THE LIPSTICK PAPERS WEEKEND REVIEW

ANOTHER weekend, another book review from The Lipstick Papers! Today we have a memoir by scholar and author Patricia Volk, published in 2013, and titled Shocked: My Mother, Schiaparelli and Me!

I got this book after hearing an interview with Patricia Volk on NPR, the public radio station of the US. Anything that has to do with beauty interests me, and this memoir is about Audrey Volk, the author’s mother, who was a famed beauty and restaurant hostess in New York.

Theme: the theme is Audrey’s life and beauty, and her relationship to beauty, juxtaposed with Elsa Schiaparelli’s life and beliefs. Beauty, as the author tells us, “was Audrey’s main arena”. A large part of Audrey’s identity was defined by being beautiful, and by being a wife and mother. Also, by being a true lady. However, these ideas were sometimes also restricting. The author juxtaposes Schiaparelli’s lack of beauty and anti-conformity to her mother’s never ending beauty routines and devotion to convention.

Strong point(s): Because Audrey was a good mother, if only a bit peculiar, the memoir is written lovingly, and any criticism is positive; the author draws a good picture of her mom, and a lively picture of 1960s New York. The account of Elsa Schiaparelli’s life is also very well-written. Also, the presence and importance of beauty, beauty rituals, fashion and make-up is drawn very well.

Weak Point(s): Not much really; Patricia Volk’s book is complex but not difficult to read, and contains advice we all need on the way to self-definition. However, sometimes the juxtaposition of the two lives (Audrey Volk’s and Elsa’s) seems slightly forced, and not natural.

Weak Point(s): Not much really; Patricia Volk’s book is complex but not difficult to read, and contains advice we all need on the way to self-definition. However, sometimes the juxtaposition of the two lives (Audrey Volk’s and Elsa’s) seems slightly forced, and not natural. 

This is a lovely book for anyone who is interested in beauty and the time, patience and art women need to carry out their beauty routines!

Till next week, have a great time, always with beauty and a book!

GIFTS OF FASHION

FOR me, the most memorable jean trousers are the light-blue jeans worn by Christian Grey in Fifty Shades of Grey! According to Miss Steele, these jeans turn Christian from ABSOLUTELY HOT to ABSOLUTELY SUPER-HOT.

This gave me the idea to write a post about jeans, and here it is!

The blue jeans was created by Levi Strauss at about 1860: a trousers especially for workers, made with a type of strong cloth called "denim", dyed with indigo blue. At first, Levi Strauss used another type of cloth called "jean", but then denim prevailed. The name of the trousers, however, remained the same; jeans.

In 1872, Strauss collaborated with a tailor named Jacob Davies who eventually designed the blue jeans as we have it now, with back pockets fastened on the cloth with copper rivets.

The cloth was so thick that it did not absorb the blue dye in a homogeneous manner; however, this irregularity of color made it all the more popular.

The word "jean" is derived from the word "genoese", that is "from Genova". Italian fashion writer Cinzia Felicetti claims that this is because the precursor of the jeans trousers was a type of trousers worn by Genoese sailors. The cloth was brought in from the French town Nimes, which gave it the name de Nimes, or "denim".

Jeans was used widely, but it became massively popular because of Hollywood. Fashion Bible Vogue presented jeans for the first time in 1935; however, it was John Wayne, Gary Cooper, Marlon Brando and James Dean who made jean trousers legendary!

Jeans became associated with being strong, sexy, brave, naughty, and with being a rebel!

The first haute couture jeans were manufactured in 1977 by Calvin Klein.

If you are interested in the complete history of the jean trouser in fashion, have a look at Cinzia Felicetti's Assolutamente Glam! However, I haven't found this book in English translation -- only in Greek and its original Italian.

Two other books containing amazing information about jeans are Michel Pastoureau's Bleu. Histoire d'une couleur and Niall Fergusson's Civilization.

Christian Grey wears jeans more beautifully -- but I think that jeans are one of the most valuable gifts of fashion not only for Christian, but for all of us!

A MYSTERY AND POWER ALL OF ITS OWN

MUSIC in literature, as in life, has a mystery and power all of its own.

In The Woman in White, Laura Fairley is a skilled musician, and uses music to say to Walter Hartright what she cannot say to him in words. Not allowed to love him by social convention, Laura plays the piano their last night together to express her pain but also to declare her undying love.

