Lipstick

A few things brightens me up like make-up does. It virtually transforms me. I see my unmade face as a canvas, where I can create a look, a mood or a feeling depending on what I am after. On stage the make up is often exaggerated and I use false eyelashes and a lot of glitter to make my face visible from a distance. That is work and something I enjoy doing.

But on normal days like this gloomy December, I like to create energy, spirit and a sence that everything is possible. When the sun is out I don’t really need much make up but as soon as it´s overcast I need a little pick me up. That can often be a shimmery eyeshadow, eyeliner drawn in a new way or for instant glamour and drop-dead gorgeousness it´s red lipstick.

Few things transform the face and gives you an instant mood lift as much as rouge du levre as the french say. You can wear it with full makeup or in its own and it will still make you look sophisticated. Automatically it will give the impression that you are not afraid to speak your mind and that what you say is worth listening to. The colour red oozes confidence and determination, which is undeniable good qualities to have whether you are going at work, on a date or at the gym.

Personally I like to wear it in my yoga class. It gives me the feeling that noting is impossible and makes me brave and in a way stronger. This can off coure be applied to any other situation. It almost works as a mask if confidence, when I wear red lipstick I can do anything.

It´s ofcourse also very sexy and if you wear it on a date the chances are that you are going to get dreamy stares at you mouth rather than your eyes, but hey whatever works.

I have been advised against wearing in on job interviews. I can understand that in a conservatory workplace this can be a bit bold and too much. However that is exactly what I am so what you see is what you get. If the office does not like red lippy, I do not like the office.

I say stand you ground, wear it and let it brighten your mood, your strength and if you wear a creamy lipstick you never have to worry about chapped lips!

Liquid confidence

When I say liquid confidence I don´t mean my burlesque act where I saber a bottle of champagne and pour down my body, though that it takes some confidence to break the bottle, the champagne shower is a pure pleasure.

Normally liquid confidence is the use of drinks to make sure one is more comfortable and confident in social situations. This can be witnessed at every party and most bars every evening. But I am talking about another type of liquid confidence or if you wish liquid courage. The art of applying liquid eyeliner!

To make the perfect cat eye is not easy and I have spent many hours practicing, failing, swearing and smudging the corners of my eyes. Backstage I used to say out aloud that I hated makeup as I found it so difficult to apply. Being a perfectionist does not help but practice makes perfect as the saying goes.

I have not yet perfected my liquid eyeliner stroke but am getting better and bolder by the day. When I fail making the perfect line I continue to draw swirls and patterns on my face. It´s just another way to get use to the tiny brush.

I recommend trying different brands and makes as well as different primers and base foundations as they will make a difference. Beginners can start by drawing a line with a pencil and getting the angle right before moving on to the more unforgiving liquid.

There are many different styles and colours to choose from so be creative. If you still cannot get it right, get a book on vintage make-up or look at tutorial videos.

Though keep in mind, that you can have the most perfect drawn cat eye in the world, but without a spark in you eye or a hint of a smile, it´s simply going to be flat. Pretty but not soulful. So don´t just practice your wings in the corner of you eyes but also let the corners of your mouth bend upward in an ever so small mischievous smile! Works magic everytime and you will not need any other liquid confidence!

Romantic Illusions

It would of course be fitting to write about love and in a way I will but not romantic love.

Rather the love I feel for my trade. What I love about the theatre and entertainment business is that you buy the illusion. It´s not real, it does not even look realistic most of the time but you buy in to it. There is that secret agreement between the performers and the audience, we will give you some illusions and you will believe in them.

Last week I found a pair of old pink glittery shoes. When ever I wear them  people go: ohh, ahh nice, lovely shoes etc. It´s funny they are quite old and all I see is the lipstick stain that wont come off (don´t aks!) the patch where the glitter has come off, from pretending to faint on stage too many times and the soiled soles.  But on stage they glitter and glimmer with the rest of my appearance and no one sees the stains or where the magic has worn off.

