Beauty Blogging on Brief Hiatus

I'd like to apologize for the lack of Beauty Blogging for Bellydancers posts these past couple of weeks. I have some cool new products to review, but I've been short on time to sit down and really work on my makeup! I hope to return next week, as long as I'm not too busy working on my new troupe costume.

In the meantime, are there any new cosmetics out there that you've been curious about? What should I try next?

The Leanan Sidhe

Sometimes I feel a bit conflicted as a dancer. I imagine my persona of Sophia Ravenna as a film noir femme fatale. I can be sweet and flirty when I want something, cold and unattainable to those who can offer me nothing, and downright cruel to those who wrong me. You'd expect such a woman to dress in sleek 40s inspired costumes, with perfectly curled hair and ruby-red lips. And I like that look, I really do. But when it comes time to shop, I end up buying faerie-ish things, all flowers and vines and tattered lace, olive greens and earthy browns, because that is what I love and what I look amazing in.

I was thinking about this disconnect these past couple weeks, as I considered my new costumes from Tribal Fest. The only real femme fatale think I bought was a black lace choli, plus my beetle hat could easily be part of a vintage-style costume. But most of my stuff is very faerie/mermaid-y. What's a girl to do?

Then I realized that the faerie world has its own femme fatale: the Leanan Sidhe. This beautiful, otherworldly woman is a muse to poets and artists, a consummate lover, oh yes, and she slowly drains away the life force of her patrons. If she leaves them, they lose inspiration and pine away and die. She's, uh, not exactly the best role model in life, I'll admit, but she does seem to fit how I dance.

Really, there are many types of faeries which seem to fit the femme fatale mold to some extent. In general, faeries are fickle, sometimes cruel, and they have their own weird morality that humans don't always understand. They are beautiful, and can be playful and flirtatious, mysterious, alluring, or cold and distant.

If you'd like to see more of my faerie side, come to Legends of the Labyrinth where I will be performing as a half-human, half-goblin denizen of the Labyrinth. It's going to be awesome!

More festivals, please!

This is My Precious, the best purchase I made at Tribal Fest... possibly the best purchase ever? I suppose that depends on if dog adoption counts as a purchase, because I DO love my corgis more than this fascinator... but they're living animals, not things. This is the coolest thing ever. It's made by Dusty Paik of Snake Church, and yeah, that insect is made out of dead beetle parts and there are two extra dead beetle heads attached to the Art Nouveau lace applique. It takes a very special person to say "I am going to put insect parts on this antique textile" and an equally special person to shout "PUT IT ON MY HEAD NOW!!!" and a special event to bring those two people together. Tribal Fest 13 was just that event.

So now I am back home in Tucson, have been for just over a week. I didn't intend to not post any updates, but I had a custom jewelry order to fill, and friends to catch up with, and work to do, and of course, the usual post-vacation mixed feelings. On the one hand, there's all the warm fuzzy memories, but on the other, back to the daily grind. *sigh*

Not that my "daily grind" has been particularly awful. Hours of dance class, a quick jaunt up to Phoenix to see my best friend before her vacation, lots of chat about how amazing Tribal Fest was, make jewelry for a fellow dancer, snuggle my corgis and cats, and read lots of books. And of course the slow unpacking and post-vacation laundry, and wondering where I'm going to put all of these wonderful new costumes (and when will I wear them?).

I'm already daydreaming about my next chance to attend a dance festival (probably the Las Vegas Intensive in Sept). When I got together with Jolie to tell her about my TF experience, she asked if I was thinking of going to other events in the future and I rattled off probably 8 or 9, only to later realize that it wasn't even all of the things I'd like to attend. There are so many fun-sound dance festivals, intensives, workshop weeks (Mira! In Mexico!) and I just want to be at all of them! Learning, shopping, making new friends, learning some more, watching performances, maybe performing myself?

Although I know I want to go to Tribal Fest again next year, I also know I don't want to fall into a rut of that being the only event I go to. I want to see different places and different teachers and different performers. Depending on the workshop offerings, maybe a shorter TF visit will be in order, to leave more money to attend another event or two as well. Whatever I decide to do, you know you'll see it on this blog!

Never enough eyeshadow!

 That's right, I am reviewing more eye makeup because I can never have enough! What's more, it's GREEN eye makeup. I've been told that the eye can differentiate between more shades of green than any other color. Isn't that cool? I try to test this fact by owning all of the green beads and eye shadows and costumes that I can afford.

Today's products are the new Urban Decay Moondust Eyeshadow in Zodiac and Make Up For Ever Eyeshadow in 171 (Iridescent Acid Green). These two colors look great together and I think I will be combining them for a lot of different looks!

 I decided to get fancy with the hand-swatch this time! From left to right: no primer, dry application; no primer, wet application; primer, dry application; primer, wet application. One light later of each color. Also, I need to moisturize. Yikes.

 Before I show you the look I created, I'd like to take a moment for a little PSA. Do not, under any circumstances, ever get UD's 24/7 liquid liner in your tearducts. Oh my goodness it hurt like a motherbeast. And then I had eyeliner everywhere from screwing up my eye from the pain. What a mess!

So now let's look at the other side of my face! Ahhhh, much better! I think when I use these colors together in the future I may put them over another color, and I will definitely blend them out so it's less of a harlequin look (it wasn't so delineated before I decided that I needed another layer or two of glitter).

After first putting down a layer of primer potion, I applied the MUFE wet with a loose eyeshadow brush, and following UD's advice, the Moondust was applied with my finger (also a little wet). Using my finger I had pretty much 0 fallout. I then took this look over to a spin jam and spun my fire fans. Tiny bit of fall-out but otherwise this makeup has stayed in place pretty well.

I am really excited about this Moondust shadow! It's such a pretty dark green that will go well with a lot of colors I already have, and it's super glittery. I want to apply it over my entire eye and then line it with metallic emerald gel liner. Plus it is compatible with the UD "Build Your Own Palette" tins!

I think that both of these colors will see a lot of use from me and I will be picking up other hues from these collections. The eyeliner, on the other hand, is on probation!

Tribal Fest Days 2-3

 Henna death's head scarab by Debi the Henna Crone, who rocks hardcore

Sorry about the lack of an update yesterday, the wifi here doesn't work very well at night but it does work well while everyone is actually at the Festival, so here's a quick post!

Rundown of my workshop experiences:

Costuming with Dusty Paik. Not only did I take two pages of notes on costuming, but Dusty is freaking hilarious and I love her.

Slinky with Deb Rubin. One of my all-time favorite teachers, really breaking down how to make your slow just ooooooze with decadence.

Impulse with Donna Meija. First of all? There's something about Donna's voice, it's very lovely and soothing. This is a good thing, because she murdered me with an hour and fifteen minutes of hardcore warmup, so if she didn't sound so nice I might have hated her. Really enjoyed her approach to motivating movement from different parts of the body and playing with momentum.     

And now, per the request of Miz Becka Bomb, more shopping pictures! Here's some of my pretty jewelry. I've received 100 compliments on that beetle ring. Glad there are more people in the world who love beetles! Also glad I found a spiky bracelet that fits PERFECTLY.

 These fabrics are going to be a costume together. I am thinking a bustle skirt with the chevrons running down the center, and maybe I can put some chevrons on a bra too?

These green scarves were stupidly cheap and you can never have too many green scarves.

Tonight is the Meet and Greet Trick or Treat with the teachers, and tomorrow the performances begin! Eeeeee!

Tribal Fest Day 1

 I brought my laptop, so you get updates from the Fest! YEAH! So here's me all ready for the Unmata Pillow Fight choreography. I made that pillow! And since I had 6 hours of workshops with only 2 15 minute breaks, I got to rock the pajamas and pigtails look all day. Good thing I have super fashionable PJ pants with peacock feathers on them.

All of the workshops that I took were great. The pillow fight was fast-paced and fun. Western Technique for Eastern Dance with Cera Byer had me doing things I didn't know I could do and taught me so much. Bold and Sassy with Naimah was an intimate class with great combos and so much good attitude. Those latter two are teachers I'd never studied with before and I loved both of them.

I was going to be a good girl and not buy anything tonight, just pick up things I had pre-ordered. Well, that obviously didn't happen. First I found a cute beetle ring that fit me and was only $16, and since there was only one I figured I should grab it. No biggie. But then I hit the Mishu booth and there were green lacy things, and well, I blame the 6 hours of dance for my total lack of self-control. How could I say no?

But this wasn't even my big purchase. You'll have to wait on that one, the seller is putting on the finishing touches :)

Other highlights of the day: meeting and getting hugs from Blume Bauer and Dusty Paik! I love meeting people in "real life" for the first time!

Follow Your Dreams Interview with Nancy Sathre-Vogel

Many of us have dreams that involve travel, maybe finally taking a vacation to a place we've always loved. Today's guest already had a lot of travel experience under her belt when she and her family decided to go on quite the adventure. Read on to learn more!

Please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your dream.

My name is Nancy Sathre-Vogel. After spending 21 years as a classroom teacher, I decided life was too short to spend all my time with other people's kids and not enough with my own. My husband and I quit our teaching jobs and, together with our twin sons, headed out on bicycles to see the world. We spent a total of four years traveling the Americas, including a jaunt from Alaska to Argentina.

When did you decide to follow your dream? What pushed you to do it?

For us, the dream evolved - and is still evolving. It first started in 2006 with what we thought would be a one-year career break. Our intentions were to spend a year exploring America on our bicycles, then we would return to Idaho and go back to the same ol', same ol'. However, that year on the bikes led to us wanting more, so we set out again for a 3-year journey from Alaska to Argentina.

Again, our plan had been to return to teaching and the kids would return to school upon our return, but... well, things changed. Now we are self-employed and our sons are still homeschooled. At this point, the dream is to continue living consciously, making deliberate choices about how we will live our lives. I am an author and motivational speaker, in addition to doing my beadwork.

What made you choose riding from the northernmost road to the southernmost road, as opposed to the more common dream of riding across or around the US?

We started off with the "warm up" journey of cycling 9300 miles around the USA and Mexico. We did that when the kids were in 3rd grade. Then things kinda, sorta... well, they spiraled out of control :)

What was the hardest part of following your dream?

Making the decision. By far. Once the decision has been made and you are committed, it's pretty easy, but making that decision is hard!!

When you told people about your dream, what sort of reaction did you get? Did that affect your decision to do it anyway?

For us, that wasn't a big deal. We had lived overseas for many years, and my husband and I had spent a year traveling on bikes through Pakistan, India, Nepal, and Bangladesh many years prior, so I think people expected it from us.

What did blow me away was the criticism I got from total strangers. People we had never met read my blog and decided to "read between the lines" (meaning - they completely made stuff up). It was crazy, and was definitely a challenge to deal with. I wrote an open letter as a response to one particular blogger here: http://familyonbikes.org/blog/2010/05/are-we-self-absorbed-parents/

Was there a point where you wanted to just give up? If so, what inspired you to keep going?

Yes. There were basically two times when I hit bottom. The first was in northern Peru. It had been an extraordinarily difficult 500 miles through the desert. We battled winds and blowing sand. Food was scarce, and what there was was horrible. Hotels were outrageously expensive and absolute dives. By the time we pulled into Trujillo, I was done.

As I walked along the streets of Trujillo, bitching, moaning, and complaining, little 12-year-old Daryl turned me and said, "You won't change anything by complaining, Mom. All you can do is keep going and things will get better." I so wish I had the wisdom that kid has.

Daryl was absolutely right and, as we continued south, I started to see a beauty in the desert that I hadn't seen before. The distances were just as long, the headwinds just a strong, and the blowing sand still hurt like BBs shooting into our legs, but once I made that attitude adjustment it didn't seem so bad.

The other time I hit bottom was in Zapala, Argentina, about 2100 miles from the end of the world. Once again, it had been a very difficult stretch that we had come through. We were paralleling the Andes mountains and climbing up enormous climbs into the foothills, then plummeting back down. There was no water whatsoever, so we frequently had to carry two or three days worth of water. Biting flies were overly aggressive, making it so that we couldn't take breaks at all.

When we finally pulled into the tiny town of Zapala, my husband somehow knew that another night in the tents would have broken me. We sought out a small hostel, parked our bikes, and hauled all our gear upstairs to our room. I remember standing in the shower with tears pouring down my face - I was exhausted beyond anything I knew possible. I was truly bone tired.

And yet I was conflicted. I wanted to get to Ushuaia with every bone in my body and every pore in my skin. I was determined to reach my goal - my goal that was so close, yet so very far away. At that point we 'only' had about 2100 miles to go, which compared to 15,000 wasn't much. And yet, by anybody's reckoning, 2100 miles is a long way to go on a bicycle.

When we set out from Zapala, I was determined that I would get to Ushuaia, but I also knew that I would hate each and every pedal stroke. I was totally convinced that I would hate it, yet I wasn't willing to give up the dream.

As it happened, Daryl's words from Peru were true once again. All I could do was keep going and things would get better. They did, and I enjoyed that last few months of our journey.

I know from following your adventure on Facebook that you and your family saw some amazing sights on your journey and met a lot of great people. Care to share a favorite memory from your trip?

Oh gosh! Only one? There were truly some amazing moments when we were blessed to meet incredible people. There was the time when a family filled our panniers with oranges, freshly picked from the tree. Or when we pedaled away from a date farm with 25 pounds of dates strapped to my bike. But probably my favorite story was when two Mexican men hid caches of Gatorade for us alongside the road. For 200 kilometers, we had a treasure hunt searching for rock cairns indicating that four bottles of Gatorade would be hidden in the bushes. It was magical! I've written the whole story here: http://familyonbikes.org/blog/2012/01/gatorade-angels-random-acts-of-kindness/

Now that you've followed one amazing dream, do you have other dreams you'd like to pursue?

At this point, my goal is to simply live consciously and deliberately. I want to wake up every morning and truly say, "What I do with the next 24 hours is what *I* choose to do." If I can do that, rather than getting carried away by the hamster wheel, I will be happy.

If you were going to take another long-distance cycling trip with your family, what would you do differently?

I am glad that we cycled the length of the Americas, and wouldn't change that for anything. That said, if we were to take off again, I think it would be more of an open-ended trek rather than a quest. I would like to go explore the world, going wherever the wind blows us.

Are there places that you traveled through on your trip that you'd like to return to for another visit?

Honduras!! I was a Peace Corps Volunteer back in the 80's and it was so amazingly wonderful to get back to the country and to my village. I would love to return again. And Mexico and Colombia were real favorites as well. I could see living in any of those countries.

Any parting words of advice for those who are hesitating to follow their dreams?

Live without regrets. Someday, you will be old and gray and sitting in your rocker, looking back upon your life. Do you want to have regrets that you didn't do something while you had the chance? I doubt it. I can speak from personal experience that, while living your dream might not be easy, it is worthwhile. Do it.

*******

Thank you so much Nancy for your wonderful interview! If you all would like to read more about her family's ride from Alaska to Argentina, you can purchase her book Changing Gears on Amazon.

Caca Rouge Henna from Lush

I make no secret of the fact that I henna my hair. I'm not gonna pretend that I'm a natural redhead, even though I was born to be one (literally, I was a ginger baby). I've blogged about it in the past, including this post full of tips.

In the past I've used powdered henna that I ordered on-line, and it was great but shipping was expensive. When I saw that LUSH Cosmetics had these Henna Hair Dyes at their local store, I decided to give them a try. In addition to being able to buy them locally, they had a couple of other things going for them: instead of having to mix it with water and lemon juice and then sit over night, you just pour boiling water over it, let sit for a few minutes, and mix. Another time-saving bonus was that they say to only leave it on for two hours, not three to four like the powder. Plus it has cocoa butter and other stuff that's supposed to be good for your hair. Sounds great!

Here I am pre-henna. Yikes, you can really see my roots! No way I can go to Tribal Fest looking like this!

So I started mixing up the henna. It took a lot more water than I expected, which meant more time and more stirring. Ultimately I think I didn't add quite enough water, because chunks of henna kept falling off my head all over the place. Good thing I put newspaper down this time, but even so I made a huge mess of my bathroom and myself.

See! There's even henna in my cleavage. Oh, the indignity! Please feel free to point and laugh at how ridiculous I look in a saran wrap turban, too. By the way, you have to keep this henna warm while you use it, so my head was feeling a little toasty.

Because of how much henna I lost on the floor (and my neck, and my shirt, and the counter) I was concerned as to whether I got enough on my head, and whether it would really color my hair that well. Also, when it came time to shower, I found that this product is much grittier than what I have used before and it made a huge, huge mess in my shower.

I thought I had managed to rinse most of it out, but after my hair dried, it looked like this. UGH! I think it's because of the cocoa butter. It took about 3-4 more shampooings to get my hair back to normal, but when I did it looked like this:

Oh yeah, that color! And the butter made my hair really soft and pretty and healthy, once I finally rinsed it all out. I suspect that this product would be really great for people who have dry hair. Mine tends a little more towards the greasy end of the spectrum, so I think it was a little too moisturizing for me. If you have similar hair to me, you may want to use a non-moisturizing shampoo to rinse your hair out. In fact, I was almost desperate enough to use some Dawn dish soap, since it's designed to cut grease!

