The fruits of my labor

So, after all the talk about make up I was dumping on you I figured you all might want to see it in action.

First, though, I'm going to start with a picture of my oldest tribal belt. This is not the first one I made, which was crafted from a Pier One place mat, upholstery tassel trim and home made yarn tassels. I do still have that one. This belt is made from a base I bought from The Red Camel (shop there, she rocks). I cut a piece of flannel to line the belt, then sewed two ties to the lining then hand stitched the lining to the belt, so when I tie it on (tight) I'm not stressing the fabric of the belt but am instead pulling against the lining. I added embroidered shisha mirrors to the ties, as well as some metal beads. The lower edge of the lining has one half of a row of snap tape sewn on so I can sew an arrangement of tassels to the corresponding side and swap out different "looks". No, I did not come up with that but I'm glad I read about it somewhere!



Anyway, I had been wanting to do a bunch of pom poms instead of tassels for the belt, so I spent the last week wrapping yarn and making poms. I'm really happy with how they turned out, because when you get moving the poms really dance. I also added two darts to the top back of the belt so it will hopefully mold to my back end a little better. They are hiding under the blue tassels. Here is a pic of the finished product, hanging on my front steps.

Next up is a Myspace style close up in my bathroom mirror. This was taken about 8:15 p.m. Saturday as I finished getting ready for our show that night. Here you can see my first homemade bindi (small but sparkly), my eyeshadow that is FIRMLY held on with Two Faced Shadow Insurance, the results of my new bottle of Lorac Oil Free foundation, and my awesome new red Make Up Forever lipliner and stick. Except for the lipstick, which I eventually wiped off while eating pizza after performing, the rest of the make up was going strong when I got home at 2:30 a.m. As was my hair, of which most of what you see is fake and let me say that was SO much easier to deal with than fighting with my own hair.

Here is a picture of me ready to head out the door. I have the pom belt on, and see that lovely red sequined skirt? It got tangled with the skirt of another dancer mid-set so I had to twirl myself free. I bought the choli from a local dance vendor and then added some sequins to the edges. I may add more. That extra shiny is addictive.



Here's the aftermath. First, the pile of metal is my bindi, barrettes and the bobby pins used to keep my hair together. I pulled them out last night and left them on the edge of the sink. There's a point as I'm taking everything off where I just want to start ripping and pulling at my hair and costume, like a little kid who pulls on a shirt they find uncomfortable. The adult side of me always makes sure I am more careful then that, but when you're really tired and you just want to go to bed it can take a lot of self control.

And here is the pile of costume, which Noralita calls "dancer droppings". The pantaloons, skirts and choli are on top of my belts and scarves which are on top of my jewelry. It takes about 2 hours to get ready and about 5-10 minutes to take it all off. We danced an 11 minute set.

Hopefully the video from the performance turned out, if so I'll post that when I get it, as well as any action shots I can find.