RE4 Leon Kennedy costest update

 Hello!

What is this, a cosplay post? You bet! :'D No but really, I know it's been literal years since I last made any cosplay progress post or anything that's not a circle lens review lol but I promise I'm getting back on track! The past weeks I've been really getting back into the cosplay groove and I actually have regained motivation to do stuff, wow! I have some moderately ambitious plans for the future and I should start cranking out more costuming content towards the summer, if everything goes as planned.

But anygays, back to the topic at hand. So yeah, a part of this reignited cosplay hype transferred over to me wanting to fix some almost-completed cosplays so that I can debut them at future conventions. I have quite a bunch of undebuted cosplays that need some small fixing before they're show-worthy. My Leon cosplay is one of them – I'm only missing props. That, and that I've wanted to slightly modify the wig a bit more as it started to bother me over the years. 

So what do I do? Well, last weekend I headed over to spend some quality time with Sallukka and their boyfriend. Sallukka slightly tinted the wig by using brown markers to color some fibers by hand and after that was done I put it on my head and we trimmed it a bit shorter on the sides and thinned down the front because it was quite front-heavy (although it didn't look like it!). The wig felt so much nicer and breezier to wear after shedding some excess fibers! It feels like it sits better on my head now and doesn't look as bulky on the front as before.

I was a derp and forgot to take any wig styling photos (sorry!) but how the wig looked before can be seen on this post from... half a decade ago, omegayikes. Jesus Christ time flies. 

 

But what I did do was a quick makeup test late yesterday just for fun and to test out the updated wig. I'm quite excited for this costume not gonna lie, it's fun to finally get around to do a bit more video game characters as I've been a major gamer all my life!

I intend to debut Leon somewhere this year but I'm just gonna make sure I have some kind of props to use before then as I find it kinda awkward to pose if I don't have anything to pose with lol. I'd prefer to make the rocket launcher if I get a chance to do that, but if not I'll try to make at least a knife, grenades or any other small props that he uses in the game. I want to fill my pouches with stuff. :D I actually scouted Ikea for fake flowers that I could paint red for a Red Herb prop to carry around but of course with my luck there wasn't anything that fit the bill in terms of leaf shapes etc ffuu ffuu. Oh well, the search continues!

I think that's about all I had to say for this round. Stay nerdy out there!

Monster Hunter World cosplay makeup test

Hello everyone!

I've been a huge MonHun fan for close to 10 years now and, while I plan to eventually cosplay some of the established characters like the Ace Commander from MH4U, the idea to cosplay my own character has been growing on me over the years. I'll get back to this soon but first I just wanna explain a bit about Monster Hunter if anyone is unfamiliar with this game franchise. Monster Hunter games are known for having a character creation process where you get to choose how the player character, also known as the protagonist or simply "hunter", looks.

Anyways, over the years I've played several installments of the series (sinking thousands of hours into the games) but I don't think anything had such a strong impact on me as the first time I started up MonHun World on PS4 back on 9th August 2018. One needs to know here that World was my first PS4 game and I did the jump directly from PS2 to PS4 so the upgrade in graphics etc was insanely noticeable. I remember the first time I saw my own character in the first cutscenes onboard that ship that gets wrecked by Zorah Magdaros emerging from the sea and later when you explore the Ancient Forest for the first time. I was floored, couldn't believe what I was seeing! I was absolutely blown away and I've been glued to my PS4 ever since.

Character creator view of my MHW hunter.

When I created my player character back in 2018 he was simply an avatar for me, yet another one of my handful of hunters on other MonHun games that all shared some traits between them, like silver-white long hair (thanks InuYasha for this childhood obsession lol). Sure I had put several hours into designing him to please my eyes because I'm one of those people who will quite literally spend five hours on any game with detailed character customization send help.
Oh well, it wasn't until sometime in 2021 that something happened. My player character on World, whom I had named Vindulf for no particular reason, suddenly became more than just a mute self-insert through which I experienced the game. I was coaxed into roleplaying one day with a friend online, I didn't think much of it (I enjoy roleplaying in general) at first. But that roleplay just kept growing and growing. As a result Vindulf slowly evolved to get a distinct personality, a deep background story that stretched outside the bounds of the established storyline in World and so on and so on...

This character ended up becoming so much more to me than just pixels in a game.

 

And that's when I realized that I really want to cosplay him one day. Maybe a few years from now on (yes, I'm early with this post) because truth be told I have not even decided yet on what armor or weapon I want to make for this cosplay, possibly a mixed set or one of those event layered armors.

