After I looked at the MOH's dress options and we had our belly dance rehearsal on Saturday (told you it was a marathon day!) the MOH and I proceeded on our shopping extravaganza. First I decided we should eat, because I was getting hangry already and shopping wouldn't improve that. We had pasta. Mmmpasta. Second, we hit a TON of stores in a very short time period:
A sock shop, where I got a pair of striped tights and a pair of striped socks. I think I'm leaning toward the socks; more comfy. They're over the knee, so they're still cute.
Four lingerie shops, and no luck there. Can you believe it? Thankfully I hit up Macy's later in the week and they solved all my problems. Love them.
A tattoo/piercing shop, to look at earrings. I thought I wanted black faceted cubic zirconias, but I didn't like them close up (the stone wasn't very big, actually) and they were $200! I ended up going with black horn earrings that are lovely and a bit art nouveau-ish and won't fight with the rest of my outfit. I got 10% off thanks to a coupon I've been hoarding for just such an occasion! But they were very reasonably priced, actually:
A costume shop, to look at fascinators. They didn't have what I wanted, so I ended up ordering another one off Etsy from the maker of the red fascinator I previously purchased:
I can't remember if I already mentioned that since my dress fabric changed, the red fascinator no longer goes with it (that's what I get for ordering too quickly!). This black one is also lovely and the black faceted stone matches the choker that I believe some elves are buying me as a (pre)wedding gift:
It looks so great with the corset! I'm a very lucky girl with generous friends.
Anyway, after all that we also went to Sephora (for Fiberwig mascara) and then Nordstrom's to check out their lingerie (another fail) and also the MAC counter, where I proceeded to empty my wallet. I love makeup! I bought all of the eyeshadows and the eyeliner from the Dita Von Teese makeup tutorial. I also bought an eyeliner brush (since I bought the Black Track Fluidline gel liner) and the highlighting face powder, and those two things were my fave purchases. First, I wanted to bathe in the face powder, it was so dewy and glowy and awesome looking. Second, I had never used a professional eye liner brush before and IT CHANGES EVERYTHING. Such control! Such fine lines! Such even lines! I will never go back to the brush that comes with the eyeliner! Sorry to wax rhapsodic, but I just can't believe I've gone this long without a proper eyeliner brush.
We went to a friend's wedding on Sunday (it was lovely, and I took NO pix, because again, I'm a bad blogger), and I tried out the DVT makeup. Folks told me it looked good, but since I forgot to take pictures I'll have to do it again so I can see how it looks on film. Sometimes I change my mind about something once I've seen a photo of it.
The rehearsal dress came in and the material is, to put it bluntly, cheap looking. However, it does look really cute on, if I do say so myself, so I'm overlooking the cheap material. I think it's not as apparent once I have it on, or perhaps I'm fooling myself. I'll ask my belly dance girls for their opinion on Saturday, but I think it's a keeper even with the fabric. The design is just so cute!
Anyway, phew! Things will only get busier from here, I bet...
Today I bought our ring bearer (Mr. T's nephew) and flower girl (my niece) a couple of books each, as their wedding party gift. They're both almost 4.
For the ring bearer, I thought Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs would be fun, and then his parents could take him to see the movie!
For the flower girl, I got Beatrice's Goat, which is based on a true story. I like to annoy my brother by giving my niece ultra-liberal message books. The last one was about environmentalism.
And I thought it would be fun to give them a couple of Halloween books, and these looked cute and not too scary:
I haven't decided who gets what yet. I might have to read them first!
This weekend we're going for our final tasting at our venue, where we're nailing down the vegetarian entree and one of the appetizers. I was happy to see that the apps menu is much longer than it used to be, so it should make choosing much easier. Last time there was a lot of deep fried stuff. Not that deep fried doesn't equal yummy, but my thought is that one deep fried app is enough.
After the tasting I'm going on a whirlwind shopping spree with the MOH, to buy makeup, lingerie, and earrings. I can't wait. After saving for so long, it feels naughty and forbidden to plan a shopping trip, which makes it that much more fun.
Last weekend we went to a friend's wedding in Sonoma, and this weekend we go to another in Saratoga. It's wedding season! After Sunday we're done, until ours, that is! I'll try to blog about the weddings later, but I've been a crappy picture taker lately, so they might be short posts.
Finally, we got our first wedding gift!!! It's official, we're getting married! Or that's how it feels, anyway. My lovely friend bought us a food processor. I'm sending off our first thank-you card to her today (we bought some Martha Stewart ones at Michael's last month; that woman is a genius!).