The scene is mystical and eerie, and the same goes for two other beautiful scenes with the piano in literature.

In Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dorian's exquisite and mournful playing of Chopin in the penultimate chapter, moves the novel, together with Dorian's life, to a close and an end. There is something almost magical about Wilde's writing in that scene.

In E.L. James's Fifty Shades of Grey, Christian is also a talented pianist. Like in The Picture of Dorian Gray, the scene where Ana finds him playing the piano is suggestive and fraught with meaning; like in The Woman in White, Christian's music contains a truth about himself, his past and his life, that he cannot properly express with words.

More about these lovely novels, and about music, in later posts!

FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC

THE ballerina is a figure I have personally not found so often in novels. In paintings and films yes, but not in books.

One exception is Catherine in Flowers in the Attic, by Virginia Andrews. I have read both Flowers in the Attic, and Petals in the Wind, its sequel. I liked the books, but I also found them disturbing.

Catherine's devotion to the ballet is astonishing. She practices and dances daily, even under the most appalling conditions. Catherine and her brother Christopher are the novel's protagonists, and are both absolutely beautiful. I believe their beauty places the novel in the realm of (dark) fairy tales, signifying enchantment, love, pain and both light and darkness at the same time. Their bond is most memorable in a scene where Christopher gets mercilessly whipped; he is determined not to scream or show pain, so Catherine, who is locked outside, screams out for him.

The novel portrays the ballet and the world of professional dance in a negative light. I can't say whether Catherine becomes famous, so as not to spoil the story.


Catherine is as beautiful as a doll; like a doll, she is used and abused by people around her. However, she strikes back and, damaged as she is, manages to survive. Dolls are much stronger than we may think!

DELIGHTFULLY BEAUTIFUL: Male Beauty in Literature and Culture

THOUGH the Goddess of Beauty is, famously, female (Aphrodite or Venus, in Latin) male beauty is also spectacular. 

In Homeric epic, the beauty of the man is at least as important as the beauty of the woman; there is also the suggestion that beauty was a quality women indeed appreciated in a man. Paris is scorned at some point by his brother, wise Hector, for being too pretty --"you pretty boy", Hector calls him; yet Paris's famous (or infamous) success with the ladies is never in doubt.

In later centuries, male beauty was often upstaged by the female, but men were beautiful too: Romeo is so beautiful Juliet compares him to a rose; Sir Tristan from Arthurian Legend is a knock-out, Hamlet was admired for his looks and style, while Orlando, in Shakespeare's As You Like It is also lovely.

In the 19th century, men did not have to be beautiful -- beauty was considered to be the province of woman. Still, the ideal of male beauty exists in books such as Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, and in many of the novels of Charles Dickens, such as in David Copperfield and Our Mutual Friend. In Elizabeth Gaskell's Ruth, hero-villain Henry Bellingham is also absolutely beautiful -- his beauty impresses even the men.

Nowadays, male beauty fares well in books and in the runway too (see Sean O'Pry, Mariano Di Vaio, Adrien Sahores, the models for Abercrombie and Fitch). In the first picture in this piece have a look at actor James Preston modelling for this (in)famous jeans brand!

I meant to write about Christian Grey from Fifty Shades, Jace Wayland from Mortal Instruments and some other delightfully beautiful young men from literature, but I think that this must wait and go to another post all on its own!

IN THE VICTORIAN STYLE 

I AM currently re-reading Antonia Byatt's Possession. This is a neo-Victorian romance novel I read about ten years ago, and which I am now reading for the fourth time. Novels like Possession are called neo-Victorian because they are written today in the Victorian style -- realistic, thick prose, with Victorian themes and concerns.

I love this novel because it is original, beautifully written and intricate; it is also about many things which interest me personally, such as beauty, fashion, Victorian women, the meaning of blonde hair in literature and culture.

Blonde hair has multiple meanings today -- from saintly and innocent to sexy and bewitching. It was so for the Victorians too, who saw blonde hair having antithetical meanings: it could signify the true shine of gold but also the beauty of the femme fatale. For this mythology of hair the Victorians drew on long traditions from fairy-tales and folk legends, as well as ballads and paintings. Hair had an almost totemistic power for the Victorians; to give a lock of hair to someone signified strong attachment or even love. Hair was put in jewels such as amulets and rings. Locks of hair could be framed and placed on the wall.

