DITA VON TEESE - YOUR BEAUTY MARK : MISTRESS MANIFESTO BOOK REVIEW

Yes, there are a few nudie pictures of burlesque queen Dita in this book, but there are far more pin-up pictures of beautiful Dita, and lots of her without makeup or in the process of putting hers on, which is the point, because this is a book from her unique point of view about how to do your cosmetics.

Dita, it is revealed, has in recent years, paid more attention to natural and organic products, and since she coats all her skin with cosmetics when she is performing, she is also an aficionado of Korean bathhouses and scrubs later, so her pores can really breath.  She is also cautionary about getting any tan, especially not burns, and uses lots of sun screen.  The woman has world famous skin.

She has not been seen blonde (her natural color) or in jeans for many years.  She loves vintage and vintage inspired clothes and make-up, pointing out that her look comes from not one era, and believes that when you find your look (which she calls your "drag,") and your style, it will be so natural to you that you won't mind, say, coloring your hair every two weeks, keeping your fingernails immaculate, or always wearing red lipstick (she owns hundreds of shades of red).

Marilyn Manson, the musician, is referred to as her ex-husband a couple times (she's had only one) and there is one picture of the two of them together.  (I do wish I knew more about their marriage.)

She mentions that she didn't have sex for a year after their divorce, but for those of you hoping that she might tell all about her sexuality, or how many men have more than adored her from afar, this is not the book.

She wanted to be known as simply Dita, but was forced to pick a sur name, which she did with the help of an old fashioned telephone book. 

Her mom and sister are there for her.

She started stripping early, and is called a dancer, but she doesn't dance so much as she poses, and reveals all except the pasties or G-string.  She's famous for wearing crystals by Swarovski, has been a fashion designer muse, and has worked with many a famous photographer.  She works hard to keep her figure, especially Pilates, but also does wear corsets that can move her usual 24 inch waist to 18 inches... She's active in Mac Cosmetics and other fundraisers for people with HIV/AIDS.

Here are some favorite excerpts!

Page 52

"I enjoy life's roller coasters and nowhere does the ride turn wilder than when it comes to love.  Dear Reader, we might not share the same hair color or lipstick shade, but matters of the heart are universal.  Take solace in knowing that Betty Grable, Ava Gardner, and Lana Turner were women with adventurous love affairs and big heartaches.  Even in love there can be heartache.  But just as the road less traveled can be more challenging, it can also be gads more fun.  So live and love!"

(And among lots of information on vintage perfume collecting and her own four original scents)

"There's nothing like the whiff of primal attracti0on, no matter where the individual of interest hails from.  I have found, however, that it's true what they say; body odor as an aphrodisiac is not so embraced among American or Asian men or women as it is among those from other nations.  I've found that European men, on the other hand, always take delight in a little body smell, and I love them for it."

QUESTION FOR MISSY! COULD YOU COMMENT ON THE PRODUCTS YOU USE?

QUESTION FOR MISSY

Hi Missy!

You post on books about style and fashion and cosmetics and made some commentary on cosmetic surgery as well.  So I'm wondering if you could reveal more about your own personal tastes.  What's on your vanity table?  What should I go out and buy?

Roger


ANSWER FROM MISSY

For you or your boyfriend?

OK, Roger, I'll have some fun with your question.

I don't have a vanity table that I sit down at with a big mirror lined with light bulbs!  I try to apply my cosmetics with natural light streaming through the window. I know what you mean though.  Some magazines feature the products that a particular celebrity uses, so I'll pretend I'm one.

