Month: March 2019

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Raising eyebrows with Riley Van Ness

One of my most prominent and expressive features is my eyebrows. I attribute them and my general hairiness to my Mediterranean heritage. Despite my best efforts in high school to rid myself of them (why were sperm eyebrows a thing we did?), they have thankfully survived and thrived over the years.

My eyebrows have been through the ringer, even beyond the over-plucking days of my teens. They’ve been tweezed, waxed, threaded, tinted, you name it. In the last year, I’ve started to embrace their near-unibrow tendencies and let them grow out in the middle. Honestly, it has changed my face. Looking at old photos helps me realize how wonky they looked when I fought how they wanted to grow.

Having my eyebrows done is one of those self-care maintenance items that I now try to make a priority. And Riley Van Ness at Kenneth Brandt Salon and Spa in Mason is the woman who helps rescue them each month.

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Review: “Miss Saigon” heats up the Wharton Center

There are few Broadway musicals with scenes that are a part of
“how did they do that” theatre lore — iconic moments that live beyond the stage and become a signature image or set piece. In “The Phantom of the Opera,” it’s the chandelier. In “Wicked,” it’s Elphaba defying gravity. And in “Miss Saigon,” it’s the helicopter.

As someone who loves musicals and has seen her fair share of them, I had never seen “Miss Saigon” before the tour’s opening night at the Wharton Center Tuesday. I only knew it was based on “Madame Butterfly,” my grandma loved its music, and it featured a helicopter descending upon the stage. I reveled in the opportunity to finally see it and hear the songs that —while unknown to me before — seemed altogether familiar when I saw the show.

“Miss Saigon,” though deeply sad and heavy, soars with its incredibly talented cast and dreamy orchestrations. The darkness of its subject matter and even its set design is brightened by the actors’ strong, clear voices and brief sprinkles of humor. The national tour of the 30-year-old musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, the team behind “Les Miserables,” will play at the Wharton Center through Sunday, March 17th.

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Interview: Emily Bautista on her career, tapping into her emotions, and the legacy of “Miss Saigon”

The Wharton Center will welcome one of the most legendary musicals of the last thirty years this month with the arrival of “Miss Saigon.” Performances are scheduled from March 12-17th. From the creators of “Les Misérables” and based on Puccini’s opera “Madame Butterfly,” “Miss Saigon” tells the tragic story of a romance between a 17-year-old Vietnamese woman named Kim and American G.I. Chris.

Emily Bautista stars as Kim in “Miss Saigon”

Emily Bautista made her Broadway debut in the lead role of Kim as an understudy and performer. I spoke with her about her influences, why representation in theatre has made an impact on her career, and the role she’d love to pursue next (paging Lin-Manuel Miranda).

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Review: Revlon One-Step Hair Dryer & Volumizer

Some things are just worth the hype. When so many people love and talk about them, you know there’s gotta be a reason. Around the holidays, so many women in a local mommy Facebook group were raving, RAVING, about this Revlon hair brush/dryer. Could not stop posting about it.

And the truth is, there is power in the mommyhood. Any product recommendation or piece of advice that proves to make life easier spreads like wildfire. There’s nothing like it.

Then, mere months later, two of my good friends Ellen and Linda were also raving about it. And these girls know their stuff.

Despite the amazing reviews, I hesitated buying yet another hair appliance when there’s a basket under my bathroom sink that has a hair straightening brush, a ceramic straightener, a blow dryer, a curling wand, and hot rollers. As it is, I only use those items every now and then.

It also costs $60, which isn’t as expensive as some of the higher quality straighteners but is more than the typical impulse buy. But when it saw it at Target this week on sale for $53.99, I decided to give it a try.

And now… I get the hype.

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