Mermaid Queen Costume

I'm wearing a homemade costume of my own design. I got a few ideas about the makeup from the internet, like using fishnet stockings as a stencil for 'scales. After contouring and highlighting my face, I used a mesh onion bag (I didn't have any fishnets)to stencil colorful scales on my face and shoulders. I literally dug all the material, including the dress, out of a dumpster!!! I made the crown out of a wire clothes hanger, spray painted wooden kebab skewers gold for the spikes, and borrowed sea shells out of a friend's fish tank. The jewelry I've had forever. I made the ear fins out of plastic soda bottles and pieces of wire coat hanger I had left over from the crown. I put the wire pieces between two pieces of soda bottle cut in the shape of a fin, then I covered it with a piece of paper a d used a if I to make it flat. I cut the dress up to make a tattered train, cut the leg off a plus sized pair of stretchy pants for the skirt and darted the skirt so it would fit tight at my ankles. I sewed green tulle I found in the trash last Christmas on the bottom of the skirt to simulate a tail and for the shoulder wrap. My favorite feature on my costume is the scales on the front of the skirt. I boiled old CDs to soften them and cut them into fourths. I used liquid stitch glue to attach them in layers to the skirt. Love how it turned out!! I even made the glitter on my face and dress by scraping the pretty, holographic layer off old CDs. I Wore old knee-high stockings on my hands to look like webbed fingers. I found an old, rusty fish hook, cut it in half, and used eyelash glue to attatch it to my face. I made the fake blood with corn syrup, red food coloring, and a little brown acrylic paint, all of which I already had around the house. I spent a total of 30 hours making this costume over the course of 3 weeks. I paid 5 dollars for a pair of white contacts, 3 dollars for the liquid stitch, 2 dollars for the blue lipstick and 1 dollar for the eyelash glue. Everything else I already had or found in the trash. I was inspired by my effort to recycle, repurpose, and reuse as much as I can. It's amazing what beautiful and useful things can be made with trash.