The Pink Orchid

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Update: Working on Dutch Version of The Pink Orchid

Sorry gals! No blog-entry today. Currently working on the Dutch version of The Pink Orchid. It's lots and lots of translating right now, but eventually it'll get much easier for me to write in Dutch first and then translate it to English instead of backwards as I'm doing now. I'm quite sure it will do my writing style good. But it will still take a while for I can launch the site.If it goes as planned I won't miss any more days, so everyday there will be a new article on something.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Beauty Myths: Fact or Fiction? 'Waxing'

Since I'll finally be putting up a waxing video next week based on what I learned during the waxing course after all the personal & technical drama, I thought I'd might start with some beauty myths about waxing.

Hair grows back thicker after waxing.

FICTION!

Actually they might grow back thinner after a few times. With waxing you can create scarring in the hair follicle and that might diminish the numbers of hairs that grow back. Though people are very divided about that, but one thing's for sure: they don't grow back thicker.

Hairs have to be long before waxing.

Somewhere in Between!

The hairs do have to be half an inch, else the wax will have very little grip on it. But you don’t have to let the hairs grow extremely long, actually when it comes to your armpits or bikini line it will make it harder to wax due to the wax not being able to reach the skin as well.

You shouldn't wax over parts where you have spider/varicose veins.

FACT!

You also shouldn't wax over parts with eczema, wounds or when you have a disease like thrombosis.

After waxing hairs stay away for 4-6 weeks.

FICTION!

For some lucky people out there it does. But for people who have a fast metabolism hairs grow back much faster. Besides that there are also different stages of hair growth, not all hairs are in the same stage. That means some new hairs were already developing before waxing and they will be appearing not too long after waxing. Personally, my own hairs never stay away longer than a week after waxing.

(BTW This is not how you should pull the waxing strip!)

Waxing hurts.

FACT!

Though it is not as horrible as you often see in movies. I wouldn’t say waxing is comfortable, but you won’t be screaming in pain. First time often hurts the most, but after a few times the pain is hardly noticeable. Just think about it, if it really hurt that bad would women keep coming back for more? I know I wouldn’t.

Waxing causes ingrown hairs

FICTION!

A wrong after-treatment is responsible for ingrown hairs. Make sure you scrub shortly after waxing and keep scrubbing for at least a week. You can also use a special lotion to prevent ingrown hairs. If you happen to have ingrown hairs despite this, than stop scrubbing, because it will only make the infection worse. Instead use castor oil or aspirin (add a little water to it and put it on the infection). You can try to pull the hairs up again, but be sure to use disinfected materials. Then last but not least, leave them alone and give the infection time to go away.

(Hair growth fases)

Hairs won't grow back all at the same time after waxing.

FACT!

I’ve mentioned hair growth stages before and this also has to do with those stages. Hairs with a white root (at the beginning of the hair) are in a resting stage, which means a new hair has already developed beneath it. Lots of hairs with white roots are bad news for you if you’ve waxed, because those new hairs will pop up very soon. When hairs have a black root, you’re more lucky. It means that they’re still in a growing stage and new hairs will stay away for awhile.

Monday, April 4, 2011

Tutorial: Home-Made Chocolate Facial Mask!

Do you love chocolate? Well, I certainly do! But there are more things you can do with chocolate than eating it. It's great to make a delicious chocolate facial mask with. Now why would you do that, I hear you ask! Well, this chocolate mask will leave your skin squeaky clean and divinely soft. And it will only take you a few minutes to make.

Ingredients

Cacao, honey & yoghurt.

If you only have one of these ingredients, no problem!

If the only thing you have is cacao: Add just a teaspoon boiled water to 2 tablespoons of cacao and you already have yourself a chocolate mask.

If you only have either honey or yoghurt, or both: Honey & yoghurt doesn't need anything else or each other to make a good facial mask. Honey nourishes your skin, has the ability to attract water and is a natural anti-septic. Yoghurt is especially great for sensitive or sunburned skin, since it is very mild and cools down & moisturises the skin, it also makes it smoother.

Directions

1. Take 3 tablespoons, or 2 very filled ones with cacao and put it in the bowl.

2. Add 1 tablespoon of yoghurt.

3. Add 1 tablespoon of honey.

4. Stir it up. The mixture has to be quite thick, if you feel it is too thin add some more cacao.

5. Apply the mixture very thinly to your face with your hands. You have to really spread it out well, this will prevent dripping. But I do recommend putting a towel or something over your clothes just in case.

