X-Files Dana Scully and Fox Mulder Halloween Costume or Cosplay

     Before I get into today's post, I just wanted to let you know that this marks my 400th blog post on Amber's Craft a Week Blog!  It's been almost 8 years now since I started this blog and I've managed to keep up with only an occasional missed post through the end of my undergrad career, through my master's, and now into my PhD.  I'm excited and proud, and I hope to keep bringing you craft ideas for many years to come.
     What better way to celebrate my 400th post than by presenting you all with a costume idea I've been trying to find a way to do for years, namely Dana Scully?  When I was little, I think I related to Mulder the most.  I wanted to believe in all things spooky.  However, now as and adult and as a scientist, it's Scully's logical, scientific approach that I've come to appreciate.  We didn't really go all out on Brian's Mulder look, so this post is mostly about Scully, although I do have a few Mulder costume suggestions in places.
     The big obstacle preventing me from coming up with a Scully costume has been the hair.  My hair is long and not red and I didn't want to permanently alter it for a costume, but decent looking red wigs are surprisingly hard to come by.  This is where Colorista Hair Makeup in bronze/auburn comes into play.  It's a temporary hair color that washes out after about one shampoo as long as your hair isn't a pale color.
     It is important to note that this shade will NOT work for most people if you want a color close to Dana Scully's.  If you look at the packaging, there's this one light brown range of colors where you get reddish look, but for darker or lighter hair colors, it looks like you'll get a pinker look.  So if you have light brown hair, you may get good results, but if your hair is a different shade, it may not work so well.  I would definitely recommend testing it on a section of your hair in advance to make sure it looks close enough to what you're envisioning.

Dana Scully Temporary Red Hair (for Dark Blond or Light Brown Hair)

Materials:

Colorista Hair Makeup in bronze/auburn

Directions:

*Starting from the roots of your hair, add a very thin layer of hair makeup to clean, dry hair.  You want as little color as possible, because if you layer it on too thick, it will have a bit of a pinkish/raspberry color to it.

*When you're done with your costume, wash your hair as normal.  I shampooed twice, but the color was almost all gone after the first shampoo.

Dana Scully Faux Bob

Materials:

*Hair elastic
*Bobby pins
*Hair spray (optional)

Directions:

*I mostly followed this video, although I skipped the teasing part and I also didn't use hair spray (the Colorista Hair Makeup hardens up a bit on its own).  My hair certainly did not come out as nicely as hers, especially in the back, but it worked well enough.

Dana Scully or Fox Mulder Badge

Materials:

*Free printable Scully or Mulder badge (such as from here)
*Laminator (optional)
*Hole punch
*Lanyard
*Pen
*Double sided tape

Directions:

*Print out your badges.
*Sign the badges if they are not already signed to make them look realistic.
*Fold in half and tape wrong sides together.
*Laminate if you would like.
*Punch a hole in the top of the badge and attach to the lanyard.

Clothing Ideas

     Scully wears a lot of suits, so a suit is a safe bet.  I went with black pants, a black blazer, and a teal tank because that was what I already owned that looked like something she would wear, but a lot of people use a dark colored skirt suit and white button down shirt.  For Mulder, a suit will work fine.

Makeup

     For my makeup, I decided that earthy tones best fit Scully's vibe.  For primer, we opted for e.l.f. tone correcting primer and e.l.f. eyelid primer.  Brian used Temptu's Porcelain foundation for my skin and Temptu's Pebble eyeshadow along my lids.  Brian went over the Pebble shadow with a rose gold colored shadow from e.l.f (it was in a palette with lots of different colors, so I'm not sure what it was called).  He used e.l.f. liquid eyeliner in black for my upper lash line and an e.l.f. black pencil liner for my lower lash line.  The mascara he used was also from e.l.f., although I'm not sure what it was called.  For my lips, I used e.l.f. lipstick in Praline.