Pattern Play ~ Luca Magazine

I love editorials where there is movement.
I love seeing models jump, slow skip and dance - it makes the story so interesting!

Here is an editorial I worked on with photographer Kelly Capelli for the fall issue of Luca Magazine.
Did you know that I'm the Beauty Director for Luca Magazine? You're going to love what we have coming up for you!

This story is all about prints and patterns for fall, mixing them up, breaking the rules and having fun with it! The makeup is a slightly more extreme version of one of my all time favorite themes for fall/winter, a red and gold eye. I love to see a gorgeous glow to the skin all year round, so I've been using Marc Jacobs Spotlight 700 Glow Stick to get a glow, instead of a crazy high shimmer highlight.

I hope you will engage in a little pattern play this fall!

XO

See the full editorial with credits here

Ouidad Mongongo Oil Giveaway!

This summer I had a giant love affair with Ouidad curly girl hair products. Let's face it - no one does curly hair products quite like Ouidad, a curly girl herself! See Ouidad herself, here.

(This is not a sponsored post. These are the hair products that I love and use. This post does contain affiliate links)

My Ouidad travel set

I normally waste tons of summer time (and summer vacation time) by having to blow out my hair. Left to it's own devices my hair looks like a really bad home perm. I don't have pretty curls, I have nasty curls. In some ways they are fantastic - they hold a blowout like no other, but they seriously can't be left unsupervised!

Until I got my hands on Ouidad products. I've written about Ouidad before, here   here, and here. This summer on the Glam Italia tours in Capri and in Puglia the Ouidad curly hair products were an absolute game changer. I was able to get away with not blow drying my hair, instead just going au naturel.

Curly girls will know what I mean when I say that salt spray type beach curl products just dry my hair out to breaking point, make it frizzy and strip away any color I've added, leaving me with hair that looks like straw. So the normal beachy wave options just weren't an option for me.
Then along came Ouidad with her fantastic products that super hydrate, defrizz and give you amazing curls.

Flirting with boys at sunset in Capri

Sometimes instead of blowing my hair out smooth, my hairdresser will create big, glossy, gorgeous, controlled curls with Ouidad products. She recently added Ouidad Mongongo oil to the products she uses on me, and I love it. (I wish I had had it this summer!)




Mongongo oil is a lightweight, multi use curl treatment product that leaves any type of curl, from loose waves to kinky hair softer, shinier, more manageable, and frankly - gorgeous!
I've been playing with it, using it on damp hair and on dry hair and the results are lovely. Most oils weigh my hair down and then make it look dull the second day.

Ouidad Mongongo Oil puts bounce back into my curls and makes my hair look luminous the next day.
Even though it is a curly hair product I also use it when I blow my hair smooth, because it is so lightweight and it gives such a lovely shine, almost from within the hairshaft.

7 Ways To Use Mongongo Oil

I am so in love with this product that I am doing a giveaway so that you can win a bottle and try it out yourself.  

To keep it legit the Corinna B's World Mongongo Oil Giveaway is being run by Rafflecopter. There are multiple ways that you can enter and get extra chances to win. 

Click on the Rafflecopter widget below to enter this giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Check out these Mongongo Oil before and afters

Check out the Ouidad You Tube videos to see how to use Mongongo Oil on each of the different curly hair types, from wavy hair to curly hair to kinky curls.

Discovering Matera ~ Into The Sassi

People with an interest in Italian travel generally  have heard of Tuscany and Umbria. But it seems that very few have heard of Basilicata, the dry, mountainous region in the instep of the Italian boot that is bordered by Campania and Calabria on one side, Puglia on the other, and whose southern coastline is on the Ionian sea.

This also means that most people have not heard about one of the most spectacular places I have ever visited, the city of Matera.

The sassi in Matera, waiting for the rain

Matera is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, it's history dating back to paleolithic time, roughly 10, 000 years ago. 

Matera is famous for it's ancient cave dwellings which are in the section of the ancient town known as the Sassi. A gorge splits the land wide open and is filled with more than 1500 caves that have been homes since the paleolithic age. In the middle ages many of the larger caves were built out with more traditional house fronts added, during a time when the city thrived.

the gorge rolls down to a flowing river, crossab;e by a rope ans wood bridge.

Matera caves

The more wealthy you were, the higher up the hill your house was, allowing more light to flow in. The poorer you were the lower down the gorge you lived, with the least available light. The lower down the hill the less building there was, until all there were were caves.

looking across the sassi to Santa Maria de Idris church

Consequently most of the exterior building happened higher up the hill.

