Absent: Convention Stuff! (Where to Buy Cosplays and Wigs)

Hey guys, so I bet you've noticed I've been a little absent lately, what with the AMV of the week not being posted up for two weeks in a row. I'm sorry about that, by the way, but you should all know that M-TAC is coming up soon! Yay! So What with last week being my spring break and all I took advantage of every little second I could to prepare for the convention. I'm going up with a group this year and we are doing a group cosplay of Kingdom Hearts. (I'm playing Aqua, yay!) I also went ahead and got together my costume for Rin from Rin: D.o.N. So this is all pretty exciting. We are leaving for the convention Thursday morning. (Early Thursday morning...really early Thursday morning =.=) But that's great because usually I go up Friday morning and get there Friday afternoon and I miss like, a few whole HOURS of convention time so this year is absolutely amazing! Sure I have to miss a day or school (or two) but it is sooo worth it!

So that's my excuse for the lack of posting lately and again I am very sorry for that.

But! Never fear I have some useful information here! (haha rhyming) Now if you didn't have time to get your cosplay together you can rush order one at the last minuet. Yes, buying cosplays are expensive, but you can wear it for all the other conventions you go too and for halloween! :D Sooo maybe you can rationalize it like that. Either way, no matter where you get your cosplay the price will be a little expensive, most tend to run from about 100$ to 150$, but you may as well get a high quality one since you're going to be paying so much anyways. :P

Cosplay House
I've ordered a few costumes from Cosplay House and they were really high quality, I have to say that I loved all of them! For instance, Yuki from Vampire Knight, if you've examined her costume on the show or in the manga, you'd notice that there are a lot of little details on it. A LOT of teeny tiny details and on my costume they were perfect. Also, the buttons on my costume were made of plastic, but they looked like real metal, and the small spike things WERE real metal. So you can go to www.cosplayhouse.com and order a costume there! However you should contact them first before payment and make sure your costume is in stock and that it will reach you in time. Because sometimes they have to make it if you order it custom made or something and well, that takes time :/

Cosplay Magic:
I also ordered my most recent costume, Aqua from Kingdom Hearts, from Cosplay Magic and I LOVED IT! If I was more patient I would have ordered it in a custom size because my his are wide but my bust..uh..isn't. So, since cosplays run a little small most of the time, I ordered a size up, which was great because the pants fit me perfect, but my mom has to take the top in a little...(a lot. She has to take it in a lot alright?! DX ) (haha) But the costume is super high quality and I am absolutely in love with it! The detail is amazing and I think it is really exquisite. Again, contact them and make sure you're costume is in stock and can reach you with a rush order. The website is www.cosplaymagic.com so yeah, go check it out.

Warnings:

So there are a few things to keep in mind when you order a costume online:
1. You want to make sure you can see a REAL picture of the costume instead of just a picture of the character. Otherwise you don't exactly know how the costume is going to look.
2. Once you've seen the costume just do a little bit of examination and make sure that its what you want. You can scope around the internet and see if there is a better costume and compare and contrast pros and cons about each one. I recently tried to find the Beatrice 'Golden Witch Party Dress' and I hated most of them and I wasn't going to order a costume I hated :P but some of them were good. It just goes to show you that some costumes are high quality and some aren't.
3. I know I am vouching for these websites, but still make sure you check out the costume before you buy it. I can't promise that all their costumes are high quality, just most from my experience.
4. SIZING! Sizing is one of the most frustrating things to deal with, luckily there are usually some kind of sizing chart. This chart will help you measure yourself and show you were to measure specifically, and from there you an see which size you should order. Like I said, cosplays tend to run a little small, so while you may wear a size 12 jeans you could wear a size 14 pair of leather short shorts for the cosplay. =.=

Remember- Don't be discouraged if you are a little too big or a little too small, the point of cosplaying is to have fun. I'm not exactly small myself, but we are all shaped differently and are ALL beautiful! :) So yeah, order your costume and have a great time.


Other Sites:
Now then, if neither of these sites really have what you want, go online and look at Ebay or Amazon, you might get lucky. :) (www.ebay.com or www.amazon.com) Make sure you read the description of the item and see some details pictures though, you'd hate to buy a cosplay on ebay then it turn out to be torn or something. And finally you can always try google. :/ I hate using google for cosplay searches though....millions of sites to sift through =.= but yeah, happy hunting. :)



Wigs:
Usually I go ahead and order an official cosplay wig but they can get pretty pricey, especially if they are very long or styled. You can usually find wigs from reliable sellers by searching google or going to a cosplay site, but if you only plan to wear the wig once stock up when halloween comes around. Sure Halloween wigs are really low quality, but they are cheap and if you have to dye it or straighten it or something, then you don't have to worry about wasting money. However I like to get high quality thigns that I can use more than a few times, so I went out to a wig and beauty store near me and bought my Rin and Aqua wig there. The Aqua wig isn't the PERFECT color and its a little long, but I can easily get it styled by my hair stylist. My Rin wig is also a little short, but it is absolutely gorgeous. Again, let me remind you, buying a wig can be a little expensive, but if its high quality, its worth it.

And that's about it for now.