With each blog post Halloween gets closer and closer. Do you know what you're going to be yet? If you answered no to that question here is an idea. Be a lion/lioness! This is a super easy costume that you can make from items in your closet or if you want you can get simple accessories from a Halloween store to elevate your look. I was on Pinterest and found lion makeup that was so pretty that I wanted to recreate it instantly. Lions are strong, majestic, beautiful creatures of the wild and make for a great Halloween costume. Once you pick your Halloween costume the real fun of putting it all together starts.
The color scheme is very neutral and colors that you most likely already own. To become a lion I found a brown oversized sweater in my closet that is close to the color of the fur of a lion. I wore the sweater over black leggings so that it is a comfortable outfit and also warmer since it gets cold in the midwest where I am. I wore taller black boots to complete my look and they are comfortable so if I had to do a lot of walking or dancing my feet wouldn't be in extreme pain. My outfit is very simplistic but you can do so many outfit variations for this costume. You can wear a dress if you wanted or skirt and shirt. It is all up to you and what you are comfortable in for the Halloween evening.
I wanted to replicate the features of a lion with my hair. I made two buns on top of my head with half of my hair. These signify the ears of the lion, you can also get a headband with lion ears at the halloween store and wear the rest of your hair down if you would rather. For work I put together Halloween costumes for our social media and I had a lion headband and tail for the look. It was pretty cute, I unfortunately didn't have anything at home to replicate a lion's tail for this outfit. Just know that you do not have to spend a ton of money for you to have a great costume this year. I crimped and teased the rest of my hair so that it resembled a lion's mane. You could even crimp and tease all of your hair so that it would be even bigger and lion-like. Pick a hairstyle that you feel confident in and that takes your costume to the next level.
For this makeup I used a lot of browns, golds, and blacks. This was so fun to recreate and I was really proud of the end result. I am no makeup artist by any means. I wear my makeup the exact same way everyday, but this was a great challenge for me. I used techniques that I usually don't use, I contoured my face more than ever in my life and wore eyeliner which I don't do on a daily basis anymore. There are a multitude of videos on YouTube which can help you with step by step instructions on how to do your makeup.
I put on my foundation and then used darker browns to contour my cheeks and forehead. My eyeshadow was a brown smokey eye with gold. I used black eyeliner to make a wing and also extend from my waterline on the inside of my eye. I also used the eyeliner to draw on my nose and the specks above my upper lip that mimicked a lion's whisker pad. For my lipstick I did the top lip with black lipstick and then for my bottom lip I rubbed gold eyeshadow on it. Surprisingly eyeshadow makes a great lipstick!
All in all this is a fairly simple costume that you can easily make your own. I hope this helped you get closer to deciding what you want to be for Halloween. The options are endless but remember to stay true to yourself and have fun. Have a safe and happy Halloween everyone! I'll be back (words that always lead to a horrific end in horror movies) next week with one more DIY costume idea.