Most of the winter I wear the perfume Opium by YSL - YSL OPIUM which I love because of the warm spicy scent.  But for spring and summer, I prefer Flower Bomb by Viktor and Rolf - VIKTOR_ROLF FLOWER BOMB.  Once in a while I get in the mood to wear a perfume called Giorgio of Beverly Hills (not to be confused with Armani) - GIORGIO BEVERLY HILLS).  I think the scent  is just glorious, but it's a bit heavy for popular taste now.  Think high summer, white clothes.  Also I have a neroli oil spritz and a sandalwood oil spritz.  Overall, I don't like to announce my presence with too powerful a perfume. It can be rude when people are allergic or forced to smell a chaos of scents from too many people in a room or just one person with it piled on.

Men sometimes wear too much scent too, with their armpits screaming eucalyptus, their cheeks and neck something else...  I think a man should smell - clean - with just a little on his neck to inhale when you kiss him.  Frank Sinatra liked Ivory Soap. 

So, there are two philosophies about  buying scent:

1) You go out and buy what you like the smell of and wear it because after all, you have to smell it too.

2) You wear the scent that your lover bought for you because he or she likes the smell of  you wearing it.

A compromise?  Wear what he bought you on dates.

As you can tell from reading my posts, I advocate as natural look as possible for daytime, using cosmetics to enhance.  I haven't had cosmetic surgery but I read about it and look at the before and after pictures.  I always wonder how fabulously wealthy celebrities, or at least well connected ones who have so many friends who've had surgery, manage to get botched up jobs!  Can't they get good referrals and afford the best?

I've been giving myself clay based facials for years and think they do wonders for your skin, not just because they help you deep clean and buff the skin when you wash them off with a soft cloth, but because of what they do for your facial skin circulation.  I buy clay based facials from the Freeman line - none of them expensive.    Here is a link to FREEMAN FACIAL PRODUCTS ; I use several products on this page.

I see no reason why men shouldn't use clay facials.

After your skin has had nothing but air on it for a few hours after the "mud pack," particularly before you go to bed, you'll probably want to use a light moisturizing cream on it.

I'm a total fan of OPI AVOJUICE  I even use it on my face.  Their entire line of nail polishes and other products are aimed at hands and feet and manicures so I'D LOVE FOR THEM TO MAKE AVOJUICE UNSCENTED.  (Hey OPI, can you send me some free samples?)  I use natural polish on short nails.  I don't like talons or art galleries on my nails.

I use GARNIER BB CREAM.  Ditto.  (But men, be careful as it will rub off on your collar and inside your hat band!)

So many products have some sun screen in them, but I don't wear sun screen on a daily basis or try to get a tan.  I just get tan living life.  I only wear sun screen if I'm going to be outdoors in a pool.

My favorite lipsticks are from REVLON.  They have an amazing inventory of colors to choose from.  I choose colors that are close to my natural lip color, or just a bit darker.  I don't like the Vampire look.  Recently though I tried an inexpensive lip crayon from Wet and Wild, and for less than $3 it really did seem to last four hours.   - Missy

Image from Graphics Fairy

 

 

C 2015  Missy Rapport/ Mistress Manifesto BlogSpot  All Rights Reserved

TOSS THE GLOSS : MISTRESS MANIFESTO BOOK REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATION

TOSS THE GLOSS - GOOD MAKE UP RECLAIMS YOU   Web site for Author Andrea Q. Robinson 

FROM THE BOOK

"Robinson, whose illustrious career has included positions such as the chief marketing officer of Estée Lauder, president of Tom Ford Beauty, beauty editor of Vogue, and president of Ralph Lauren Fragrances, is the ultimate industry insider."

*****

Missy Here!

Andrea is an advocate of natural beauty or the approximation of nature by cosmetics.  That means that you should not be wearing makeup meant for the darkness of a restaurant or a disco to work.

I loved this book.  I even took notes and headed to various drug stores, determined to find the least expensive but good to great products.  Sadly, I spent an entire day going to three of the giant drug store chains in my area, and then to Target, where either they didn't have the full collection by a manufacturer, or the very product in the color I needed was sold out.  Believe this!  I ran into two women - one much older than me and one much younger - while searching for correct colors and textures - and both claimed to be make-up artists for Hollywood stars who had things to say to me about what to purchase.  But when I looked at them, well, their own make up wasn't so great.  They both needed to read this book!

