THEY CALL IT SWEATx FOR A REASON

I've never done CrossFit, and I'll tell you why. Firstly, it intimidates the heck out of me, and as much as I like having my ass-kicked in a workout, I don't like to be pushed to the brink of vomiting or passing out. Secondly, the workouts always seem very tailored to men's preferences. That's probably me stereotyping, but I personally just don't get a lift out of lifting really heavy weights -- I'd much rather slap on my ballet shoes and do fouette turns for an hour.

So when I arrived at Sweat Fitness in Queen Village for our PHL Bloggers exclusive SweatX workout and one of the trainers jokingly told me I'd be pushing a massive tire up a ramp with my friends, my insides screamed: "Shit, why did no one tell me this was Sweat's version of a CrossFit workout?"

Of course, I had already trekked to Queen Village, and seeing as there were only four of us bloggers there, I didn't feel like I could turn around and say thanks, but no thanks. So I stuck it out. And you know what, it was actually pretty awesome.

SweatX is a new workout type that's recently debuted at the Queen Village location of Sweat Fitness, although I hear there are plans to roll it out to other locations soon. The workout involves splitting up an already small group into even smaller groups and having those groups work 10-minute circuits (with 2 minute breaks in between) under the supervision of an instructor. I thought this was pretty unique, as usually the instructor to student ratio is something like 1:25, but here we had three ripped men coaching our small group of six. (My understanding from my research is that the groups can get as "large" as 10 students, so even then you'd have much more individualized attention than in a traditional group exercise program.)

We started with a simple warm up -- a few passes back and forth with high knees, butt kicks, shuffles and sprints, spent a few minutes stretching and then immediately broke up into groups for our circuits. The motto was AMRAP, which was a new term for me, and apparently means "as many repetitions as possible." So rather than shooting for a specific goal, you were literally invited to trust in, and listen to, your own body, pushing to your personal limit.

My first circuit was pretty darn easy: 10 wall balls with a 6 pound ball (it involves a deep squat and throwing the ball against a high target on the wall), followed by 10 mat sit ups. Maybe it's just because I have strong legs from dancing or because some of my other fitness classes torture me with lots of squats routinely, but I felt like I could have done those wall balls all day. With my spinal issues, the sit-ups were somewhat harder, but I still completed the first circuit with energy to burn.

Circuit two got a little tougher, but was still really fun and challenging. It involved five passes running up and down this fairly steep, long ramp, followed by 10 kettlebell swings. I surprised myself here when I realized, once again, how much power I actually possess in my legs. I've always thought of myself as a bad runner, but I really enjoyed running up (and shuffling down) the ramp. Kettlebells aren't my favorite, simply because I'm terrified of either dropping the thing on my head or it flying out of my hands and killing someone, but I managed to do my reps with the 20-pounder without injuring myself or others, so I count that as a success.

About mid-way through this circuit, I started to feel a bit winded. After the second running pass on the ramp, I found myself reaching for my water bottle more frequently, catching my breath for a few seconds before breaking into the swings and repeating the circuit. Even though I finished feeling a little tired, I had reserves of energy and was prepared to hit the final rotation hard.

Elizabeth accurately portraying how I felt during burpees.

Then things kind of fell apart, because the third circuit involved my nemesis: burpees. I don't know what it is about this particular exercise, but it wreaks all kinds of havoc on my body. Something about the change in blood pressure from going from standing to horizontal and back again repeatedly just messes with my head, and I find myself getting those funny black and white fuzzies in front of my eyes within a few reps. Here we were supposed to do box jumps for a minute, followed by five burpees, and as expected, by the second set of burpees I was already a mess.

It's times like these when the individual attention actually becomes a burden, because now I had our instructor Shawn watching me fall apart, and although he kept encouraging me to continue, it didn't feel great to "fail" in front of an instructor. I got through the circuit by taking way more breaks than they probably liked, but I wasn't about to pass out on account of trying to prove myself. Maybe I should have asked for another exercise, who knows.

Of course I was the first to dig in to the food.

And then, just like magic, the workout was over, and it was time to FEAST! Although this isn't a standard part of every SweatX class, we were fortunate enough to be treated to a delicious selection of fresh fruits, vegetables, cheeses and salami after, plus cocktails, compliments of Stateside Vodka (a locally produced liquor!). I quickly scarfed down some cheese and salami to get in my protein, and the strawberries tasted so sweet, they were like candy. Technically, there was a stretch session that happened after that third circuit, but when you put food in front of four starving women, somehow they only see what they want to see, and we accidentally missed it. Whoops. (Don't worry I stretched myself out when I realized my own mistake.)

After re-fueling, I left the gym feeling pretty great, and this morning, although my shoulders and legs are a wee bit sore, it's nothing too extreme.

Would I go back and do SweatX again? Maybe, as I can definitely see how the high intensity workout can aid in your athletic performance. And even if you're not aiming to be a better athlete, this workout seems like it would give your body and fitness level a jump start if you feel like your regular routine's leading to a plateau. Plus, with the small group format and awesome instructor to student ratio, it's kind of like getting a personal trainer for just $125-$149 a month (prices vary based on whether you're a Sweat member or not) -- that fee gives you access to all 8 Sweat locations around the city and unlimited SweatX classes.

Overall, I'm glad I tried it and thank our instructors Shawn, DeLonne and Chris for pushing us!

*I received access to a SweatX class for free, as part of a collaboration with the PHL Bloggers group. 