Obviously this is not a video for beginners, but I think I won't have a hard time figuring it out. I like that she lists all the products...although I wish she'd named the eyeliner brush. I like the thought of that gel liner...seems more forgiving than liquid.
Saturday the MOH and I were super excited to go to my appointment with the dress maker. She's a custom-corset maker who also creates bridal ensembles in SF. Before the appointment we wandered around her store, which is stuffed with ready-made corsets, custom little top hats and fascinators with feathers and lace and other fun frilly things, beautiful jewelry, gauntlets (both of us almost caved and got a pair of overpriced gauntlets, but we resisted), spats, skirts, coats, sweet little lace umbrellas, fans, you name it. It's like goth heaven!
The owner, Autumn, who had on the cutest skirt, took us upstairs and looked through my inspiration photos, reading all the comments I'd written on the page very carefully and listening intently to what I said about each. She was very engaged and present in the conversation. She had kind of a quiet demeanor but as she spoke you could feel the passion and knowledge she brings to her work. She told me at one point that we have a similar aesthetic and also that she liked my sense of humor, both of which I felt flattered about. I feel like a fangirl with a crush on my seamstress!
After looking through everything, she offered her opinion that I should go floor-length with the skirt, which will lengthen me, but that we could show flashes of leg through lace insets. This was based on one of my inspiration photos, if you'll remember:
I adore this dress. Although I'd change a few details, such as straps (I want some), the tightness around the tummy, and the train (too long and cumbersome for me). Also the color, although I adore that she chose pale pink. So, we designed something similar based on this dress (mermaid shape with lace insets in the skirt), but in a beautiful red silk satin and with a slightly looser mermaid skirt so that I'll be able to sit. The satin is heavy enough that it won't wrinkle, which you may recall I was worried about. We also picked out the black lace, which has a gorgeous s-shaped curve in it, and talked about also bringing the lace into the bodice to make the dress feel like one piece. Finally, I told her I wanted straps, a modesty panel in the back (no flesh peeking out between the laces in the back), and that I also wanted modesty in the front--no Dangerous-Liasons style cleavage "in front of God and the family" as the MOH put it. We selected a corset style that had more seams in the bust area, so it would allow for the curve of the breast rather than shoving it all out of the top. We also opted to go with no busks (those clasps that appear in the front of corsets), which increases the difficulty of the dress (a lot heavier lacing duties for someone!) but which also, in my opinion, offers a cleaner line and makes the ensemble look more like a dress.
Autumn talked about having red beads hand-sewn on the black lace, but we decided that those were out of my price range. However, now that I've been mulling it over, I'm reconsidering. Beading would add another $500-1500 to my budget. I think I could live with an additional $500 ($1500, not so much). Another option is to do the beading myself, or have a friend do it for free. I wouldn't trust myself to do it, but I may have a friend who can. I haven't decided, but I have time to figure it out.
As we looked through her portfolios I saw at least three women I know in her photos, and we determined that she's done dresses for a couple of other women I know, and is currently doing a dress for a friend of mine who's also getting married this year. It was hilarious. Clearly she comes highly recommended!
She asked if I plan to lose weight before the wedding, and I wasn't sure how to answer this. My answer is, yes, I'd like to, but I'm not on any crazy diet or aggressive weight loss plan...just good old exercise, and trying to eat better. We decided we'd take my measurements in two months. If I do lose some weight, the corset allows for a little bit of weight loss...Hopefully it will be clearer in two months if I've lost weight. I feel like maybe I've lost a couple of pounds (the jeans are fitting better), but nothing radical.
Since I had officially placed the order I put down a deposit of $800. I used my Discover card, which came back DECLINED. I was so embarrassed. Nothing like setting up a good relationship or giving a good first impression! I have plenty of room on that card, and not only that, I have excellent credit. I mean, not to brag, but I have EXCELLENT credit. So I put the deposit on another card, which, after I experienced a brief panicked moment of paranoia, went through just fine.
After the appointment the MOH and I went to eat lunch and I noticed I'd gotten a voicemail on my cell phone from Discover's fraud department. I called back and my phone apparently was fading in and out, or at least that's what the bitchy customer service representative was saying. I'm sorry, if you are in customer service, even if someone's cell phone is frustrating you, it won't kill you to be polite. Just saying.
So I put the phone back in my purse after hanging up on her and we spent the rest of the day shopping for makeup and bras, which was a lot of fun. We were spending some pay from a recent gig, so it was a great way to have some guilt-free spending. We both went to the Chanel counter and got Vamp lipstick, which they are making again!!! Vamp is that gorgeous deep, deep red lipstick (they call it rouge noir, or red-black). The MOH and I had been digging the dregs of Vamp out of our old lipstick tubes, and saving it for special occasions, but now we have brand new tubes!
