Beauty Blogging for Bellydancers Year-End Top Ten!

 Since I started Beauty Blogging for Bellydancers in January 2013, it seems only fitting that the last Friday of the year should be a retrospective of a few of my favorite products, ending with a couple that I haven't reviewed yet! Now, I'm not really good at ranking the things I love, so don't think of this as a "Top 10 Best Products" but more of a "the first ten things I thought of that I love and happen to have pictures of."

#1. Urban Decay Build-your-Own Palettes. While it's true that the colors in the palette I featured above had a "meh" pay-off, I really like the 6-pan build your own palette box they came in, and I also love my 4-pan with "Rock" in it. I also like that more and more companies are developing their own build-your own, because anything that makes it easier for me to take all my favorite colors in one easy package is OK with me.

 #2. BLAST FLIPSTICK! It is possible that I included these just because I love the name, but honestly, I do get a ton of use out of the berry-hued one.

#3. Lip Tar by Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics. I can't get enough of this stuff and I recommend it to everyone, I've even got my mom and my mother-in-law wearing it.

#4. Shiny, iridescent, color-shifting nail polish colors. This one is part of Maybelline's Color Show line but I like other brands, too.

#5. THE WONDER PENCIL! Another product where I love the name, but this unassuming, affordable product really does come in handy and I use it all the time. 

#6. Spellbinding Eyeshadow Book. I haven't used this as much as I would like but I am really in love with the colors.

#7. Imperialis Facial Moisturizer by Lush Cosmetics. I LOVE this stuff. It makes my face smell like orange blossoms. It's a light, creamy moisturizer which keeps my skin from drying out in the desert air.

#8 and #9. Zoya brand nail polish and Jamberry nail wraps. I love Zoya for their unusual colors which tend to hold up well. Here I'm wearing Seraphina with a Black Friday exclusive Winter Morning nail wrap for a lovely, wintery nail look. Jamberry lets me have the fancy nail designs I'd never be able to master myself, without having to carve out time to go to the salon.

#10. e.l.f Lashes. They're affordable. They're available in a variety of styles. They're easy to buy at Target. And while I've been told the glue isn't great, it is latex-free. I honestly don't know why I've never reviewed these, as they're definitely perfect for bellydancers. I mean, at this price, you can even occasionally wear them for date-night or a party and not feel guilty.

Shampoo and Conditioner from Lush

 Next week we'll get back to regular cosmetics reviews, but since I can't build up a good dance-sweat to stress test face makeup and this new nail product I have needs to be subjected to a week of wear to determine its durability, we're going to talk about shampoo and conditioner!

So even though I have long, gorgeous hair that I really love, I've always been a bit of a cheapskate when it comes to shampoo and conditioner. I usually use some $3/bottle stuff from Trader Joe's. Every now and then I go through a stage of using bar shampoo (as in, it's in the form of a bar like soap, not I get it at the pub), but since we have hard water here I have to do a vinegar rinse and that is not. fun. Anyway, I went to Lush to have the professionals do my henna (so much easier!) and they of course talked up some of their hair products and I decided, well, why not, my hair is worth it, I'll buy some fancy, expensive products and see how I like them.

Well, I love them! The Jasmine and Henna Fluff-Eaze is a pre-wash conditioner that is ideal for brown or red hair. It also smells amazing! Because my hair isn't actually very fluffy or frizzy, just kind of dry on the ends, I only use it every week to ten days. It has a creamy texture like mayo or yogurt, and it's easy to apply it just as far up as you want it, then leave it in for 20 minutes while doing dance practice or browsing Pinterest.

Cynthia Sylvia Stout is a shampoo made with beer. BEER. I was pretty skeptical about the scent but it was supposed to be ideal for my hair type and color, so I decided to buy the smallest bottle. It also has balsamic vinegar and lemon in it, so my husband says it sounds like a salad dressing (kind of looks like one, too). Although it has a beery smell straight from the bottle, it rinses out and leaves my hair with a fresh lemon-herbal scent that I find very clean and appealing. And the results of these two products?

I used them both the day before this photo was taken. What do you think? Clean, vibrant, shiny hair! It's also VERY soft and fragrant, but of course you can't tell that from the photo. I'm very happy with the results and I have a feeling I'll have to go buy a bigger bottle of the shampoo soon.

I can definitely recommend these products for anyone with hair similar to mine (long, red, and wavy, with a oily scalp and dry ends). They're especially nice for if you want to wear your hair down for a performance. I probably wouldn't use the conditioner any time I was going to tease my hair or do something else where I wouldn't want it to be too silky and thus slippery. Both of these products are also recommended for women with curly hair, but obviously I can't speak for that personally.

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).