The reason I'm doing this makeup test now is because I happened to have fitting colored lenses lying around and figured yolo! No but really, this is mostly just for fun and for overall practice and well, kind of to give myself a general idea on what I gotta work on more. It could be a lot better but I need to invest into nicer makeup brushes (I have some cheapo ones from eBay that lowkey suck lolol) etc as I've been using the same shit for years and I sometimes feel like it's time to expand and maybe invest more into quality brands... I've been holding off on doing it though cuz whenever I try to do research I get so overwhelmed. ;_;

Oh and yeah, I did the scars very hastily (just eyeshadow and eyeliner combo #lazyaf) although I know I have Rigid Collodion lying around somewhere unless it dried up after these 10 years but yeah, didn't really have time to go looking for it with the sun going down and all. 

The wig is borrowed and it's way off in both color and style (I definitely want a lacefront for the real thing) but it was the closest I could get my hands on, in a hurry, as I literally don't own a single wavy wig myself.

 

I obviously don't have the typical MonHun undies either so I just had to take something random from my wardrobe that is as inconspicuous as possible lol. I'm leaning towards making an Insect Glaive (already have a Hunting Horn made for another MonHun cosplay) but I'm not sure yet, it's either that or Dual Blades. Probably the bug stick. And yes, I still play this game periodically, including the Iceborne Expansion.

This is probably going to be one of those "half eternity" projects, that I'm gonna work on very slowly, so don't expect any proper updates or progress in at least a year as I'm hopefully gonna try to wrap up some unfinished projects out of the way first. But this one will happen, that's for sure.

 

And that's it for the first post of the year, thanks for reading!

Shiro Samurai out.

Prussia (Hetalia) cosplay makeup test

Hello guys!

I haven't done any cosplay content in forever and, while I can't call this one proper either, I did get a sudden urge today to do a makeup test just for fun and for practicing (it's been ages and I'm legit getting scared here that I'd forget how to do cosplay makeup at this rate lmao) and then I was like "is there anyone I can do that I already have a suitable wig for and also have lenses that I need to review?" and after a while it clicked – Prussia from Hetalia: Axis Powers. I mean, I have a lot of white and silver wigs so can't really go wrong with this one!

Some of you might remember that I did actually cosplay Prussia at Närcon several years ago; it was a very impromptu thing where I borrowed Firith's Teutonic Knight outfit. I might one day steal borrow this cosplay again just so that I can at least have a proper photoshoot...

I don't have his usual uniform or anything of the sort so yeah, the closest I could use –that had some resemblance to what the character actually wears– was basically a simple black dress shirt. I mean he does have a black shirt under the uniform lol. xD I'm not sure if I will cosplay him seriously at some point in the future, time will tell.

 

I.. umm, have a wig dilemma. If I do eventually end up cosplaying Prussia I can't decide on which wig I should use. On the two photos above I'm wearing a silver-white wig and, while I think that it might be better in color than the pure white wig on the photo below, I'm not sure about it because I feel like this silver wig is too thick, fluffy and layered on top. But then again, the pure white wig I like the cut and style of better and it's "thinner" and less top-heavy which I feel looks better but yeah, is it too white??
I was gravitating towards the silvery wig at first but the more I think the more I'm starting to doubt. Send help. >o< If you have a preference on which wig suits Prussia better please let me know!

That's all I have for now. I live alone and no photographer available so I'm limited to selfies (I do have a tripod... somewhere) for the time being. The lenses I'm wearing I will be reviewing later so stay tuned for that~

Shiro Samurai out.

Leon Kennedy cosplay makeup test

Hello folks!

Since the later half of last year I've been silently collecting the gear needed for cosplaying Leon S. Kennedy from Resident Evil 4. I'm not sure if I've mentioned too much about cosplaying him on this blog but he's been in progress for a while.

Leon is not a character I would typically cosplay as I really can't stand to play any kind of horror games myself (I get too easily scared...) but watching my friend Sacchan play through the whole thing was a different deal and, quite honestly, a lot of fun! I ended up liking the storyline, the characters and the overall feel of the game – despite it being just the kind of game that I'd normally have very limited interest in as I'm not a fan of shooting nor horror games in general. ^^" I liked playing all the shooting target minigames though, lol. I must admit that I've been enjoying playing the later Resident Evil installments in the co-op mode with friends though, although I am aware that RE4 is considered one of the best ones and I can totally see why – but the newer ones I played with friends were easier on me as there wasn't that tension of a horror game and instead it was just a mash-buttons-to-kill-as-many-zombies-you-can-before-the-time-runs-out type of thing. xD

But yeah, Leon clicked with me and so I decided that "hey, why not do something different and go out of my comfort zone?". Said and done.

I think I started gathering materials for this cosplay around August something last year. About everything is purchased from various eBay sellers, except for the jacket which I got from CosplaySky (I will review it soon!) and the pants that I already had. At this point in life I didn't have the time nor energy to make the costume myself and, frankly, making all those gun holsters etc would have been really annoying and pointless seeing how cheap I could get them online. I'm lazy sometimes... and out of cash all the time.

