Ancient Egypt; full of mystery, intrigue, and of course… mummies! I’m sure not everyone had the same childhood experiences, but there has to be at least a few of you out there that remember a time when mummies and curses and golden treasure occupied all of your inner-thought-adventures. Some of you might have even wrapped yourself up entirely in toilet paper (much to your guardian’s dismay) and wandered around the house with your arms stretched out in front of you moaning about the pharaoh and his curse.

Mummy

Well, this Halloween is as good a time as any to get some of that magic back — though I wouldn’t recommend trying the toilet paper thing again. There are plenty of costumes available that take away the work of actually wrapping yourself like a mummy, and are constructed so that using the bathroom won’ t be a problem. That is a perk you really want to have on Halloween night, trust me.

But what if the costume you purchase still looks a little too fake for your taste? Rough it up! The older, dirtier and more torn an mummy costume looks, the more authentic it will look as well. If the fabric is too white, soak it in a bucket of warm water with some tea bags then let it dry, the tea will stain the bright white fabric (provided it’s not polyester or something that wouldn’t take dye well) and change it to a dingier, tan-ish color. If you really wanted to give it extra ‘authenticity’, you could put it on and have your friends or relatives mist some light brown spray-paint in your direction. It will give the allusion that you’ve been in dirt without actually having to go roll in it. (You wouldn’t want the mess to come off onto someone’s sofa).

But what about the part of your face that is going to be sticking out from behind the bandages? Well, one option would be to get a mask (there are some pretty freaky looking ones out there), and the other would be to get some make-up. You don’t actually have to know how to use the stuff, of course. You could get a kit (that generally come with the make up and instructions included), or simply buy eyeliner and eye shadow in tones of brown and fuss with your face until you’re satisfied with how good (or bad!) a job you have done. There really aren’t any rules to go by, so long as you look nice and dead by the end of it.

It comes in a bottle similar to what wine is sold in (or sometimes clear); but this drink is a beautiful green color, and not something you can pour and consume immediately. The process involves pouring some of the liquid into a glass and then placing a slotted spoon over the glass and sugar cubes on the spoon. After the sugar has been dissolved into the mixture some water is added, and then is it ready to drink.

The Green Fairy

Absinthe became popular in the late nineteenth – early twentieth centuries among the bohemian types of the time. So by default it was opposed by the prohibitionists and those that were socially conservative. It was said that when you drank it, the “Green Fairy” took hold of you and sent you on a wild ride of hallucinations, that she made you crazy for the time that you were under her spell. Some went so far as to say that it could provoke epilepsy and tuberculosis, as well as turn a law abiding man into a criminal.

By nineteen-fifteen it was outlawed in most countries, though the chemical thujone (present in small quantities in the drink) was hardly enough to give Absinthe the psychoactive effects it was said to have. For the united states, it stayed banned until 2007. But now that it is perfectly legal once again to buy and drink Absinthe in the united states, several breweries have taken it upon themselves to manufacture the green sprit. Notably; George Spirits of Alameda, California, Delaware Phoenix Distillery in New York, Integrity Spirits in Oregon, and Philadelphia Distilling in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Follow in the footsteps of Oscar Wilde and Aleister Crowley and try some for yourself. Or perhaps, just an absinthe flavored lolly? (Contains 100 percent less liquor and 200 percent more stick.)

May we reconvene under the blood red moon,
-Black Widow

Who hasn’t wanted to be a rock star at some point or another in their lives? Even the shyest of the shy wonder occasionally what it would be like to make amazing music, or to have thousands of adoring fans that would give an arm or a leg just to say hi. So why not make that dream come true in the only way that you can (without actually having any talent or a fantastic team behind you to make it seem like you do)…. be a rock star for Halloween!

Rock Star

There are a few different ways to be a rock star. The first thought that generally comes to mind is that one should dress as if they were from an 80’s hair band. Generally this involves a big crazy wig, bandanna, and either a t-shirt with the sleeves torn off, pants cut to look like frayed short-shorts, or both. But that’s really more of the comedic route to take. I personally don’t mind encouraging the cheesy costumes (one shouldn’t ever take themselves too seriously, it’s not healthy) but in the event that you wanted to be a specific rock star, there are a few things you should consider.

1. Do the people at the party (or wherever you will be wearing this costume to) listen to the same kind of music as you? Or is this singer/band member have a specific recognizable style that all people would know despite not being fans of the music?

2. Can you duplicate the hair? I’d say that more than half of any artist’s look is their hair, and if you can’t do it with your own hair you might need to look into getting a wig.

3. If you’re going to be a female singer (who isn’t necessarily a rock star) make sure you do a recognizable outfit or that you look enough like her for people to make the connection instantly. You wouldn’t want to go through the trouble of getting an outfit that looks like hers and for example, decide that you didn’t want to wear a wig; and have everyone at the party think that you’ve simply come as a half-naked woman instead of this singer you were trying to portray.

A fun idea that you might want to make use of (if you have enough friends that are into it) would be to pick a singer who has gone through a lot of different images, or who has a music video with a much of costume changes; and have everyone dress as the same person but in different outfits. When you get to the party you can say “we are _____” and do everything collectively. This isn’t anywhere near the best example, but in Brittany Spear’s video for “Toxic” she had at least four distinct different outfits/hairstyles/colors, all of which would catch attention at a party.

Just toss the idea around in your head, you might come up with something even better.
(All of Kiss, perhaps? Kidding~)