What Do You Have In Common With A Burlesque Dancer?

To one degree or another, there is a bit of diva in all of us, wouldn’t you say? I have been in the belly dance community for a number of years and one thing for sure, dancers love makeup. Dancers need makeup. Dancers love mineral makeup. So, when a dance friend of mine contacted me to teach her students how to apply performance makeup, I said a happy yes! Dancers are fun folks to be around. Especially these dancers, my burlesque dancer friends.

Why would a dancer use mineral makeup for performance (and everyday wear too)?  The same reasons we do, actually:

It stays where you put it.

It’s waterproof, and sweat proof.

It is healthy and healing for your skin.

It won’t oxidize and change color.

You can layer it to give the coverage you need (a little or a lot).

Glitter!

Can you think of any other reason a dancer or performer would want to wear mineral makeup, instead of traditional stage makeup?

What is the difference between performance makeup and everyday wear? More, more, more!

Have you any performance mineral makeup tips for us? Please share!

Technorati Tags: dancers, glitter, long wearing, mineral makeup, performance makeup

What Have You Got to Hide? (How To Use Mineral Concealers)

In the world of mineral makeup, concealers are the lingerie for your wardrobe of colors (make sure you have all your undergarments on!). You may consider owning a selection of concealers for every occasion….or, you may choose just one to fill the bill.

If you have never used a mineral powder concealer, it may seem very odd to use a powder as a concealer. I know that is what I felt when first learning to use powder makeup. However, once you use this form, you wont want to go back! The texture and coverage of mineral powder concealers is very different than liquid or creme concealers. They are much like mineral foundation as they are a powder, however they contain a bit more clay for extra coverage. They go on smooth & silky, but be sure your eye cream has soaked in or you will get splotches and streaks. Apply your eye creme, then go eat breakfast, or make your bed. Then come back and begin your makeup. Mineral concealers are water proof and can be used as eye shadow base for smooth application of eye colors as well.

Here are some options for your mineral concealer wardrobe:

Green concealer-  hides redness, acne, rosacea, spider veins, sunburn and port wine stains. (In fact, not only will it hide, it will help heal as well due to the zinc oxide).

Yellow concealer – hides blue/grey circles under your eyes, blueish bruises and under eye circles.

Pink concealer- brightens up dull or tired skin and hides brown spots.

Catnap concealer – the perfect shade to help give you that rested look that we sometimes so need.

Flesh tone concealer –  use a shade to match your complexion, or one to two shades lighter. We offer: Fair, Fair/Med and Medium.

A concealer brush is a must for perfect application, it presses, pats and lays the powder exactly where it needs to be and holds it in place. Wash your brush every couple of weeks to keep the minerals from building up. A clean brush gives you the best coverage. So, if your concealer stops working as well, start first with a good brush cleaning.

What order do you apply your concealers in? After your primer, concealer is next. Under foundation is best, but you can use it as spot treatment on top for those extra tough spots.

How do you apply powder concealer?

Shake a bit of minerals into the lid of your jar if you need to. Dip your concealer brush into the minerals, then tap excess off. Press the flat side of the brush onto the area you want to cover, keeping in mind that the first place you apply your brush will be where the most powder will go. Press, and blend as needed. You can layer on coverage with each application of the brush.

Hit me for samples before you buy, and if you are not sure what shade to use. If I have missed any good tidbits in regards to mineral concealers, let us all know. I would love to here your comments.

Coming up in a future blog post, how to choose the right foundation shade…Do you know the stripe test? Do you know how to let your foundation cook? Dont’ miss it, sign up for our newsletter to be sure!

Technorati Tags: concealers, mineral concealers, mineral makeup, powder concealers

Sunscreen Science Class

As a homeschool mom who also runs her own home based business, I often include my kids in the day to day runnings of Style Essentials operations. So, when I decided to host a week long camp for ten year old girls this summer (my daughter and her friends), naturally the camp centered on kitchen science and DIY skincare. We made soap and  lip balm, but by far the most interesting project was on the day we made sunscreen.

So, gather a group of kids (or adults, solo is good too) and let’s give them the life lesson that they don’t have to rely on manufacturers to make things for them, they have the resources to create on their own, if they so choose. Not only that, but we can feel secure in the ingredients that are in the end product as well, because we have mixed it up ourselves.

Simple Sunscreen Recipe (From The Green Beauty Guide by Julie Garbriel, review coming soon):

3 oz. sesame oil

2 oz. sweet almond oil

1/2 oz. pure beeswax

4 oz. distilled water

2 T zinc oxide

5 drops rose hip oil

5 drops chamomile

smallish enamel simmer pot

double boiler

stick blender

glass jar

Directions:

Heat your water first, then begin adding your ingredients. Melt sesame,  sweet almond oil and beeswax in a double boiler over medium heat.

Remove from the heat, add water & blend until smooth. You can also use a wire whisk; we did.

Allow to cool. Now here is the truly cool part..watch what happens when you add the zinc (I won’t ruin the surprise)….add the zinc oxide and the essential oils, if using, and blend more. (The essential oils are optional, btw.)

Transfer to a glass jar. Your sunscreen will last for up to six months. You can begin using it right away!