Andrea's recommendations are not based on price.  She manages to give a large range of best of products including the very expensive to good old Dove soap for the complexion.

Did you know that most cosmetic companies forget about women who are forty or over, not targeting their marketing to them, so if you are forty or over you very well may be wearing cosmetics that are all wrong for you - your skin - because they were never designed, created, or marketed for you in the first place?

How about this; there is maybe one eye shadow manufacturer in Europe - in Italy - and so the most expensive to the most inexpensive may just be made there?  (i.e.  why buy expensive shadow?)

How about those dark circles under your eyes?  Should you really even try to cover them up?

At what point should you give in and get an eye tuck or a face lift?

DECLARATION FOR MISTRESSES - Cosmetics

"I will not apply cosmetics in public, especially not at a dining table, and I will not comment on cosmetic surgery in public either."

Seeing a woman putting on mascara while in slow moving traffic the other day made me think that she was a hazard on the road, never mind being distracted by cell phones.  Who needs extra coats of mascara that much?  

Then I thought about those women who are at a dining table, be it a dinner party or in a restaurant, who lift up a knife and use it as a mirror to check their lipstick, the women who put on lipstick just to leave cheap looking smears on it on wine glasses and coffee mugs and cigarette butts, and those women who pull out a compact to check their makeup who seem so self absorbed when they do that.

So instead, go to the ladies room to blot your lipstick (even if it claims to be one of those that lasts 8, 12, 24 hours) before you dine and return there to reapply before you leave, if you feel the need.  Wear natural colors that smooth and moisturize your lips rather than dramatically color them.  Do a good job of putting on your cosmetics before you leave the house, and that means for day wear or casual wear not overdoing it. 

Finally, never comment on someone's cosmetic surgery in public, even if you mean to compliment them.  That is to call attention to them and their surgery when they may not feel like talking about it.  After all, some of them really think they can fool you into thinking those dramatic results came from a week at a spa or the latest expensive cream.

C 2015 Mistress Manifesto BlogSpot

HAS YOUR COSMETIC SURGEON DECAMPED TO DUBAI? HOLLYWOOD REPORTER ARTICLE BY ELIZABETH SNEAD

HOLLYWOOD REPORTER : Elizabeth Snead on WHY HOLLYWOOD PLASTIC SURGEONS HAVE DECAMPED TO DUBAI

"The whole royal family comes to see me in my Beverly Hills office -- half my patients are from the Middle East, Kuwait and Qatar -- so it was very natural for me to go there," says Sands. "It took a while to get our licenses and insurance. You don't want to mess around over there if you want to come back with both your hands," he jokes. "For four days, I'm prepping patients' teeth and taking impressions. Then I fly home, have the veneers made in Beverly Hills and fly back and finish them. That's what they're paying for -- the best."

SHOULD SHE GET HER NOSE FIXED TO PLEASE HIM? : OPINION BY MISSY

QUESTION FOR MISSY

Hi Missy.  I'm in Texas.  I've been a mistress for a couple years and you guessed it, he has oil money.  I'll call him Jared.  Jared thinks I'm sexy and that I have a fantastic body.  He compliments me on my hair, my smile, and the way I dress.  He isn't married, he's divorced, and so he has introduced me to many of his friends and their wives and I don't get the feeling we're sneaking around.  I guess I fit the mistress type because I don't work and he supports me.  This way I'm free to go anywhere with him as he pleases. 

A few months ago Jared suggested that he have my nose fixed as a birthday present to me.  I thought he was joking and brushed the idea off.  Now he wants me to have my nose fixed as a Christmas present.  I'm comfortable with my looks.  My nose is a little big but kind of cute.  Well, that's what most people tell me.  My mom thinks his request is outrageous.  Any advice? 

