5) use eye lash glue to stick on sparkles. I chose to have patches of sparkle here and there. But you can do whatever you want.

6) insert fangs

7) Apply fake blood on your bottom lip and watch it drip drop drip!

Costume:

Whatever you have in your closet. Honestly. The best part about vampires is that they blend in with the crowd until they're thirsty. If you are going more of a Cullen look I suggest your Sunday best. If your looking for more of a I Kissed A Vampire look, jeans and a rock Tshirt will do. Now go out their and have enjoy the angst and the love triangles.

Classic Vampire

Good evening ladies and gentlemen.

Remember the old days when Vampires didn't sparkle? Vampires who stalked at night and were fabulously dressed despite the fact they couldn't see their own reflection.  When being an Italian vampire was worse than death? (Garlic joke) Then you've come to the right place, my friend. 

You'll Need:

Primer

Foundation (that matches your skin tone)

White clown face paint

Black eye shadow

Brown eye shadow

Black lipstick

Red lipstick

Fake blood

Fangs

1) start with a clean face and apply primer

2) mix foundation and white face paint and apply thinly over face and neck.

3) brush black eye shadow through eyebrows creating a point 

4) darken eye sockets with brown eyeshadow, 

 

5) trace frown lines with black eyeshadow and rub in until it blends in with the white "skin"

6) outline lips in black eye liner (I over drew mine for effect), fill in top lip with black. Fill bottom lip with red.

7) insert fangs and apply fake blood

COSTUME IDEAS

White long sleeve shirt, button up recommended

Black pants

Black shoes

Black vest (optional)

Red bow tie

Black cape

Thrift store Halloween costume? Yes please!

Modern Frankenstein's Monster

Modern Monster is an interesting concept. These types of characters look more like humans than the monster which is fascinating to me. I think our culture is obsessed with the idea that monsters don't always look like monsters. Which is why concepts like Frozen and Beastly are popular. This look is inspired by the makeup from I,Frankenstein and also the idea that a person is made up of little pieces from every other person and situation it encounters in its life time. 

You'll Need

Primer

Pink lip pencil 

Scar wax or creepy skin wax

Brown eyeshadow

Purple eyeshadow

Black eyeshadow

Pink lip gloss

Red lipstick

Liquid eyeliner

Fake blood

As always begin with a clean face and apply primer

1) using pink lip pencil draw lines where you want your scars to go. They can be thin or thick, you just need a rough draft before you roll wax onto your skin.

2) press your wax onto your skin. Mine came in a Halloween makeup kit. It gets everywhere. I ended up scraping it out of its little tub with the back of a makeup brush and used the back of the brush to press and roll it into my skin. I used the back of another brush to help blend the edges into the skin.

DO NOT put the wax on your eyelids or very close to your eyes. 

-- for the scars on my neck I simply skipped the wax and used the pink pencil and brown eyeshadow.

You can set the wax with baby powder if you'd like before you move on.

3) using your brown eye shaddow, lightly shade around the scars. This will help give it the effect that the scar is thick and raised up from your normal skin.

4) in parts of the wax that are thicker, pull out some of the wax in the middle of the scar. The back of a makeup brush will do the trick. You do not have to blend the new edges.

5) fill the open scar with a mix of the purple and black eyeshadow. Black in the center and purple toward the edges.

6) fill in open scars with fake blood.

6.5) use pink lip gloss over the closed scar for the shinny effect of new skin.

7) using the liquid liner, create stitches. I went for big and sloppy as I was very impatient at this point. 

8) fill lips with lipstick

Optional: color different sections of your face with different shades of foundation and bare skin. Add white face paint to a bit of foundation to alter it just enough. 

Funny story about this look, I answered the door while wearing it and scared the postal worker. Highlight of my day haha.

Costume:

Modern monster. Wear whatever you want. I think jeans, sneaks, and a hoodie would be fine. 

Holloween 2015!!

October 2015 marks the Thrid Year of this blog and also the beginning of Holloween! I'm so excited you guys! My life is crazy bananas right now. I've moved away from my family, I live in a new state, I got a job, and now it's my favorite month of the year. 

I am so stoked right now that I can be found skipping down the four sections of Halloween paradise (in any store) singing "it's the most wonderful time of the year!" Why? because it Halloween which means it is Hollow-een! It's slightly more acceptable to spend hours of your day slapping paint on your face to look like the monsters under your bed. You can walk around in a costume and though people might question your sanity it's Halloween so who cares. Isn't October magical? 

(If you are wondering what Hollow-een is it is pretty simple. It is a month of Halloween content but we call it Holloween because of the name of the blog)

In the month of Holloween I share tutorials and favorites lists, maybe a recipe or two - this year is no exception. This year I'm focusing on classic Halloween favorites.

Vampires

Witches

Creatures 

Undead

Stop right there. Yes I do know that vampires are traditionally grouped in the undead category. However, the undead category is dedicated to zombies, mummy's, and Frankenstien monsters. As you can see there is a difference between those and vampires. Besides I'd rather enrage a zombie than a vampire. Zombies will just eat your brains. Vampires will turn you and make you their blood lusting slave for the rest of eternity... Wait what? 

If there is a category that you are more interested in, comment down bellow or tweet me. I'll make sure to push that category forward. Your feedback is always welcome :) 

Does anyone else know what they are going as for Halloween? I'm torn between Liv from iZombie and Thorn from the Hex Girls.