Now, clean up can be a bit tricky. Minerals don’t mix with water, and even soap and hot water don’t easily take off the residue from your tools. Don’t put them in the dishwasher either, the minerals will only spread to all your dishes, and they will come out looking like they have hard water spots (which they do!). You will then have to rewash all the dishes…ahem…I speak from experience. The best method that I found, is to use something such as newspaper, or paper towels and remove as much of the residue that you can. Then, wash with hot soapy water to remove the rest. Compost the paper towels/newspaper as well. It is all organic materials (or inorganic as the case may be with the minerals).

I bought my supplies from Mountain Rose Herbs, which I highly recommend. I got my simmer pot from a thrift store. The zinc oxide is a bit trickier to come by. However, I may be persuaded to put together kits, each one enough for one batch of sunscreen. This way you don’t have to purchase bulk supplies in huge quantities in order to try your hand at this. If you are interested, let me know.

Go ahead, make your own sunscreen. It’s so easy!

I may have a good mineral lip balm recipe for you too! So sign up for our newsletter to be sure you don’t miss out.

In fact, we are a lot of fun on FaceBook too, so join us there! (Links to both on the right of the page)

Be sure to tell me if you try the sunscreen recipe. I would love to know your experience with it. So would your other Style Essential friends, so please do share!

Technorati Tags: DIY, DIY skincare, Health, Ingredients- Makeup, minerals, Safe Cosmetics, safe skincare, sunscreen

(My) Jewelry Journey

Our guest poster Alison Golden drops in again this month with her personal jewelry journey. Enjoy her story, and then stay a bit and share your jewelry story. I bet you have one…

I wasn’t much of a dress-up girl when I was little. I had my favorite little frocks, I occasionally rifled through my mother’s jewelry tray. But I wasn’t what you’d call a real dressy little girl. I just wasn’t that interested.

And even more so through my adolescence. Shopping would leave me overwhelmed. I didn’t know what I liked, wanted or needed. But definitely not frilly things. I just seemed to get confused. Lord knows how I got dressed. Thank goodness for school uniform.

I do remember coveting pierced ears though. My friends started getting theirs done around age 14. My parents made me wait. Until I was sixteen. Two years. It was torture. I started looking at earrings. At the types that I’d like to wear one day. At that stage in my development, I was still into small and discreet but that was to change.

Finally on my sixteenth birthday, I was there. Enduring that girly rite of passage: the ear piercing. I’d, of course, been regaled by gory tales but it wasn’t too bad. I wasn’t kept awake by the pain and I felt finally initiated into the world of womanhood. I had just started.

Elegant Pearls, Crystal & Sterling Silver

Maybe it was reaching the milestone, maybe it was the wait but there began a lifelong interest in earrings. Even today, one look at my ears on any given day and you can tell how I’m feeling.

Shortly after my initiation, the trend at the time for multiple piercings bisecting a rebellious stage in my teenagedom resulted in some home experiments, a look I reveled in for several years; I pierced three more holes in one ear resulting in a 4:1 combo. Suggesting, as it did, a far more independent, edgy character than the one I normally portrayed, it invoked attention and a certain respect from my peers, rolled eyes (a surprisingly muted response) from my parents and a general feeling of glee at my outrageous anarchic behavior from myself.

From there I became heavily invested in ear adornment. It became a means to express my inner wild child and I took it as far as I could given the restrictions of school, home and later the workplace. I worked for a time in a lively pub and there I could express myself to my heart’s content and studs, rings and dangly accoutrements would regularly dazzle the customers to the point of becoming a source of conversation and anticipation.

But, inevitably, the demands of adulthood, the need to earn an income and the desire to be taken seriously intellectually, dampened my enthusiasm for outrageous earrings. Slowly I went from wild 4:1 combinations, to more conservative earrings to dropping to a 2:1 and then a more conventional 1:1 pairing.

Since then, I’ve gone through many phases with my jewelry. I continued to be known for my large, dangly earrings as befitted someone in their 20’s on a night out in the 1990’s. I was more restrained at work and accompanied my business attire with pearls, glass and more delicate work.

My future husband noted my interest in earrings and wooed me with such gifts, making a point of bringing me back a pair from every business trip and I’ve always liked being bought jewelry as a gift as I often receive items I perhaps normally wouldn’t choose
causing my jewelry evolution to continue.

Shortly after that, I went through a phase of wearing no jewelry at all when I had two curious babies who were likely to do me some serious damage with an intrigued pull or two so at that point, I just kept to the basic stud waiting for the time when I could resume my jewelry journey once again.

Today, I have a moderately sized collection which has expanded to include necklaces and the odd bracelet. I make a point of wearing some jewelry every day and if I’m wearing a suitable neckline and it is practical to do so, a necklace. I feel dressed up and pretty even if the rest of me isn’t particularly so on that occasion. And I wear it even if the school run is the most exciting thing in my day.

A quick look at my jewelry box will reveal everything from the chunky necklace my mother bought me at nineteen and which still, even today, draws a compliment every time I wear it, to my wedding jewelry, to the necklace I was given when I left my last job, to the fashion jewelry I buy from Lisa. None of it is especially valuable except sentimentally. And that’s the way I like it.

Alison Golden

Blogs:

http://www.warrior-woman.com
http://www.warrior-mommy.com
http://www.ttappninja.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/alisonjgolden
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/alisonjgolden

Technorati Tags: Jewelry, personal stories

Top 5 Reasons To Go Green With Your Beauty Routine

Technorati Tags: Go Green, Green Beauty Routine, Ingredients- Makeup, Safe Cosmetics, safe skincare, toxic ingredients