E.T. PHONE HOME

So much has been said about chocolate, it's difficult to write anything new. For me, the first literary impressions of chocolate came from Disney adventure comics and real life stories of explorers in distant regions of the earth. For both Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge, as well as the real life explorers, having plenty of chocolate bars could mean the difference between life and death!

Similarly, E.T., the eponymous favorite alien, survives on Earth because he can eat M&Ms. (At least this is what happens in my beloved book version of the story. I don't remember if they kept this in the film). Chocolate is highly nutritious and gives life-preserving energy in extreme circumstances.

Being a chocoholic and a lover of Ferrero Rocher I was ecstatic to see the super-size chocolate at supermarkets. Yum! Just looking at it makes you happy.

Here I am at home with another favorite - the Marks and Spencer chocolate with marshmallow. The glamor of London and high tea at your table!

Have a good and beautiful weekend xxx

FAMOUS FEMINIST HOLLYWOOD MEN

What do you do, when you see the most beautiful tiger print blouse at Mango? Of course, you buy it to wear at your violence against women speech. What do you do when you come across a nice piece of carrot cake after the speech? Of course, you eat it!!!

I made a public speech on violence against women last night and then gave a little reward to myself, with my favorite croissant sandwich at Costa Coffee, and carrot cake which I shared with a good friend.

In my speech I talked about violence in classic novels and violent women too. I said that men can be victims and stressed how important it is that men also have started to talk about gender, have joined the fight, and that famous actors like Harrison Ford can now comfortably say, "I am a feminist"!

Have a good night, and be well! Xxx

HAPPILY BRAINWASHED (AND HOW TO WRITE A MEMOIR)

How do you give a touch of class to casual clothing? Easy! You add a nice accessory such as a lace or knit scarf!

My trick is to imagine that I am wearing my clothes on the runway, or that a model wears them for me. Works miracles!

I have started to take more notice of what I wear, not because my budget increased (it didn't - minimal as always) but because of the influence of World Fashion TV. I watch the fashion channel all day and I have been happily brainwashed. One day I'll write a memoir about it.

The first fashion shows were staged in Paris by the English designer Charles Frederick Worth. Worth is considered the father of haute couture.

A famous fashion atelier was opened in the late 19th c by the fashion designer Lucille. More about Lucille in a later post.

Have a good start to the week! Xxx

THANKS!

In today's post I just want to say many thanks for reading this blog! A big hello and a big hug from Cyprus! :-)

BLONDE SENSATION

I flash my ID card at the post office assistant - a packet is waiting for me from Amazon! I am still a brunette on the ID card, it was all before I turned into a blonde sensation. I must get a new ID card, with the blonde me in the pic (note: the destination is not this strawberry tone, it is the ash blonde).

The book waiting for me is Garance Dore's Love x Style x Life. I had pre-ordered and had been counting the days!

I was not disappointed, because this is a lovely book, full of advice on style and fashion, and beautiful illustrations!

The cover is also amazing - pink, fresh and cool!

It was the perfect start to the day! ❤️

Bye for now, be well xxx

BREAKFAST FOR HEROES IN HOMER'S ILIAD

The ancient Greeks have fun with breakfast in Homer's Iliad, starting the day with wine, honey, dry wheat and milk!

Breakfasting plainly the other day, I was green with jealousy when I saw the fried egg and herbs bagel at Yahoo Food! Alas - gourmet cooking escapes me, and, as you know, I can hardly boil an egg.

Still, eggs are among my favorites, in any form. Eggs are miraculous for the hair and for many other things. We used to give boiled egg to Lady (my darling collie who died a few years ago) for a shiny coat!

Despite Homeric feasts, breakfasts in literature are memorable, yet often unpleasant! Who can forget the horrid breakfast poor Pip has with the nauseating Uncle Pumblechook in Great Expectations? Or the bread and water tossed at Jane as she leaves for Lowood in Jane Eyre? Such breakfasts are a metaphor for lack of love and home.

Have a good day, with beauty always with you😃

NEVER GIVE UP ON A GOOD THING

How do you know that clothing is of the best quality??? Answer: when you wash it 100 times in the wrong way, but still looks wonderful. (Warning: I don't suggest that you try this 😝

I washed this beautiful off-white cardigan from River Island at 40 degrees for nearly 10 (yes, 10) years feeling sure that this was the right temperature. I had read this on the label. Right?

Well, actually wrong! One day, I happened to look at the label. It said -shock, horror!!!- it said HANDWASH.

I was so shocked and repentant! You know how much I love everything I own. But I was not surprised that my cardigan had survived mistreatment. River Island clothes last forever.

Lessons learned: 1) read labels often. You may misremember the instructions. 2) Moderately priced clothes =fantastic quality!