For Charles Dickens, blonde heroines are absolutely good and fairy-like. He also liked brunettes, of course, creating the memorable Estella in Great Expectations, as well as the amazing Bela Wilfer and mysterious Lizzie Hexam in Our Mutual Friend!

Possession is the novel which made me want to do my PhD on the Victorians. I wanted to be like Maude Bailey and Roland Mitchell, the novel's protagonists, who know so much about this amazing age!

More observations on Possession in a later post!

A ROSE-LIKE NAME (The Rose in Religion and Literature)

THERE is little that has not been said about the Rose. To me, beauty, rose and perfection are one and the same.

The rose plays a part in many religions. It is sacred to the Goddess Aphrodite and to the Virgin Mary. Mary is the rose of paradise. A poor, young shepherdess brought a rose to the baby Christ; Saint Cecilia wore a wreath of roses on her head.

The rose appears often in fairy tales and literature -- from Beauty and the Beast to The Thorn Birds and The Da Vinci Code.  Oscar Wilde used the dark red rose in a tragic short story, while John Keats compares the beautiful Madeline to a rose in the disturbing and lovely poem Saint Agnes Eve.

Personally, I have noted that, in Victorian literature, girls with an alluring or tragic beauty are often given a Rose-like name: Rosamond in George Eliot's Middlemarch, Rosalie in Anne Bronte's Agnes Grey and Rosamond in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre.

Kate Winslet is called Rose in the Titanic, her most famous role.

Finally, Oscar Wilde compares Dorian Gray to a beautiful rose; he does this also with Sybill, Dorian's tragic fiancee.

The reference to Dorian Gray reminds me of this: men also have their own fair share of beauty, for which The Lipstick Papers has not said much; we must return to male beauty in a later post!

THE LIPSTICK PAPERS WEEKEND REVIEW

EACH weekend The Lipstick Papers brings you a review from the book world! The review is usually of a beauty book, but it can also be fiction or general interest/ non-fiction. All books come from my own collection at home; evidently I love them, but I will try to be objective!

This weekend's review is for Beauty Steals (2009), from Sarah Stacey and Josephine Fairley, the professional beauty journalists who also do the Beauty Bible series.

Theme: this book reviews beauty products which cost little -- most of them "nothing over 10 pounds". The writers did their own reviews, and also sent products to ten women, who tested them and then answered questionnaires. The products are rated on a system of 10 points, with "daisy" ratings for being natural/ organic/ green and the "Supersteal" symbol given to good products under 5 pounds.

Strong Point(s): The book is very pleasant and easy to read, covering everything from hair, skin, day cream, night cream, mascaras, sun products -- you name it! Some of those products (like the Nivea facial creams) I used myself and I think I agree with the book's reviews and rating. There is also a lovely section with tips from beauty editors, titled "Cheap Tricks from Very Clever Girls". The illustrations by Orlando Hoetzel are pretty.

Weak Point(s): Generally, there is nothing really wrong with this book. It sticks to the point, you can even read while lying on the beach, it gives interesting information and has a tasteful overall design.

This is the review for this weekend! Till next time, be well, and have beauty always with you!

WAY TO SHINE

If the corset first appeared in the 14th century, the first strong arguments against it were put forward 500 years later, in the Victorian era. 

The Victorians formed the Rational Dress Society, which propagandized for healthier and more sensible dress for women.

Moreover, a loose dress, i.e. a dress without a corset, was worn by some feminists and aesthetes. Aesthete women were women who belonged to the famous aesthete movement in art, a movement which celebrated luxury, excess beauty and "art for art's sake". This type of loose dress was called aesthetic dress.

The famous Victorian models Lizzie Siddall and Jane Morris both often wore aesthetic dress. Henry James thought this very odd when he once visited the Morrises (Jane and her husband, the famous author and artist William Morris).

Today, the Victorian corset is read as both constricting and as one of the few ways Victorian women had to express their sexuality.

I think this view is better than saying that the corset was absolutely oppressive. The corset was, for the Victorian woman, an important part of her wardrobe, and an important way to draw male attention. Working women wore the corset as well as the women of the aristocracy and the middle class. Also (as the massive research by Leigh Summers has shown) there were women entrepreneurs who made and sold corsets in the Victorian era.