I did a makeup test for Leon yesterday and I must say that it was a bit of a different experience. You see, I'm so used to doing the heavier "anime makeup" that when I did Leon I had to do the makeup more subtle and realistic, which proved to be a challenge! I'm so used to the black liquid eyeliners that when I had to do a more natural approach –since Leon is a video game character– it felt weird. I had to avoid covering up "too much" (Leon wouldn't have perfect 2D anime skin) and for the eyes I just went with dark brown pencil eyeliner.

I'm not wearing any contact lenses for Leon on the costest photos above, although I do have gray lenses especially bought for him. I want to save those for a later time as I kind of want to make a rocket launcher prop before I have any kind of proper photoshoot.

Also, I'm still not too sure if I really suit this character but oh well, who cares? :) I want to cosplay him and so I do. Fight me bro. I might still experiment further with the makeup (especially the eyes, as it feels like just pencil eyeliner doesn't stand out enough) and I have some ideas on trying to "grease it down" or what-to-call-it – like doing this kind of look that you've been out blowing zombies up for a while and there's dust and dirt all over...

Regarding the wig it was a bitch to find a suitable one, not gonna lie. The only character wig on eBay didn't look like I wanted mine to look and so I had to resort to searching for generic fashion wigs instead.. and pray for decent quality. Thankfully eBay is full of those but oh fucking boy, how hard it was to find one with a parting that is not a middle-part. >_> I eventually found a base wig that would work, although I had to compromise on color a bit as Leon's hair tends to generally be portrayed as this kind of dark brownish-blonde shade, although it is really inconsistent (I've seen cosplayers doing everything from blonde to brown and even black) and so I deemed that the wig's color wouldn't be that big of a deal. I went with blonde.

Leon's wig before cutting it...

... and after cutting.

Sacchan did the cutting while I had the wig on my head. I have a larger head than average and so it was safer that I wore the wig during the cutting process so that we'd get it to be the right length. It was really important that we didn't end up cutting it too short, as that would have looked really unflattering on me. I might eventually trim it a bit more but yeah, I can't say for sure until I've straightened it and wore the wig to a photoshoot or such, to see how it behaves.

I think that's about all I had to say for this round. The review for Leon's jacket will come up soon so stay tuned for that!

Shiro Samurai out.

New gray hakama for Yasusada and Kenshin, finally!

Hello peeps ~

After almost 2 years of searching on and off I've finally found some new gray vintage hakama that I can use for improving my battousai version Kenshin Himura (Rurouni Kenshin) and nimihirviö Yamato no Kami Yasusada (Touken Ranbu) cosplays! 8D I'm so happy I finally have a suitable hakama because I've been searching for soooo long for the right one to show up and with the right price! It's been stupidly hard to find, I tell you. -.- What's even better is that this one is made of cotton, which is more convenient for cosplay purposes because I can iron and even wash it, if needed! Most times vintage hakama are silk, meaning that cotton is hard to come by.

When I originally debuted Yasusada back in 2015 it always bothered me that the cosplay hakama that I used (same one that I've used for Kenshin and Hakuouki's Hijikata) was way too light. I always wanted a darker pair and preferably a vintage piece, to fit better with the kimono that I use for him, which is also vintage. The wrong hakama is the main reason I haven't reworn Yasusada since then, even though I've wanted to rewear him all along!

New hakama, so excited! >u<

I'm sorry for the crummy mirror photo and the yellow light but yeah, the hakama is a dark-ish gray. I also tied the hakama knot differently from Yasusada's (didn't check references) but it doesn't matter since this was just a quick test. I basically just did a proper knot instead of an "anime knot", lolol. 

It's also andon (skirt) style, which is the type that Yasusada is also wearing, according to the art book – if one wants to be precise.

Yamato no Kami Yasusada reference.

As I said I will also use this new hakama for my battousai Kenshin cosplay, which will see the light of day again once I remake his (or well, actually Ichito's) gloves, aka tekkou. They actually broke at Närcon Vinter last year. :'( I want to make sturdier ones that are easier to wear because the now dead gloves were quite a bitch because yeah, they kept warping around and undoing themselves. Then again, I made them in fucking 2012 so totally not the freshest build I've done, lmao. I should make a new pair specifically for Kenshin and then another for Ichito too...

That's all for this quick update post, see you!

Shiro Samurai out.

Fruits Basket Hatori Sohma makeup test!

Good evening folks!

Some days ago I felt like it was high time to grab myself by the collar and do a makeup try-out for Hatori Sohma from Furuba, whom I will be debuting at Kitacon shortly. This costume was originally supposed to be worn at Cosvision earlier this year but yeah, shit happened. :/ I did a costume test a while ago too but I never actually tried out the makeup and, well, nowadays I don't feel too comfortable just improvising something on the con morning. Too high risk of fucking it up.

