The Sugar Bar

The Inspiration

I like to read, especially in the bath or even when I’m showering. I line all my shower/bath products in a line and read them all from left to right, then around them and from top to bottom. It might seem like a weird habit to me but I’m sure loads of you out there do the very same, only maybe in a slightly varied away - like the ever-favourite newspaper-on-toilet combo. The advent of Spring meant the purchase of new make-up, shower creams, hand soaps, etc. for the season and as I was doing my habitual shower-reading, I was caught by the fact that I surround myself with mountains of products made with some sort of food product, extract or essence. And the most probable reason why I’m so attracted to these products is because they sound yummy and smell yummy. Right now, you’re definitely going ‘duh’ - that’s a marketing strategy. However, with the rising popularity of products that claim the use of dubious pearl powder, satin extract and so forth, we are constantly enticed ultimately to products that gravitate towards what we love best — food.

Here are a few of my own examples: My Origins Youthopia face cream comprises (prepare yourself) bitter orange, chamomile, myrtle leaf water, apricot kernel oil, grape seed oil, castor seed oil and shea butter, rhodiola or ginseng root, cardamom, thyme, nutmeg, soy bean, wheat bran extract, sunflower seed extract, aloe vera, sweet almond seed extract among a whole long list of others. My Molton Brown Body Lotion is made with a bamboo and wild indigo extract, incorporating lemon as well. One of my hair conditioners uses jojoba oil and macadamia nut oil. A favourite face scrub of mine is famous for its use of fruit enzymes, one specific one being papaya. Even our kitchen surface cleaner uses lime, orange and coconut.

Not alone, I’m certain, am I in this plight - drawn to such products. Fact is, all beauty products somehow or another capitalize on food because it’s what is natural, has a lot of (sex) appeal and yes, food is good for you! We are never going to stop pampering ourselves. The rise of the new woman, the bourgeois woman, the modern day woman, etc. have all taught us that. On a more superficial level, we are kiwi birds with an eye for shiny things. Even if the relation of prettiness and indulgence to the female is a social construct, somehow a carefully crafted design to fence in and define the woman as the Other of the masculine, how on earth can we ever abstain from what we love best?

The Story

At some point of our lives, I’m certain we have played with our food. Turning our food into some sort of externally nourishing product (since you eat food and it provides nutrients internally) comes under that category too. I remember the times when my sister was very into homemade face masks. You should have seen those slimey, gooey concoctions she made with raw egg and fruit, etc. It was…at best, an acquired ‘taste’. I soon took after her. We are after all bonded by blood.

Wanting all my life to be tall, I drank quite a lot of milk. Hated it at first because of its acidity but OREOs made it all better. One day, that chubby little girl, after being praised by her aunt for having beautiful hands, thought to herself ‘if I have beautiful hands, I want to keep them beautiful forever and ever’. She resolved herself to that because everytime her mother picked up her hands to play with her fingers (it was a daily mother-daughter moment) she’d notice how her mother’s own hands were starting to wrinkle at the knuckles. So tiny Diva got out a wash basin, filled it up with the last of the milk in the fridge, sprinkled some ground cinnamon into the basin for added fragrance and dove both hands into the cold milk.

She let out a tiny squeal. The milk was a tad too cold for them delicate hands. But she thought, ‘if this could keep my hands beautiful forever, then I will want to soak them in it for a long long…long time to keep them that way.’ Smooth, white and milky. So she stood in front of the basin for about 5minutes, wondering how long was long enough when her father walked in on her. He stopped, stared. Then turned around, stopped. And then turned back a 180degrees and said, ‘I’m sorry. What are you doing?’ in a bemused yet slightly irritated manner (Daddy was a milk-fanatic and drank a glass every evening. Something about pffft, bones and calcium.) Now, the little girl had used up all of the milk but in the most wasteful way her father could think up - for soaking her hands?! What on earth?

I suppose really, the men simply don’t get it.

And The Point?

As you can see, the links between cosmetics/beauty products and food are intriguing. It seems almost instinctive to make that link. Women are more often that not the targeted consumer of just about anything. No wonder our favourite past-time is shopping. And because we are beginning to have such great purchasing power, all sorts of products are carefully marketed. Sneaky as it is (you know, all the shizzle about capitalism and consumerism), I am unashamed to be an almost ‘pious’ slave to the beauty industry that has taken on a temple-like magnitude - or for that matter, the food industry. All that rambling aside, I’d really like to see what everyone out there obsesses about. With thumbs up from Farida of azcookbook and Celine of Black.Salt, I’m putting this challenge out there for anyone and everyone!

The Challenge

How This Works:

1) Pick a cosmetic/beauty/body-hand-skincare,etc. product that has either a name that is food-related (eg. Vanilla Butter Dynamite, Raspberry Rhubarb Splash) or has food-related ingredients (eg. orange extract, ginger root).

2) Using the combination of flavours of the product as best as you can, create a dish inspired by the product and give it any funky name you like.

3) Post about it on your blog (why that product, how you were inspired, were the results good, etc.) with a picture of the product and your masterpiece; if possible, add the Beauty & The Feast challenge picture as well so people know what this is all about.

4) Send in your entries to diva@sugarbar.org using this format below:

Subject line: Beauty & The Feast Challenge I
Your name:
Blog:
Blog URL:
City/Country:
Event post link:
Product name:
Dish name:
*Include the picture that you’ve uploaded for your post in this email as an attachment as well. This shouldn’t be too large so we can keep my downloading time to a minimum.

5) The closing date for all entries will be 2 June 2008 (Monday); after which, all entries will be posted up on le blog. The girlies and I will then look through all entries and choose the top 3 winners of the challenge.

The Prizes:

Here comes the bit that is rather cool, in my opinion.

Top Prize: Lancôme Virtuôse Mascara in Noir sensual (2ml tube) & DIVINE Chocolate Slab (dark/milk chocolate)

2nd Prize: Rouge Dior Crème de Gloss Sample Packet (with 4 shades and lipbrush) & DIVINE Chocolate Slab (dark/milk chocolate)

3rd Prize: Haribo Sweets & DIVINE Chocolate Slab (dark/milk chocolate)

I’ve blogged about these chocolates before and if possible, I will attempt to source the more rare flavours (mint, fruit & nut, orange, hazelnut, coffee if that is what the winners want). The prizes, although not as amazing as I can usually afford, are my little thank-you-for-participating treats!

So blog about this, tell your friends and get loads of people to take part in this event. I’m quite certain it’ll be so much fun to see all the photos and what everyone comes up with. Till then, let’s get our creative juices on the roll.