Expansion of Classes and General Updates

 Hi Readers!  It's been a while since I updated my costuming and personal blog here, so I'm going to recap a few things that have changed since I last did a post.

I am now teaching two classes a week in person, in San Dimas, and sometimes a third online, in addition to Shimmy Mob.  We have upcoming Shimmy Mob event in September, which is called EASA (Emotional Abuse Signs Awareness event), where annually we learn a short dance to perform in any day in September and the purpose is to raise awareness about emotional abuse signs because emotional abuse often leads to physical abuse, which we want to stop.

 Registration for Shimmy Mob is usually open around late December and the two events are in May (second Saturday of the month) and September if you wish to join this great cause.  www.ShimmyMob.com is the address and next year we celebrate 15 years of Shimmy Mob.

Unfortunately, more restaurants and venues have closed which used to support bellydancers, such as Babouch Restaurant in San Pedro and upcoming, Bruce's Prime Rib in Whittier.

My classes are going really well and I'm grateful for the support of my amazing students and my student troupe, who, this year, performed a full 30 minute set at the LA County Fair and did Cairo ShimmyQuake festival.  We took a performance break this summer due to all the work we had done with those mentioned shows, plus 4 new dance films we created and doing live performances at the Upland quarterly hangar shows.

 I'm currently working on some cosplay ideas for an upcoming convention I will be attending so I have to keep in mind - packing needs (small), comfort (hot weather, shoes), ease of creation, and how authentic/close to the "real" look I can make my cosplays. 

 I'm also planning for Fall events, we have several video ideas and in person shows to prep for coming up in the next few months. 

GXVE Beauty has also discontinued the Ambassador program and they are not selling on their own website anymore, which was a sad ending to a few years of creative fun with them.  One door closes, another opens.

Costuming - Spotlight on 3 Costume Creations

 I haven't done a costuming post in awhile so I'm going to highlight a few costumes I created from scratch and re-tooled/re-worked from purchased costumes.  Some of these projects are not recent but I never actually blogged about them so I'm doing that now.

The first costume was inspired by fabric I found at JoAnn's.  Sometimes I love a fabric but it takes awhile to get the actual inspiration to finish it.  That was the case here.  I found this aqua brown and white fabric I liked but I had no ideas how I was going to tie it together.  I made the skirt first, and didn't get to the bra for awhile.

I wanted godets in my mermaid skirt, so I had to figure out a way to make those, as it was my first time and I was hacking my own mermaid skirt pattern from Sparkly Belly which I created using Mao's tutorial.  This would give the skirt extra sparkle and volume when turning on stage.  I also wanted a more see-through look for the godets since my main fabric was opaque.

I covered a bra and then played with the fabrics and appliqués to make a design. I added a strip of the fabric from the skirt to tie it together.  I made arm bands too because I always think that gives the costume  a more finished look.  I recycled the blue velvet from another costume's leftover stash fabric, and used it to make the belt and cover the bra.

This was the finished look!  I wore it for my first ever solo at a big festival in 2017.  

The next costume I'm highlighting is a red costume which I originally created for the 2020 holiday themed dance film, Dance of the Snow Dragons, which we did during the pandemic.  At the time I was thinner, so I have since had to fix the bra to fit me because as women, our bodies are constantly changing.

I found some beautiful red velvet and I already had red fringe, rhinestones, and appliqués, so it wasn't too hard to put together a nice holiday outfit.  I wanted it to not be too "holiday" so it could be worn at other times too.

I covered a bra, which this past December I had to fix because it was too small, and added appliqués, sequins and fringe.

The part which really made it holiday-themed was a cute shrug I made out of red and trimmed in white feathers.

This next costume I created the skirt to match a copper bra and belt, but later decided to make a bra and belt to match instead.  I used a modified mermaid/straight skirt pattern that is different from the Sparkly Belly one.

The bra and belt I decided to make in a steam punk style because I had a bunch of steampunk accessories which I never used on a costume.

I wasn't sure how I felt about the finished product.  I have not worn it to dance ever.  I wore it once for a photoshoot.  The color is a bit dull to me and the bra and belt feel really busy.  

Here is the finished look.

2024 - Happy New Year - Recaps & Starting Fresh

 Happy New Year!  It's been awhile since I did a blog post, so I'm here doing some catch up!

2023 was a successful year as far as returning to dance.  I taught in West Covina and San Dimas and had a number of new students and returning students join me.  I was able to take my student troupe to Cairo ShimmyQuake festival in June, where we did a 7 minute troupe set of two routines, swords and fan veils.  We created several dance films as well, my favorites that we have done thus far, including Fortune & Glory (an Indiana Jones inspired dance), Discolicious, a fusion disco and bellydance New Year's Eve celebration, and our spooky Haunted Mansion inspired dance films for Halloween, the Haunted Brides and the Haunted Hearts.  

