Beware the Swamp Witch | #Halloween2018 | @ohjaechaos

You’re walking along a path and come to a fork in the road.
One leg leads off to a sunny, lively beachfront path
… and the other into a dark, eerily silent forested swamp.

There is a sign on the side of the swamp reading:
DO NOT ENTER. BEWARE THE SWAMP WITCH.
Under the bold print, there’s another warning…
If you do enter the swamp:
— DON’T DRINK THE WATER
— DON’T EAT THE MUSHROOMS
— AND ABSOLUTELY DON’T FALL ASLEEP.

Obviously, you laugh in the face of danger and walk headstrong and feet first onto the path leading to the swamp.
Swamp Witch be damned…

Yesterday was the start of Melt Cosmetics’ Halloween Makeup Competition, and I wanted to at least try my hand at a few looks before I launch my 13 Days of Halloween. The competition by Melt has a daily theme – prompts listed on their announcement post here – and each day there is a winner selected. The daily winner will receive their yet unreleased collection, which I am assuming are their new metal glosses, eight shades in total.

While I’m not a huge fan of metallic glosses, I do love Melt Cosmetics, and they are in my top few favorite big indie brands. I don’t think I’ll have the time to post and enter for EVERY daily prompt, but I have picked out one or two.

Speaking of, yesterday’s prompt was “WITCH” and here is the creature that I created. I filmed some of the application process, but not enough that I’d feel comfortable editing a full tutorial together. I did have a thought that I should shoot the whole thing and then save it as a backup just in case I don’t get everything done in time for my 13 Days of Halloween. C’est la vie!

I can’t think of a swamp witch without jogging memories of watching The 10th Kingdom, you know – the old made for TV mini-series that aired back in 2000. I love that mini-series for its twists on the old Grimm faerie tales… and I also kind of had a thing for Wolf. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one. Wolf and Aragorn were my two tween/teen crushes. What were yours?

…. anyways, I’m getting off topic…

For this look, I wanted to take a spin on the traditional witch, working a little bit of hag into the mix and incorporating textures, veining, and the druid rune for water. Fitting, because swamps are FULL of water… and other creepy bits. I knew that I didn’t want this witch to be glamorous AT ALL and so I created this lovely creature.

Initially, I wanted to block out my eyebrows and leave the mossy bits off of the brow area… but I was having such a time blocking out my big ‘ol bushy brows and just got fed up, so I stuck some moss on… like ya do. I need to just make some silicone brow appliances that way I can just slap them down and blend out the edges. It will save me loads of time in the long run, and I won’t have to mess with layers and layers of glue and setting powder. I’ll like the record to reflect that I have SERIOUSLcontemplatingplating shaving off my eyebrows… talk me down, dah’lings. Talk me down.

I worked in three layers. First was the cream colors for overall color correct and contour. Then I build up the contours, tone, and highlights with eyeshadow. Lastly finishing up with some stippling of alcohol activated makeup via a sea sponge.

I also broke out the mouth coloring fx gel stuff that I purchased from Camera Ready Cosmetics. Specifically, it’s PPI’s Mouth FX in Mean Green. It is mouth safe but isn’t meant to be swallowed – think swish and spit. The effect is cool but it doesn’t last very long, and you will have to use a whole lot to get a proper opaque effect. It does taste like vanilla, so there’s that. Note: it’s formulated to be a temporary effect, so its longevity is spot on for what it’s made for – if that makes sense.

My circle lenses worked out well for this look They are the Pinky Paradise Eclipse lenses in green. They are 15mm so they are slightly larger than standard iris size of 14.2mm to 14.5mm. The lenses have a slight green ring around the outside, so since my eyes are dark brown, it looks like my eyes are ridiculously dilated with green rings when looked at in low light. Pretty nifty, eh?

As I’ve done in years past, I tossed around the idea of jumping in the car and hitting up a few drive-thru establishments since it was a little late in the evening and my local makeup haunts were closed. I followed what the mischevious voices in my head told me and I went to shterburks, macdee’s and berguhr kang – ordering the minimal order possible, aka drinks or a kids meal because let’s face it – I kind of forgot to eat yesterday during the day.

Side note: I am in desperate need of caffeination to get everything done in time for 13DoH launch – so if you want to help a weirdo out, consider giving a schmeckle or two over on my Ko-Fi page. 

I was a little let down because the first two places I went didn’t even bat an eye. No weird side glances. No snickering to coworkers – NOTHING! It almost made me think that my makeup sucked… until the last one. Good ole’ BK. The funniest part was I wasn’t even looking at the drive-thru attendant because they were on the other side of the area getting my order together and I was looking at my phone. I wasn’t trying to be scary or freaky or anything – I was just looking at my phone. I heard a gasp followed by a muffled squeal and my day (err.. evening) was made.

Realizing that this entry probably won’t win anything – given that after looking through the #MeltHalloween hashtag there are DOZENS if not HUNDREDS of more talented entries – I figured what harm would it be just to toss my little swamp witch out there. I am and always have been hyper-critical of the stuff that I do – be it performances, school papers, or makeup looks. It’s something that I’m working on but still fall prey to on a daily basis. It’s part of the reason why I don’t enter into more contests. There’s always that nagging voice in the back of my head telling me that my entries aren’t good enough. /sigh.

Update: So right before this post was to be published they announced the winners, and nope – didn’t win. That’s okay though. Congrats to those two ladies who did though. If you want to see who won, go check out Melt’s IG Stories.

With that off of my chest, I am trying to put my self out there – content-wise – a little more. If you enjoy the content I create, please take a moment to make sure that you are following me on social media ( I’m @ohjaechaos everywhere) and subscribe to my Youtube channel. My 13 DoH prep has consumed my life, and I’m going to try and put additional content out there to fill the gap but if there is a bit of radio silence from me until the 16th… then know that I’m just in the zone for Halloween.

Are you entering the #MeltHalloween Contest? If so, let me know because I want to cheer your entries on as best as I can!

… and as always, don’t forget to stay positive and be awesome.
BECAUSE YOU ARE AWESOME!

FTC Disclaimer: This post is not sponsored, but it does contain affiliate links to Amazon. I make a VERY small commission from items purchased through affiliate links. All views expressed in this post are 100% my own. For more information, please email me at info(at)jaechaos.com or contact me through my Contact Page.