Construction Details:

My main focus was improving the beading. On my first attempt I used pony beads because I was short on time and money, so this time around, I splurged a bit. The strands around the chest are all shell beads, and the others are coco beads. In total, there are 2,876 beads on this costume, 771 of which are hand-painted. Talk about tedious! Not to mention that it cost me over $200 for the beads alone, ughhh. But it's the one aspect that I'm pretty happy with, so I guess it was worth it in the end! And the fur. Oh, god, the fur. I'm not even going to go into how long it took me to find a suitable fur, and even then I still don't like what I picked, but ohhh well. This is without a doubt my most uncomfortable costume. Love the character, had a ton of fun making the outfit, but ugh, it’s SUCH a pain to wear. Every piece of the costume requires constant adjustments, like making sure the beading is still in place, the wig isn’t slipping, the curls aren’t falling out, my top isn’t sliding up, the fur cuffs on the shoes aren’t unrolling, the necklaces haven’t rotated… The list goes on. It’s really more of a hassle than anything else. (Seriously, give me Kraehe to wear ANY day over this one!)

Personal Thoughts:

Normally I don't like reuploading costumes in new entries whenever I remake something, but in this case I'm making an exception because this costume is 100% brand-spankin' new! Or maybe 90%. Yeah, let's go with that~ It's taken a year, but I've finally revamped my Vanille cosplay! I'm still not entirely happy with it (I doubt I ever will be), but I've gotten it to a point where looking at it doesn't make me gag. I think this is as good as it's going to get, though - by now I'm so tired of working on this costume! And wearing it, too. I might do one more shoot with it in the future and then sell it. But I really do love Vanille, and it was fun getting a second chance at this costume! I'm going to miss it when I finally retire her. D: I had a lot of fun wearing this with our FFXIII group at ACEN~ Most of the group changed out after only an hour or two, but our Lebreau and Maqui stayed to hang out with my Fang and I, mostly because we'd all spent so long getting into the costumes that we didn't feel like changing yet! Hopefully we'll wear them to at least one more con because I need to get pictures with 'em~!

How was the wig colored?

FW Ink

Styling Notes

This wig started as a Clover-L from Cosworx in Dark Pink. I dyed it with a watered down FW Ink dye mixture, so that I'd give it more of an orange tint as opposed to an all-over coloring job. Afterwards I backparted it using a pack of loose extensions that had also been dyed to match. I included a latex backpart but honestly I don't like how it looks, haha! Finally I curled the pigtails using plastic curlers, a blowdryer, and lots of hairspray.

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