We also danced a set at the West Covina Centennial celebration which was a great start to the year.  Other in person dance events included the Wild West inspired hafla, and an end of year class showcase for my students.  We ended the year with a performance at a dance party in Claremont.  I also got to dance at the famous and beautiful Babouch restaurant before it closed down forever.

 I'm excited to start the new year and see what it brings.

 My year of being a GXVE Ambassador was really wonderful but things have changed there, so we will have to see how that plays out now.  I have a new link if you want to shop for clean, vegan, cruelty-free makeup by Gwen Stefani with me, click here

I also was honored to be Ms. America Royalty Beauty 2023 and my reign will come to an end soon since it's 2024.

I made a recap of the year which you can watch here.

Glitter Eyeshadow that's Clean!

 It's been a year since GXVE Beauty by Gwen Stefani came out, and since I became an Ambassador for the brand.  I am continually impressed by the products that they create, how they are clean, vegan, cruelty-free, and long lasting, bold and beautiful.  

As for the original launch, the brand came out with lipsticks which are very pretty, in both matte and shiny.  The matte ones "Original Me," include Original Recipe (red), Tragic Me (pink), 80's Me (purple) and Old School Me (berry).  The shiny ones "Anaheim Shine" include Original Recipe, Rosewood St (berry), Loara (orange red), Stomp Box (pink/mauve) and Screen My Phone Calls (lighter pink).

For the face, All Time Prime is your go-to face primer oil.  It can be used on hair too, and it is amazing.  

Double Dippin' is a great lip balm and lip color remover combination.  It can be used alone or as a lip color remover for the long wear colors.

Some of the newer products include new shades of the 24 hour gel eyeliner, Line It Up (the only clean one that can make that claim), there's a green, violet, dark blue, grey, bronze, brown and black with sparkles in addition to the already awesome black Spiderwebs and Bathwater cobalt sparkly blue.

 Recent shade extensions of the liquid, long-lasting lipstick "I'm Still Here" in nude tone shades are some of my favorite things.  Cowgirl (my favorite), Flannel, Tomboy and Camo, are pinky nudes, Space Buns is an orange red, Fishnets is a berry red, Tartan is a deep wine, Original Recipe is a true red.  

Xtra Sauce is a liquid vinyl super long wear lipstick currently only in a red (original recipe) color, which is amazing for performing for many hours.  It's kiss proof, drink proof and perfect all day and night.

Can't Stop Staring is the new clean mascara and it's my favorite mascara of all time.  It lengthens and looks as pretty as falsies without the hassle.  The brush is awesome too because you can get the little hairs that are easy to miss with most brushes.

The lip glosses (Bubble Pop Electric) are a huge hit and people love them.  They come in various shades of pink and a couple darker shades.  Sweet Tooth is a nude, Dolled Up and Candy are pink, Electric Pansy is darker pink and All My Love is a warm berry.

New eyeshadow "paints" just came out, which are liquid mousse to creme eyeshadows in sparkly and matte colors ("Paint it Up"), "Eye See in Sparkle," a truly clean loose powder glitter eyeshadow in 3 colors (gold, rose gold and silver), which are gorgeous and perfect for bellydancers.  Two are currently featured in discounted 4 product sets which are on sale for $50 through the end of April.

The sets are really an amazing deal, they all come with a makeup bag and through 4/30 you also get a free shiny lipstick, Loara (free with a $35 purchase).   The four sets to choose from include: A Pop of Red which has Anaheim Line (lip liner) in Scarlet Red, Original Me in Original Recipe lipstick (matte), Eye See in Color eyeshadow quad in Rich Girl, and Line It Up (eyeliner) Spiderwebs

A Pop of Pink includes Original Me in 80's Me (matte) lipstick, Candy (Bubble Pop Electric lipgloss), Line It Up Spiderwebs and Eye See in Color eyeshadow Quad in Just a Girl.

A Natural Touch set includes Eye See in Sparkle (glitter eyeshadow) Glimmer, Anaheim Line in Harbor Blvd (lip liner), I'm Still Here in Camp and Line it Up in Spiderwebs.

Lastly, the A Touch of Shimmer set includes Eye See in Sparkle in shade Twinkle, Eye See in Color eyeshadow quad in Simple Kind of Life (matte neutrals), Anaheim Shine in Stomp Box (shiny lipstick), and Pout To Get Real in shade Do Whatever (over lining lip liner).

All of this makeup is exceptional.  I wear it all every day, but also for performances.

UPDATE: The GXVE Ambassador program has ended and they do not sell online anymore, only at Sephora (8/2024).

Back to Basics

 My in person classes have been going a couple of months now, and it's nice to be feeling somewhat "normal" again, although things have changed since pre-pandemic.  I'm teaching during the week at night, which seems to be the more popular time for people to join in, versus my Saturday morning classes.  I've had to go back to basics in person because the dancers who have signed up are a mix of very new, and some experience. 

My student troupe will be performing this weekend at our third in person event, post-pandemic (is it over?).  It's at an outdoor festival, where there will be carnival rides, vendors and entertainment.