I am also wearing a lovely faux bijoux ring priced €8 from I am! Don't get me wrong. When I am a millionaire (right now I am the opposite) of course I will occasionally shop from DSquared 2 and Louis Vuitton. But give up my chain stores and fast fashion favorites? Never! 😃

Have a great night xxx

LOOKING FOR THE SUMMER (THE GIRL WITH THE RED BIKINI)

I AM sure winter is great for literature and film -- think Frozen, the Snow Queen, the Long Winter in the Little House on the Prairie, and the Winter's Tale! The examples are endless.

Still, I hate winter. The long nights, the grey clouds, the rain -- none of these things agrees with me. I am summer-born and I love the summer more than anything!

Here is my take of Brigitte Bardot in a red bikini. The original is much more beautiful of course, but I very much enjoyed drawing this! Love the hibiscus too -- a flower that fares better under stress, especially if it is choking. I know nothing of gardening, but I heard this on Gardener's Question Time on BBC Radio 4. So it must be true.

Have a good start to the week, with beauty always with you!

GIRL STUFF

There is nothing like a girls' teenage guide that explains to girls that they should love their bodies, enjoy flirting and stand up for their rights! This is The Lipstick Papers book review, and tonight we have The Rough Guide to Girl Stuff by Kaz Cooke!

The book is part of the Rough Guides, a series which features some good titles and some not so good. This is because each book takes a strong viewpoint, which determines the whole content and tone of the book. If you agree, the book seems fine; if you disagree, it will be useless. For example, the Rough Guide to the search for aliens is, for me, useless - because the standpoint of the book is that there are no aliens and the search is futile.

Anyway, there are many great things about our book tonight, i.e. Girl Stuff. Sound advise on eating, sexual health and friendships, tolerance, explanations of where to go to if you have problems. It tells girls that feminism is great!

The one thing I don't like about this book is the illustrations. Yikes!!! They are really ugly. But if you are a teen, or want to give a guide book to a teen, this down to earth, practical and no nonsense book is for you!

Have a good night and be well heart emoticon

ENJOY THE CRAZINESS

THIS IS the closer I have gotten (so far) to an haute couture garment -- a Dolce & Gabbana gown owned by a friend! The gown is about fourteen years old, and my friend wore it at numerous events, functions and, amazingly, during three pregnancies!

The gown still looks brand new, as for the cloth weaving, it is absolute magic, with blue and azure thread combined inside the brown and gold!

Haute couture never loses; haute couture garments can go from mother to daughter through generations.

This does not mean that cheaper fashion is not good, of course! I have pieces from Gap, Dorothy Perkins, Miss Selfridge, Benetton and many other (more reasonably priced stores) which I have been wearing for decades and which still look fantastic.

I love the new crazy gold color for my hair! It's going to turn a paler blonde, but for the moment I enjoy the craziness! xxx

WHENEVER I FOLLOWED MY HEART, I WON

IT's amazing how easily we adapt to change! I am on my way to becoming blonde, and I increasingly consider the new color as the natural, as the color which has always been there. Bizarre!

Or maybe not so bizarre, in the sense that I always liked lighter than darker colors, and was especially fond of blonde colors. For me, blonde means beauty, glamor, light. It's the color I want for me.

There were those who tried to dissuade me, and imply that blonde would not suit me. However, the time is past when I was influenced by what others said. Whenever I was influenced to do what was "expected," I lived to regret it. Whenever I followed my heart, I won!

This color is cute and pretty, but it is not the final destination. The final destination is the pale blonde.

Have a good night and be well! xxx

THE SKIRT WAS PERFECT

OF COURSE, any beauty book which begins with a description of a lavish English tea, Victoria sponge cake, and the phrase, "My granny was never rich, not at all, but boy was she glamorous. Elegant, ladylike, impeccably mannered, and dressed to the nines at all times [...]" -- any such beauty book is a must!!!

The book is Front Roe by Louise Roe, which I bought today from Nicosia. Another plus for the day: the fabled peanut butter cookie from Gloria Jeans! They have it Nicosia, though in Larnaca it has been cancelled because of lack of popularity :-(

I went to the Mall today, looking for a pretty white skirt for a public lecture I am to give soon. I found a lovely skirt from Topshop but, sadly, it would slide up too far when I would sit down. White cloth and delicate lace -- the skirt was PERFECT, but only if you stayed standing up.

Still, I had a very nice time, meeting up with a friend I hadn't seen for a while, eating the peanut butter cookie and buying a beauty book! Yum!

ALWAYS WITH BEAUTY AND A BOOK (THE LIPSTICK PAPERS PHILOSOPHY)

Birthdays in literature are often stormy events!!! Probably the most memorable birthday is Miss Havisham's in Great Expectations. It was also going to be a wedding day, but the fiancé run off. Miss Havisham locked herself in the house, wearing the wedding dress, with the unhappy consequences we know.

Stanley lives the complete nightmare on his birthday in Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party. Esther Summerson's childhood birthdays are not even celebrated in Bleak House. Sara learns about the death of her dad and his bankruptcy as she is celebrating in A Little Princess, and--

That's enough, you will cry, and you will be right. Here is a birthday card I designed for a, thankfully, happy family birthday yesterday!

