season's musings :: must-have beauty products

I was so excited and honored when Caitlin ask me to write a guest post. I'm a makeup artist here in the Bay Area and one of my occupational hazards is an obsession with all things beauty! Caitlin and I were at a photo shoot and started talking about what our "perfect" medicine chest would look like . . . I decided to create my perfect holiday medicine chest and allow you to peek inside it. I hope it helps you look all the more dazzling this season.

1) Komenuka Bijin foaming cleanser and Silver cream moisturizer. I have used both of these products for years. The foaming cleanser takes off all your makeup and foams WAY up. You feel like you are washing your face with whipped cream. To have any makeup look great your skin needs to be clean and balanced...this face wash offers both things. I always finish with the Silver cream. This is a rice kernel based line made in a sake factory in Japan. The Silver cream is hydrating without being at all heavy and it leaves your skin glowing with a dewy finish. Movie star skin, supermodel skin, the skin you always wanted...

2) Botot toothpaste. I just bought this at Gravel and Gold in San Francisco and I love brushing my teeth now. First of all it's bright pink which just makes me happy and it tastes yummy. A little licorice bite to it.

3) Skin and Bones luxurious face body hair oil. This product was just sent to me by its maker/inventor Heidi about a month ago and I can't get enough of it. It is packed with luxury oils from Jojoba to Cedar wood. Its a bit much for my face but it is my new favorite go to body oil. The smell of it is sooooooo good that I recently started using a little on the ends of my hair too. I also love the packaging, it's sort of old apothecary meets goth girl.

4) Patch NYC and Soap and Paper Factory candle in the Buck scent. The Soap and Paper Factory is this wonderful little company owned by two women who make solid perfumes, bath product and candles. As a rule they make pretty girly (but great) stuff. Enter Patch NYC a clothing company owned by two guys. Put these two forces together and voila you have the perfect "mandles". Woodsy, earthy, and very sophisticated all at the same time. I love to burn the Buck candle while I put on my lip color it just feels RIGHT!

5) White japanese bobby pins. I love bobby pins. They are my secret tool both personally and when I am doing hair on set but I hate cheap ones. My favorite are these tiny white ones that you can work into any hairdo. They last forever and they don't get all bent out of shape.

6) Serge Lutens Paris scent in Fluers D'Oranger. I bought this scent for myself about 8 months ago at Barneys and I have never before been told how good I smell quite as much! I have a really sensitive nose so when I find a perfume I love I kind of become obsessed with it. The thing about the Serge Lutens scents is that there are about fifty of them and each one is better than the next. I told Santa I wanted both my Fluers D'Oranger (a bright fresh orange blossom scent) and A La Nuit (a deep mysterious night blooming Jasmine). I hope Santa knows what's good for him and delivers the goods!

7) Tom Ford lipsticks in Pure Pink and Ginger Fawn. I tried to resist buying these lip colors because they are pricey but I lost the battle (as I often do when it comes to cosmetics) and I have never looked back. The texture and pigment in these colors is off the charts great. I love hot pink lips on almost everyone. Its sort of a beginners red. My new lip obsession for the holidays and into spring is all mutations of the orange lip. The Ginger Fawn is a beautiful persimmon orange that seems to look great on lots of gals. It is not to bright and not to coral. Basically if you never thought you could wear an orange you can wear this one. Go and get these two colors. With lots of black mascara and a swipe of either of these you are holiday party hotness!

8) Diorshow Extase mascara in black. I know, I know everyone is sick of makeup artists recommending this mascara but I have to. It's just that good. It gives you length and volume and a deep inky blackness that makes one feel like a movie star/beat poetess all at once. For evening I like to do at least two coats and use the end of the brush to just slightly hit the bottom lashes.

9) RGB nail polish in Too Red. This is the perfect orangey red. It has a little of a 1970s Virginia Slims ad feel to it. Picture long feathered hair, a three piece boy cut suit and these nails. I like three coats of this polish. It is a small line out of Los Angeles that is toluene and formaldehyde free and they are always coming up with amazing new colors. You will be come a collector.

10) Herringbone leather neccesaire bag. These makeup bags are so cool that you will probably start using it as your evening clutch. They come in two sizes and are locally made. The leather is so creamy soft and it comes in a shiny silver and gorgeous orange. I carry my own makeup in one every day and it only gets better the more you use it.

So if I was stocking your bathroom with the goods for holiday this is how I would start. Have fun and put a little lipstick on!

~ Shawn

Thank you SO much Shawn for this lovely beauty post - I definitely know what I'm introducing into my medicine cabnient this season! Hopefully some husbands are reading this post and running out to buy all of us a few of these amazing products.

Sacramento Street readers, Shawn is available for private consultations and holiday makeup application and can be contacted at shawnburkemakeup@gmail.com. I highly recommend getting a private consultation - it's worth every penny!

1. Komenuka Bijin foaming cleanser

2. Botot toothpaste from Gravel and Gold

3. Skin and Bones oil from Skin and Bones

4. Patch Candles from Home 101 in Berkeley

5. White bobby pins from Herringbone Shop

6. Serge Lutens Fleur D'Oranger Eau de Parfum from Barneys New York

7. Tom Ford lipsticks from Neiman Marcus

8. Diorshow Extase from Saks Fifth Avenue

9. RGB polish from RGB Cosmetics

10. Herringbone bag from Erica Tanov

season's musings :: anora grey tablescape

I am Christina Loucks Ahumada from anora grey. Caitlin, first and foremost, thank you so much for asking me to guest post on your lovely blog. I am so honored!