Women always find a way to shine in the midst of great repression and rejection!

THE BLACK LACE STROKE BY STROKE

THIS is a drawing I made in 1997, and which now hangs on my wall at home. It is titled "Black Lace on Orange", and I made it with pencil, ink and professional color pencil. 

For the drawing itself I used Fabriano art paper. Fabriano is probably the best paper in the world, and no eraser can beat it! Fabriano is in Italy and is the company that first made paper in Europe.

I found the gown design in a fashion magazine, but I don't remember if it was by Manuel Ungaro or Christian Dior. I remember I bought the slimmest ink drawing pen I could find to do the black lace part!

I drew the black lace stroke by stroke, detail by minute detail. Now I don't have that patience, I believe. I still draw, and I still draw detail, but not that delicate detail.

Note the pink surrounding wall. Pink is my favorite color!

LIPSTICK FAMOUS

THE LIPSTICK has such long and lovely history, that we can only tell it episodically!

The first commercial lipstick appeared in the late 1800s. Until the early 20th century, lipstick only appeared in limited shades. The cosmetic executive who introduced the idea of variety was Elizabeth Arden, in the early 1930s.

As for Estee Lauder, she popularized her lipsticks by giving them for free at a charity luncheon at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York. 

Estee Lauder's lipstick was truly luxury given out for free, for she packaged it in a silvery metal tube, during wartime, when metal cases were rare and expensive.

The trick worked excellently well: that afternoon, women streamed into Saks Fifth Avenue, asking for Estee Lauder lipsticks!

I think what made lipstick famous then still holds true today! Lipstick is luxury every woman can afford. It is fun, color, fashion and fantasy, all in the shape of a small, single tube!

A THING OF BEAUTY IS A JOY FOREVER

I AM currently reading Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal, published by Oxford University Press with the title The Grasmere and Alfoxden Journals.

I have just started the book, and I am amazed by the amount of housekeeping Dorothy is doing!

Ironing -- for hours on end! She binds carpets, sews, mends old clothes, bleaches and dries the linen, nails the beds, works in the garden -- planting, weeding, gathers plants. 

In the midst of all this, Dorothy reads Shakespeare, writes letters and describes her days in the journal.

But I suppose that her major talent lies in raising the ordinary to the extraordinary, in making us see nature around her as she does, in making us interested in her simple and quiet life!

Dorothy Wordsworth is the sister of the William Wordsworth, the famous Romantic poet.

Beauty had a central place in Romantic poetry. The beauty of women, of nature, the beauty of a terrible storm. And it is my beloved John Keats who said the famous "a thing of beauty is a joy forever, its loveliness increases, it will never slide into nothingness"!

THE LIPSTICK PAPERS WEEKEND REVIEW

I will try to review a book (beauty, fiction, non-fiction) each weekend, beginning from today! All books come from my own collection.

We start with Kate Somerville's Complexion Perfection! Kate Somerville is a beauty expert, a paramedical esthetician, with her own Skin Care line and medi-skin clinic in Los Angeles.

I bought her book a couple of years ago and here's my review!

Theme: beauty advice, covering everything from what we are eating to skin type. The book begins with an interesting and short account of Kate Somerville's inspiring life-story.

Strongest point(s): personalized charts for skin care and a very informative Q and A (called "Quiz Kate!") about skin care and skin problems and treatments.

Weak point(s): large space devoted to "before and after" photos with common skin problems, which might put you off.

This is the review for this week! Have a good weekend!

P.S. I love all my books, but I will try and be objective!

EXPRESS YOURSELF

A couple of years ago, the University of Innsbruck made an amazing discovery for fashion! This was a bra dating from the 15th century, found at Lemberg Castle in Tyrol! 

The discovery surprised fashion historians, who thought that the bra (short for brassiere) is a 19th century, i.e. a modern, invention.

The term "brassiere" was adopted for the first time in 1904 in the US, when it appeared in a New York advertisement for a bust supporter. The invention of the modern brassiere itself is attributed to the New York socialite Mary Phelps Jacob. However, as fashion historian Valerie Steele says, that bra was neither the first nor a very successful model. 

The bra has a long and interesting history. American companies after the Second World War used silk for parachutes to make bras. An embroidered bra became a best-seller in 1949. There was invisible bra for the swinging sixties, and the Wonderbra for the 1990s.