Anyway, once I was home I called Discover back from my landline. It turns out they declined the card because of their security standards (meaning, the purchase was out of the ordinary for me). I asked the guy, "I'm getting married this year, and it's likely that I'll have a number of large purchases like this. Can I keep this from happening again?" The man, who was very nice, apologized for my embarrassment (which I mentioned pointedly) and said that no, there was nothing I could do, but in the future I could always have the vendor call and verify the charge over the phone.
I'm sorry, but that's a huge pain in the ass, and I'm very seriously considering canceling my Discover card. It's nice they're so concerned with my account's safety, but if I can't use the card, it's useless to me. What if I had been stranded and trying to pay a tow truck driver with that card? WTF? Isn't that what credit is for, the little (or big) unexpected things in life that pop up? So yeah, not a huge fan of the Discover company. Maybe I'll look into a Capitol One card...the whole reason I got Discover was the rewards program.
I'd like to clarify that although I'm using the card, it doesn't mean I'll carry a balance. It's just a way to delay payment until I can move the money from our wedding fund over to my checking. Also, it's good to pay vendors with a credit card...you can contest it if something happens. Not that I'm expecting anything to happen, but you never know!
Embarrassing credit card incident aside, it was a lovely Saturday afternoon, and I couldn't be more excited to see my dress take shape!
So, as the one-year mark approaches I'm starting to make some more substantial plans. I know, I said I wouldn't do anything until 11/1, but come on, it's just a few days away!
One of the things I decided recently is that I need to take the plunge, go to a "traditional" bridal shop, and see what silhouettes look good on me. I mean, I have an hourglass shape, so I'm considering a mermaid-shaped skirt, and yet I don't want the focus of the dress to be my saddlebags and junk in the trunk. I'm currently investigating shops that carry plus-size samples (ain't no way I'm fitting in a 6!) so I can do some preliminary work before I go see the corset-maker. I am dreading going into the land of white poofy dresses a little bit. I just haven't heard encouraging things from my plus-size bridal sisters. Keep your fingers crossed for me!
And, of course, there's always the internet. Look at this gorgeous red! That is the perfect color. Love it.
I also like that it extends to her hips and that there's some coverage in the bosom area...good for the more amply bosomed ladies like me. I don't love how jarring the silver clasps look against the red. I wonder if these come in other colors? They must, right?
And, courtesy of a bride on Live Journal who designed her own pale pink and black dress, check this out!:
I love, love, love this dress. I love the beading on the front that drapes over her arms, I love the flashes of black lace from the skirt, I love that it's pink and black, I love it all. Drooling now. Well, I do think the train is a bit much, but maybe it's just the photo making it look that way.
I also think she did a kickass job of doing her own makeup:
I would definitely like a redder lip but I love the drama around the eyes. Sigh.
I talked about this primer before, but I hadn't used it yet, so I couldn't tell you what I thought. I used this recently for a gig and I give it a thumbs up!
Create a perfect canvas for foundation application with this silky blend of vitamins A & E, grape seed extract and green tea. The totally unique formula helps to reduce the appearance of fine lines and pores for visibly softer skin. Wear under foundation to increase its longevity, or alone for a velvety-smooth finish. Now available in a .5 oz travel tube for flawless skin on-the-go. Best of Sephora Award Nominee for Best Primer.
I have to say, it is silky. And I could feel the difference as I applied my foundation--it really just glided on. Color me surprised! I was sure that the hype was BS.
The downside is the price. Half an ounce, yes, you read that right, is $16 (yes, you read that right). For a girl like me, who loves makeup and new products and actually wears makeup all the time (with a somewhat legit reason to do it!), it wasn't so bad. I see the value in investing in quality products. However, if you don't wear makeup that often, skip this one. I'm unsure if it would contribute to clogging pores, also...I mean, it's one more layer. But I'll probably just wear it for gigs and to my wedding--not often enough to care overmuch about clogging.
If you're curious, I say go for it! Only, buy the travel size to make sure you like it. The full size is $36 (yes, you read that right!).
I can truly attest that Fiberwig is sweatproof. I spent 5 days in 100-degree weather (no air-conditioning!) at a belly dance festival, taking 7 workshops (some of them involved jumping, and ALL of them involved squats) and performing, and the mascara didn't budge. That makes it a true find in my book.
Also a find, but I knew this before, is MAC's waterproof eyeliner. The only way to remove that is cold cream...or a chisel.