There is nothing lovelier that a perfectly decorated table and it can truly be done with little effort and cost. Simplicity says it best, and the repetition of shapes and color is what helps to create a consistent design. Choosing one or two style flowers, you can create impact in multiples. To add some more style, choose vases that speak towards your personal aesthetic. In this example, I chose more modern style vases, which repeats the roundness of the baubles and the color of the white amaryllis flowers. Using things you have around the house, you can create a mood or seasonal impact. Here I chose gold baubles to spread on the table to create a sparkle that is most definitely a holiday necessity in my home. This gold and circular pattern was repeated wrapping the inside of a clear vase with a vintage-find gold garland, and weaving it casually through the candles and vases. The clear vases were paired on this scape again repeating the round shapes and the sparkle of the baubles. To create height and dimension, clear glass candleholders were placed as yet another great reflective element, that I find so important in a design. To match that height, the soft natural color feathers soften all the linear lines of the candles and add a bit of interest and movement into table scape.

To find some of the items you see in this tablescape has a look here:

* candle holders - CB2

* white vases - west elm

* gold baubles - Target

* gold garland - vintage find but you can find something similar here.

* feathers - save on crafts

Thanks again for having me as a guest. I hope this helps to inspire your table design this holiday.

season's musings :: tartelette recipe

This week will be filled with loads of holiday cheer - as promised! Today, I'm excited to kick things off with Helene from Tartelette. She's put together a post with a delicious treat and it's all for a good cause. I'll definitely be making it this Christmas!

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Gluten Free Strawberry Jelly Roll Cake - Share Our Strength Contribution

As a child, I can't say that I ever knew hunger. I got hungry for sure. But I never knew the deep feeling of being hungry and knowing I would not be able to satisfy my growling stomach. My parents did not always have it easy and I can see there were times when budgets and expenses were calculated to the penny but one thing my brothers and myself never questioned to have or not was food.

If times were a bit strained, we, as children, never knew it. I just noticed we ate more eggs throughout the week and lots more soups. I never put two and two together because I never had to. There was always food in my plate. Some children don't have this chance. Some children go hungry on a daily basis.

My parents knew that. They made sure we did to and very early on in our lives made sure we knew the purpose of charity. We did it silently. Charity is an act that comes from inside of you. It does not need to be advertised or require praises. Just do. We know what it's like to hit hard times and to have a great support system of friends and family. Some people are not as lucky. Most of all, children should never know the physical and emotional pains of hunger.

If I can direct your heart to cozy place this holiday season it would be toward Share Our Strength and their "No Kid Hungry" campaign. Gaby from What's Gaby Cooking emailed a few weeks back and asked a bunch of bloggers to partner up with Share Our Strength to help them spread the word and raise awareness through a virtual progressive dinner, inviting readers to a Holiday Table filled with all sorts of ideas from appetizers to dessert, vegetarian, budget friendly, gluten free, gourmet, etc...

All these dishes are so tempting and for us so easy to come up with but for others it would take a village to fill up their plates. And the ones of their children. We are that village. We are that community. I have an ever shaking faith in our humanity but I believe the holiday season makes us softer and in that regard, I am indeed asking that you would consider participating and pledging to help Share Our Strength "No Kid Go Hungry" campaign. Why? Because one dollar makes a child already closer to 10 meals. That's huge...

My virtual contribution to the campaign is one of my dad's all time favorites, a Strawberry Jelly Roll Cake. His mother used to make it for him when he was a kid and I grew up listening to my dad's recollection of Mamette (her nickname) and her famous jelly roll cake. It made him feel like a king. Every child should know that feeling. I always felt like it was a special moment when my mom would try her hand at it. A simple cake such as this became the anchor of some many memories in our family.

A lot of us out there will be creating wonderful family memories gathered around a pretty table filled with great foods, family recipes, easy, budget friendly, etc...you name it. We will give praises and thanks. We will raise our forks and cheer. We will eat, rub our bellies and laugh.

Every child deserves to have such memories...

Strawberry Jelly Roll Cake, adapted from this recipe.

Serves 6 to 8 people

4 large eggs, separated
1/2 cup (100gr) sugar
1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon (65gr) rice flour
1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon (65gr) millet flour
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
softened butter for the baking sheet
1/2 cup to 1 cup strawberry jam
powdered sugar to decorate

Preheat the oven to 375F. Butter the bottom of a baking sheet (I used 2 quarter sheet pans) and line with parchment paper, butter the paper liberally.

In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until pale yellow. Add the rice and millet flours, gum, baking pwder and salt. Switch to a spatula and fold the ingredients together briefly.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the whites at high speed until medium stiff peaks form.

Take about 1/3 of the egg whites and fold them into the egg yolk/flour batter. Do not worry about folding carefully, you just want to use the moisture from the whites to add fluidity to the batter.

Now, carefully fold in the rest of the egg whites into two installments.
Spread the batter onto the prepared baking sheet and bake for about 8-10 minutes or until barely golden brown.

Remove from the oven and let cool about 5 minutes. Place a piece of parchment paper onto your work surface, invert your baking sheet over it and slowly peel the parchment paper from the bake of the cake. Using the bottom piece of paper, start rolling the cake onto itself, starting from the longest edge.

Let it cool completely. Unroll, fill with the jam and reroll. Sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired. Keep refrigerated until ready to eat.