I noticed when I took out the wig that, since I originally styled it before Cosvision, some of the hairs had gotten crooked while being packed away and well, now their default positions are really wonky and ugly. I'll need to run it down with a straightener and, possibly, wash and restyle it before the con because yeah, it looks like crap right now. Hatori would never let his hair be unkempt, lol.

Some Hatori selfies ahead (aka no photographer) ~
 Oh and yeah, the lenses I'm using are the Flora Diva Violet, great for bishounen characters!

I'm not 100% satisfied (can someone teach me how to makeup? ;_; it's so harrrrrd) and I don't think this will be the final look that I'll don for the con; I'm fairly likely to at least try changing it up but this should give you guys a general idea.
I'm still trying to figure out how to make the whole "anime eye" look work on my eyes because it feels like no matter what I do my (deep) eyelid crease gets in the way and fucks it all up. It's extremely frustrating and especially when none of my current liquid liners dry fast enough and yeah, then I accidentally open my eyes too early or something and, BAM, all my hard work is smeared all over my eyelids. >_> Also, lower lashes are a bitch when you're trying to use liquid eyeliner under your eye. People always told me I have beautiful long lashes but they're honestly a pain in the ass and constantly in the way, lol. Anybody wanna trade? orz

Psst, I'm going with the manga version –on which he has violet eyes– instead of the anime. I highly preferred the manga anyway and it was the one I first checked out – I honestly think the anime is crap (sorry!) but the manga is really good. Another good thing is that Firith will join me as Ayame Sohma, which should be a lot of fun as well as help with character recognization because, err, Hatori sadly looks like a really generic anime guy in a suit. Too bad I don't have any seahorse or dragon plush to carry with me, that could help as well...

That's about all I have to say for this quick costest. See you at Kitacon!

~ Shiro Samurai out.

Black Bullet Rentarou Satomi cosplay test

Hi there!

A couple weeks ago or so I had a realization – remember my Rentarou Satomi cosplay? Yeah, the one I finished but haven't debuted yet. Yeah, that one. I suddenly remembered that, even though the cosplay is done, I haven't ever actually tried it on. Now that needed to change!

Character reference.

Today I had some free time so I decided to do a quick costest to see what the whole shebang looked like when worn. And by quick I mean quick – I lazied out on all makeup, save for eyeliner and darkening my eyebrows; I honestly just can't be bothered when I don't have a photographer at hand because yeah, it won't show well on crummy self-taken mirror pics anyway...

I know that his eyes are actually blue in the manga but I'm only familiar with the anime and in it his eyes are brown. I thus decided to go with brown eyes and, besides, I think it looks better anyway.

The lenses I'm using in this costest are the I.Fairy Ruby Brown but, sadly, I will have to throw them away soon since they'll expire. It's one of my favorite brown lenses for cosplay purposes. :)

Obligatory cosplay selfie.

I originally had another wig for Rentarou but it was wayyyyyyy too small for my head and so I had to buy another. The previous wig was a bit nicer when it came to the colors but it was basically child-size for me so I couldn't even get it to stay on my head, ugh. ._. So yeah, this new wig I bought from a random Chinese eBay seller and, much to my surprise, it's actually wearable! It's still a bit tight (I can't use the hooks at all) but it shouldn't give me any major headaches. I sometimes quite often wish I had a smaller head because buying from eBay is pretty 50/50 for me if I get a wig that fits me or not...

As I said, I had no photographer available so to get any kind of full body shots I had to use the mirror, which also means that everything's reversed so yeah, it appears like the jacket's stripe is on the wrong side etc – it's not in reality. I apologize for the shitty yellow light, the mirror is placed on the bathroom door and there's only a crappy yellow light there (the window is too far away to really help bring in any natural light).

I'm not happy with the shoes because the blue colors are much more gray-based than the jacket so yeah, they don't match. :/ I'm thinking about repainting the shoes but I'm not sure what would work since the shoes are made of some kind of faux leather; need to research into that...

Regarding the debut of this cosplay I don't have a set con in mind, but I've been considering to get Rentarou debuted before this year is over – I still have a couple cons left to attend that would require a warm cosplay and Rentarou would fit the bill; the jacket is warmer than it looks so this cosplay would be a good choice unless I suddenly get inspiration to do something else, which happens way too often...

That's about all I had to say for this round ~
Are there any other Black Bullet cosplayers out there?

Shiro Samurai out.

SDK Hotaru wig tests – Which wig should I use?

Hi everyone!

