A spooky clown is always a good scary Halloween costume choice, and Pennywise the Dancing Clown from It and It Chapter 2 is one of the scariest clowns around! I recently put together a female Pennywise cosplay with a more glam take on the makeup and hair. In a hurry? Click here to get the Pennywise costume and makeup on Amazon.

Pennywise Costume

My costume is the Women’s Deluxe Pennywise Costume by Rubies Costumes. Rubies costume quality can be hit or miss, but they’ve definitely upped their standards in the last few years. I got the size large because costumes like this are notoriously small. This one seemed pretty right-on with the sizing, as I usually wear a medium and the large was actually a bit big.

The costume is a skirt with elastic waist, bustier with a zipper, elastic neck ruffle, socks and ruffle poofy sleeves. Everything you need except a red balloon! Everything fit pretty well, except my mom thought the front part of the costume was some kind of fanny pack. (thanks mom) It’s not, it just kind of looks like it in my photo.

Pennywise Clown Makeup and Hair

For Pennywise you’ll need a good white makeup base and red for the iconic stripe up and down your face. It’s not exactly a stripe, but I wasn’t sure what to call it! I also added creepy contacts.

For my white clown make-up, I recommend Mehron Clown White. It’s professional clown makeup and can be as sheer or opaque as you want. It has a smooth buildable coverage that doesn’t look cracky. I’ve been using it for years for cosplays like Beetlejuice and Harley Quinn.

For the eyes I used the red from the Absinthe eyeshadow palette by JoHanna Moresco Cosmetics and blended it all around my eyes after I did a black smokey eye with big big lashes. For the red face details, I used the Kryolan AquaColors Palette. One thing I forgot to add is the red nose!

The hair is a red wig with two pigtail pieces that clip on. I pinned and clipped them up to make them short and poofy.

The creepy eyes are Orange Werewolf contacts by MocoQueen. Click Here and Save 10% with code SEWGEEKMAMA

Watch me get ready as Pennywise the clown on Instagram:

About the Author

Candy Keane is a digital content creator and long-time cosplayer, most well-known for being on the cover of the Star Wars documentary Jedi Junkies. After making costumes professionally for over a decade, she now writes about about geek culture and mom life, and continues to cosplay for fun, while sharing her love of costumes on Instagram @SewGeekMama. Her first children’s book, I’m Going to My First Comic Convention, was published in 2020 and won a Story Monsters Approved award for Excellence in Literature.

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