Products and Reviews: Sephora Smokey Studio II and Jerdon's Tabletop Lit Vanity....

Ok folks, so I did some recon, and made some purchases, and here's my assessment. Let's start with the mirror. It was $14.99 with Amazon Prime. Can't beat that, especially since the larger vanity mirrors cost hundreds of dollars. I really wanted something akin to the table top version my mom owned in the sixties that sits atop my childhood dresser upstate. This seemed to fit the bill. The criticism most listed was a heat issue from the incandescent bulbs. I tested them. Yes they're hot. But so is the one my mom gave me. And so are the ones in the dressing rooms in every theatre I've been in. Incandescent bulbs get really hot. My one qualm with it is that I actually wanted brighter light. It's hard to find correct theatrical lighting unless you are actually in a theatre space. I don't need that kind of wattage all the time in what I do, but time to time, I teach application techniques for theatrical usage, and then, yeah I need brights that can travel. But other than that, for late night application binges, for bridal/special event, halloween, and street makeup tutorials I think it will be pretty great. I like that just like the old ones it flips to reveal a magnification mirror on the back, and it has a metal prop to keep it upright.

Onto the Smokey Studio II. This could really be more of a review of Sephora, but we'll get there. The product itself did surprise me. The quality is higher than I expected of a mega palette, maybe it's the heat, maybe they really are creamy, but the glosses especially had a good pigment content. The pans are TINY, I mean like maybe a little smaller than a nickel but I guess with so many colors they assume you won't need a ton of product (they are so wrong! I always need a ton of product!!!) The size is absolutely ideal for travel and I can tell you right now it's coming upstate for my mega July wedding (hair and makeup for bride, mother, & four bridesmaids including myself in a six hour window) I also really like the empty compact included for the purpose of removing certain palettes to take with you. If I can get the entire bridal party's glosses in one compact for photo touch ups it will make life much better for me :) Now... Sephora.....Luckily I researched this palette (see earlier post) before I went so I knew it was in the store. But let me warn anyone going to get one in person, rather than online, they don't display it. They display the $34 Artist Box Collection prominently by the checkout but will tell you they don't have the larger collection unless you tell them you checked online and know they have them in store. This is because it costs less, but has more colors than, the smaller palette. When it was brought out for me I noticed a price sticker on it said $34, I assumed the prices perhaps had gone up or I was misremembering an online special. But no, when they rang it up it was the $25 claimed online. They just really want you to not know its cheaper I guess??? But much like drugs I can't quit them. I'll never agree with what the sales associates try to upsell me, but I'll be jonesing for Sephora forevs. 

BKBTY

HAPPY SOLSTICE!!!!!

Just taking a moment before I start the rest of my day, to wish everyone a very happy Solstice/ Midsummer this weekend! I hope everyone has some fun on the longest day of the year :) Solstice! Midsummer!

Recipe: Easy Peas-y Rice and Quinoa

This simple yummy recipe is my take on the Indian restaurant staple, basmati rice with peas and cumin. My reasons for the changes I have made are as easy as the recipe. 1. Brown rice and quinoa together are a one two protein punch, perfect for low meat meals or those who abstain all together. 2. Basmati rice has one of the lowest glycemic indexes for white rice and its brown ultra fibrous counterpart is even lower with a glycemic index of 45. (Quinoa is 35, just if you were wondering) So let's get cooking!

Ingredients:

7/8 of a cup of Organic Brown Basmati Rice (quick cooking)

1/8 cup Organic Quinoa ( I use tricolor, but it doesn't really matter)

3/4 organic frozen green peas

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

a healthy pinch of ground cumin

1/4 tsp fennel seed

1 tsp organic coconut oil (unrefined)

salt to taste

cilantro to garnish (optional)

Directions:

1. Pour brown rice in a measuring cup and fill nearly to the top, leaving about a half an inch. 

2. Fill the rest of the way with the quinoa

3. Pour into a mixing bowl and cover with cold water. Massage until the water turns cloudy.

4. Pour into fine mesh, or very small holed sieve and rinse. repeat steps 3 and 4, four times until water no longer readily clouds up in the bowl. 

Congratulations! You have released a ton of the starches and made your grains even more readily digestible!

5. Put all grains into large sauce pan with two cups water, the cumin, cumin seeds, coconut oil, salt, and fennel seeds. *note, check your packages for specific water quantities. I find that when using the quick cooking rice the water content and cook times match that of the quinoa, making them easily combined, but check your brand!*

6. Bring to a boil and stir, then cover, reduce heat and cook for indicated time on package. Mine takes twelve minutes :) If you're a lucky duck you can do this in your rice cooker and it will be even more amazing. Sigh, someday...

