The Easiest Costume of All: The Phantom of the Opera

Happy Halloween!

My costume is simple and short, just as this post is simple and short. What am I? If you haven't figured that out, well, that's your problem.

What I'm using:
1 Black Dress
1 Pair Black Stockings
1 Pair Heels
1 Mask (trimmed to fit my face appropriately)
1 Eyeshadow Palette
Spirit Gum
Foundation
Lipstick

This costume has gone through several different variations, including a test run several years ago that is pictured above, but I finally settled on this one mainly because I didn't have the time or money to make a black velvet cloak, and I need something that can look professional again in seconds (normally, I have a class that I can't look weird for in the middle of my day, but other factors have led to that being absent today, mainly working on a project with some theater friends). Obviously, the first three items are quite intuitive in their use, as are probably the last two. However, the rest I, of course, had to mess with.

The mask is actually what I did the most with. This phantom piece was actually inspired by a friend, who commented on the fact that I never had a profile picture that included my entire face. I had mentioned it to my mother because I thought it was funny, and then forgot about it. A week later I was doing some serious shopping for my classroom, and my mother comes up to me with this silly grin on her face and something hidden behind her back. It was a Phantom mask. It was a buck and change, so I threw it in the cart, and then got out the scissors and edited it. It came down to a sharp point along the chin, which I didn't like, especially since it was too small for my jaw, so I rounded that off, and then I lowered the forehead (it was ridiculously high--there might have been a reason it was so cheap!), in the process removing the little stretch band that goes around your head. Now you know why the Spirit Gum is important!

The eyeshadow palette actually helps hollow out my cheek a bit more and give the more unearthly look. A little white powder along the cheekbone never hurt, either. I think I've yet to actually use that eyeshadow on my eyes yet. Foundation helps with blending this out, and the lipstick gives the final touch--you may or may not want to use this, since in my opinion lipstick is messy and I don't like eating it. Incidentally, the average woman consumes something like seven pounds of lipstick in her lifetime. Ew.