Arda Wigs Review and Impa Wig Styling!

Let me just say, this was my first time ordering from Arda and WOW! I have never gotten wigs that come in a BOX! WHAT?! My wigs always come in the bag type envelope, never a box! I was already impressed. It shows that they really, truely, care about the product being shipped safe, the wig not getting handled, even though through a bag I have gotten wigs that already have slight tangles because of handling! This was AWESOME!!! 

Next, can we appriciate the HUMAN INITIALS? I person hand checked this, yes I know people process orders but I ordered from Gothic Lotita and they forgot one of my wigs. Sad, but if they did this, then I would have probably have gotten my other wig! But I really appriciate the double, or triple check they did and then initialed the packing slip showing that this "K.M." Physically check my package to make sure the correct wig style, color, and quantity was being sent to me!

Now it was time to inspect my wig, I always take 5 to ten minutes to do this, checking the wefts, to see how many there are, if I blow into the wig do you automatically see the weft or no? The feeling of the fibers, the shine of the wig, is it natural or is it too shiney and going to need a fabric softener and baby power bath? But LOOK AT HOW THEY WRAPPED IT! Most wigs come in a zip-lock bag, maybe a cardboard barrier and then a hairnet around the wig. This one was wrapped so tight, that there was no room for tangles to happen from leaving Arda and coming to me. 

Lace View

And full view, This was my first lace front wig ever and I am really happy with it! It has to hair clips along the hair line to snap the wig into place, which is extremely awesome because one of my least favorite things to say to someone at a con is, "Is my wig okay?"  The wig is also really thick and the fibers are also very thick and smooth!! 

TIME FOR A SELFIE! I didn't clip the lace because I was nervous, but I had to try it on and I love it!! I felt like an Elf Elder! haha 

Now it was time to style this bad boy to be fit for a Hylian Guard! Armed with 2 types off hairspray, scissors, and styling wax...I was ready!! 

First things first, I had to do the braids! Very easy and fun, I love braiding! 

A couple shots of my braids! I was really starting to feel like Impa and At this point I was hoping they stayed true to one of her first designs cause who doesn't love a lushious white pony tail?! 

I had to cut quite a lot of length off of this wig, but I was ready to start making the hair spikes! and boy was that fun! 

Here is my finished product, I really like it, I took a lot of time on it and I hope you guys like it too!!

And with the extra hair I had from cutting this wig, I was able to make myself some killer eyebrows!!! 

★Impa- Hyrule Warriors Progress Dump : Armor Edition★

Impa - Hyrule Warriors aka Boss Ass Bitch

So I decided to make Impa from Hyrule Warriors almost as soon as I saw her. I fell in LOVE with her new design, and she looks like she just will eff yo shit up, which she does. She is so strong, in more than just physical strength. I also have a thing for White hair and Red eyes, so it's a win. 

So I am here to share with you, more in depth, of how I am making this costume because it's a blog, I feel like if I write a bunch on Instagram people will get frustrated, just wanting to see the next post in their feed! *grrrr* And FaceBook is fun just to create albums, I never really explain just how I do things on either of these, unless someone asks me. So here we go!! 

So I started out with patterning out all the armor pieces, and like many a cosplayer when it comes to armor, I used Kamui's method. Which if you are a fan of her work, if not go check her out she is a Worbla Goddess, is very simple, though you might be uncomfortable for a little while, is a damn near perfect way to get the correct size and shape of armor pieces, just sometimes you need little tweaking. You start off by wrapping the desired area in plastic wrap, like the kind you would use to cover food, then you wrap that in either duct tape or painters tape, though you might look like you are plotting to kill or kidnap someone while buying these items >.<! If you need raised armor, then you can wrap bubble wrap around then tape. Then just draw out the pattern with a Sharpie Marker, cut out then transfer to paper or foam directly! 

So after I transfered my patterns to paper and craft foam I went and started transferring them to my delicious Worbla!! Since Worbla is pricey, you want to make the most of your space, especially if you  are tall like me! I am 5'10"so I tend to use up Worbla sheets fast! You can either use the "Sandwich Method" or the "Fold-Over Method" The Sandwich method is when you make a Worbla sandwich with foam being in the center, while the fold-over method you only use one piece of worbla and fold it over the edge of the foam. For duriblity reasons I prefer the sandwich method. 

So here is all my pieces for Impa, except the belt, which I will make last, because I am working out I don't want to make the belt too big! So after all your 
foam is cut out you are ready to fire up your heat gun and make some armor!!!

The best advice I can give you is do NOT over heat up your Worbla, it can cause burns, air bubbles, and the material gets super fexible and it can distort the shape you originally wanted. So play around with a small piece of it, make a small arm bracer or pick an armor light cosplay first before you attempt the big ones! Also try to make your identical pieces at the same time, or at least in the same day. If you have asymmetrical armor then you can ignore this, but it is wiser to just take the time to complete your 2 matching bracers, then to take a long break then come back not being able to recreate the same piece. Also 

KEEP HOLD OF YOU PATTERNS!   

YOU'LL never know when something will go wrong or you might need to adjust it, you misplace your foam pieces! Feel free to doodle designs, or where you want to position everything, like your "pop up / dimensional / 3D" Layers of your armor. 

Here is one of the 2 of my bracers I have done so far. It took about 1 1/2 hours to construct, I have yet to add details or make my leg armor, but I got my bracers done!!