![]()
Join me in the way-back machine for this little cosplay gem.
Let’s flashback to last May, the lovely Nerd Misfits at Espionage Cosmetics asked a couple other very talented Nerd Makeup Ambassadors and me to put together some half beauty – half gory cosplay-inspired makeup. This little collab was inspired by EC’s May 2017 “Battle of the Badlands” BoomBox and the great Glitter Jedi, herself, gave us the prompts (characters/fandom) to riff off of.
View this post on Instagram
I had the opportunity to do two looks – one channeling Tank Girl, and another featuring Shaun of the Dead… with a twist. The fantastic Dawn, @bangbangbetty, created a kickass fem!Immorten Joe look and the lovely Fox, @rockettefox, created a cool cel-shaded Borderlands Psycho Bandit look. You should go check out the other ladies and give them some social media love. They are ridiculously talented!
… but for now, let’s talk Tank Girl.
Fonzie Rebecca Buckler, more commonly known – Tank Girl, is a crazy firecracker. Her character fell hard for a mutant kangaroo named Booga and had an affinity for explosions… and, well… tanks. I decided to take inspiration from the comic book and 1995 movie version starring Lori Petty
I scoured my closet and misc. cosplay props to piece together. Tank Girl’s hair was a little tricky, and I didn’t want to chop up a wig – so I took a piece of 3.5″ by 7″ swiss lace and ventilated it by hand using some yellow and blonde Kanekolan jumbo braids. If you need to ventilate anything, get yourself a latch hook. It makes life so much easier! I wasn’t concerned with how the sides of the hairpiece would look because it’s covered by a hat. If I were to make this again for a non-hat variety, I would make the shape and hair placement a little more organic and natural looking. Especially for the front of the hairline, if that makes sense.
Since my hair was non-existent and buzzed right to the scalp, I just attached the little hair piece to my head with Pros-Aid adhesive and fed the bulk of the hair through the open area on the back of my hat. My faux hair looked awesome but removal was a little time consuming – nothing a little soap, water, and elbow grease couldn’t fix. 
The Glam Side:
I poured through a few issues of Tank Girl and noticed that she was drawn wearing somewhat of a dramatic winged eyeliner… so that was simple. Since this was an EC collab, I pulled out a few of my trusty favorites from their old loose Everything Shadows line, mainly from the Browncoats Collection (which is still available, so get it while you still can) and some colors from past BoomBoxes.
Tank Girl seems to always have a bandaid on her face and since the other side was gory, I decided to accessorize on the glam side. I added a false lash from Rouge and Rogue in the style Raven – and I’m going to admit that it wasn’t my best application since it sat too far above my lash line but I didn’t want to have to go in and clean up the liner and makeup. Lazy? Maybe… I’m just living in the chaotic spirit that is Tank Girl.
Glam Makeup Details:
Make Up For Ever Waterblend Foundation in Y215, Ultra HD Concealer, and Pro Sculpting Palette in 20.
Dermablend Translucent Setting Powder
Kat Von D Beauty Tattoo Liner in Trooper
Espionage Cosmetics Everything Shadows in Mrs. Reynolds, Reaver Read, Shiny, Sudden But Inevitable, Terraforma, Thermosphere, Vault Hunter, Pain and Pleasure, and Wub Wub.
Rouge and Rogue Black Magic Lashes in the style Raven
Urban Decay 24/7 Pencil in Perversion
Espionage Cosmetics Lip Serum in Fatality
Espionage Cosmetics Nailed It Nail Wraps in Amethyst
The GORY Side:
I wanted this side to look like Tank Girl just got into a huge fight, and maybe a tank crash… but you should see the other guy. Ha! Oh, and hickies because she’s not afraid of some PDA with Booga…
Fun fact, for the gory side I only ended up using ONE dual-ended brush to get the texture/stippling and blending of the wounds… and wanna know what brush it was? It was from my Urban Decay Vice 4 Palette. For the most part, I tend not to touch the brushes that come with palettes because for the most part – they aren’t as user-friendly as my other brushes AND they tend to shed like crazy. Thankfully, I’ve found that they are excellent for wound work, especially if they have a duo-fiber side.
Gory Makeup Details:
Make Up For Ever Waterblend Foundation in Y215, Ultra HD Concealer, and Pro Sculpting Palette in 20.
Dermablend Translucent Setting Powder
Graftobian Master Bruise Wheel for the bruise work and shading
Mehron Rigid Collodion for the cuts and Theatrical Scab Blood
Skin Illustrator Zombie Palette for the blood tones and spatter inside the cuts.
I enjoy creating split faces featuring a more beauty side and a more scary/gory side. It makes me happy and lets me flex both of my makeup muscles.
I switched up the headgear and hair placement for a few of the photos just to see how it looked, ultimately I preferred the first hat – which I bought at Target last spring, and flight glasses… but I figured I’d be nice and share a few of those pictures as well.
If I’m doing any sort of character makeup, I will usually have that character’s movie/cartoon/etc. playing on in the background for added inspiration. So while I was applying the makeup for this look, I was listening/half-watching Lori Petty’s version of Tank Girl. It’s ridiculous and cooky, but it’s good for a laugh. I think her performance captured Tank Girl’s randomness and love for destruction.
I didn’t have “believable” blue contacts at the time, so all of the photos are edited to change my eye color and knock down the redness on the whites of my eyes… other than that – what you see is what was on my face. I don’t like to over edit my SFX makeups unless I think it will enhance the overall outcome. I would rather do it practically than go back in and fix it later.
With Halloween quickly approaching, I am working on content for my 13 days of Halloween project.
Get Excited.
Since there will be THIRTEEN different looks, that means a lot of different props, costumes, supplies, etc… ranging from Cosplay characters to original characters, to classic halloweenie-types. If you would like to help a Chaos out and support this year’s spooky monsters and creations, consider buying me a coffee via Ko-Fi or if you want to pick up some goodies from Espionage Cosmetics don’t forget to use the code “NMA15CHAOS” to save 15% off of your purchase. (*The link to Espionage Cosmetics IS an affiliate link, so I do get a small commission with every purchase using the link.)
I appreciate every single one of you guys. Thank you for being a part of this crazy adventure with me!
If you guys have any specific requests for Halloween tutorials or things along that nature, let me know in the comments below or @ me on social media. I am basically “@ohjaechaos” everywhere on social media.
