News From the FishBowl: This is Halloween

Okay, so maybe it's the day before Halloween, but whatevs. :)

When it comes to dressing up...

last photo cred to Whimsy Girl Photography

...I'm not the resident expert, but I like throwing something fun together. Also, I'd much rather dress like something from the past, than something that's trendy now. This year I didn't think I'd be dressing up for Halloween, but then my roommates and I got invited to a Halloween party, so I had to come up with something. After much deliberation, and a Facebook shout out I decided on Rosie the Riveter.

source

Not to go all feminist and patriotic on you, but I have always loved this icon! Rosie is the face of a strong America. She is the face of the sacrifices women made to guard the home front and keep this country going so that our boys would have something to come home to all the while manufacturing the machinery they needed to win the war. I mean gosh, can you imagine what we could do with that kind of fire in politics today? All from an ad.

Anyway, back to Halloween. :)

I give you the tutorial for all things Rosie.

The Outfit

For this look I used a red knit headband (ideally though you should use a red bandanna, but I was fresh out) to go in my hair, a blue and white polka dot shirt from Old Navy (again though, a denim shirt is more authentic for this look), an old pair of higher-waisted jeans (none of the low rise that I normally wear), grey socks, and white keds. I buttoned all but the top two and bottom two buttons. The top was left open and the bottom I tied in a little knot. In the back you can either roll your shirt tail up a few times toward your body--that way the roll won't show--or you can do what I did, which was to tuck it into my pants. I rolled my sleeves up to just under my elbow, then pushed them up above for the more authentic, bunched look. Also, put a small cuff in the bottom of your jeans (however length will permit). Mine are rolled up twice to make a small 1"-3/4" cuff.

The Hair

For the most authenticity you will want to put your hair up in pin-curls. I found a great tutorial for that on YouTube!

**Disclaimer: This is actually a heatless curl tutorial, but I love this tutorial for pin up curls as well.**

Also, remember that if you choose to use this pin-up curl method, you'll need to first make a poof with your hair/curl your bangs so that you can keep modelling the Rosie the Riveter look.

If you like MY look, this is what I did.

1. I curled my hair. Had I not warn my hair in a braid that day I would've just used my own natural curl. Basically, you'll just need some kind of curl to make the rest of the hair style easier. I have long hair and sometimes have a hard time getting my hair to hold curls (that aren't the ones I was born with), but I stumbled upon this tutorial that has really helped me!

2. I made a pretty basic poof with my "bangs" (which I actually don't have, but I'm not a hair person so I don't know what that section of your hair would be called). Basically I just separated the front section of my hair, about an inch thick starting right above my right temple and going up across the top of my head and down to that same spot above my left temple. With my comb I teased the hair and then combed the front to smooth it, before finally pinning it in place to create some body. The reason this poof is important is because throughout the night, whether you use a bandanna or a headband, it will be tugging on the front of your hair, if you don't have the poof to keep the volume in the front, you'll end up having it pull your hair tight against your head. Last time I checked, that went out of style with the 90s... Again, here's a great tutorial!

**Just a little side note, I pretty much live off of YouTube hair tutorials, even the ones made by little junior high girls.**

3. Next, I pulled all of my hair up into high ponytail, combing back all the flyaways and hair spraying GENEROUSLY. This part you actually want all of your hair to be tight against your head. Make sure there are no bumps or loose spots. I mean tight!

4. The last step might be kind of confusing because I just made it up. I'll explain it and then maybe in a few days I can through together a quick hair tutorial video:

If your hair is like mine, it's very bouncy and full and fun after it's been curled with a curling iron, so you probably have a pretty full, fun ponytail at this point. All I did was start taking curls and pinning them all over around the ponytail to make what almost looks like a bun, but it's big and full. On me it probably had a six inch diameter. The closest I can illustrate it for you is in this tutorial, but skip to 3:43 and watch that "Arranging the Curls" section. See how some of her ends are just hanging out? That's good! I reiterate what she said, "Don't get too perfect with it!"

5. Finally I just slapped on the headband right behind my bang poof. I secured it with some bobby pins behind my ears, and directly below the bun.

The Make-Up

This was arguably the most fun part for me. I loved going all out. So, again I'm falling back on a tutorial here. A few tips though, you can use a fake eyelash if you want to, just not too huge, this should still be old-timey. Also, the eyebrows took my a few tries to get right. Follow the tutorial's curve exactly, because if you curve the brows too much or too little, it looks really bad (I got a little crazy with the eyebrow pencil and had to redo it a billion times). This is the exact tutorial I used: