Hanging out in Sicksville

Sorry about the lack of a Beauty Blogging for Bellydancers column today, or really, any blog content at all this week. I came down with a cold after ballet class on Monday night and I have not felt particularly clear-headed all week. Any attempt to write a blog post would have ended up reading something like "Colds are dumb and so are undercutters. BAM!"

Anyway, I am feeling mostly better but I also have a raging case of what I call "sick face." You know how it is... nose all red and chapped, skin somewhat lackluster, maybe some dark circles under the eyes. It would take a whole lot of concealer to make me feel comfortable showing my face on the internet today! I really hope that I am looking better tomorrow since I will be performing with Skirt Full of Fire and Fire & Gold at the Fall Plaza Intensive Show!

Sickness aside, I am getting pretty excited for the Autumn months! There's a lot coming up... Vegas next week, then I go finally get my tattoo completed, then in October we have Tucson Meet Yourself and I have two weddings and (hopefully) a Beats Antique concert to go to! November will round things out with the All Souls Procession and Desert Shakedown. And that's just the stuff that I already know about. There's sure to be more great things in store.

New lip products from Urban Decay

 Please forgive the less than awesome nature of this photo, I should really allow myself more than 15 minutes to do my makeup before class. Anyway: fuchsia lipstick!

I figured I should try the new color-coordinated Revolution Lipstick and 24/7 Glide-On Lip Pencil from Urban Decay, because I do love things to match and it's so frustrating sometimes to find pencils and lipsticks that work perfectly together. You'd think that every company would make perfectly complimenting colors, but I have not found that to be the case.

I chose Jilted, a fuchsia-pink shade. The lipstick has a cool blue shift, which I thought was nifty and also probably a good way to tone down any yellowness in ones teeth. The liner does not have blue shimmer, but it does otherwise match perfectly, as you can see in this hand swatch:

What a nice color! I do feel like it's a bit intense for my skin tone, I definitely would never do it for day-wear and I felt like I should have done more with my eyes to balance it out... That said, it's also kind of fun to wear ridiculous fuchsia with blue shimmer lipstick. If I ever go to an 80s or glam-rock themed party, you KNOW this is what I am breaking out!

Both the liner and the lipstick went on pretty smoothly and delivered intense color. The lipstick is not very sticky and didn't leave a bunch of color on my water bottle during dance class. It stayed in place pretty well for an hour of drilling, so that's pretty good! However, my lips also felt pretty dry while using it, so definitely make sure you're well-moisturized before applying it. I like the formula enough that I might pick it up in other colors too! I think this will be a good one for dancers. There are a lot of shades in this collection that are intense enough to really pop on the big stage, and having perfectly-matching liners makes it easy to fill out your lips if needed.

Raising Funds for Vegas

 It's just two weeks until I take off for the Las Vegas Bellydance Intensive! Because I'll be performing, I'm investing in video and photos, which is leaving me with less money for shopping. So here's the thing: I have an Etsy shop. If you happen to like handmade one of a kind jewelry, and supporting artists and helping a dancer buy more costumes, then you can go buy some things! In fact, to sweeten the deal I currently have a sale going on: use code BUYALLTHETHINGS for 30% off any purchase of $20 or more. This is a steeper discount than I usually offer, but hey, all of this beautiful jewelry isn't doing me any good since I don't wear my stock!

I try not to use this blog to promote my jewelry too often, but there's so many good vendors to go shop with at Vegas! I hope you'll pardon this moment of shameless self-promotion and come back tomorrow for more dance-related blogging.

More Ballet!

Alison Lee, [stage name Helene Lineva and star of the Original Ballet Russe, 1939-1940, posing in the studio and dancing on the roof of Dupain studio] photographed by Max Dupain.

It's hard to believe, but I've actually been taking ballet classes for 4 weeks now. I go once or twice a week depending on how brave and motivated I'm feeling. And sometimes... I actually have fun! I'm still struggling with a lot of the material and I'm sure I will for a long time, but slowly I'm becoming more comfortable. It helps that the teachers at BreakOut are really nice and encouraging.

One reason why I'm taking ballet, even though I'm currently bad at it, is that when I get things right, I feel beautiful. I have long legs and arms, which sometimes makes me feel awkward in bellydance class (I always pull my arms in when I turn, for fear of hitting somebody), like I'm taking up too much space. But when I relax and allow myself to take all the room I need, and when I can do a full extension and just reach with my arms and legs, I feel lean and elegant. Ballet class is helping me develop proper form, strength, and flexibility to add those moments to my belly dance. 

Did I strike gold with Maybelline?

It's funny, because I'm reviewing gold eye shadow. WOW is that really gold.

 Following up on last week's affordable e.l.f. palette, I thought I'd review another drugstore line that I'd heard pretty good things about... Maybelline's Color Tattoo eye shadows. I picked up two different styles... the new Pure Pigments in Forest Fatale (it's as if they marketed it directly at me!), and the 24 Hour Metal in Gold Rush.

Besides sounding like a music festival, Color Tattoo 24 Hour Metal is a gel shadow. I was hoping that Gold Rush would go on thick and give me an insane pop of gold, but instead it was like crackled gold leaf. It's very pretty, and I think it would be great for an Ancient Egypt-themed look, paired with cobalt and black eyeliner. It's also nice for a magical faerie look. But it doesn't necessarily have enough impact for the big stage -- you'd be better off with gold glitter. Save this one for the restaurants and other small stages.

Pure Pigments are your typical loose pigments. It went on nicely and stayed on well but when I did find a ton of fall-out on my counter from when I was applying it! I applied it dry with a nice fluffy brush. It would probably be more intense if applied wet. This is another one that is definitely more suited for when you're going to be up close with your audience.

 As always, I applied these colors over UD's Primer Potion and then used a couple spritzes of setting spray to keep it in place through two hours of dance class. Surprisingly, even though it was a hot muggy night and we worked really hard, I didn't have any color loss. I thought about leaving it on overnight to see if 24 Hour Metal lived up to its name, but I didn't want to chance getting mascara smudges on my pillowcase.

Bonus nail polish review! Maybelline's Color Show line of nail polish seems to have a few trendy options. Mystic Green is part of the holographic collection and is one of those awesome color-shift iridescent colors. It shifts through gold, green and blue and is GORGEOUS! This is two coats with a base and top coat. I've been wearing it for a couple of days and it's held up well -- except for the weird marks where I fell asleep on top of my hand. It turns out that those drying drops will still leave your polish soft for at least an hour or so. Whoops. Anyway, I think these holographic colors are great for performances, and they have a pinky-purply one for those of you who don't wear green costumes every time you perform. And at around $3/bottle it's a lot more affordable than similar colors from other brands.

Not getting enough cosmetics reviews? Go like my fan page on Facebook. I've started posting bonus mini-reviews throughout the week as I try things that don't quite fit in the blog.

Annoying Dance Sayings Pt 2

Don't get me wrong. I don't want to disagree with Martha Graham. That would be stupid. Obviously she knew way, way, WAY more about dancing than I ever will, and that is why there's a ton of quotes from her on Pinterest and absolutely zero by me.

The problem with this quote isn't the quote itself, its in how people interpret it. People see this quote and they think "Well, I'm passionate about dance so that means I'm great! I'm gonna sit on the couch and watch a movie instead of drilling my arm work because I'm already awesome. Thanks, Martha Graham!"

I've fallen into this trap before. I'm a passionate dancer. I go to class several times a week. I emote all over the stage. I can talk about dance until I'm blue in the face. As such, there have been times where I've gone to a show and thought "Oh sure, she has great technique, but she's not showing a lot of passion in her dance. I'm sooooo much better than here." Well, that's just plain wrong. Great dancers have technique and passion. I can't just coast along on my passion and ignore the fact that my footwork is sloppy.

Great dancers are great because of their passion, but it's because a passion for dance drives you to be great. When you have a passion for dance, it's not enough to go to class on Wednesday night and then maybe practice once or twice between classes. Passion means you take all of the classes you can afford and you practice every day (when you can overcome your natural laziness, I'm talking to myself here, can you tell?). Passion means when you're the only one in class who can't do something, you ask your teacher for advice and then you go home, and you practice it in the mirror, and you cry and yell and stomp around the house when you can't get it right, because sometimes passion is a little sad and angry, instead of beautiful and lovey-dovey. Passion means sitting on the yoga mat cursing like a sailor because you're 30 seconds into a 2 minute stretch and your glute is cramping like a mofo, but you've got to work on your splits so you tough it out.

Passion means sometimes you go weeks or months without being able to really socialize with the non-dance people in your life, because you have class on weeknights and performances or workshops on weekends. Passion means sometimes you tell your spouse you'd rather stay home with a DVD than go to the movies, because you've got to work on your new costume. Passion means that you go to class in cheap Target yoga pants but perform in custom-made velvet skirts. Passion means that you give up an international vacation so you can save your money to study with great dancers. Passion means wearing pants and long skirts all summer because your knees are always covered in bruises from floorwork. For some dance forms, passion means you never wear sandals again because your toes scare small children.

Passion does not mean "Oh, I really like dancing and I'm SO emotional on stage."

Don't agree with me? Here's another quote from Martha Graham that you probably won't see on Pinterest:

"[When I stopped dancing] I had lost my will to live. I stayed home alone, ate very little, and drank too much and brooded. My face was ruined, and people say I looked odd, which I agreed with. Finally my system just gave in. I was in the hospital for a long time, much of it in a coma."

That's passion.

Annoying Dance Sayings Pt 1

I found a meme picture with a cute dog to soften my annoyance.

 

We've all seen and heard this one a lot, right? It's sometimes attached to a few other things, like living like there's no tomorrow and loving like you've never been hurt, etc etc. This can all be great and inspiring for normal life, but as a dancer I get so sick of seeing "Dance like nobody's watching."

 

Now don't get me wrong. There are times when it IS appropriate to dance like no one's watching. They include:

 

1. When you're a newbie in class and you're super nervous and you have to just tell yourself no one else is watching you.

 

2. When you have a new song you want to dance to, and you want to just FEEL it and see what movements work with it, before sitting down to really formalize your choreography or structured improv.

 

3. When you've got some emotions you need to work out, and you just turn on some music and dance so freakin' hard until you've danced it all out.

 

4. When you're at a party or a club and you want to just get down (but even then you have to be careful, because if you've told people you're a bellydancer, you don't want them to say "Oh, she claims she's a dancer but did you see what she was doing with her arms at Aunt Jane's wedding?").

 

However, there is a place where you should not "dance like no one's watching" and that is on stage. Once you've made the decision to be a performer, whether as an eternal amateur or a someday pro, you have made a commitment to always be "on" when you're dancing for other people. You've chosen to perform, so that means you have to perform. That means acknowledging the audience. That means that if you DON'T acknowledge the audience, it's because of a deliberate artistic choice*, not because you just felt like dancing for yourself. That means that if you're terrified of making real eye contact with the audience, you learn the tricks of faking eye contact.

If you get up on stage and dance like nobody's watching, you'll likely find that they aren't watching. Because if you don't dance for the audience, then they don't feel engaged. Likewise, if you're not dancing for the audience, you're probably not thinking about proper angles, and taking up space, and moving around the room/stage so that everyone gets a chance to see you in your full glory.

When you dance like nobody's watching, you do both yourself and the audience a great disservice. So if you've decided to dance for other people, then dance for other people! Acknowledge the audience. Share with them. To sum up the concept that I've heard from numerous great teachers, your dance doesn't have to shout "look at me!" but it should say "Hey, I know you're watching."

*Also if you're presenting a form of spiritual dance that isn't normally a performance art, and acknowledging the audience would be inauthentic, you should obviously make the authentic choice.

The Inner Dancer taught me how to Dance Like a Queen!

This weekend I had the pleasure of taking a workshop with Samantha, aka The Inner Dancer, aka winner of the pro soloist category in 2013's Belly Dance Queen competition. I interact with Samantha on Facebook via her "Leave It On The Dance Floor" group and had seen her dance at Club Bellydance, but this was the first time I had the chance to study with her and she did not disappoint!


I signed up for the Dance Like a Queen workshop which was about the mental and emotional aspects of dance rather than physical technique. I really love classes that dig down into things like motivation and stage presence and dance persona and how you approach dance, and this covered all of those things. I feel like in the long run, this sort of workshop stays with me and has more impact on my personal dance journey than learning physical technique, which is harder to properly absorb in two hours.

It's hard to describe this workshop. It was a very personal process, with a lot of self-evaluation, group interaction, and really thinking about, well, how we think about dance. I feel like overall, the theme was about having a healthy view of where you are in dance and a good idea of where you want to go and how you're going to get there. It's about not seeing yourself as two separate people (AJ the regular person and Sophia Ravenna the dancer), but as one person who feels pretty good about herself and is able to bring a genuine expression of who she is to the dance floor. It's about intertwining your personal development with your dance practice.