Roxy

ANSWER FOM MISSY

I'm against it, Roxy, for a few reasons.  Mostly I've been thinking a lot about what Scott Thorson went through with Liberace (I gave Scott a month recently and you can read those posts on this blog.  Use the Google search feature to pull them up.)  I think maybe if you have your nose done Jared will next come up with something else about you he wants to redesign.  If he thinks you're sexy, have a fantastic body, loves your hair and  your smile - that is a lot that pleases him - so why pick on your nose?

Is he a bit controlling?

The other reason I'm against it is that I heard of someone's mistress who did get her nose fixed and her man hated the new nose and before it was all over ...  She stopped before she looked like Michael Jackson but in the end the nose she hated was all she got.  This persnickety man found other reasons to find fault with her and dumped her!  Now every time she looks in the mirror she thinks of what she did for him and hates herself and the way she looks.

I wonder if there is any cosmetic surgery you do want to have?  If so I would suggest to Jared that you want this other surgery.  Otherwise, I think you should tell him you want to end the discussion on this topic.

Missy

MISTRESSES ARE READING : JANICE DICKINSON EVERYTHING ABOUT ME IS FAKE...AND I'M PERFECT

Janice Dickinson was a supermodel, a vicious competitor, a verbal snipe, an unapologetic gold digger, into control and power - a discipline mistress in attitude, and over all not a nice person. The book offers you many pictures of Janice herself and her two children. She confesses to AA and finding happiness, yet there is a prevailing feeling reading it that she is totally narcissistic and self-involved. Her intensity gives the impression that she was not just a hard partier and player, but angry and hostile, especially with men. Janice was sexually abused by her own father.

In this book Janice is especially pissed with Mick Jagger - till the end. She had a year long affair with him while also friends with Jerry Hall, the mistress who had so many children with him. Janice was playing for the highest pay. She says models sabotage each other, sometimes psychologically aiming at another models insecurities, sometimes with a little food poisoning.

The difference between a whore, a gold digger, a courtesan, and Janice???

Page 165

"Bad Sex A Go Go: Foreign Men Who Promise You the Freaking World"
"See, there was this head of state - I won't mention his name; I don't need any more men in black showing up at my door in the middle of the night. Well, I was doing a few print ads in his country, and one night he invited m,e to a restaurant with a name that began with Maison and ended with at $500 bill. I was compelled to say yes; after all, I was from the United States, proud of my heritage, and I thought my nation needed my services as a cultural ambassador.

After dinner, Mr. Powerful took me back to his penthouse suite at the best hotel in all the land. He dismissed the armed guards, double - locked the doors, took off his bulletproof vest, and turned down the lights. But he couldn't get it up.

It was a little disappointing. Here I was, already fancying myself a rock n roll Princess Grace. I knew I'd look damn good in one of those little diamond tiaras - and besides, I've always wanted a moat.

"Jan-eese!" my foreign billionaire moaned, trying to seal the deal some other way. "I can give you a fur coat, a Ferrari, a parcel of land in the South of France. Anything if you would be mistress."

"As much as I liked the idea of owning some French countryside, I just had to say no, though. What me and my big trap actually said "Are you kidding me? I don't think so. You need to,uh, be able to fly a different type of flag in order to keep my interest."

The only thing I walked away with that might was a pound of caviar from the minibar and the little gold crest off his jacket."

ReganBooks - AN Imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
C 2004 Janice Dickinson.

DECLARATION FOR MISTRESSES - Aging Gracefully

"I will dress and make-up in an age-appropriate way."  

Missy here! This is a hard one for many women, because there is so much emphasis on youth in our culture. It's not easy for all of us to understand our looks, or be able to count on an outside opinion; certainly not all those salesclerks in stores tell us the truth; they too often just want their commissions.

Never the less, a woman who is trying too hard to look younger than she is, simply looks ridiculous and is fooling no-one. Age gracefully!