6. Leave it on for at least 15 minutes. Personally I'm not so strict with time, sometimes I leave a mask (whether on my face, hair or body) on for hours if I have the time.

7. Rinse it off with warm water.

8. All finished! Warning: you might not be able to stop touching your face once you feel how clean and soft it is. :P

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Leg Massage Tutorial 3/4

Last time we ended at the 7th step on the front of the thigh

8. Upkneading of the entire fourheaded muscle of the femure

- Start right above the knee. Lay your hands crosswise on the tigh (both pointing in the same direction)

- If you’re massaging the left leg your left hand should be on the inside of the thigh and vice versa.

- You move one hand from the inside of the thigh to the outside of the thigh, and you do the opposite with your other hand. Your hands move across each other.

- Release pressure when both hands where your hands cross eachother (where they are at the same point) else you will get the ‘barbwire effect’.

- You keep moving your hands from one side to the other up from the knee and then you go back again performing the same movements.

9. Petrissage of the inner muscle of the fourheaded femur

- Petrissage as usual

- The muscle begins at the side of the knee.

- And soon above the knee the muscle goes to the middle of the thigh.

10. Petrissage of the top muscle of the fourheaded femur

- Petrissage as usual

- Muscle starts above the knee. It’s easier to grip when you glide over the knee first.

- The muscle starts in the middle and then goes to the outside.

11. W-effleurage

12. Tapotements 1x

- Battre & hacking as usual

- Fist:

- You have to stand next to the hip instead of at the foot.

- Row like you would row a boat over de side of the leg (the muscle to be exact) starting above the knee to up.

- You really have make contact with the lower part of your fingers (the phalanges nearest to your hand). So you have to keep your fists slightly angled.

13. Hand over handeffleurage

14. Shaking: start above and move towards the knee

15. Effleurage over the tailor’s muscle

- Start at the knee

- With your inner hand you stroke from the inside of the leg to the outside in one movement as you go up from the knee.

- End with your hands in a fast when you finish the movement then return by lightly touching the skin.

- Then with your outer handen you stroke up from the knee. Again end in a fist and go down again by lightly touching.

Knee

1. Perform effleurage with your palm around the kneecap to the inside

- Hold your hands as if you are diving (like how you learned to dive when you were young with your fingertips together)

- Then ‘dive’ around the knee, put your thumbs on the skin too short after you start ‘diving’.

- Then when you’ve gone around the knee your fingers should be pointing upwards. Bring your hands together again above the knee en let your thumbs cross.

- Lightly touch as you go back.

2. Thumbroll– effleurage

- Perform as a normal thumbroll

- Push your thumbs deep into the skin above the knee.

- It doesn’t really matter in what direction or order, just as long as you keep moving from one side to the other side (outside, inside and vice versa).

3. Frictions in 3 places 1x

- Perform friction as you’ve done before in this massage.

- You have to use 2 hands at the same time.

- Place 1: In the holes under the knee.

- Place 2: In the holes on the side of the knee.

- Place 3: In the holes above the knee.

4. Om en om effleurage rondom de knieschijf

- Same as 1.

Continue with the leg

1. Effleurage leg

- The same as the effleurage of the leg you’ve performed earlier.

2. Petrissage tibia muscle

- It’s on the OUTSIDE!

- Put one hand on the ankle for support.

- Make a bowl with your hand: a fist but with the thumb sticking out.

- Squeeze the muscle, do NOT pick up and apply counter-pressure.

3. Plättgriff tibia

4. Effleurage leg

- Again the same as the effleurage of the leg you’ve performed earlier.

Classic Beauties: Lauren Bacall

Biography

A 17-year old 'Betty' on the cover of Harper's Bazaar

Lauren Bacall, born Betty Joan Perske in 1924, is one of the leading ladies of the Film Noir era. When she was just 19 she landed her first movie role after being spotted on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar by the wife of the director Howard Hawk. Howard Hawk’s wife Nancy took her under her wing and Lauren was learned elegance, manners, taste, how to dress stylishly but most importantly to speak in a lower voice. And that (her voice) is what eventually got her the part in ‘To Have and Have Not’.

Bacall & Bogart in 'To Have and Have Not'

Howard Hawk signed her for 7 years and started to manage her career, it was he who made her change her name into Lauren, Bacall was the last name of her mother which she had taken on earlier in life. In that movie she starred opposite the great Humphrey Bogart and not only a star was born, but a relationship as well. Lauren married Humphrey Bogart at 20, even though he was 25 years older. She had two children with him, but sadly her fairytale-marriage ended when Bogart died of cancer. Together they had starred in many crime thrillers, but Lauren has also done comedies, one in which she starred with another leading lady of that time: Marilyn Monroe.