Backstage is full of wigs in tresses, costumes hold together with a safety-pin and all the other wonderful tricks of the trade. Make-up that enhances or hides, costumes that are sewed on to the performers bodies and various kinds of products that shines, glitters, dampens or give you what it is you need to create your special illusion.

The dressing room is a magical world and a lovely place to learn from others, make new friends and most importantly prepare you for your act. Once on stage you do your thing the way you do and by them you are one with your act and the audience. You have long forgotten about the safety-pin in your back, the hairpins scraping your scalp to keep your wig in place and the faded glitter on your shoes. You are selling some illusions and the audiens are buying it wholeheartedly.

” Want to buy some illusions…

They had a touch of paradise, a spell you can´t explain..”

True Love

Today my favorite heroine and  inspiration Madonna, turns 53. This short woman is more like a superhero than a human, with a uncomparable career and drive. I discovered Madonna at an early age. Her sexy style and laissez-faire attitude was almost too much for the 10year old that was me back then. I loved her style and could not wait to grow boobs so I could wear see through bras and tons of pearls. I guess that is where my fascination for lingerie started. Me and my best friend used to go to the local clothes shop and secretly eye a black lace bodice we though were soooo nice, and off course totally out of our 10-year old league. Like Maddy I started to were crucifixes, though none of the other kids in school quite got my fascination for the singer and though I´d gone catholic… 

Thank god for being grown up and finally having the right curves for sexy lingerie and the guts to flaunt it.

Madonna is still going strong and a constant source of inspiration.

Love her!!

Paris Paris

As Catherine Deneuve sang in a strange duet with Malcolm McLaren all those years ago.

On my resent trip to Paris I was thinking about the actress that I’ve come to admire. If you don´t know much about her I can wholeheartedly recommend any one to see the wonderful Technicolor fantasy of Les parapluie de Cherbourg. A saga of young love with a bitter twist. The set design is pure inspirational with mad colours and environments.

Another Deneuve classic is Belle du jour where she plays a frigid housewife turning prostitute by day where she acts out her fantasies while remaining chaste with her husband. Then there is Hunger where she plays a lesbian Vampire who inspired my bondage act Boudoir Bondage with Virginia Valentine.

The lady has class and style like few other modern-day actresses and was my inspiration to go blonde after having had black hair for a few years. I wanted to create that blonde mane that I associate with sexy 60s movie chicks Deneuve and Jane Fonda.

Deneuve is a living legend in France and haled internationally as one of the great French actresses.

Burlesque up your life!

Now it is time to Burlesque up your life!

Stockholm is being showered with burlesque as I have written before, this week there is a vernissage @ Berns for Frauline Frauke and John-Paul Bichards new project the Swedish Burlesque Calendar 2011. Portraits of the most prominent Swedish Burly gals(only gals so far) of today.

End of October will bring us the first international burlesque festival hosted by The Knicker Kittens also @ Berns. As a performer this is all good and fabulous. My mission is to spread glamour (and it always comes with humor) to the glitzdepraved souls of  this country. Let´s face it when singer Charlotte Perelli is haled as the most glamorous Swedish woman, there is some work to be done. It is like comparing sparkling wine to the real deal ei without comparison. And since we are one the subject of  champagne, moët & chandon always works for me in case anyone wondered!

So more real glamour and real women on the Swedish stages is superb, I am happy that the audience is growing and the scene is booming. What could possibly be better on a dark October eve than to put on some red lipstick or your favorite bow tie and enjoy a little time of tease?!

Those of you who wish to burlesque up your life with Lily DeLuxe keep your eye open as I play in Gothenburg and Stockholm this fall.

The glamour of it all

My job as a professional showgirl is one of the best jobs in the world. What I do is part glamorous, part hard work and all fun! What I do on stage looks easy and effortless and it is supposed to look like that. That dosen´t always mean that it IS easy. Sometimes I have to bust my pretty behind off to entertain an audience. It´s not just dancing and prancing on stage its about shifting the mood and energy of the audience, to give them something they don’t expect and take them on a journey.

To say that I did a job in Spain one day have lunch in London with an agent the following and do a performance in Stockholm in the evening is great but that is not the whole truth of it. Part glamorous and part not so glamorous but still fun.