7. Microwave peas on high for 1 min. in a ceramic or glass bowl. If you don't microwave, simple take out your peas before starting any of the other steps and then leave next to your cooking rice. They'll thaw out :)

8. When your rice mixture is ready, there should be no excess water left at the bottom of the pan. Fluff with a fork and add peas....

9. Plate and garnish with fresh cilantro if you wish!!!

This dish refrigerates well, and reheats easily, so even if you're not serving a family or friends, but just yourself, it's still an awesome, oh sooo yummy dish to prepare and eat. I have some with my lunch every day!!!!! ENJOY

BKBTY

To Palette or Not to Palette.....

As I become increasingly booked with wedding makeup jobs this summer, and as an artist who travels to her jobs I consider the benefits of makeup palettes. For those needing a refresher, a makeup palette is pretty much what it sounds like, a large number of products, in small amounts, all in one compact. Like a desert sampler of makeup, if you will. There are all sorts of brands and colors to choose from, but is quality thrown out for quantity? Is it possible to get pigment rich, high moisture content, pressed powder eyeshadow palette for $25, (63 colors) as Sephora promises? Or is MAC correct, in its $207.00 price for 15 shades? How much is the right amount to spend on your clientele?

I hope to answer a few of these questions but also open the floor for suggestions, I rarely have all the answers...
--What am I sacrificing? --In general, yeah, quality does get pitched out the door when you find a product that has every color in the rainbow available to buy for a song, as they say. But don't be disheartened. Unless you, like me, are using it for any number of faces, skin tones, eye colors, etc. You really only need be concerned with finding a palette that works for what flatters you!

--What am I gaining?--You will generally get a better price than buying piecemeal, and it will help keep that ever expanding cosmetic drawer, bag, shelf, neater and tidier. Also not all brands are as extreme as the two listed above. There are smaller six or seven color palettes in the mid price range from extremely reputable companies.

--What to avoid...-- If you're anything like me, you're uncontrollably attracted to the shiniest, prettiest, sparkliest, little palette available! But I must caution you here. Just because it's the prettiest, doesn't mean you'll use it all that much. A pair of Louboutin's may be the most gorgeous item in your closet but how often would you wear them to the office, to run errands? Or meet friends in the park, flea market, for brunch, on the weekend??? Exactly. Buy a pretty color or two here and there! Everyone needs to have a few, they're fun for special occasions, but let your palette be a hard worker, ready to travel with you for last minute applications on the train, or easy to fit in an overnight bag. Also beware ones that come for certain eye colors, or to achieve certain types of applications "the smokey eye palette." It's silly to ever think one size fits all, it's silly to think all brown eyes are exactly the same, or that everyone looks best with these specific smokey colors. Silly.

--What to select-- Go with one that has colors you know you like, and you'll wear. Go ahead and use the tester, even if it's only on your hands, an imperfect system, but better than buying blind. Check and see how bright it looks after only putting a little on your hands. This is pigment content. The closer the test patch completely matches in opacity and tonality to the shadow pan, the higher the pigment content/the higher quality the product. If it looks very light and washed out in comparison, the lower the pigment content/lower quality. Does it crumble at all when it hits your skin? Or does it glide on, despite being power, almost like a cream? This is moisture content, and the higher it is, the nicer the brand, the longer it will last.

Ok OK, but I AM a makeup artist?!?!??!--- Right, me too! So use your pay structure to guide you here. If your boss, director, bride, etc. is shelling out serious dough for you to be their artist, then you really need to follow suit and spend on them. It's all proportional, though. Never spend MORE on product (that you are KEEPING in your kit--aka NOT being reimbursed for by anyone and then handing over to them) than you are being paid. It's totally lame but I am going to quote Charles Dickens now: "Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds nought and six, result misery." --Wilkins Micawber, David Copperfield. It's still true my fellow artists. Especially in the current economic slump that still plagues the arts. (Always the last to pick up...) Spend less than you are being paid and be able to keep some dough for food and medical. Don't go into debt buying MAC cosmetics for a job where all they've promised you is "great experience!" and "free lunch!" But in the end a palette will be your best friend. It travels soooo much more easily than a bag full of different colors, and you rarely have to plan out what to take with you, they're all coming! If you have a favorite brand, color scheme, share it! 

BKBTY