Share the Love! Stop the Hate!

In honor of the great man Martin Luther King Jr., everyone should do something out of love. Not enough people share or spread LOVE. 

So hopefully yesterday and from now on, many of you will battle against hate & take time to do something kind every day - even if it is a small as holding the door open for someone. Share a word of appreciation, even to those you may or may not completely understand or see eye to eye. if more people did this in cosplay & life, imagine the possibilities! 

No matter who you are or what you look like - we love you. No matter what you believe in, or are into - we love you. This goes for our personal & cosplay lives. 

Our one wish & goal for this year is to prove that love knows no bounds, & because we cosplay with love we hope to share in the love of as many different types, genres, fandoms, & worlds of cosplay. Because ultimately we're all just people who love to dress up. :)

This means that Sean & I will be attempting to attend cons & events of all different kinds - regardless of fandoms/genres/communities. We are blessed to have friends like you from so many different walks of life, and couldn't imagine our lives without each one of you.

And if you catch someone spreading hate, remind them that smiling burns more calories. 

- Lani & Sean

Goodbye 2014, Hello 2015 - Maleficent Style!

Happy 2015! If you were ever wondering where my initial desire to “dress up” came from –wonder no more! Here is the Wong Family’s annual Holiday Picture/Card, honoring the movie “Maleficent”! 

Can you make out who is what character in the card? :)

My Mom: Maleficent / My Dad: King Stefan / Lani, Sean, Lil Sean: Blue, Red, Green Fairies / Valentina (lil Sister): Aurora / Andrea (Val's longtime GF): Prince Phillip 

Every year since I was little my parents began taking movies or current events of that year and using them as themes for our holiday/Xmas card shoots. From Dick Tracy, to Addams Family, to Pokemon, & more (all with a holiday spin). Originally all sets were PHYSICAL SETS where we built our backgrounds and drew additional characters into our scenes. Now, with us all living in separate locations & my basic skills/knowledge of photoshop, the holiday cards have moved in a new artistic direction.

Over the many years of having these annual shoots I’ve learned quite a few things that have helped/fueled my cosplay hobby/obsession. The main lesson being: “It just has to look good in the picture!” Meaning, don’t worry about the “functionality” of a costume or prop, nor worry if the materials make sense. If that costume/prop can be created with a broom stick, tape, glitter ribbon, and ingenuity – SO BE IT.

The topic of my family’s holiday cards is one I’m proud of & I look forward to diving into later (going to build a flickr photostream of all our cards), but for now I want you all to think about those you love – TRULY LOVE – and give them a call or a visit. This is the reason my family chose “Maleficent” as the theme for our 2014 card, because 2014 (even with its ups and downs) was the year of BEAUTIFUL MAGNIFICENT LOVE. For me...it began with the wedding of my life, marrying the love of my life. <3

Thank you all for your love, friendship, & support,

Lani Carissa Wong-Bassett

P.S. Yes, even though I married Sean, my family adopted him & Lil Sean as honorary “Wongs”. Lol

P.P.S. To those who have had moments of sadness during this holiday season, there’s only one thing to do – stay positive & love even harder than before. We have had our share of loss this holiday time, but are relying on the thought that with our love & the love of others we can make it through these sad times. If you need support we're here for you. Thank you to those who have been there for us, especially my awesome family.

Our 1st Makeup Tutorial Blog

    After taking 3rd place in the Stockton-Con costume contest a month or so ago as Poison Ivy & Mr. Freeze, and now hosting a workshop on “Cosplay Makeup/Bodypaint” for KrakenCon this coming weekend (here's the link to the panel: http://bit.ly/1xiAIPG) – we want to share a little of what we’ve learned about our makeup application over the course of evolving our Poison Ivy & Mr. Freeze makeups. 

Still awed that we placed at all. Such great cosplays there!

    
    We are still so honored to be asked by beginning to well known cosplayers about what we use, how we use it, & our techniqes. We were astonished to hear from a few people that when they’ve reached out to other cosplayers they’d get no response or that the cosplayer wouldn’t share with them their “secrets.” If you read this and have any questions please don’t hesitate to reach out to us via our facebook page. We only want to share our experiences! 


1. You will need to try multiple types of makeup – unfortunately. 

    Makeup is not a 1 size fits all deal. Some makeup brands work better for other people’s skin types & so on. Doing a small “skin test” is helpful to check for allergies, but when it comes to seeing whether the makeup will last for 4-8hrs…we kinda just experimented with each event/con we’ve attended basically – and there may be failures SO BE WARNED. The 1st time we introduced these cosplays at NYCC 2013 Sean used a MAC chromacake makeup while I used a different brand. After HOURS of being in makeup his was pretty great, while mine was flaking off – I was unhappy. Now I’ve shifted into MAC chromacake as well and so far so good.

* We are both using MAC chromacakes, which are sold in select MAC stores. BUT you can get these cakes online for WAAAYYY cheaper. Try eBay & Amazon –give yourself time for longer shipping timeframes. But go to the stores that hold your desired makeup brands (you don’t have to use MAC) to do initial “color” test(s) for color & allergies.

We currently are using & loving Our MAC chromacakes.
But YOU don't have to use MAC. Try the other brands out there. 

Hello to our Weird & Colorful - Geeky Cosplay World!

Hello Everyone,

    If you have no idea why you're here, that's OK. If you're here because you chose to be here - bless your little heart. My name is Lani & I make up one 1/2 of the "Dynamic Cosplay Couple." My husband Sean is the other half. If you want to learn a little more about us, read the "About Us" section to the right of this post or stick around and read what may follow.

   We weren't planning on starting our own blog, but being that we were contributing articles to other places and people have been asking us about: makeup tips, cosplay builds, multi-ethnic cosplay, cosplay bullying, gaming, reviews on products/conventions, etc - we decided to house our randomness here on blogger. 

    We're not your typical geeks. As a geeky blended family (<Sean + Lil Sean + 2 dogs> + <Lani + 2 cats> = Geeky Blended Family) we hope to inspire others out there who feel/felt that they have/had to hide their true selves from the outside world and/or to their potential partner(s) - to shed the mundane & be free to openly love their geeky selves. 

A "Family Photo" of Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze & Two- Face
taken at a Cosplay Fashion Show