You will all be proud of me; despite 5 days of absolute temptation in the form of rooms and rooms of vendor booths, I stuck to my guns and bought one thing. ONE. This is monumental. On Day 5 I was getting weak, though...the feathered hair barrettes were SO cute. So, it's good I wasn't there any longer. I might have broken.
This weekend Mr. T and I finally used some gift cards that have been sitting around since Christmas! It was like a sanctioned spree, which felt really good after trying to be so careful with our cash lately.
First up was Sephora (Mr. T didn't make this part of the trip with me...I met up with him later). I bought the Fiberwig mascara I blogged about in my makeup post. While I do like it, I agree that it in no way compares to wearing false lashes, which is what the packaging claims. Or maybe I'm doing it wrong. Still, if it's really waterproof, that makes it a perfect wedding mascara.
I also bought Benetint, as part of my blush experiment. I like it! I wish it weren't rose-scented (it is supposed to be a lip and cheek tint...who wants rose scent in their mouth?). But anyway, it's nice and subtle. I'll try it out a few times and take pictures before I pass my final judgment.
Finally, I bought a tester of that photo finish primer I blogged about. That stuff is not cheap, let me tell you, which is why I bought the tester. I haven't tried it out yet, though. Again, I figure photos will tell the real story. At this point I was over my gift card amount, but oh, well. ;-)
After Sephora we trekked up to Macy's--first to the men's department to buy Mr. T shoes (this was his bday gift from me). He found two pairs he liked, and one was so heavily discounted that we got him both pairs! We felt like super bargain hunters. Next we went to the housewares section and bought a set of sheets and a set of new towels. I wanted the sheets to be a deep red, but when we got them home we discovered they're more brick-red, or rust-red. Oh, well. They were on sale. They also have a "Dobby stripe"--we weren't sure what that meant, but took it as a sign since one of our cats is named Dobby. The towels are green and ultra fluffy. And we only ended up paying $8 to cover the tax!
When we handed our gift cards to the woman behind the counter, one of them wouldn't scan in, and she just handed it back and said, "this one's not going to work." I kept handing it back to her and asking why, exactly, it wasn't going to work. Frankly, if she hadn't finally made it work (she had to swipe it rather than scanning it), I was ready to walk out. What crappy customer service--she really couldn't have cared less about us or our transaction. We will not be registering at Macy's!
Last night, to continue the theme, I made a pasta salad from a recipe out of a cookbook that I got for Christmas that I hadn't even looked through before. It was yummy. We watched Hot Fuzz and The Darjeeling Limited. Both were great. It was a nice little weekend together with my future hubby. Sometimes I get so busy with dance and seeing friends and going to the gym and other obligations that I forget the little domestic things that keep me happy, too. It's always nice to have some downtime with my kitties and Mr. T.
One project that I have no problem DIYing for the wedding is the makeup. I love makeup. When I was in the third grade my mother got tired of me raiding her purse for makeup and bought me a makeup kit for Christmas. That's right, third grade! I didn't wear it to school or anything, but it enlivened any number of sleepovers, and I got practice.
Then in high school, I went through two phases: 1. hesher girl (note: Hesher=person who listens to heavy metal and dresses accordingly); 2. goth girl (self-explanatory?). Interestingly, both involved a lot of black eyeliner and bright red lipstick.
I stopped wearing the eyeliner everyday, but kept the red as my signature lipstick color. I remember getting stopped on the street when I was in college by men who would comment on my lips. This no longer happens, which is oddly both relieving and sad. Regardless, I think I'd count my lips as my second-favorite feature (eyes are first).
When I started to belly dance, while other newbies had issues with the makeup part of the costume, I had no problem at all reviving the heavy eyeliner look I'd sported in high school. When I started performing my teacher had firm guidelines for what was allowable: brown eyeshadow, black liner, blush (I never wore this), red lipstick. I guess she did this to make it easier on the less experienced girls. However, I quickly abandoned the guidelines and started wearing crazier and crazier colors...by the end of my time in her troupe, we were all wearing interesting combos like lime green shadow, white eyeliner, and blue/purple lipstick...I think we were being avante-garde? Anyway, in certain performance situations, it really worked (like the art gallery "soundscape" performance), although I have some interesting photos of myself from that time period.
