DIY Lisa Frank Costume

TODAY IS THE VERY BEST DAY!! Halloween has been my favorite day of the year ever since I can remember. 💖 Partially because I’m a 25 year old woman who never grew out of “playing dress up”, but also because of the feel-good memories I associate with the holiday. When I think of Halloween, I flash back to carving pumpkins with my grandparents, spendings hours upon hours crafting costumes with my mom, and stealing all of the sour skittles from my brother’s halloween stash. Even this year my mom and I spent a day together sewing finishing touches onto this costume, and my brother knows better than to leave any fruity candy unattended #SomeThingsNeverChange 🤷🏻‍♀️ Choosing to do a Lisa Frank costume this time around just added to my Halloween nostalgia. Growing up, Lisa Frank was the. coolest. thing. ever. 👏🏻 I remember standing in the school supply aisle BEGGING my mom to buy me all of the things. “Amanda, your list says you need a green notebook for science..” “BUT THIS ONE HAS GREEN. And blue. And purple. And pink on it!!” Sound familiar anyone? 😂 Really though, I think Lisa Frank was such an inspiration to young girls in the 90’s to be creative and express themselves. 20 years later, it’s still ingrained in me to live life colorfully. 🌈 This Halloween, I was SO excited to pay tribute to the rainbow queen herself. 🦄👑 Here is the full look, and also a little insight into how I made it happen!

Let’s start from top to bottom. My cheetah ears were a combination of bought and crafted. I found rainbow sequin cat ears for a steal from Forever 21, then hot glued a hot pink boa around them to give it a little more oomph. My hair is a wig, and definitely the best one I have ever purchased! What I’ve learned about wigs over my years of costume making is that you get what you pay for. Don’t go super cheap on that aspect of your look because it will be obvious that you did. If you’d like an example, I could dig up some REALLY bad photos of me dressed up as Poison Ivy in a $7 wig circa 2011 🙈 Learn from my mistakes guys! 😝

My top was probably the biggest transformation, I wish I could find the dress I started off with to link because you would not recognize it! I found a white off-the-shoulder statement sleeve sweater dress on clearance for $7 because there was a rip in the back. I knew right when I saw it that the sleeves were perfect, so I took it home and turned my wheels on how to alter it. I ended up cutting and hemming it into a crop top, then dying it with purple Rit Dye. For those of you who haven’t used Rit Dye before, don’t be afraid! It’s SO easy, I’ve used it almost every year for Halloween and also for a handful of clothing and home decor DIYs. I promise it sounds much scarier than it actually is. Next, I found a Lisa Frank T-shirt on clearance for $4 (similar), cut around the logo, used iron-on transfer paper to attach it to the crop top, then sewed around it to secure. The T-shirt also had a rainbow and unicorn on it that were too big for the front of my crop, so I added them onto the back using the same method. Lastly, I hand sewed a hot pink boa around the edge of each of my statement sleeves. It was a fun finishing touch that made the look feel more costume-y!

I ordered this skirt off of ASOS and knew the diagonal ruffle detail on the front would be the perfect excuse to embellish half of it. I found orange and pink cheetah fabric at Joann Fabrics, sewed it onto half of the skirt, and also made a pocket for the back. The embellishments on the top of the skirt and also the second pocket are all iron-on patches. To finish it off, I sewed a sparkly purple boa with a patch of orange feathers onto the back of the skirt to make a furry tail! Tip- I also wrapped some lightweight floral wire around the top section of the tail to make sure it stuck out a little instead of falling flat.

Now for the fun part, accessories! I bought a pack of rainbow star beads and strung them to make a few colorful bracelets. My choker was from Forever 21, I almost didn’t wear it and I’m SO happy I changed my mind. There’s nothing more 90’s than a cheap holographic piece of plastic tied around your neck 😂 The paint brush was just a basic wooden brush that I taped off and spray painted purple. Once the handle dried, I removed the tape from the top and used acrylic paint to create rainbow bristles. These orange boots were a SUPER lucky $6 find from Goodwill. They were new with tags on them and the store had them in every size and in multiple colors. One of the best tips I can give is to frequent Goodwill in October while you’re costume hunting! They put out large quantities of costume-y pieces that they collect throughout the year and save just for Halloween. And now my favorite part- THE PAINT CAN PURSE. 🎨 I think this is probably the best idea I’ve had in my 25 years on earth 🙌🏼 I found a clear plastic paint can in the party section at Hobby Lobby, wrapped silver glitter felt around the inside to keep it from being transparent, and then added the rainbow felt “paint” embellishments. I finished it off by adding a little tab of felt onto the lid to make it easy for me to get in and out of all night and attached a chain for the strap.

Last, my makeup! I used Mehron Paradise Paint in orange and pink, and they worked out awesome! It was my first time using a nicer body paint like this, and it made such a difference. The paint comes as a pressed powder and is water-activated, which allows you to control the saturation and makes blending really simple. For the lighter yellow areas of my face I added a little bit of yellow face paint to my normal foundation. The cheetah spots are liquid eyeliner with a dot of acrylic paint in the center, using multiple colors. I set the face paint and did my eye shadow with this inexpensive Wet and Wild Palette, and the lips are NYX Liquid Suede Cream Lipstick in Sway. I finished it off with some dramatic lashes and added a little chunky pink glitter to my shoulders and collar bones!

Thanks for letting me ramble a little about Halloween, costumes, Lisa Frank, and DIY-ing because they are my absolute favorite things! 🌈🦄🎨✂️  Seriously, I go into depression for at least 3 weeks post-halloween every year 😭 We have to wait 365 days until we can do it all over again, can you even believe it?! 😱 I don’t know about you, but I’m already brainstorming 😉 Happy best day of the year friends!! 👻🎃☠️💖

Xo Amanda