Mother Nature Masquerade

This is a French court inspired coiffure and moss-covered mask for an elegant Halloween masquerade party.

Mask

• Masquerade half mask - you can use a felt mask for comfort if you like. I bought one of those $2 craft-ready masks from my local craft store.
• Bag o' moss - runs about $5-7 at my local craft store
• Exacto knife or box cutter
• Hot glue gun

Hair

• Comb
• Hairspray
• Bird's nest - runs about $0.79 - $0.99 at my local craft store
• Clip-on bird - $1.99 at my local craft store
• Hair elastics
• Lots of bobby pins
• A large mesh hair donut - mine was $1 at H&M, use the largest you can find

If you're a normal sized adult with a normal sized face, your store-bought plastic mask may have weirdly and uncomfortably small eyeholes. When I got mine home, I was shocked at how intensely uncomfortable they were as is.

So, if you need to, carefully use your knife to enlarge the mask's eyeholes. Cut away from your fingers. The plastic is rigid and can make the knife slip, so you really don't want to be cutting towards your tender flesh.

This step is all about making it fit your face. Enlarge the eyes slowly. Chip away a little on the top and a little on the bottom, periodically checking the fit against your face.

It's okay if the eyeholes are slightly uneven. As long as they're roughly the same size and shape, and as long as they're comfortable against your face, you can hide any inconsistencies with the moss in the next step!

Glue on the moss in small amounts. Using all the different colors and types available in your bag o' moss will give your mask a more naturalistic look. My bag o' moss came with some tree bark / mushroom like stuff, which makes a dramatic highlight around one eye. It also came with some really vivid green feathery moss which makes a good highlight around the other eye.

If you have a cat, periodically beg her to stay away from the hot glue gun and all of that enticing loose moss. When she inevitably refuses to listen, give in and throw some treats in the opposite direction so she'll go away.

Really layer the different colors and kinds of moss over each other for that textural, realistic look.

Apologies in advance for the potato quality of these pics; it's really difficult to photograph doing your own hair.

My hair is quite long, but you certainly don't need this much hair to successfully create your masquerade bird's nest coiffure. I actually had to create almost victory roll curls in the back because my hair was so long, I couldn't hide the ends easily.

Make sure you have a lot of bobby pins.

1. Start with a fully teased head of hair. This will help hide the underlying structure and give you more volume.
2. Pin your large mesh donut on the top of your head, slightly off center. This should be 1"-2" back from your hairline, roughly in line with the back edge of your ear.
3. If you have fine hair, use dry shampoo and hairspray to increase your volume and give the bobby pins a better grip.
4. Begin with the hair along your forehead. Start taking pieces and bringing them back to swirl around the mesh donut. If necessary, use your comb to additionally tease each piece of hair before pinning into place.
5. Proceed around your head, taking chunks of hair and pulling them up and around the donut. Hide the ends of your hair inside and underneath the donut.
6. Finish with hairspray.
7. Use a bobby pin to secure your bird's nest in place.