I have been working at festivals changing in a tent without light and a mudfloor, let me tell you doing makeup was not easy. The other week I performed in a hockey arena having the junior-leagues locker room as my dressing room,the air was not exactly fresh… In  New-York me and five other performers had to share a toilet as a dressing room. Luckey my colleagues are often the nicest gals to be around and what don´t you do for the things you love!

Initials B.B

Initial BB is on a constant repeat in my head. Just saw Gainsbourg un vie herodique yesterday. It´s been a few years since I actively listened to Gainsbourg, Brel and the like. It was an interesting movie about a man who had very low self-esteem and covered it up with wit and a big ego. No matter what you think of his private life you have to hand it to him, the man was a musical genius, there are so many of his songs that I like his own recordings but also Poupée de cire poupée de son, Comment te dire adieu and many more.

The women portrayed in the move are stunning, Brigitte Bardot, Jane Birkin and his first wife Elisabeth are all drop-dead gorgeous and have tons of personality and talent.

Leatitia Casta has a difficult role to play, the one of  Brigitte Bardot at the time haled as one of the sexiest women alive. She put a lot of energy in to it and with the films playful and bizarre tone she pulls it off. Though she has nothing on B.B´s knock-out sexual charisma.

B.B´s youthful charms have given away to xenophobic and homophobic statements that she been found guilty and fined for inciting racial hatred. It would be easy to knock her of as an old crazy lady but this is really disgusting. Knowing that she has supported France extreme rightwing party Front National makes it a bit odd to watch her old moves  and really stains her early career.

Marilyn mon amour

I have recently had the pleasure of looking at hundreds of photos of Marilyn Monroe.  She is absolutely stunning in 99.9% of them. The woman did simply not have a bad angle or a bad hairday. Very good genes indeed. Having seen this photo of her mother. You can see where her beauty stems from. Not only was she pretty but a smart cookie too. I guess a lot of you have read Blonde or a biography or two  on M.M and know had she not been sensitive and clever enough to use her sexiness and innocence she would never have gotten as far as she did.

It would have been interesting to see how she would have developed as an actress and what parts she would have chosen later on in life. Would she have continued acting or would she have produced, directed or done something entierly different?  As it is she is frozen in time as a glorious silver screen goddess.  An icon.

Marilyn Monroe got her name from Marilyn Miller. An accomplished singer,dancer and actress who was made into a star by Florenz Ziegfeld in the Ziegfeld Follies 1918. In the 1920´s and early 1930´s she was a huge success on Broadway,

Like Monroe, Miller had a dependency on alcohol, like Monroe, Miller was married three times. Miller died age 37, Monroe at 36.

In fact Monroe became Miller when she married Arthur Miller in 1956

Marilyn remains an enigma and the most beautiful junkie that ever lived.

The perfect shoes

Lately I have been thinking about shoes. The reason is that I have a pair of  pink sparkling workshoes, you know for the stage. I bought them at a very reasonable price in London a few years ago.  Whenever I where them I get envyous glances, and yes they are pretty. However they are getting a bit worn. I have been looking in the same store for something similar to show up without any luck.

I´ve commited the classical error of not buying two paris, or have I? The thing is when ever you find the to die or at least cut of my right arm for shoes, they will cost you well more than you can afford, but you get them anyway. There is no option to get a second spare pair. You will love and treasure these babies till they are worn out or at least out of fashion.

If  you are lucky (like I was in London) and find something at a reasonable price you could perhaps afford to buy two paris. Once the new babies are on theirs last refrain you could just trade them for your second pair and off you go hopping into the sunset of ever lasting shohappiness.

Do you know anyone who´s  ever done this? I don´t and I think I know why. Ok it’s not rocketscience but here it goes: If you would have got the second pair you would not have treasured the first ones as much, you would not have loved and looked after them as much knowing you had a back-up. So next time I think  OH I should have gotten a second pair I know that I am wrong and that I just have to squeeze all my love into the short life of a shoe.

Make the best of every pair and the move on to the next new darlings!