As it turns out, one of the things that I love about Samantha as a dancer, teacher and person is that she thinks that technique and emotion are equally important. She knows that the really amazing dancers are the people who have both of those, and she wants to train people to bring it all to the dance floor. I'll have a couple of opinion posts in the near future that expand on my feelings on the topic, but let's just say that it always makes me happy when someone else backs up my opinion that you have to work hard and bring authenticity of emotion to your dance, too.

What really stood out to me about this workshop specifically was that my classmates ranged from really new beginners to established pros and teachers, and it seemed like everyone was getting at least a little something out of it. It's rare to be in a really good all-levels workshop.

I'd definitely recommend this workshop to just about anyone who is serious about dance, but especially those who are looking to go pro, who feel like they've got an unhealthy relationship with dance (for instance, carrying around a lot of negativity about where you are or what you can't do), or those looking to really dig deeper into how they think about themselves as a dancer.

Are those e.l.f. palettes any good?

 We've all seen these at Target or other department stores, right? The super-affordable e.l.f palettes with their really intense colors. I'd heard that they were actually not bad, so at only $6 I decided to take a chance and pick up the Little Black Beauty Book "night edition."

Look at those colors! You'll have to forgive me for not hand-swatching them, but it would have to go all the way up to my elbow at the very least. I like this palette because it has a great range of colors running from light to dark, plenty of neutrals, some mattes and some sparkles. The individual pans are pretty small, but hey, it's $6.

I'm a bit iffy on the packaging. It's cute, compact, and easy to carry, but it doesn't always close securely. If you want to just throw this in your purse, I'd wrap some ribbon or elastic around it or maybe tape it closed, just to be on the safe side. The outside color is actually very much like a thinner version of a hardback book cover. It dents and scratches very easily, so it won't stay pretty, but again, it only cost $6, so what do you expect?

On Tuesday I decided to do a nice daytime look with two colors from the palette, a nice soft bronze and medium green. It held up for two hours of dance and some shopping and driving around. This is actually how it looked at the end of the night. Not bad!

But we're here to talk about its suitability for performance makeup, so how about a look at some of the more vibrant colors?

Yeah! Colors! Turquoise, green, and blue, with a light shimmery neutral along my brow bone. I was surprised by how well-pigmented these brights were. I'd just like to point out that I managed to put together a better emerald eye look with this cheap department store palette than with the much more expensive Sephora eye shadows I bought earlier this year.

Sorry about the up-the-nose shot. That's all eyeshadow from this palette, including using the green as liner. Well, I did add just a touch of some sparkly UD shadow over the teal because I wanted some glitter. There's also some green mascara, because hey, why not wear green mascara for daytime wear? It's just sitting there in my train case, I might as well use it.

Despite using primer potion and makeup-setting spray, I did have some color loss after two hours of dance class, but most of the color was still there. I like these colors enough that I'm going to try again, maybe apply a little more and pat it in better, or try it wet.

I feel like these colors probably wouldn't hold up well to dancing all night, and they probably aren't intense enough for big stage makeup, but if you're just doing a single number at a hafla or recital, you'll be really happy with these. You could probably even use them for a restaurant gig if you're not prone to sweaty-face. I'd definitely recommend this palette to the newbie dancer who hasn't previously worn colorful makeup and doesn't want to spend a fortune at Sephora or the MAC counter. It would also be perfect for those days when you want to experiment with some of the crazy looks you see on-line... there's enough different colors to play with, and then when you figure out a look you want to use for the big stage, you can go out and buy more expensive, hardier versions of the colors.

Back on Datura Online!

I let my Datura Online subscription lapse back before Tribal Fest, because my credit card on file expired and I hadn't been using the videos very often, so it made sense to let it go dormant for a bit. However, with my current focus on practicing more, more, MORE it seemed like a good idea to turn it back in and take advantage of all the great new videos.

It's still too hot during the day for me to want to buckle down for one of the hour-plus videos, but luckily DO has a lot of shorter options, too. I decided that I'd try Henna's "The Cairo 8" video because I've been wanting to learn some more Egyptian stylization, and at 16 minutes long it was just right to round out my practice after I did my solo for Saturday and some zills.