Lauren Bacall & Frank Sinatra

After Bogart’s dead she was shortly engaged to Frank Sinatra, but later on in life married another actor Bonar. She had her third child with him and their marriage ended 8 years later due to his alcoholism.

Lauren & Marilyn in 'How to Marry a Millionare'

In her career of almost 80 years she starred in more than 70 titles, movies but also tv-movies, -series and plays. She has also written several books during her life. She had been described as difficult, since she often turned down roles but she chose wisely most of the time. She was very often critically acclaimed for her work not just in movies but also for her work on Broadway. Though she was only nominated for an Oscar once, she is named one of the best 25 actresses of the 20^th century by the American Film Institute.

Lauren posing with the Honorary Oscar

Nonetheless she received an Honorary Award for her entire career eventually and also won 2 Tony’s among many other prices. In 2006 she received the Katharine Hepburn Medal, which recognizes strong woman recognizes women whose lives, work and contributions embody the intelligence, drive and independence of the four-time-Oscar-winning actress. Katharine Hepburn and Lauren Bacall had been good friends since they met during the filming of ‘The African Queen’.

Lauren Bacall is the only one left alive from the people named in the Madonna song ‘Vogue’. She is 87 years.

Beauty Trademarks

“The Look”

"The Look"

"I used to tremble from nerves so badly that the only way I could hold my head steady was to lower my chin practically to my chest and look up at Bogie. That was the beginning of The Look”- Lauren Bacall

The look did not only became her trademark, but also one of her nicknames.

Her voice

When Lauren first auditioned before Howard Hawk he found her voice to be too high. Lauren then was learned to speak lower and the result was a deep, husky, masculine voice. The second time she immediately got the part. Her voice enabled her to deliver a line like no other, but also contributed greatly to her sex appeal.

Lauren Bacall singing 'How Little We Know' in 'To Have and Have Not'

Her looks

Her brows were always arched with amazing precision. Lauren embodied the saying that when something works for you you should stick with it and she absolutely did when it came to her side-swept hair with large waves. Mentionable is also her extra-ordinary flawless skin. But this beautiful woman was still insecure when it came to one thing and that were her feet, she stated that she even had big feet for a woman of her length. She was 5 feet 8 tall, which may not seem like a big deal now but it was then.

Her personality

Some quotes are in order here I think:

Personal quotes

When she received her honorary Oscar: “A man at last!”

“I think your whole life shows in your face and you should be proud of that.”

“I never believed marriage was a lasting institution . . . I thought that to be married for five years was to be married forever.”

“I was Betty Bacall always. And Lauren was Howard Hawks... he felt that Lauren Bacall was better sounding than Betty Bacall. He had a vision of his own. He was a Svengali. He wanted to mold me. He wanted to control me. And he did until Mr. Bogart got involved.”

When talking about Frank Sinatra: “Well, his attention span was not long, shall we say.”

In an interview with Larry King (2005)

BACALL: "I'm a total Democrat. I'm anti-Republican. And it's only fair that you know it. Even though..."

KING: "Wait a minute. Are you a liberal?"

BACALL: "I'm a liberal. The "L" word!"

KING: "Egads!"

I love it. Being a liberal is the best thing on earth you can be. You are welcoming to everyone when you're a liberal. You do not have a small mind... I'm total, total, total liberal and proud of it. And I think it's outrageous to say "The L word". I mean, excuse me. They should be damn lucky that they were liberals here. Liberals gave more to the population of the United States than any other group.

And a quote about her by James Agee

“Lauren Bacall has cinema personality to burn. She has a javelin-like vitality, a born dancer’s eloquence of movement, a fierce female shrewdness, and a special sweet-sourness. With these faculties, plus a stone-crushing self-confidence and a trombone voice, she manages to get across the toughest girl Hollywood has dreamed of in a long, long while.”

An interview with Bacall & Bogart from 1954 Part 1

Part 2

Friday, April 1, 2011

Tips on Growing Back your Eyebrows

<-- Do your eyebrows look something like this?

But you want them to look more like this? -->

Then here are some useful tips!