Happy Holloween!

-Kat

Hades

Hades, overlord of the underworld, is one of the most relatable disney villains. He was tired of his job, tired of his brother, tired of the other gods using him as a punchline so he plotted his revenge. Maybe killing the heir of Olympus was a little overboard but when your contacts list is made up of shape shifting suck ups and riddle speaking old hags you're bound to have a screw loose here or there.  Hades, like Ursula, is a villain of contracts. He's a business man and knows opportunity when he sees it.

The son of my hated rival trapped forever in a river of death. Is there a downside to this? 

We dance, we kiss, we shmooze, we carry on, we go home happy. What do ya say? 

It's a small afterworld after all

Memo to me, memo to me. Maim you after my meeting

I'm about to rearrange the cosmos! 

This is my take on a 90s punk/grunge Hades. Big blue hair, denim, spikes, and buttons. I am in LOVE with this look! It's just amazing and I feel like a bad ass in it. The denim jacket I'm wearing is some kind of denim duster/trenchcoat and it hangs down to my ankles. Paired with black ankle boots, leggings, plain grey t, and ray bands - I feel like a rockstar. 

Hades Pins

Lord of the underworld has got to represent. 

Time: Two Days

What You'll need:

AirDry clay (I used crayola)

Acrylic paint in colors of your choice

Paint brushes

Hot glue gun

Glue gun sticks

Pin backs

 Skull Pin

1) Form clay in the shape of mushroom. It's okay if it's not paper thin, you need some thickness so that the pin won't crack apart as its drying.

2) let dry over night

3) paint pin grey and then add black details. Let dry.

4. Hot glue pin back to non paint side of the pin. Wait for glue to cool.

Button pins

1. Form clay into a ball and then press it onto a flat surface so that it becomes a "coin". At least one side has to be flat.

2. Let dry

3. Paint buttons however you want. Paint on the non flat side. I made some for Pain and Panic (Hades' minion), H for Hades, a worn out Olympic coin (from the movie), and classic 90s alien and yin/yang. Let paint dry.

4. Hot glue your pin back to the flat side without paint. Let glue cool.

Discussion: the pins are one time use. The hot glue keeps popping off. Does anyone know of a stronger glue that might work?  

Seattle

June has been an interesting month. I went into it with this idea of grand adventure, scheduled blogging, and living life. What I'm coming out of June with is a grand adventure and two illnesses from which I am on the mend. Achoo!

I'm not one for sharing germs so I'd rather share with you bits of my trip to Seattle. I spent a week with my best friends reconnecting after eight months of separation. The second we met at the airport it was like we had never been apart and my heart was so happy. Even though I chat with them every day on the Internet I had missed them so much. It's amazing to me how much you need to see someone smile or hear someone laugh and not even know it.

Mushy stuff aside Seattle was a blast and I plan to return very soon. 

The view from Pikes Market

Do you see the water there in the middle? Isn't that the most beautiful thing you've ever seen? And the lights hang from "strings". Seattle is such a weird place.

Chocolate chip cookie dough cup cake.... I'm not one for frosting. I ate all the frosting. I ate all the cupcake. I slightly regret that but it was delicious!

My goal for the rest of the year should be to learn how to pose for pictures. Yikes! 

Beautiful black and white photo. Reminds me of islands and summer.

chocolate pasta with strawberry sauce and whipped cream. YUMMY! I'm not even kidding when I tell you I could have eaten the entire bowl of this stuff by myself.

Waterfall! This is a very famous waterfall outside of Seattle. The name of it isn't coming to mind at this moment (bad blogger award). We stood and listened to the water. I wondered how much trouble I'd get in if I climbed over the fence and down the cliff to get to the water. It was a warm day, people. 

EDIT: Snoqualmie Falls

The restaurant that has amazing halibut sandwiches! There's also a cute mechanic who works down the street ;) 

Bored on the river side but also dehydrated and not thinking straight I wrote out the wrong lyrics to Katy Perrys Roar. Cropped the picture to save me some embarrassment. This to me was supposed to represent the decisions I have to make in the next couple of months. I don't want to stop myself or hold myself back. It's time for a change. Its time for me to roar!

IKEA because 1) I'd never been inside, 2) because we had a few hours to kill, 3) because at one point I wanted to be an interior designer. This place is a magical wonderland! 

Official CaptainSparklez pizza from Pizza Hut because I fangirled a little too much. It's actually pretty tasty. Drove to the wrong Pizza Hut and went on a mini adventure with B to find the actual hut that had my pizza. Would've been a whole lot easier if Jordan, CaptainSparklez himself, had delivered it in person. I'm just saying. 

The bridge troll who wasn't into riddles or gold. His parents must not have read him many human tales as a kid.

Remember this Farris wheel? Didn't ride it. Not sure I'd like to but it's a pretty picture.

Final picture of the trip! And oh look my thumb was on the lens. Brilliant Kat. Very artistic! *facepalm*

And that is a fast paced version of my Seattle adventure. honorable mentions are Pitch Perfect Two,  Barbie, plastic spoons, and this little kid who told me he couldn't see me when I wasn't wearing my glasses. Haha kids.

All in all June wasn't completely bad but I can't wait for a sick free and cosplay full July! Although I really wish July came with my best friends... Sigh. Maybe one day. 

How was your June? Have anything awesome planned for July?

-Kat