This popular move which dates back to the Golden Age of bellydance is broken down into components, then put together, then drilled at slow and fast speeds, and is done on the right and the left, then together. There's also a variation with a hip drop, and Henna demonstrates how a couple of Golden Age dancers did it and explains what sort of music you'll often see it used with. I was able to keep up with the slow drills, but I'm definitely going to have to revisit the video several times until I can do it up to speed!

I like having a short video that focuses on a single move. It's a good way to be able to really drill something specific, learn it inside and out, and build it into your muscle memory. Plus when it's less than 20 minutes, it's really easy to work it into your day between other things and get a little targeted dance practice.

10,000 Hours

Another beautiful shot from my photoshoot with Liora K.

 

Have you heard the widely-touted saying that it takes 10,000 hours to master something? I've been thinking about it lately because I've been chafing about the lack of home practice lately. We're in the grips of a hot, humid summer and my home is so warm some days that practicing makes me feel sick, like literally queasy. But as the temperatures are slowly creeping down into the 90s instead of the 100s, I've been working practice back into my schedule, sometimes at night when it's a little more bearable. I've got my eye on being able to dance for hours every day (well, 6 days a week, gotta give my muscles a break), whether or not I have class.

 

When my husband I discussed this concept a few months ago, he said he thought it would be cool to figure out how many hours I'd already put into dance. But even coming up with a rough estimate would be difficult, as I'd have to look at the past 5 years and estimate how many hours of class I was taking per week each year. Ugh. If I calculate it at all, I might choose a start date other than when I started taking dance classes -- either when I started my Year of Practice challenge, or when I started studying with Jolie (if we want to assume that I'm trying to master tribal fusion, and not just general bellydance).

 

This week, not counting home practice, I'm going to spend 10 hours between ballet class, bellydance class, troupe practice, a private lesson, and a workshop. Plus I'm performing Saturday night. If every week was like that, that would mean 520 hours a year, which means it would take about 19 and a quarter years to master bellydance, at which point I would be in my early 50s. Clearly I need to practice more. 

The Perfectionism Spectrum

Last week I posted this quote on my Facebook fan page to spark some discussion: "Perfection is an interesting idea, but I don't think it should have a place of honor in the creative process." – Sasha Soukup


I was surprised to find that a lot of people agreed with Soukup, because I actually strongly disagree. I have perfectionist tendencies, not to the point of OCD, but I always strive to be as close to perfect as I can. This ethic leads to me practicing a lot, taking extra lessons, getting professional help to learn about makeup and costuming, reading up on dance etiquette and so much more. I realized that my opinion on perfection was more than I could put in a Facebook comment and I needed to make a blog post about it.


As I was mulling over the topic, I came up with the idea of the Perfectionism Spectrum. I don't feel like the quest for perfection is an all or nothing deal. I think that there's a very wide range and that most people fall somewhere in the middle rather than to one extreme or the other. 

At the lowest end is what I would call the "Eh, Good Enough!" people. These are the sort of people who shrug off problems with their work by saying "The audience will never know the difference" or "It's handmade it's supposed to have flaws!" or "You're not paying me enough for me to work harder on this." Now, there are times when it's valid to say any of these. Sometimes there are problems that are beyond your control and you need to just accept them. But it is not cool to have this attitude all the time and use it to slack off on things like practicing hard when you have a show coming up, or trimming all the threads on your new costume or behaving professionally at a gig. I think you can tell that I don't have a lot of patience for this sort of person.


At the highest end of the spectrum are the "It's Never Good Enough!" people. These are the sort of people who create beautiful work but never share it with the world because it's not perfect yet. This is the author who constantly revises their first chapter and never moves on in the story, the dancer who comes to class every week and practices hard but never performs because she doesn't dance like a superstar yet, the painter who doesn't think his work is worthy of hanging in a gallery. I feel bad for these people because they have something beautiful but they never think it's good enough to share with the world.


I try to maintain a happy relationship with perfection. I strive for it, knowing that it is impossible to be perfect all the time. However, I do think that through hard work, it's possible to achieve moments of perfection. Surely as a dancer you've felt it, when you do exactly the right move to the very best of your abilities, and you hit the note right where you wanted to, and you caught the audience's eye, and you were feeling the music so hard, and it was.... perfect. I know that I will never have a performance that is a string of perfect moments. But I do know that I can achieve perfect moments, and if I have just one or two in a solo and the rest of the time I am doing really well, then the over-all impression is going to be that I did an amazing job.