1. Lock away your tweezers.
Give them to someone else to hold on to for all I care. This one is really essential, I know from experience. If you are anything like me then you've got your tweezers lying near a mirror. That makes it very easy to give into the temptation of plucking your eyebrows every time you look in the mirror. If you can’t keep far away from your tweezers then keep your tweezers far away from you.

2. Buy eyebrow templates or/and an eyebrowpencil.

Filling in your eyebrows is what is most likely to get you through the long time it takes to grow back your eyebrows. Involve the growing hairs in your eyebrow shape during the growing process. If you make the eyebrow shape you’ve envisioned for yourself (the reason you’re growing your eyebrows back) you’ll also be constantly reminded of what you’re doing this for.

3. Help nature a bit and fasten your hairgrowth with products.
There are many different products, from expensive brand-products, to supplements to cheap nature-products. These are some products you can choose from:

Brand-products

Talika Eyebrow Lipocils

Eyebrow Lipocils is a gel that you have to apply to the hair-roots, you really have to get your skin wet, about once or twice a day.

This product’s effects are actually clinically proven, at least it says so on the website. But since I don’t buy that so easily I checked some reviews and couldn’t find a negative one anywhere. Yep, this actually seems to work. And it better, since it will cost you €31,40. It’s available at Douglas and through the Talika website

LiLash: LiBrow

This one is a lotion that not only stimulates growth but also slightly darkens your eyebrows. Again, a lot of reviews of people who swear that it works. And again, it’s not that cheap. You can buy LiBrow for a shocking $139,75! It’s available through Amazon and the LiLash site.

Supplements

Biotin

Biotin is a naturally occurring mineral. It’s mostly taken to make hair on your scalp grow faster, but it works just as well for your eyebrows. Two birds with one stone, right? It’s available at drugstores at about $10 if I’m not mistaken.

MSM
I have some personally experience with this. After two weeks of taking these supplements I got numerous compliments on my eyelashes, while I actually took this for my joints. I didn’t really take notice of any change in my eyebrows, but I guess that’s because I used to pluck a lot when I took this. My nails also looked much better, but I didn’t take this long enough to notice a change in the growth of the hair on my head.

MSM is a natural occurring organic form of sulfur, that sounds scary but it can be found in raw vegetables and fruits. You can buy this supplement at drugstores. Price differs, but I know it’s not extra-ordinarily expensive, but not really cheap either. The package that I used to buy was about $20.

Nature-products

If you want to go cheap and simple, then go for these natural miracle workers:

Garlic Juice

You might think I’ve gone crazy, but I’m not kidding. Putting garlic juice on your eyebrows is a trick known for many generations. It’s quite cheap and available at your supermarket, but you could also make this yourself (search internet for the recipe), so why not give this a try?

Wonder Oil

Okay, this is supposed to be a miracle worker. It really is a wonder oil. I’ve heard so many good things about it that I was ready to buy it. But I changed my mind since my eyebrows are growing much faster than I expected (I’m actually growing my eyebrows out right now, that’s what inspired this article) Wonder Oil is wonderfully cheap, it’s about $5 if it’s not less and you can buy this at the drugstore.

4. Get your eyebrows done by a professional.
Then when your eyebrows are back and you're ready to bring them into shape, pay a visit to your beauty therapist or visit a brow-bar like the one from Benefit that is often found in Sephora's. If you get it done right the first time then maintaining the shape will be much easier since you only have to pluck the hairs that come back and you can leave the rest of your eyebrows alone.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Review: Carmen Hot Roller Set

This time I made a video-review of the Carmen C4220 Softsetter Glossy Curls. I never had a hot roller set before but when I purchased the book Vintage Hairstyling by Lauren Rennells it was clear to me I would have to buy one else I wouldn't be able to make half of the hairstyles in the book. Carmen has a very good name, so when I had to choose between a Babyliss or a Carmen one, it was a very simple choice. I bought this set for E.50,-. Here is the video-review and I added some photos of all the parts of the set below it:

Carmen Softsetter Glossy Curls
- Model: C4220
- Voltage: 230 V

- 6 Jumbo, 8 Medium and 6 Little Rollers Covered in Velvet.

- ON/READY Indication Light - FAST HEAT - Rollers Ready for Use Fast.

- Butterfly clips and normal clips.

Haul: Professional Hair Products Haul

I've got some showing off to do! Last Saturday I had the opportunity to visit my favorite hairsupplies-store 'Looking Good'. I don't often get that chance so I've hoared up like crazy and here is the result. Glad that my mom doesn't read my blog because I think she would be shocked at how much I spend. :P