Matera wasn't built from the ground up, it was quite ingeniously built from the ground down. They literally dug down even sized blocks of stone to create new houses or rooms.

Rupestrian church Santa Maria de Idris

Some of the caves were built into beautiful rupestrian churches, adorned with their byzantine styled frescoes.

Rupestri church, image via Unesco.org

iinside Santa Maria de Idris
image via pangea project

image via sassipoint.it

Photography inside the Rupestrian churches is forbidden, so the fresco images used here are from the web.

Santa Lucia alle Malve

The frescoes in the churches are painted in archaic Byzantine styles that are 200 years behind the style of their contemporaries being painted throughout Italy at the same time ( the1300's), which is a good indication as to how remote and isolated Matera was. But still they are breathtaking. 

the rabbit warren that is the sassi in Matera

The prosperity that Matera knew until the 19th century waned until it eventually became poverty stricken.
In 1935 Mussolini exiled writer and painter Carlo Levi to the Basilicata.  He was tormented by what he saw in Matera, cave homes with 20 plus people and their animals all living in one room, children looking like famine victims with grossly bloated stomachs and skeletal limbs, too disheartened to wipe flies from their eyes. No running water or sewerage, rampant malaria, devastating poverty. 

He wrote the book "Christ Stopped At Eboli" (published in 1945) about what he saw in Matera, a place so cut off from the rest of the country that almost no one in Italy had even heard of it in the 1940's. For most Italians this was the first they heard about Matera and the dreadful conditions the people were living in. The book struck the very soul of Italy, and for decades was part of the school curriculum.

Christ Stopped at Eboli: The Story of a Year (FSG Classics) 

By the 1950's Matera had become the shame of Italy. The government built new housing in the upper part of the city, outside of the old town, and started moving families out of the caves and into apartments. The government took over ownership of the sassi, and from the 1960's until the beginning of 1990 the sassi essentially was abandoned, apart from squatters here and there. 

in the rabbit warren of the sassi every walkway is someone else's roof

By the early 1990's people started moving back. The government created a program whereby if you committed to rebuilding and renovating the cave homes you could have them rent free for 30 years, followed by a 99 year lease. This has helped Matera turn into a vibrant, arty, fabulous city that has been named European City Of Culture for 2019.

Walking up to Santa Maria de Idris in Matera during the September 2016 Glam Italia Tour

The sassi became re-gentrified, homes and luxurious hotels were built inside the caves, followed by restaurants, bars and shops. A huge portion of the sassi has been kept intact and unchanged for posterity, and is used in movies that need an ancient feel, such as The Passion Of The Christ. 

Matera of the movies - this section of the sassi remains untouched

The rest has become one of the most chic, unique and fabulous places you will ever visit.

The Glam Italia Tour stayed here at Le Dodice Lune hotel deep in the sassi. See the hotel link below.

Matera is a city that will take your breath away. The combination of the rich history, the brilliance of the architecture and the design of the sassi, the abject poverty turned into successful rehabilitation, and the absolutely exquisite beauty of this place works its way into your heart and leaves you aching to go back.

Where to stay in Matera

The Modern Girl's Guide To Korean Skin Care

I talk about Korean skin care all the time.
I just taught another Beauty 101 class, and all the ladies were asking me about K-Beauty and which products I used and what all these things men, so in their honor, here is a blogpost dedicated to breaking down the parts of Korean Skin Care.

Korean women are considered to have the best skin in the world, and obsess over which products they use.
Making the change to Korean products has been the best thing I have ever done for my skin and it has never looked better.

South Korea is not only the mecca of skin care it is actually the world leader in research and development of skin care products. Korean skin care utilizes technologies we don't have yet in America, so these products are really high performance and give you absolutely amazing results.

The Korean skin care system is based on layering products and targeting very specific skin concerns. I added each category of product in one at a time so that I could see if they made a difference, and if layering them was worth it. It was.

The following post is a break down of each of the main components that make up the Korean skin care regimen. You can use them all, or if that is too overwhelming just pick and choose the parts that work for you.

You can find Korean skin care in various stores (such as Sephora), or you can order them online. I buy online from Memebox, the largest purveyor of Korean skin care products. They are based in the San Francisco area so everything ships out quickly and arrives in 3 - 5 days. 

I write about Korean skin care and Memebox often, and normally post about my orders when they arrive. If you go to the search bar and type in either Memebox or Korean skin care you will get a list of them all. 