Contrary to popular prejudice and myth, the feminists never burnt bras. In the 1968 Atlantic City Miss America Pageant protests, they only threw bras in a "freedom bin". Let's not forget that this was done in a decade which was all about freedom and free expression, after decades of restraint for women. In the 50s, you were unfeminine and an ogre unless you looked like the blonde and petite Sandra Dee.

The debate as to whether the bra is healthy is not settled. Some say it is essential for health, others say not so. 

I read somewhere that, with good exercise, the breast does not need a bra for support, and I think this may be true.

I want to think that, like anything which has to do with beauty, the bra can be both sexy and useful. It is certainly a fantastic fashion accessory. And who can forget Madonna's Blonde Ambition Jean Paul Gaultier bra?

In my view, Gaultier is one of those people without whom the world would be less sparkling, less good, and less fun. Express yourself!

RED ALERT

RED alert at The Lipstick Papers! The BBC announced that, for the first time, the sales of nail polish have overtaken the sales of lipstick!!!!!!!!!

Nail polish has a long and lovely history, of course, to which we can get back at a later post. Charles Revson (founder of Revlon) popularized it by famously trying polish on his own nails at promotions.

The BBC (in the You and Yours Programe) had a very interesting interview with Thea Green, the founder of Nails Inc., the new and budding nails industry. I loved the interview. Thea Green spoke about how she was editor of Tatler and then borrowed money to start her own business, and that nail polish is a way to make a fashion statement. Many girls start their own business with a nail bar. If Thea Green writes a memoir, I am buying (you know I collect beauty books and memoirs).

The story had all the things I love! Beauty, female entrepreneurship, fashion, the beauty of nail art! It was a wonderful story.

But I have to say this: I still prefer lipstick...

JUST DO EAT

IN literature, as in life, the relationship of women to food is complicated.

In many books, women are not shown to enjoy food. Beautiful women are supposed to be ethereal. The idea goes back to the 19th century, and classic Victorian fiction is full of such examples. In Charlotte Bronte's Villette, Ginevra's good appetite is considered a flaw of character. Idealized (and extremely annoying) Pauline is slim and is never shown to eat. The same goes for a list of classic heroines: Dorothea Brooke and Rosamond Vincy, Estella, Esther Summerson and Ada -- the list goes on.

Popular literature is equally bad. From chick lit to fantasy fiction, all the heroines are slim. Ana Steele from 50 Shades of Grey (my favorite book) is obsessed with controlling her weight, though Christian insists that she looks better with a few extra pounds. 

To make matters worse, popular fiction is also full of diet advice, and heroines who become successful after they diet. Pages and pages of denial and food-related guilt.

Most, if not all the advertisements on weight loss, feature women. We are bombarded with unwanted advice on "how not to eat a lot in" just about everywhere, from the restaurant to Easter, to holiday to happy (or unhappy) ever after! 

I don't agree with any of this. Food is beautiful, and we have a right to enjoy it. We have a right to enjoy our food, without being harassed or bullied by anyone!

The beauty of food is obvious in any book which deals with hunger. The girls in Little House on the Prairie always enjoy eating, because starvation is a real danger. In A Little Princess, food is almost magical in its ability to revive and make people happy. The same magic is given to food in Jane Eyre. As for Villette, chubby Ginevra is the most beautiful girl in the book and a much better character than the idealized Pauline!

A popular heroine who loves food is Rebecca Bloomwood in the first Shopaholic book. Also Eva Tramell from the Crossfire trilogy. Though I think the Crossfire trilogy is inferior to 50 Shades, I enjoy Eva's eating extravaganzas!

A MANIFESTO FOR BEAUTY

NOT even the goddess Athena can resist a beauty contest, even if it is the one which will famously (or infamously) lead to the Trojan war!

I am not in favor of beauty contests, though I am not totally against them either. Anything which has to do with beauty has value for me!

I find the myth important not so much because of the contest, but because of the idea that the Goddess of Wisdom cares about her beauty and wants other people to recognize it as well!

The idea that beauty is silliness just gets on my nerves!

It is not silly for a woman to take care of her beauty and to want to be beautiful. If she doesn't like beauty routines, that's no problem, but if she does like them, it is no problem either. To look beautiful is not for the silly: it takes considerable time, patience, taste and skill.