I did today a quick wig test for Hotaru from Samurai Deeper Kyo. The thing is that I have two wigs for him and I really can't decide on which one I should go with – maybe you guys can help me out? :') The first wig is a rather vivid darkish blond gold, really poofy with a lot of fibers and hair sticking out in all directions. The second one is a standard golden blonde wig, really typical cut and not with a lot of fluff to it – but it frames my face better than the first one. Both wigs are completely unstyled and will of course be styled once I figure out which one I wanna go with.

Hotaru reference.

Hotaru's hair ranges from a lighter gold to an orange-ish yellow, depending on the art. I decided to not be too picky about the color since it's inconsistent anyway. I do want to have the wig flare upwards a bit in the back though, like his hair does. I always thought that his hair was a reference to that he's a fire user and that's why I always pictured his hair as fairly poofy and wild-looking, but not in an overkill way – that's how I imagined it would translate in real life.

I didn't use any makeup because I did this quick test as soon as I got home from school and I was all tired and sweaty from the biking. My face looks like shit and I apologize if anyone gets cancer. :-D I'll do a makeup test separately later on, so stay tuned for that... I don't want to open my yellow lenses just yet.

But now, wig photos!

First up is wig number 1.

This wig stands up on its own.

Side view.

Just to show the back.

I remember I didn't really like this wig when I first got it, but the more I look at it the more it starts to win me over. It doesn't look very natural but instead it looks very... shounen. This is the wig I'm currently leaning a bit more towards but I'm not sure. The main issue I have with this wig is that it frames my face poorly – mainly because some of the fibers (especially the bangs and the sides) kinda go "outwards" instead of just falling down nice and flat, which leaves that small but oh-so-ugly gap between the wig and your face where one can see your wig cap (or a "dark spot") etc... if you know what I mean. It's hard to describe but I'm sure most cosplayers have experienced it at least once. Then again, I'm not sure if this wig is heat resistant but, if it is, then I might be able to lessen this problem by straightening the problematic areas...

Pros:

• Bigger cap size (aka no headache)
• Really poofy

• A lot of fibers in the back

• Color is deep and attention-grabbing

Cons:

• Doesn't frame my face all that well

• Maybe a bit too yellow/dark?
• Really poofy

Next is wig number two!

Tried to show the wig a bit from above...

... and from the side.

As you can see this wig looks more natural and toned down. I bought it from eBay and it has a very typical anime style and cut. What I'm worried about is that the cap size on this one is smaller (Asian brand) so it might give me a headache for prolonged wear; I have a large head. Another thing that might turn out to be a problem is that this wig doesn't have nearly as much fibers as the other one, so this one might not do as well if I want to style it to liven it up – especially the back part, which I should style anyway. If I go with this wig I would definitely need to style it because it somehow appears flat in comparison to the other wig, like the top doesn't really fluff much at all (unless you tease it).