West Face East, How To Layer Your Skin Care Korean-Style

Korean Skin Care - Where Do You Begin??

Disclaimer: Memebox does not sponsor this blog and does not give me free product. I buy every product I talk about, show you, or use. 
I do have affiliate marketing with Memebox through a third party. This means that if you order from any of the links in this post my blog may earn a few cents.

One of my recent Memebox orders. All these amazing products for around $100!

1. The Cleanse

The Korean skin cleanse is actually a two step process. One cleanse to dissolve makeup, the second to clean the skin.
Personally I just do a single step cleanse, using a cleansing oil. I use I'm Cleansing Oil from Memebox. It dissolves makeup (even waterproof mascara!) and leaves my skin feeling super soft and supple.
You should cleanse your skin with a product designed for your skin type. If you have oily skin or get breakouts you need cleansing products designed to lift away excess sebum and help deep cleanse the complexion.
If you have dry, irritated or sensitive skin you need very gentle cleansing products.
Find Korean cleaning products here.

2. The Exfoliation

The next step in the Korean skin care system is the exfoliation.
From scrubs to enzyme masks to peels, the pathway to smooth, glowing skin is exfoliation. Be careful not to exfoliate too frequently or too aggressively, and choose the formulation you need to meet your skin type. 
Sensitive and irritated skins need to be especially careful because aggressive or abrasive exfoliators can make skin even more sensitive and irritated. Exfoliating every couple of weeks is ideal for most skins.
Explore Korean exfoliators here

3. The Refresher

After cleansing your skin the next daily step is a refresher. That can be a facial mist (my favorite) or a softening toner. The refresher softens and prepares the skin for the treatment and moisturizing products that follow.
See Korean refreshers here

4. The Essence

Korean women consider this to be the most important step in their skin care regime. Essences combine multiple intensive ingredients into a super concentrated form (you really only need one drop) and then transports them deep into the skin. They are lightweight in texture, so the surface of your skin doesn't feel slimy or oily, and they are skin concern specific, so you target the issues that you want to work on. Aging/dehydration/acne/excess oil/lightening and brightening - you name it there's an essence for it. You can also layer essences and tackle multiple skin issues at the same time.
Find essences here

5. The Ampoule

An ampoule is a super-charged, highly concentrated serum that again you only need a tiny amount of and that go super deep into the skin (much deeper than the average serum or moisturizer). 
Again this product is skin concern specific. You look at what you want to fix about your skin, whether its smoothing the texture, brightening, super hydrating, anti aging - you name it there's an ampoule for it.
The results are sensational and your skin will love you for adding ampoule into daily routine! If you are using both an essence and an ampoule the essence goes on first.

6. The Emulsion

So far if you are doing all the steps in the Korean system you have been targeting skin concerns and deep treating them. Now it's time to start moisturizing the skin. Emulsions are lightweight moisturizers. You can use them alone, or as the next step after your ampoule. They give you all the moisturizing that you need without being really heavy on the skin.
During the day you would follow this with an SPF product and then put on your makeup. (but when your skin gets all glowy and healthy from using this skin system you will find that you both want and need much less makeup than you currently wear!)

7. The Sleeping Pack

Korean women really understand the importance of super moisturizing the skin to keep it soft, supple, glowing and healthy, so at night after all these steps they apply a sleeping pack, which seals all the prior products in for the night. A sleeping pack has a similar texture to a night cream, but is slightly more gel-like. It doesn't leave a film on your skin, doesn't mess up your pillow case, it just absorbs in and makes the magic happen!
Find Sleeping Packs here.

8. Sheet Masks

Every week you should do a mask, whether it's for hydration, brightening, clearing blackheads, cleaning your skin, or whichever issue you want extra help with.
Sheet masks are great because they get a completely even coating of product and seal it into the skin. Also they're not messy, which I love.
If you are not a sheet mask girl Korean skin care is full of regular mask options too.
See Korean skin care masks here

Find Korean skin care products for oily skin and breakouts
Find Korean skin care products for normal and dry skins

Exploring Puglia ~ What are Trulli?