LUSH will apparently apply the henna for you in-store, and I think next time I'll go that route. I'm happy enough with the results that I want to see how they do it and get some tips on how to do it better myself next time (plus I don't want to mop henna off of my floor again).

What to expect while I'm at Tribal Fest

This is not a picture of my Tribal Fest suitcase, but Topher has been sitting on it. That cat loves luggage!

I am leaving for Tribal Fest on Monday and I won't get back until the 20th. I can't believe it's so close! I have so much still left to get done, especially since my mother-in-law is coming out for a visit while I'm gone, so I can't just turn into a packing whirlwind and leave a disaster in my wake.

Anyway, this blog will not be idle while I'm gone! I've already pre-scheduled a great Follow Your Dreams interview for Monday, and today and tomorrow I'm going to work on a cosmetics review for Friday. After all, Urban Decay has new glitter eye shadow, you know I've got to review that!

I haven't decided yet whether or not I'm going to bring my laptop with me. On the one hand, it would be great to be able to blog from Tribal Fest, but on the other hand, that means less room in my carry-on for purchases. But then again, I have a FOUR HOUR layover in Phoenix on the way out, so I could get some work done in the airport. Assuming I can get WiFi. We'll see!

If you will be at Tribal Fest too, please come up and say Hi to me! I love meeting new people but I am pretty shy and often won't go up and introduce myself.

How I feel when I dance

Photo by my wonderful troupemate Ashley Grove

 

Sometimes I look at pictures from my performances and I go "ugh, is that really what I looked like?" but not this time. Ashley managed to capture this image that just perfectly expresses how I feel when I dance. Graceful, blissed out, and dare I say beautiful? I like the lighting, too.

 

I'm especially happy that this picture is so nice, because it's from my improv solo, where I was dancing to a song I had never heard before. I was worried that I'd have a thinking face, or a panicked face, or that I'd be doing something really weird with my arms. But nope. I look like I'm dancing, not freaking out.

 

Speaking of freaking out, I'm leaving for Tribal Fest in SIX DAYS and I have so much to do. Ahhhhhh!  

Coming soon: Follow Your Dreams Interview Series

Well, I asked around on Facebook and not only were people interested in the idea of a series of interviews with people who had followed their dreams, but I've even already got one interview lined up and some other people in mind! So here's how this is going to work:

• I'm going to interview people who have accomplished their goals, people who are in the process, and maybe people who are just about to set out.
• I will not just be interviewing dancers; I think it will be more interesting to see all sorts of dreams and different ways of achieving them.
• I'll ask some generic questions, and some questions about their specific dream, so every one will be different!
• Interviews will ideally be posted once or twice a month.

Not quite sure what to expect? Here's a mini-interview with... me!

It was easy for me to sit down for an interview with Sophia Ravenna, because, you know, she's my alter ego so we live in the same head. Here's what she had to say about herself:

Me: Please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your dream.

Sophia Ravenna: Hi! My name is Sophia Ravenna and my dream is to be a professional belly dancer.

Me: When did you decide to follow your dream? What pushed you to do it?

SR: I guess it was last year? I had already been bellydancing for a while and I was admittedly frustrated with how much I was spending on classes, workshops, costuming and more, while not getting any paid gigs, but for various reasons I felt like I was probably going to always be an amateur. Then my brother invited me to be part of a fire performance troupe he was forming. I went to a couple of the meetings and realized that all of the other potential members were really passionate about fire, whereas my passion was definitely belly dance. I decided that I'd rather put my focus on my dance than on something that might have made me more money in the end, but was not what I loved.

Me: How far along on your goal would you say you are?

SR: I have a three year plan and I'm about 8 or 9 months into it. I've hit some of my goals easily, and struggled with others, but I have constant forward momentum so I'd call that a win. I've even been paid to dance, but I'm not ready to call myself a true pro yet, at least, not without tongue firmly in cheek.

Me: What was the hardest part of following your dream?

SR: Definitely taking the first step. When I sent that e-mail to my teacher Jolie saying "I wanna do this, what do I need to do?" (oversimplifying, obviously), my stomach filled with butterflies and they still haven't fully gone away.

