Burlesque Makeup & an Old Picture

The most common question I get is, "What do you use to make your lips so glittery?" This is no big secret and here's what I do.

First is lipstick of your choosing, then dabbing on Mattese red glitter and voila!

Right now I've been using a Chanel lipstick (Rouge Coco 22) then dabbing Mattese Elite Fairy Dust in Red on top of the lipstick application. You can really use any lipstick color and dab a similar glitter on top to achieve that glittery lip look. Just be careful about the kind of glitter you get because they have to be non-metallic and have to say "for body, hair, and face" otherwise the craft glitter from craft stores can be toxic. Likewise the body glitter that I use on stage is by "Opal Ice" by Ben Nye which you can get for $15 at Halloween Adventure shop store on 4th Avenue. I was using the smaller Mattese size but Gal Friday turned me onto the Ben Nye 6oz. Sparklers which will last you a LONG time. Wet N Wild used to make this great and much cheaper body glitter called MegaSparkle that was available at drug stores for about $6. I haven't been able to find it in NYC anymore but outside of NYC there might be some still in stock. That product also worked so great and I miss it! Wet N Wild, if you read this, please bring it back!

Ben Nye's Sparkler

When I was cleaning the other day I found an old picture when I worked as a cigarette girl for Miss Kitty's Koncessions in Dallas. This picture is circa 1993 or 1994 and we were about to go in Club One in Deep Ellum. I forget the blonde girl's name but she was someone I hired. I also managed the Dallas office for Miss Kitty (whose real name I also forgot but she was one of those club kids from NYC/LA and later on sold her very successful cigarette girl business and went to law school!), and I also did all the hiring and interviewing of aspiring cigarette girls. It was the best high school job ever! Sure beat telemarketing and selling ads for the local high school football calendar (true story!). 

We had total access to all the best clubs in Deep Ellum like Club One (where all the ecstacy was coming out of, if you were there during that time, or if you read any books about the history and culture of ecstacy) and Club Clearview, and maybe one called FishDance? We would work the clubs and sell cigarettes and candy and rave toys. Sometimes we worked raves too in warehouses in nowhere downtown Dallas. It was so dirty that our fishnets left marks on our legs. I also met all kinds of crazy characters and drove around all the time in Dallas meeting club owners and managers to get them to let us work there for a night - umm... not much has changed cause this sounds much like my life now. Miss Kitty had TONS of costumes that we picked out every night to wear. They were all funky and crazy and I think she made most of them herself. The one I'm wearing here was my favorite made of a dark blue velvet. It was made for a Barney's event. One costume that I remember had a jack-in-the-box in the headpiece. Ah good times!

Being a cigarette girl back in 1993ish in Dallas, Texas.