CEOLA

I remember my first year playing mas. My friend Roxanne and I were so excited…mainly because ‘ohmygod this costume makes us look like we have boobs!’

So we were more than content, come Carnival Monday, to throw on our costume bra, a pair of shorts, pelt some sneakers on our feet, a dust of glitter, a dab of eyeshadow, not nearly enough sunscreen and hit the road!

Our total prep for the day was probably all of 30 minutes…

Cut to now and I literally have to start prepping for Carnival three months in advance…maybe more for certain things.

Some people book their makeup artists as early as Ash Wednesday for Carnival the following year…or so I’ve heard.

I wouldn’t call myself a particularly low maintenance masquerader…but neither am I the over the top super high maintenance diva either. I fall somewhere nicely in the middle…upper middle if I’m honest.

Right now I have most things sorted – makeup booked (two weeks ago), tan booked (first year I’m trying the no-sun solution to my natural luminescent palour), costume on lock, monday wear on lock (I think…Val, can you confirm?), tights (Carnivalista and regular ol’ Diane purchased), boots (bought ages ago), and wax appointment this evening.

The only thing I have to do now is get my bag for the road and acquire the gems to decorate said bag and my cup (because according to my friend Andrew: you can’t have an ugly cup in your pictures. Point!).

Anyway, I thought it might be fun to show you some of the new, and maybe more unusual things I’ve found myself buying this year for Carnival. Who knows, maybe I have something here you hadn’t thought of…and you can go sprint to Pennywise/Wonderful World/Starlite/etc to grab it now while you have time.

First up…

Shibue Strapless Underwear

Fascinating…no? If there are any guys reading this blog then you may be at a total loss right now, but bear with me…it will all be clear in a moment.

So ladies…some of you may know off the bat why this is even a thing at Carnival time. For those of you who don’t, let me explain.

When you wear a pair of stockings with your Carnival costume, the stocking is usually the first thing that goes on, before you slip on the bottoms. Now, if you aren’t fortunate to have a bottom piece with enough coverage to accommodate a pair of tiny underwear beneath it (and believe me, that’s getting more and more difficult to find each year) you find yourself in the conundrum of having nothing between your lady bits and your stockings. No bueno. This is no bueno for all kinda of reasons. To date, my solution has been panty liners, but those pose a problem all their own – shifting, unsticking, crumpling up from all the vigorous wining, etc. It’s a complete pain in the ass and it’s remarkable no one introduced a solution to this problem earlier.

Enter the Shibue strapless panty. It’s basically a pair of underwear with the sides missing, and a strip of adhesive silicone on either end of what is essentially two triangular pieces of fabric that are joined in the middle.

There you go! Problem solved! Well…we’ll see if it’s problem solved anyway. I got mine at the Carnival Pop Up Shop held in late January but I recently saw these for sale even cheaper in Wonderful World (Trincity Branch) at 2 pairs (one nude, one black) for $125 I think.

Pasties

If you’re wearing a wire bra, or are a particularly busty lady in one of Tribe’s notoriously padded bras, then it’s probably a good idea to premeditate your nip slip and cover those areolas up. Unless of course you’re part of the #FreeTheNipple movement, in which case, go through strong and hope you don’t get arrested.

These are pretty standard fare in Wonderful World (again, my go-to for any underwear related accoutrement) and I got three pairs for $25.

Urifemme

I’ve been buying Urifemme for Carnival going on three years now. It’s basically a funnel to facilitate urination while standing up (for the ladies). For me, nothing is more horrific than the prospect of having to negotiate a filthy port-a-potty while drunk and wearing the equivalent of a spandex straightjacket around my waist. I haven’t always needed my Urifemme, because the bathrooms in Tribe/Bliss are actually quite clean most of the time, but it’s one of those things I need to have in my arsenal just in case. I get mine at Starlite Pharmacy.

Flash Tattoos

So everyone and their mom have been on the flash tattoo craze. I managed to avoid it for the most part, but the drag queen that lives inside of me decided to jump all the way out and get some flash tats to match my costume in Bliss. It’s Indian Mas themed so I grabbed the Katnis and Apache sets from Flash TT. They’re selling at Bliss and Tribe distribution points today and have a few convenient locations for you to grab a set to complement your costume.

So there you have it…a few unusual or first-time purchases for me this Carnival. May update this after tomorrow if I buy any other weird stuff…

Have a safe and happy Carnival everyone!