So yes, I do think that perfection should have a place of honor in the creative process. Why wouldn't I want to strive for a perfect 3/4 shimmy or Arabesque? Why wouldn't I want to know my song inside and out so that I can hit the perfect accents and truly feel the music? I think that it is possible to have a healthy approach to perfection, and that artists in any medium can strive for perfect moments in their work.

Please feel free to share your opinion in my comments section, I enjoy a lively discussion!

Sephora Impulse Buys

 Have I admitted yet that I come from a family that self-medicates through retail therapy? For at least three generations of my Mom's side, when we're feeling down we shop. But it doesn't just have to be sadness, sometimes it's 100 degrees out and your house is not sufficiently cool and you're bored of sweating at the computer, so you drag your husband off to the mall to enjoy some air conditioning and window shopping. Then you're like "Well let's go to Sephora because I want to see if they have the new UD lipstick" and then when they don't, you just wander around because you want to buy something. Let's pretend that I only bought these two somethings and that there's not also a little bag full of nail polish minis (in my defense, they were only a dollar each).

Did you know that Sephora is clearing out their entire Sephora by OPI line of nail polish? I'm curious to see what they replace it with. I really wanted to buy about a zillion colors, but I settled for "Is She For Reel?" which my husband pointed out. See, there was a reason to drag him along, his eye is caught by different things than mine. I go for the same greens that I already have three variations of, and he notices the super-sparkly silver with iridescent micro-glitter. It's hard to describe this color, it's kind of like... magical pyrite. Does that make sense? How about... silver titanium coated drusy? Maybe? Well anyway, I totally recommend going to your local Sephora to see if it's still in-stock, or ordering on-line, because this color is sweet. You know those weekends when you have multiple gigs and each one has a totally different colored costume? Well, this is the super-sparkly neutral that will go with all of them. I'm wearing two coats and it actually looks more opaque in person than it does in the picture.

 Now, what is this interesting little bottle and why is it purple instead of green? Have I been replaced by an alien pod person? Would I tell you if I was? Stop worrying about that and go check out Light Storm Liquid Shadow. It's shiny! This is the Smoked Grape color which isn't on the website, oddly enough.

 LOOK AT HOW SHINY IT IS! It has this amazing shimmery color-shift effect. You can see why I had to buy it even though it doesn't come in green. Of the three colors available, Chris and I felt that Smoked Grape had the best shine and color shift (yes, my man is confident enough in his masculinity to offer an opinion on purple eyeshadow).

Thankfully we were wearing our all-black costumes for Open Stage last night, so I had the perfect opportunity to get purple on my eyes. I think this color wears really well on my skin tone. I did a smokey eye with my favorite almost-black MAC eyeshadow, a cool purple I found in one of my UD palettes, and then some NYX glitter to keep it from looking too bruise-y. Add some black gel liner and some black mascara, plus a little maroon liner under the eye (not visible here due to lashes) and I'm good to go! Style note: Sometimes if you wear purple eyeshadow and red lipstick, it either clashes weirdly or looks too Red Hat Lady-ish, so I forewent my usual red and instead applied the light metallic plummy color from one of my Blast Flipsticks (hahahaha) and dabbed it with a bit of the same glitter as my eyes to tie it together. I think it was a good choice.

Oh yeah. I guess I should actually review the product and talk about application! It comes with a fuzzy wand applicator like some lip glosses. I put it on my lid with that and then blended it out with my eye. Of course I applied it over my trusty UD Primer Potion and then used a little UD makeup setting spray to hold everything in place. I am happy to say that at the end of the night, after several hours of wear, a lot of dancing and some sweating, it still looked great! It had not collected in my crease at all, and the color had not faded.

I am giving this a strong recommendation for my fellow dancers! It looks great, it's easy to apply, and it wears well! Those of you who wear a lot of purple or pink will really love this specific color. I think I'm going to go pick up the Caramel Cream as well because while it has less color-shift it's still pretty shiny and would go well with a couple of costumes I've got in the works. Also, if you love green like I do, please join me in lobbying Sephora to make this product available in either a green-gold shift or a green-blue shift inspired by jewel beetle elytra. That would make my life complete!