Fantastic Baby!

Ελληνικά /  Greek

Another one from the vault, one inspired by the many fantastic visuals of the Big Bang "Fantastic Baby" video. I wasn't that keen on the music when I first saw it as kpop is not really my thing, but the style was out of this world. 

Let's see if I can remember all the colours I used for this.
Index

A-England - King Arthur (base), Camelot (black) and Stargazer - 232 (silver) stamping with at least one Βundle monster plate.

Middle

The dark base is Galahad by A-England, the thin shiny stripe is Le chat CM - Ashy Green, the tiny triangle is by a greek brand called Erre Due and I suspect the thick stripe is For Audrey by China Glaze. 

I am not even going to attempt the ring finger though I recognise a couple
Little finger (not Petyr Baelish)
Etude House (white), A-England - Camelot and Seventeen 533.

The video follows, but if you're not used to kpop , listen at your own peril!
That's it from me and T.O.P.

xxx
Elysse

The new Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet Colours! Don’t pink of it, So Hap’pink and Beau Brun

Ελληνικά/Greek

I absolutely love the Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet lipsticks. I have 67(I had forgotten one in my bag) of them already and no8 (Grand Cru) has been my Holy Grail red this year. I have been wearing it morning, noon and night for months now and get withdrawal symptoms if I don’t get to wear it for more than a week. I find that all the Rouge Edition Velvet colours, even the ones I imagined would be too yellow-leaning (like 04 Peach Club) are actually neutral or with pink undertones which means I can wear them without looking drained and without worrying that my teeth will look yellow.

These do stay put for a long long time and are very well pigmented. I have found different ways of wearing them from more natural to full saturation, which I didn’t think I would be able to do at first. If you’re unsure about the applicator, I had never used or even liked liquid lipsticks before and found it very easy to learn. Even I am surprised by how precise I can be with the application now. All you need to remember is that it will look and feel a lot better if you apply it on well moisturised lips.

You can imagine how excited I was to see three new colours in the range:

10 - Don’t pink of it: if you were disappointed by how not nude both 09 Happy Nude Year(bright pinky peach) and 07 Nude-ist (dark MLBB kind of colour) were, then this pinkish beige is probably the one for you.

11 –So Hap’pink: a beautiful blue-leaning pink. This line was missing a middle-of the road colour like this that will look flattering and more natural.

12 – Beau Brun: a red-based brown. Very unusual to come up with a colour like this for a spring collection, but I suppose we have Pantone’s colour Marsala to blame for that. Fans of Marsala should definitely try Beau Brun. Those who care to recreate the ‘90s look, 07 and 12 are the most ‘90s colours in the collection.

I should note that the bottle for my favourite colour, 08 Grand Cru was completely dried up and 02 Frambourjoise wasn’t in a great state either. As I have both colours, I might swatch them on a separate post. The colours are: 

01 Personne ne rouge!

02 Frambourjoise

03 Hot Pepper

04 Peach Club 

05 Ole flamingo! 

06 Pink Pong

07 Nude-ist

X- dried up 08 Grand Cru

09 Happy Nude Year

10 Don’t pink of it

11 So Hap’pink

12 Beau Brun

In-store lights

In-store lights

In-store lights

Natural light (in the shade)

Natural light (in the shade)

Natural light (direct sunlight)

Natural light (direct sunlight)

Byzantine influence: O.P.I - Every Month is Oktoberfest & a-England- Dragon

Ελληνικά/ Greek

Paris Psalter (BnF MS Grec 139), folio 435v

Another one from the vault of unpublished images, one that takes inspiration from Byzantium this time. Having been raised in Greece anything to do with Byzantium was always connected with religion in an almost oppressive way. It took me quite a few years to see beyond that and appreciate those times and all their cultural output more.

The design of this plate reminded me of the cross-shaped stained glass windows that are so common in orthodox churches. The base is the amazing inky blue with reddish shimmer O.P.I - Every Month is Oktoberfest and the stamping was done with the chameleon of greens a-England - Dragon. I couldn’t believe how different Dragon looked here and how much it shimmered and sparkled. The pictures don’t do it enough justice!

Displaying different colours.

Dragon is so beautiful as a stamp!

An easy manicure and the konmari method

Ελληνικά/ Greek

After my last post, which I really enjoyed, I went through my file of pictures that I had been meaning to blog about and did a nice sort-through. I think it might be the effect of reading the book of the moment, Mari Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, but I deleted a lot of unpublished pictures and now posting feels less daunting. Has anyone else tried the konmari method on anything?

In the two years I haven’t been posting regularly so many things have changed. A lot of the blogs I follow are not even active any more or haven’t posted in over a year. I am also quite frustrated with blogger cause I can’t see my followers which have surprisingly increased (thank you!). I wish I had picked a different blogging platform to be honest cause blogger is always giving me a headache.

Amongst the old pictures I sorted through, I found a few I still want to post so here goes. The base on this is an old Rimmel (850 Hard Edged) from the time when 15ml per bottle was standard. It’s a very pretty duochrome with a black base and shimmer that goes from magenta to copper to golden. So mesmerizing! I tried to take a picture of it displaying as many colours as possible without the photo being completely unflattering or breaking a finger.

I used Ciate - Gold Digga and a bronze mini by Borghese with a dotting tool to create a really simple pattern. You don’t even need a dotting tool, a toothpick and a pen will do for such patterns. Dots are the easiest way to make your manicure more interesting.

Happy Easter to those celebrating it!

XxX
Elysse

who Know's if the Moon's

Ελληνικά / Greek

who knows if the moon's
a balloon, coming out of a keen city
in the sky-filled with pretty people?
(and if you and i should

get into it, if they
should take me and take you into their balloon,
why then
we'd go up higher with all the pretty people

than houses and steeples and clouds:
go sailing
away and away into a keen
city where nobody's ever visited, where

always
            it's
                  Spring) and everyone's
in love and flowers pick themselves

I love this e.e. cummings poem so much. It feels so light and fresh, you’d never guess it was written 90 years ago.

The first sign of spring round where I live is the almond blossoms that suddenly appear at the end of January. They come so early that sometimes I can’t tell straight away whether the branches are covered in flowers or snow. This design was part stamped (Konad m66 plate) and part hand-painted. The base coat I used is Nailtek Foundation III and the top coat is Seche Vite.

base colour: Korres – 82 Ciel
branches: Le Chat CM – 4 Brown
flowers: Konad White, Korres – 17 Candy Pink, Essie – Plumberry
iridescent accents: Misa – Radiant

xxx

Elysse