Me: What has been the biggest help in achieving your goals?

SR: My great support system. My husband, my family, my teacher, my troupemates and my dance community all encourage and inspire me. Plus since they all know what I'm trying to do, I feel like I can't slack off too much or someone will call me on it!

Me: Any parting words of advice for those who are hesitating to follow their dreams?

SR: Make a plan. Don't just say you're going to do it. Break it down into sizable chunks, set goals, get someone to help you. When you have a real plan and someone holding you accountable, you'll feel inspired to keep working even when doubt starts to creep in.

Thank you, me, for helping me illustrate to my readers the format that I'll be using!

GLITTER EXTRAVAGANZA!

 Here we go, dear readers! I am going to review SEVEN different brands of glitter. Are you excited? I'm excited. Let's see what we've got:
1. Mica Beauty Cosmetics in Green.
2. Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics in Mint.
3. LASplash in Radiant Ivy. I really like that name, don't you?
4. Belle Pierre Cosmetics in Greentastic. I like that name, too!
5. Medusa's Makeup in Antoinette.
6. NYX in Pink. I can't find this glitter on their website so I think they don't make it anymore!
7. Blume Bauer Sparklies in Green with Envy.

 And here they are with their caps off so you can see them better (except for NYX, because you'd see less if I took the cap off). I hope you'll forgive me for not doing a hand swatch on this one, I didn't really want to have bits of glitter on my hand for the rest of the day. Now for my opinions on each one:

1. This is a very fine micro-glitter, possibly the finest in my collection, in a pure emerald green. I wore it all day on Wednesday and had zero fall-out, so I'd call that a WIN! I can't find green on their website, but they have some other pretty colors. Because it's so fine, it doesn't have as much impact as larger glitter, so it's better suited for gigs where you'll be close to the audience.

2. Also relatively fine and very sparkly pale green. I wore this alongside 2, which was a bad idea because they're so similar I couldn't tell which one was falling out on my face. Seems to have stayed on pretty well.

3. Fine clear glitter with green iridescence. I think this was the fallout culprit in last night's look and it doesn't seem to have stayed very well, so I'd say you can probably pass on this one even though it's such a pretty color.

4. Bright iridescent green. I like this one for big stage shows because it is so sparkly, it really has a big impact! I'd recommend wearing it over a darker eyeshadow so it doesn't look too neon, unless that's what you're looking for.

5. Fine ruby red. I bought this to wear over lipstick and it did the job perfectly. Looks kind of like crushed rubies, stays in place well. A good buy if you want to do the red glitter lip look.

6. This is what I've previously been using for my glitter lips. It's a little chunkier than all these micro glitters, and I am not a fan of the packaging, it's kind of hard to get the glitter out. But this iridescent pink is a nice choice to put over winter red, wine and purple lipsticks to soften them, so you may want to look for a similar shade in a different brand.

7. Nice medium green micro-glitter. I like this color because it's very leafy and looks good with the olive eyeshadow colors I prefer. I wore it last night and had some fallout while applying, but none once it was on. Disclaimer: I am Facebook friends with Blume, but I don't think that makes me biased. This is objectively a nice glitter product.

 Here I am wearing four shades of glitter all in one! Sorry that I couldn't work every glitter into one look, but I think this is pretty good. I did a glitter ombre on my eyes using some light pearly green eyeshadow as the base, Medusa's Makeup glitter primer over that, and then color 3 in the corner of my eye, 2 in the middle, and 7 at the edge. I wish the lighting was better in this picture so you could see it. I'm going to play with the idea more and maybe do a quick tutorial once I've perfected it (I think I want a different shadow base and more color difference between my light and medium shades). I also put the red glitter over a red lip pencil for glitter lips.

With my eyes open, you only see a little glitter. Also I think I shouldn't have done my water line in black with this look, I think the liner is a little heavy for the glitter. This calls for more experimentation.

The results: I danced 4 numbers at Open Stage. By the end of the night I had a little glitter fallout, my lips were still quite sparkly, and unfortunately, my eye glitter had started to build up in my crease. Ugh. But I was still pretty glittery, so not a total loss.

I hope that maybe I've introduced all you glitter-loving bellydancers to some new brands, or given you some ideas of what to shop for and what to avoid. Do you have a favorite glitter brand that I didn't review? Would you like to see more of one of the colors I didn't use in this week's look? Let me know in the comments!