Drugstores are undoubtedly one of the best places to shop for affordable, high-quality beauty products. And as it turns out, it’s also a destination for getting all the makeup needed to transform into a certain Spongebob Squarepants cephalopod.
As Bustle reported, beauty YouTuber Lauren Mychal “Mykie” decided to take on the challenge of transforming herself into Squidward Tentacles, everyone’s favorite, grumpy Spongebob character, but some of the products she used were unconventional, to say the least.
The video begins with her vlogging her Walgreens trip, where she left with a total haul totaling $160. Finally, it was time to finally get to work.
To achieve Squidward’s bulbous head shape, Mykie used a shower cap secured onto her head with an elastic bandage, propped up by several strategically placed cotton balls. Afterwards, she used NYX’s Concealer In a Jar in Green (which retails for $2.50), several tubes of the brand’s liquid concealer fluid, and a color-correcting palette to mimic Squidward’s seafoam green skintone.
The trickiest part of the tutorial, hands down, has to be fashioning a Squidward-shaped nose; however here’s the part where Mykie’s SFX makeup background really kicked in: To create a realistic replica of Squidward’s nose, she nestled an egg-shaped makeup sponge inside a condom, and added cotton balls to the exterior using lash glue. After perfecting the texture, she painted it green and secured it to her nose with more lash glue and some tape. To make the look even more convincing, she blended some green liquid concealer onto her face and neck to ensure a seamless, real-skin effect.
Next, using small, donut-shaped chunks of a foam sword and nipple covers (yes, really), Mykie created the character’s eyes, and honestly, they looked pretty realistic. (As realistic as a cartoon can get, anyway.) And of course, Squidward wouldn’t be who he is without his signature frown; after sizing down a longer, curved section of the sword and painting it green, it was good to go. A dramatic fade-to-black later, and an actual, life-size Squidward Tentacles appeared on the screen.
A self-taught special effects makeup artist, Lauren shows that you don’t need any fancy equipment or props to do SFX. With a little imagination and time, you can devise a way to turn into whoever you want – whether it’s a real, human character or not. Watching Mykie turn into Squidward using only drugstore products was surprising but the result is pretty amazing, if not a little creepy. Either way, we’re definitely keeping her tips in mind for next Halloween — or at the very least, prepping for an open call audition for Spongebob Squarepants: The Broadway Musical.
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