Deep in the heart of beautiful Puglia, the heel of Italy's glorious boot, there is an area populated with unusual, conical houses called trulli. On my most recent Glam Italia Tour (Sept 2016) we went to Puglia and stayed three of our nights in a trullo.

night time in Alberobello

 Trulli are primarily found in the Val d' Itria area surrounding Alberobello, Locorotondo, Ostuni, Cisternino. Martina Franca and Ceglie Messapica. 

renovated single family home trullo outside of Alberobello, Puglia

These totally unique homes look like they are from the pages of a fairytale. Typically they are single family homes, although now many of them have been converted into bed and breakfasts and other tourist accommodation. 

The History

The oldest trulli on earth date back to 1000 B.C and can be found along the Turkey / Syria border.

I've read several different accounts of the history of the trulli. They vary wildly, but my favorite is this one:

In the late 1400's when a couple of ships ofTurkish military facing defeat could not return home because they would be executed, they instead bargained with local landowners. Let us stay here and work for you and we will be your private army. They built themselves trulli to live in. When the tax collectors were coming they could quickly dismantle their highly unusual dwellings, turning them into piles of stones. The landowner wouldn't have to pay housing taxes on them, and once the tax collectors were gone the Turkish soldiers could rebuild their homes. Genius, wasn't it?

Except that I also read it could take up to 6 months to rebuild a trullo.

One of the things that make trulli so interesting is that they are created without mortar of any kind. They are ingeniously stacked stones that become water-tight and air-tight with a reverse igloo brilliance that keeps the family cool in the brutal heat of the Puglia summer, and warm (ish!) in the winter. 

The walls of a trullo (one trullo, two or more trulli) can be 3 feet plus thick, built from two rows of stone blocks, with the cavity filled with small stones.

The trulli that are now homes have a layer of plaster over the stones both inside and out, and they are universally painted a bright, gleaming white. 

You also see plenty of trulli throughout the countryside that are just used for farming storage, and are not painted white, they are just plain stone.

ancient storage trullo in the countryside in Puglia

Generally they don't have windows. If you're lucky there maybe one, otherwise the only natural light source is the doorway.

The cone shaped roof also has two layers of stones. The inner layer of wedge shaped limestone pieces is capped by a closing stone, insulating the house, the top layer is limestone tile laid in the opposite direction, making the roof water-tight.

Inside a trullo the cone section is made into a loft area, which was either used to store things, or as a second sleeping area. The trullo that we rented on the Glam Italia Tour used that loft area as a second bedroom.

Interesting facts:

I read that this are a of Puglia is known as a "karst plateau". Roughly this means that rain water doesn't sit in the surface of the ground, instead draining into waterways that feed into the Adriatic, leaving no permanent water source for the locals. Necessity being the mother of invention, they dug wells, or cisterns to hold rainwater, making sure the family had water, then the roof of the cistern became the floor of the trullo. The stones excavated to make the cistern then became the walls of the trullo.

Clever, no?

Trulli Symbols

Many trulli have symbols painted on the cone. The symbols can bare religious or mystical significance, and are designed to protect the inhabitants.

  

driving past trulli in Puglia

The Pinnacle

Each trullo has a sandstone pinnacle at the apex of the cone. The shape of the pinnacle denotes which stonemason or trullisto built the trullo.

The trullo that we stayed in was part of a borgo (a group of several trulli all built together like a little micro-community), and had been the home of the grandparents of our host Piero. 

The borgo in the back yard

stairs to the trullo loft

The loft that was now a second bedroom had originally been used for storage, the little kitchen occupied the space that once was an open fireplace. 

the kitchen in our trullo

The main living area had housed both the family and the animals. Five years ago Piero did massive renovations and turned his grandparents home into one of the most sensational vacation experiences you could ever wish for!

bedroom inside La Trullessa trullo

Some trulli have multiple cones, one for each room inside the home. Ours had been subdivided to make two absolutely fabulous vacation rental / Bed and Breakfasts

We stayed at La Trullessa Trulli, which is in Coreggia, an outer suburb of Alberobello. Piero was an absolute joy. He was fun and engaging and full of fantastic information, both from the historical perspective and also with endless fabulous ideas for places to go and things to do in Puglia. If you are thinking of traveling to Puglia, plan on spending a few days with Piero.

(A side benefit is that Piero owns a bakery, and every morning brings you a breakfast to die for!)

I found our trullo on Booking.com (they don't sponsor my blog - we paid for our accommodation). Booking.com has plenty of trulli to choose from. Start your search in Alberobello ( a delightful but definitely touristy town), and fan your way out. I adored the little town of Cisternino, as well as Ostuni, both of which have trulli on their outskirts. You can also find them around Fasano, Martina Franca, Locorotondo and Ceglie Massapica.