I've tamed my performance makeup a bit, but only some. I have eye shadows, eye liners, and glitter eye liners in every shade of the rainbow, but I tend to stick with a signature red/dark red lip (though sometimes I layer red glitter over the lipstick, a la Hedwig). Not to toot my own horn too much, but one woman who saw me perform at a friend's wedding got my info and asked me to teach her how to put makeup on for her birthday party! The timing didn't work out, since I was busy the night of her event, but it was flattering. Perhaps makeup artistry will be my mid-life crisis career change. I did actually teach a roomful of coworkers how to put on false eyelashes for our work Christmas party (the first secret is that you need to cut those suckers down to size! Noone's lids are that long. The other part is to apply a thin layer of glue, and then wait for it to get tacky, about 30 seconds. The waiting is very important.).
My everyday makeup for work now consists of:
concealer--drugstore stuff, like Physician's Formula or Almay
foundation--from Prescriptives, light and doesn't clog pores
loose powder--from Prescriptives, custom-blended to match my skin color--worth the expense!!
eyeshadow--cheap beauty store find in "taupe"
mascara--Physician's Formula or Almay in black; mascara is a must thanks to my unnaturally short eyelashes. In fact, if I had to choose just one cosmetic, it would be mascara.
lipliner--MAC's Half-Red
lipstick--MAC's Viva Glam V (yes, I'm branching out from red, but a girl needs a daytime look, right?)
Recently I found some new "faces" on MAC I want to try out for performing:
MAC has awesome colors for performance makeup--intense pigments (I wouldn't recommend using their foundations or face powder for that same reason, however!). These faces might seem a bit overdramatic (Scarlet Womanish, even?), but trust me, performance makeup is a different ball of wax from your every day street makeup. You want the person at the back of the room to clearly see your features and facial expressions. And, as we say in my troupe, "More is more!"
I will of course be sporting a more natural look for the wedding, although not too natural, since it's me we're talking about here. I read that glitter doesn't photograph too well, which I have experienced, so I will need to restrain myself in that regard, unfortunately. However, I do plan on wearing a red lipstick, not only because I love a red lip, but also because, come on, red dress = red lips, right? That's simple makeup math right there.
I've also considered looking into a primer like this Smashbox "Photo Finish" primer, available at Sephora:
Primers are supposed to fill in fine lines and even out your skin's texture. You would apply your foundation over the primer. I wouldn't do this for everyday makeup, or even performance makeup, but I thought on a day where I'm likely to be photographed more than any other day in my entire life, it might be a good idea. I'm also considering eye shadow primer so that my eye shadow doesn't crease.
Also on Sephora, this mascara might be a good idea:
This mascara is reputed to both add length to your eyelashes (which I desperately need) but also be tear-proof (which I am also going to desperately need). Supposedly it coats lashes and binds the thinnest of fibers to their tips, creating length, and dries to form tubes which encase lashes and hold a curl. Removal is supposed to be easy; the tubes slide right off with a combo of water and pressure.
Depending on how well this works, I might also wear false lashes. I wear them to perform; they are almost as necessary as mascara. I don't have to wear bejeweled or glitter ones to the wedding, necessarily, but I do need the length.
For eye makeup, I'm pondering either no eyeliner (since I'll have a dramatic lip) and a beige/cream shadow, or perhaps a cat-eye look, like Angelina Jolie or Dita Von Tease:
She's so gorgeous. Sigh. Anyway, the photo on the very bottom is close to what I was thinking of for my wedding look. The problem with this is that my lids are not as full as hers, so to do liner yet still look open-eyed, I need a very thin line (this is less a problem for performance, when my eyes are covered in darker eyeshadows anyway). But, I could do a thin line, so I'm considering it.
I'm also waffling on blush. I don't typically wear it. I like the look of more porcelain skin, and I don't need yet another thing to clog my pores. Plus, I think it can look overdone sometimes. However, sometimes I do like how it looks on people (in the last pic of Dita you can tell she has on just the tiniest amount, and I think it's well done. The blush in the photo above that is a bit too saturated for me). I'm curious about giving it a try. Perhaps I'll experiment before the wedding in order to make up (no pun intended!) my mind on that one.
So, here's the wedding makeup round up:
primer
eyeshadow primer
concealer as needed (I have undereye circles like you wouldn't believe--thanks, genetics!)
foundation
powder
red lip liner
red lipstick (need to find a new color; MAC stopped making my favorite one, darn them. Stupid limited edition shades!)
taupe shadow for lid crease
cream shadow for lid base and brow line; also for inside corner of eye, as Carmindy recommends (makes your eyes look brighter and more open)
I can't remember if I already mentioned that since my dress fabric changed, the red fascinator no longer goes with it (that's what I get for ordering too quickly!). This black one is also lovely and the black faceted stone matches the choker that I believe some elves are buying me as a (pre)wedding gift:
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