The card features The Lipstick Papers philosophy: always with beauty and a book! No better advice. Beauty of mind, body and soul leads to life's beauty.

Have a good night and be well! Xxx

SCHOOL BOOKS AND BAGUETTES

IN the Search of the Perfect Loaf, Samuel Fromartz argues that the baguette is probably the most difficult type of bread to make. I read his adventures in baguette making with great excitement! You can imagine my surprise when, in Bread by Evi Voutsina (Το Ψωμί, Εύη Βουτσινά, Greek bread-making book) I read: "Baguette: this world famous bread ... is very easy to make" (το πασίγνωστο γαλλικό ψωμί ... είναι πολύ εύκολο στην κατασκευή του).

What was the meaning of all this?????? I will never find out: as you know, I am useless in the kitchen, so I cannot try the recipes for myself. I tried to read and actually make sense of the recipes but, being utterly unable to try them out, this is just not possible.

Still, both books are excellent. Bread is mostly a recipe book, though with a small anthology on bread-related texts. Perfect Loaf is a memoir, written in lovely language and very interesting!

A fairy tale I once read in my 3rd grade reading book, contained the message that the best bread is that which you make yourself. Good thing was, the person who makes his own bread in the tale is male and a king, not a housewife who has to serve a huge family unwilling to help. But then, our school book was all against stereotypes and all for open minded thought. (Rare for a school book, I know).

More on this fantastic school book in a later post!!! xxx
P.S. My own picture of the French girl, from my favorite frappe spot, Croissanterie here in Cyprus!

EXCELLENT FEMALE FRIENDSHIPS

There is nothing like beauty and friendship at the same time!!! Here I am today, at my beautician, also called Maria! The beauty salon is studied academically as a source of female strength - see for example work by Ann J. Cahill and Paula Black.

Literature is full of excellent female friendships: who can forget Jane and her dear friend Ellen Burns in Jane Eyre, and Sara and Ermengarde in A Little Princess? Or Anne and Diana in Anne of Green Gables? Rosalinde and Celia in Shakespeare's As You Like It? Examples are endless.

One writer who has appreciated the ups and downs of female friends is Jane Austen - I am talking about Elizabeth Bennett and Charlotte Lucas in Pride and Prejudice. Through her relationship with Charlotte, Elizabeth learns that friends do not always have to agree or see things the same way.

Marilyn Yalom has just written a history of female friendship - can't wait to buy this and read!!!

😎 bye for now xxx

NUTELLA CAKES AND NEW TATTOOS

IT WAS time for a new tattoo today, and here it is! I designed a pearls-and-hearts chain with Lady's name too! Lady, as you know, was my beloved collie dog. This is my second tattoo with her name.

Then, I rewarded myself with a Nutella cake from Gloria Jeans. Usually, my reward for a tattoo is a peanut butter chocolate cookie, again from Gloria Jeans. Today -- shock, horror! The peanut butter cookie has been withdrawn because it was not popular. I had a Nutella cake instead!

The Nutella cake is amazing. It is a bit heavy, so I think that one piece can serve two. Still, I ate it all. I am against wasting or throwing away food. Normally, I eat all the food in my plate.

After Nutella, I went to see some friends downtown, to end up in Costa Coffee for studying!

Apart from the Lady tattoo, I added stars to the stars tattoo on the leg. So exciting!

Have a good evening and be well xxx
P.S. I write the name Lady in Greek, Λαίδη, because this is how I used to call my collie baby <3

A WORLD OF THEIR OWN

The other day, I finished The Doll's Tale which was the sequel/prequel to my 2009 novel Mermaid Mirror. They are meant to be a tetralogy, so I have not said goodbye to that world, or the characters. 

Doll was a tough novel to write. It featured some unpleasantness, and also many perspectives. Each of the characters seemed to live in an entirely different world, a world of their own, which made writing very demanding. However, as a writer, I have come out stronger because of the Doll. I am now starting a new, as yet untitled, novel. So excited!

AND TO WEAR LIPSTICK, OF COURSE!!!!!!!

How I will love it if, one day, they will say about me what they said about Marianne Gaskell, Elizabeth's longest surviving daughter! Marianne was energetic and social until she died in her eighties. This is what I would want. And to wear lipstick, of course!!!!

Remember when I was just starting to read Jenny Uglow's Elizabeth Gaskell biography? I have finished it now and enjoyed it very much.

As biography, it makes Elizabeth Gaskell come alive. We look at her from two angles: as the subject of biography, through letters, diaries and contemporary accounts, and as the heroine of a story; a lively life story which Uglow confidently constructs.

Like any good book, this one implicates us too; we participate in the events of Elizabeth's life and enjoy the feel of the Victorian world around us.

Have a good night and be well! XXX