Pros:
• Frames my face
• Color is a safe card
• Looks more natural

Cons:
• Cap size runs a bit small
• Isn't as full as the other wig
• The back is maybe too thin to be able to style well
• Appears flat in comparison
• Front bangs are a bit too short

~~~~~~~

Errr. And as one might expect the wigs of course don't photograph their true colors. *badamtss* The first wig is a warm yet slightly dark golden yellow, quite intense in color but not in a bad neon way. The second wig is a cooler yellow blonde and it's notably lighter than the first wig in real life – it has mixed fibers of different shades so it looks more realistic too. 

I tried to snap camera photos of the wigs next to each other –so that the color differences would be more obvious– but good lord how hard it was to get a photo that was at least somewhat close to reality...

This is the closest shot I got:

This is the closest I could get but my camera still pales down
and washes out the colors. The wigs are warmer and a bit more vibrant in person.

...

...

...

Okay so yeah, I'd love to hear your suggestions – which one would you choose? I'm really sorry if this post is messy and all over the place but yeah, just wanted to keep it from turning into a kilometer post. ^^" I'm gravitating towards the darker wig at the moment but I'd really appreciate to hear what you guys think! I've been changing my mind back and forth for months now!

~ Shiro Samurai out.

Lugia and APH Greece pre-con costests!

Yoo, you beautiful people ~

Närcon is right around the corner –aka 28-31 July– and I'm stressing my ass off because I still have things left to do. I need to iron everything (urrrgh, but it's worth it) and some lenses and accessories have yet to arrive. It's not the end of the world if the stuff doesn't show up because Lugia works without the gloves and, luckily, I do have at least one pair of orange lenses for Ibuki but yeah, if they're uncomfortable then I'm in the piss!

I spent the afternoon a couple days ago doing some outfit tests to see what the costumes looked like when worn; I had not tried them on before so I wanted to make sure that things didn't look funny. I didn't do any makeup because I was way too tired for that and it's too sweaty in here right now anyway, lol. Damn hot summer weather...

Lugia gijinka test.

Okay, so Lugia will look something like that, assuming that the gloves won't make it in time. I might still add some accessories if I come up with something. I will use a white wig for this. Yes, I pulled everything out of my closet. *Yoda voice* Convenient it is.
I do have some more elaborate makeup ideas for Lugia but I'm afraid that I won't be able to make it look good since I'm still quite clumsy and inexperienced with painting my face. I have a love-hate relationship with makeup right now, hehehe... ~

When it comes to Greece I borrowed the white t-shirt from Frozen Angel and the pants were a lucky find from a local second-hand store. The boots I had bought some time ago, to be used for another costume but they worked for Greece as well so eff yeah!

Hetalia's Greece outfit test.

I blocked out my face for the same reasons stated above – no makeup poop face. :) Another reason is that Greece's wig is still in progress! I decided to use one of my Okita wigs for him and so I washed off all the styling products from it and let it dry. Once the wig was dry and clean (sorta clean, two small spikes didn't wash away completely) me and Sacchan made the 'whale sprout', you know, the hair thingie that most Hetalia characters have.
We started by looking at references to pinpoint where the sprout was to be and then we took some spiking gel in the fingers and twinned the hair into a sturdy stalk. Once the stalk had dried in the right position we split the top into two parts, pinned each end into a roll (for shape-holding) and blasted some got2b freeze spray on it and then used the hair dryer to dry it in place – it worked. No steel wire required!

Wig in progress. The products next to it
are what we used to style the 'whale sprout'.

I have yet to style the rest of the wig but I think I'll save that for the con morning because I don't want to overdo it and it's easier to spike a wig when it's on your head anyway. I would also hate for the styling to be ruined (aka crooked) if I pre-style it and then when I take it out at the con it looks like hell went loose on it. Has happened, thank god my friend had a hair straightener back then.

Close-up of the 'whale sprout' ahoge.

I really should start packing but I'm feeling lazy. I guess I'm a time optimist because I always tell myself that I have time to do it later.... even though I don't. :D Oh well, if I can get myself to pack my stuff in advance there's a lesser risk that I'll forget something than if I stress pack the night before departure...

Oh and yeah, regarding the Närcon carpool I want to mention that the seat is now taken. We managed to snag one of our friends with us, on short notice, and it's no less than Karri the awesome one! I'm seriously so stoked to see him again and go to a big con together – he always brings the best company. I'm really thankful he can go with us because the search was starting to get really stressful because time was running out and no one had taken contact; I assume most people who had planned to go to the con had already fixed their traveling and so we were a bit too late to really get any response. But yeah, Karri saves the con and I couldn't be happier about it. ♥

That's all I had for this round. See ya!
~ Shiro Samurai

Hatori Sohma quick outfit test

Good evening folks!

Cosvision is really close now and I'm honestly kinda panicking here; I haven't even started packing yet and we'll leave on Friday morning or afternoon, oops. I'm just a bit all over the place and I'm currently super stressed about a shitlot of things, argh! But yeah, with this post at least I get one thing less to fret about, namely knowing that my Hatori costume works and looks as it should. Mostly.

Hatori in the anime. Just to show what color reference I'm going with.

It's heavily implied in the manga at least that Hatori is pretty much never seen wearing anything except formal wear. He also wears very expensive designer's suits but yeah, since I'm a poor student I can't do the same, obviously. ( ; 3;) I do have a few suit jackets but they're all second-hand findings so ssssch about that. I went with a black one since that's the standard color and at least he has a black one on the screenshot above.