Besides, who said that beautiful is silly??? Some know-it-all, I am sure. Yet, didn't Socrates say that to think you know it all is stupidity? "The unexamined life is not worth living," he added.

If you think about it, Socrates was right. He believed that to know that you know nothing is wisdom. The more you learn and experience, the more you realize that true knowledge is to measure and appreciate things. True knowledge is not simply "to know".

I am sure the Goddess Athena would approve...

LIPSTICK FIX

WHAT can lift your spirits after a long bout of cold? There are many answers but, for me, it is a brand new lipstick!

After a long and tiring illness, I decided that it was time to wear for the first time a NYX lipstick I bought called "Angel".

The color was amazingly pretty, with shades of hot pink and peach. I wore it with a bright pink top, a grey flannel cardigan-like garment and a cream scarf with pink flowers!

The combination was slightly unorthodox but I loved it! It made me feel comfortable and colorful. I don't think that fashion is about looking perfect a hundred per cent of the time. I think that fashion is about feeling happy and good with what you are wearing!

BEAUTY'S SECRET (SENSATION FICTION)

A NOVEL which reads like a beauty manual is Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1862).

Lady Audley's Secret was the top selling book in the 19th century. It is about many things, but what makes it truly memorable is the beauty and fashion sense of the secret-bearing heroine, Lucy Audley.

Lucy is fascinating and pretty; nobody can resist "the tender fascination of those soft and melting blue eyes; the graceful beauty of that slender throat and drooping head, with its wealth of showering flaxen curls; the low music of that gentle voice...".

Also, I think that nobody can resist the lavish descriptions of Lady Audley's clothes, accessories and impeccable manners. Many critics believe that Lady Audley's Secret is a fashion and etiquette manual in the form of novel, teaching young women manners, demeanor and dress sense.

Of course, Lucy is supposed to be criminal and wicked, but I rather like her!!!!!!!!!!!!

The novel belongs to the genre of sensation fiction, which caused fear by portraying beautiful yet criminal women, violence inside the home and family, bigamous men and women, hidden deadly secrets and so forth.

The endings are usually good, but the goodness is often so sugary as to seem fake. They are the endings and solutions of a society ignoring its problems and hiding its head in the sand.

If you are interested in sensation fiction, I totally recommend Lady Audley, and also Aurora Leigh and The Doctor's Wife, again by Braddon. As for the sensation novel par excellence, this is considered to be The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins!

DRESSES, GOWNS AND ACCESSORIES

"GIRL wearing an Ungaro dress", is the title of a sketch I made years ago, and here it is!

I started with the figure, and then dressed her in a lovely scarlet and gold Ungaro gown I found in a magazine. The coloring is made in professional color pencil, and that is why it looks so good even in a photograph from behind glass (the sketch is framed on my wall).

I used to be quite into fashion design, though I never studied it. I copied dresses, gowns and accessories I saw on TV. I copied furiously from soap operas and TV dramas! Finally, I started designing my own clothes. I made up stories in which my fashion-clad heroines starred. 

Those sketches have not survived, but I particularly remember a black velvet skirt and jacket suit, with a floral print which was reproduced on high boots of the same color!

The stories have not survived either, but I continue to write. What's more, I continue to write in the same genre: romance! 

Also, I am seriously thinking to take up design and sewing again. Maybe in the summer. We must not postpone things. Wish me luck! 

INNER BEAUTY

Yesterday, I was to go for a free make-up session at Beauty Line in Limassol, here in Cyprus!

The occasion was a public lecture I was to give at the University. The subject of the lecture? Female beauty, of course!

I looked forward to the lecture and to the make-up session! I love pampering and, as you know, I am not that good with make-up. I can't do make-up well, so I just wear my lipstick, and seek help from experts!

Sadly, I had to cancel both lecture and make-up session.:-( I was ill with the cold and had a horrid cough. No reading in public yesterday!

Instead of looking beautiful at the lecture, here I was at home with a swollen red nose, miserable expression and a creaky voice.

In such cases, the only way out is to look for inner beauty. A good sleep (popped up in pillows, to minimize the cough), good medicine, a book, and doing things we love -- browse the Internet for fashion news and gossip, listen to our favorite radio station, watch ........ Channel (insert favorite TV channel, for me it is World Fashion TV).

In other words, what we have to do is think ourselves beautiful!