Frida Kahlo was a resilient and inspiring lady, and when deciding which icon I wanted to understand and resemble this year, it wasn’t hard to pick her. I’ve spent the last year working on myself – how to be more expressive, how to be strong, how to believe in myself, and how to be honest – and in reflecting on these goals, I instantly thought of Frida. Her fearless ability to explore the many facets of her personality, to examine the passions and challenges of her romantic life, and to share her physical and emotional pain through art, feels like a path I have been on lately. This has been my first year experimenting with self-portraits, and I’ve been finding ways to share visual stories, along with being open with my own pain and emotions.

In other ways, I find Frida a visual inspiration. Unabashedly who she is, Frida embraced her strong eyebrows and delicate lip hairs. I’ll tell you a secret: I have mustache hairs, a pencil-thin pattern of black fuzz that frames my mouth. And if I leave my eyebrows to grow naturally, they will quickly take over my face like little fuzzy caterpillars. There have been very few important and iconic women who make it clear that they’re proud of their dark facial hair and Frida is all the more beautiful for it.

Frida Kahlo, I applaud you, I admire you, and I hope to find strength in your strength!

And now I wish you, the very Happiest of Halloweens!

What are you dressing up as for Halloween? And what do you think of this iconic look? Share with me in the comments below! And special thanks to Anna Coy from Blooms in Hand for this INCREDIBLE flower crown (it’s real!), and to my husband for taking these pictures! To get this gorgeous makeup look, I used a combination of this tutorial, and this one, along with referencing photos of Frida.