The first event we returned to was our previous favorite local event hanging at the hangar, a quarterly dance show in our area.  It was way more crowded than we anticipated, and we did have a case of jitters coming back in person.  Our rehearsal went better than our performance but I did get to do a solo and that sort of redeemed me, at least.  Happily, people were interested at the event in signing up for my classes although nothing actually came of that.

The second in person event we did was a restaurant show and a lot of technical problems happened, making it an "OK" event, but not really great.  The crowd was a tough one, because they were so annoyed about all the tech issues.  We did win them over by the end of our set. 

The festival performance was great.  We did 5 songs, including finger cymbals, fan veils, swords and two dance routines without props.  

The "Real" Return of in Person Teaching!

 Hi Readers! Sorry it's been so long, I have been super busy!  I'm taking this week to reflect on 2022, but I also just finished our Star Wars-inspired bellydance film, I also edited a highlights reel for the year's end, and I have a Disco-themed shoot this weekend with my troupe.

In person classes have resumed!  I started teaching the first weekend of December, and my Saturday class is going great!  I had forgotten how much I loved teaching in person, even though I've been teaching since May of 2020 online, it is not exactly the same.  For now, the center is not very crowded, and there are reports of more surges with covid for the winter.  I hope this will not be the case, but it is still a transition getting back to what was before the pandemic.

My class learned two disco routines for an online show in January and we have been rehearsing these.  Next week my classes will resume and I will have to teach something new - possibly our next in person themed show, which is movies.  Anyone who knows me, knows I love movies.  This theme, although exciting, is a bit daunting because I have so many favorites.  Ironically we just finished our Star Wars dance, which we did in our first in person event since 2019, and it didn't go as smoothly as we would have liked, so we ended up re-dancing it and filming it in the park.

Also in January, I am starting up a Tuesday night class!  It's not through a dance studio, it's another recreation class so I hope it is good.  I am torn about what to do with my online classes.  I would like to continue them but my personal life and my career are keeping me busy so I don't know how that will go.

 It's also time to sign up for Shimmy Mob again!  I am once again leading team West Covina, CA.

Watch our highlight reel from 2022 here! Highlight Reel 2022 

Beauty Ambassador Program

 UPDATE 8/2024:  GXVE Beauty is no longer being sold on their website, only through Sephora.  The Ambassador program has ended.

Hi Friends! There's been a lot going on lately, not just the return of my in person classes (December is a go!) but I have become a GXVE "give" Beauty Ambassador for Gwen Stefani's makeup line!  It's a clean, vegan, cruelty free and sustainable makeup line and she created it because she believes makeup is transformational and a positive thing for people to feel good about themselves and because she wanted to "give" back to her community of fans.

So I now make tutorials about the makeup, and help promote and sell the brand!  So what are the products?  Read on to find out!  I have tested these during performances and I'm really impressed with their staying power.  They are beautiful colors, long lasting and flattering.

The GXVE Beauty Line so far:

A multi-use primer called All Time Prime.  You use only one or two drops on your face to help your makeup last a long time and it also works as a moisturizer and keeps your face looking beautiful. 

Four eye shadow palates, called Eye See in Color in the quad sets of - Simple Kind of Life (everyday neutrals); Just a Girl (sparkly gold tones); Rich Girl (sparkly copper tones); and Danger Zone (smokey).

Two 24 hour gel eyeliners - Line It Up - which go on smooth and are easy to use and the best eyeliners I've tried - black - Spiderwebs and "sparkly" blue - Bathwater.

Lipsticks in matte - Original Me - colors: Original Recipe (true red); Old School Me (Rich Berry Red); Tragic Me (Brown Peachy Neutral / pinky color); Lovable Me (Beige Peachy Neutral / brown); and 80's Me (Bright Plum).

Lipsticks in shine/glossy - Anaheim Shine - colors: Original Recipe (true red); Loara (orange red); Rosewood Street (Bright Berry); Screen My Phone Calls (pink); Stomp Box (Rosy Mauve)

Lip glosses - Bubble Pop Electric in colors: Sweet Tooth (Neutral Peach); Dolled Up (Baby Pink); Candy (Neutral Lilac); Electric Pansy (Bright Raspberry); All My Love (Neutral Almond) 

Longwear vinyl liquid lipstick - Xtra Sauce transfer proof, high shine, extreme long wear, in color: Original Recipe (True Red)

Lightweight long wear liquid lipstick - I'm Still Here in colors: Original Recipe (True Red) and Fishnets (Vivid Berry)

Lip liners - Pout to Get Real - Over-lining lip pencil in colors: Say Whatever (blue red) & Do Whatever (neutral beige) and Anaheim Line - Pencil lip liner in colors: Scarlet Red; Harbor Blvd (Neutral Beige) and Mells Ln (Neutral Brown)

Brow pencils - Most Def (in shades 1 - 7) - Definition sculpting brow pencil, 12 hours of long wear

and Hella on Point Ultra Fine Brow Pencil (in shades 1 - 7) 12 hours of long wear