Coolest Easiest and Grotesque Zombie Walker Costume

Although this is a homemade costume, this image may be disturbing or sensitive to some viewers.

So, winter break of 2014/15, I got really into Walking Dead. Since I really liked the series, I decided to be a walker Halloween of 2015. The goal was to be a walker that had only been dead for a day or so.

It wasn’t a hard costume to put together, it was just very time-consuming to put on. Probably the hardest part was finding a dress that pretty enough that it’d be a plausible thing to wear, but cheap and still ugly enough that I wouldn’t mind cutting it up and getting fake blood all over it. Tried to add the illusion of a bullet hole with black fabric, but it didn’t work so great because I used satin instead of something a little more matte. I ended up painting around the hole with eyeliner, mascara, and acrylic paint to add a singe effect. Mom sewed the pockets and straps on, since it was originally strapless.

The fake blood was hard to get right, but I eventually figured out a good mix. I ended up using Karo syrup, powdered hot cocoa, and red/blue/green/yellow food coloring. It thickened nicely in my fridge. It stuck reallly well to the dress, but it’s a little tougher to get it to stick to skin. I ended up painting it on in layers with a paint brush, since pouring it on in the dorm shower wouldn’t have worked so well. The bloody handprint I’d put on the back left syrup all over the place. It was very sticky and uncomfortable for most of the night, and it crusted off my skin after awhile. It was also kind of awkward to try and explain to my RA why there were red smears on the bathroom walls.

The face wound was thin layers of Kleenex and liquid latex, painted with foundation, eyeshadow, and eyeliner and cut to sort of extend my mouth. I used several layers, but I probably should have used half of what I did, because I couldn’t really move my face for most of the night. For the gore on my cheek, I mixed my fake blood in with some vaseline that I microwaved. The bruise and bite mark were accomplished with eyeshadow and eyeliner.

Since I’m naturally pale as a corpse, I used sunblock and white face powder from Hot Topic to make it even whiter. I did a ton of contouring my face and collarbones with black eyeshadow. I didn’t want to use bronzer because it would have warmed up my skin tone too much. I achieved some pretty killer cheekbones, not that they can really be seen. I also attempted to make my lips look pale and ashy, but the concealer wore off pretty quick.

I attempted to use a combination of youtube tutorials to put my face on, but I may have botched them just a little. Oh well, zombie makeup is very forgiving.

I got a lot of compliments on this costume, and I unintentionally scared some little kids and Walmart employees. I’d say it was a successful costume.

Coolest Easiest and Grotesque Zombie Walker Costume — Cute lil’ bow

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