This one looks dark brown though...

But yeah, I decided to roll with black this time since black is always black and my pants were black anyway. Hatori should technically have other colors too if that's the only things he wears lol; I'd be bored out of my mind if my whole wardrobe only consisted of black suits...!

I did a super quick outfit try-on, to check that everything looks okay, and luckily at least it doesn't look like shit, lol. The wig might need some further styling but as I said on the wig post I'll do that at the hotel. ^^" Oh and yeah, I completely skipped all makeup (sorryyyyy) because I honestly couldn't be bothered just for the sake of one crummy mirror photo. I had no photographer available. I'll just improvise the makeup on the con morning and pray to the cosplay gods that it succeeds...

Note: Obviously (dirty) mirror photo.
Hence why the covered eye is reversed.

I crappily blurred out the whole background, since it was really distracting because of the mess and yeah, blended in too much with all the black too. Oh and yeah, ignore the blank stare please – I guess I did the 'memory suppression' on myself, lolololo.
I haven't decided yet if I'll keep the jacket open or closed; Hatori does both though so it doesn't really matter in terms of character accuracy. Oh well, whatever I do Hatori does not really have any signature traits that makes him stand out from all the other "handsome and properly dressed men" in anime so yeah, I might not be recognized anyway. x) I guess the only thing really making him a bit less generic-looking is the blocked left eye but yeah, that's about it. I hope having Firith running around as Ayame Sohma with me will help people know that I'm supposed to be a Sohma family member too and not just a random guy in a suit, lol.

This is the last post you'll see from me before Cosvision! Hang on and I'll be back after 23-24th April with a con summary! 
~ Shiro Samurai out.

Darkrai gijinka preview test!

Good day everyone!

A few days ago I posted my Cosvision plans and, because both of my chosen characters are new cosplays, I felt like I needed to do some quick test runs before the con, to see if they even look presentable! Actually both Hatori and Darkrai are, in a way, "closet cosplays", because both of their outfits I could put together from stuff I already own. Sssch, I'm cheap. Darkrai mainly consists of parts from other cosplays but I still have to admit that I am surprisingly satisfied with how it turned out.

But enough blabbering, now I'll treat you guys to a couple test run photos! ~

Photographer: Sacchan

I'm sorry about the overexposed white wig but
there was no saving it.

I most likely won't change anything on the outfit itself (unless I can find longer gloves) but the makeup was just a test and it's not the final look that I'm going for. I actually had no idea what to do and the preview shooting was kinda sudden so I just threw something together quickly, in terms of eye makeup, and prayed that it would look decent at least. I have some ideas now, after brainstorming with Sacchan, on what I want the makeup to look like and I hope it'll work out at the con. If anyone's curious the real eye makeup look is hopefully gonna be something along the lines of Jack Sparrow style. Fuck yeah!

Oh and yeah, the long ponytail will be tied in some way at the con because seriously, I can't stand having such a long thing hanging free – it feels like it tangles if I just look at it. It's gonna be in some kind of braid or something because that's just a lot easier and more convenient. I seriously don't have the patience to detangle long wigs and keep them neat, although I wish I had because there's several characters that I want to cosplay who has long hair...

Just a close-up selfie.

I plan to use different contact lenses too. The ones I'm wearing on these pics are the EOS Bubble Blue's and, while they'd be great for Darkrai's eye(s), they have dropped in comfort since I opened them back in October last year. I think it's better I open another bright blue pair because yeah, I can't stand wearing lenses at a con if they dry out my eyes already on the first hours; I need something comfy for a full day event.

Just a Darkrai reference for those that don't
know what it looks like.

I just hope that I'll be somewhat recognizable as Darkrai, even though Pokémon gijinkas (aka humanized versions) are not always that easy to tell apart from some random Original Character, a-character-I-don't-know or whatnot. Oh well, whatever the case I won't be gijinka-ing alone because Sacchan will do a shiny Umbreon gijinka to accompany me – we'll be edgy af together! :'D Dark types ftw!

That's about it for this time. A Hatori test run post is coming up before Cosvision too!

Shiro Samurai says bye.

Touken Ranbu Kashuu Kiyomitsu's scarf and tasuki

Hello again!

My first con is closing in and I'm starting to really rush to get things done! I'm also crossing my fingers that some stuff will arrive on time, especially considering how shitty the post has been lately. One of my packages got sent back to Japan before I even got a notification that it had arrived, boo. I'm 95% certain about my cosplay plans but I can't publish them just yet because yeah, some critical stuff has yet to arrive. Sorry about that. Cosplay plans will be released as soon as possible!

One of the characters I will cosplay at the con is Kashuu Kiyomitsu's casual (aka uchiban) outfit. I sewed the scarf at mom's last Sunday. Luckily the kimono, juban and hakama I can pull directly from my kimono collection since I happen to have perfect pieces for him, haha. But yeah, the scarf I had to make and I started making it with the thought that it's gonna be a piece of cake but yeah, it took me longer than anticipated, mainly because I had problems figuring out the best way to do the tassels at the ends.

Really quickly thrown together outfit test.
(note: mirror photo! aka corpse mode)

The photo quality is shit because the sun had gone down for hours ago and yeah, I only had my crappy apartment light to count on. ._. I couldn't be bothered to dig out my juban so I just kept my long-sleeved shirt under, lol. I might do a more proper test before the con too, we'll see. Heck, I didn't even tie the hakama...