5 Lessons Learned from My First Professional Makeup Artist Gig!

As you've seen in previous posts, I'm kind of a fan of this non-toxic beauty and skin care line called Beautycounter. I'm not going to go into a ton of detail about the products or mission in this post, considering I've talked ad nauseum about them previously, but I bring the brand up because it was thanks to my friend and "master" rep, Kerry, that I got to experience the life of a "professional" makeup artist for the first time.

Now, considering I've been writing a beauty blog for nearly 6 (!!!) years, there's no doubt that I love makeup and have done my fair share of experimenting with products. And sure, I did find myself being roped into doing bridal party makeup for two of my friends' weddings, but I also fully admit that neither of these things is truly a substitute for the rigorous training that professional makeup artists go through. Either way, I was pretty darn excited to have the opportunity to put my skills to test in a professional setting.

The place? A restored barn in Newtown Square. The event? The Saint Katherine's School Fashion Show. The mission? Do a full-face of makeup on up to 10 women in less than 2 hours (phew!).

I'd say at the end of the day the mission was indeed accomplished, but the experience of it taught me a lot about makeup, application techniques and the responsibility that one holds when you're in charge of making someone feel beautiful. Here are my top five lessons learned from the night:

1) There's definitely a formula to doing a great, standard face of makeup, and once you know it, you can repeat it on almost any face.

I worked on women with long faces, round faces, high cheekbones, deep-set eyes, light skin tones, dark skin tones...you name it, I saw it. And yet, the basic principles of makeup application were simple to use across all of the women. Sure, on some I dabbed on a bit more concealer to cover spots or dark circles; others needed almost no foundation and just a light dusting of powder, but nearly everyone looked good with strategically placed blush on the apples of the cheeks, bronze contouring under the cheekbones and a subtle smokey eye with dark colors on the outer V.

This is great news for women who feel a bit "afraid" of makeup or aren't sure what they're doing, because it means once you get the basics down, you can adapt them using different color palettes in your makeup collection to create hundreds of looks without actually having to vary your technique.

2) The Beautycounter products performed WAY better than even I expected.

As you know if you're a consistent reader of this blog, I'm big on honesty, so when I review products I'm not afraid to talk about things that don't meet my standards. I've had the opportunity to use a number of Beautycounter products on myself, and there have definitely been some I've loved and some I wouldn't buy again. But let me tell you, I was SHOCKED to see just how well all of the products performed on my models, even in spite of the huge variety of skin tones, skin types and skin textures.

The translucent powder, which bugs me in real life because it makes a crazy mess, was a huge life-saver when doing makeup on women with varied skin tones. The powder brush was perfect for applying it, and that stuff sucked up the oils on these women's faces with ease. The eyeshadow colors, while still mostly subtle and natural, were buildable and glowy, and with the black/dark gray shades, super easy to transform into a more dramatic look. The semi-sheer lipsticks, combined with the peony/clear lipglosses made for an absolutely beautiful lip combo on everyone -- I was really surprised to see just how different some of the same shades looked on different women! I was also pretty impressed with the quality of the eyeshadow brushes -- several of the women commented on how soft they were, and they were great multi-taskers.

The only negative commentary I can offer is on the brow and eyeliner pencils. The formula is just a bit too dry. I did my best to warm the pencils up on the back of my hand before applying on the women, but I still felt like I had to do quite a bit of tugging and repeat application to get a consistent payoff. I know this is a tough thing to get just right, as I've used many eyeliners that are TOO soft, but I do think a reformulation to either increase the pigmentation or reduce the dryness would be helpful.

3) Applying mascara on other people is HARD

I made the women curl their own eyelashes, because there was no way I was getting close to them with that medieval torture device, but applying their mascara was by far the hardest step in the process. You could totally tell who wears contacts and who doesn't by how twitchy/untwitchy each woman was, but getting that wand in there and really distributing the mascara so that it made their lashes long and lush was a challenge. Interestingly, applying mascara on the lower lashes was WAY easier.

4) Women are so beautiful (but they don't realize it!)

I wish I had a remedy for this one. I can't even tell you how many women sat down in the chair and felt the need to vomit out all of their dislikes about their face. It was almost as though they felt a compulsion to confess all of their skin sins before I got started. I heard all about how people were self-conscious of their dry skin or oily skin; their dark or puffy undereye circles; their wrinkles or their acne spots. But the funny thing is that ALL of these women were absolutely stunning, with or without makeup. Beautiful, mostly flawless skin. Amazing bone structure. Gorgeous, clear, bright eyes. Perfectly arched brows. Every woman that sat down should have been so incredibly confident in herself, yet she spent lots more time picking apart her features than celebrating them.

5) Being a makeup artist is a fascinating, but certainly challenging, job

You really have to be comfortable getting up in people's personal space. You can't be afraid to touch them, move their hair, get all up in under their nostrils, around their mouths and near their eyes. I was constantly thinking about whether or not my breath was fresh, not wanting to torture anyone with rank smelliness. I didn't stop to drink any water in two hours. I easily lost track of time. I wanted to be a perfectionist, but had to curb my urge. I felt great when someone looked at herself in the mirror and immediately smiled or lit up. I felt guilty when they looked and seemed to see something that didn't make them happy (and especially so when they gave me a fake smile after or didn't ask me to fix/change something, which I would have happily done). There's a lot of pressure to perform (and perform well), and it's super important to really know your products, how they work and what colors look best on whom.

Overall, I had a really great time and would love the opportunity to do it again in the future. But more than anything it helped me realize just how giving it is to be a makeup artist -- although you're just highlighting and shading features that already exist, you're unlocking a woman's ability to feel confident and beautiful, and that's the greatest gift of all!

*NOTE: I was not compensated by Beautycounter to write this post, nor did they ask that I write it. I was compensated for my appearance as a professional makeup artist at the event.