I barely took any progress photos of the making of the scarf; I was too busy trying to get it done before mom would drive me back home. I do have a few pictures to show though, but they're all taken with my cellphone so yeah, the quality is sub-par at best. ^^; Oh and yeah, my cellphone fucks up the colors real bad, lol.

Kebab arm! :DD

I found a suitable fabric in the attic and used the whole fabric width twice for the length; I made the scarf double so that it would be a bit thicker and look nice no matter which side was showing. I sewed the two pieces together and then put right sides together and sewed the scarf into a long tube. To turn the tube the right way I threaded it on my arm (I had left the ends open), like on the photo above, and just grabbed the edge and turned it around.
I had several ideas about how to make the tassels, ranging from using silk ribbon to just cutting them straight out of the fabric. Mom also did a fire resistance test on the fabric to see if we could simply just burn the edges, to keep them from fraying, but the fabric caught fire way too easily so it wasn't an option. Yeah, basically just us trying to see if there was a way to skip the tedious zigzaging part. xD
In the end I decided to cut out two separate pieces (one for each end) from the same fabric and then pre-sew the zigzag on it and then cut it up, next to the zigzag.

Put our idea to the test – it works!

I did try first to cut and then do the zigzag but oh lord, it was such a pain in the butt that I quickly went back to the original plan. Mom later came to ask me how it went and my answer was a straight "tää on perseestä mutta toimii". :DD lol

Second piece done and ready for cutting.

With the tassels done I just took the open edges of the scarf, folded them inside, put the tassel part inside and sewed the whole shit closed. It was a bit hard to get it to look nice on both sides because yeah, this fabric is the same type as the one I made the Star Wars robe from and, well, it lives its own life. I had to rip up the "underside" twice and redo it because it looked like shit. xD

Tassels pinned in place.

I realized a few days later that the tasuki I had used for Yamato no Kami Yasusada was too short to work for Kashuu. The reason is because they have it tied differently – you can see it on the official art book. Yasusada has the tasuki sleeve cord tied the usual way in the front but Kashuu has it tied in a ribbon at the back.

Touken Ranbu art book reveals Kashuu's back!

I had to ask some of my kimono friends how to tie it like that and I got some good suggestions how to make it work! I ended up having to try it several times and it was harder than I thought to get a neat bow. I will need to practise a lot more... or ask someone to tie it for me directly on the back. #lazy

I don't have any progress photos of the tasuki, except for the one below. Yeah, I decided to make a completely new one for Kashuu because I want to be accurate and hey, the fabric only cost 3 € per meter!!
I made it in school today during my handcraft class. The tasuki was made the exact same way as the scarf but because it's a lot narrower I had to use a wooden pole, to push it back to the right side, after I had sewn it into a tube.

Tasuki in tube form, half-way done with turning it back to the right side.

That's about all I have to say for this post. See ya later and thanks for reading my blog! ^^

Shiro Samurai out.

Kashuu Kiyomitsu eye makeup test

Yoo.

Today I decided that it was high time that I started practising the makeup for some of my upcoming new cosplays! Soon I will reveal for you all the first convention of the year that I will attend. ヽ(ﾟ∀ﾟ)ﾉ I'm super stoked about attending said con because I haven't been there for years but yeah, I'll get more to that later.
This post is about the next cosplay that I will likely debut and it's no less than Kashuu Kiyomitsu from Touken Ranbu! Yep, that's a cosplay plans spoiler right there. I wanted to try out a new makeup look now that I've gathered some more products. Too bad that I had to rush the whole thing because the sun was already going down before I even started! Screw you, polar night. So yeah, I'm sorry but I had to skip pretty much all other makeup save for the eyes, I just simply didn't have time. :( At least by doing this look I learned a lot of new eye makeup techniques that I sure as hell will experiment further with!

A rare case when I can smile without looking stupid...

This one is taken in yellow room light.

It's a bit annoying how my camera washes out most of my makeup, including the eyeshadows and highlights, ugh. At least it faded my pale-ass beard too so I didn't have to shave it lol. Now that I look at the photos I notice that my eyebrows are way too light; I should have filled them in some more. ._. Weirdly enough they looked dark in real life but yeah, camera...
I also want to apologize for the blueish light, the sun was down by the time I was sort-of-ready so I had to deal with the "blue hour"... or whatever it's called. I also couldn't be bothered, nor had time, to dig out the cosplay so I just took whatever red I had around me and put it over my shoulders, lol.

I'm pretty happy with this look, considering what a makeup greenhorn I am. This was also my first time ever using false eyelashes – oh what won't you do for the sake of cosplay?
For those curious I will review the two eyelash pairs that I used later so yeah, if you're interested keep an eye on my blog! ;) Fun fact is that my natural lashes are already stupidly long (been told that I have long lashes all my life by several relatives etc) so yeah, as soon as I put even a little bit of mascara on them they look like falsies lol. So yeah, when I wear actual false lashes on top of my own it's like... crazy shit.

Styled wig.

I also wanted to put in a pic of the wig when it was newly styled. My friend Sacchan did the cutting and styling for me this time; we had to make a hairline/parting and I wasn't really comfortable with that because I lacked the know-how to do it. I did tie the ponytail though, haha.

That's all for this time, see ya!

Shiro Samurai over and out.