THE INVENTION OF A BARBIE LAND WAS MINE (THE LIPSTICK PAPERS BOOK REVIEW)

ONE OF THE FIRST stories I ever wrote, was when I was 8 years old, for a school composition. I imagined a visit to Barbie land: my Barbie doll had come alive and we travelled together to her world of beauty and blonde! Note that in Cyprus we had the Barbie doll, but not the Barbie paraphernalia for many years: the invention of a Barbie land was mine.

I never grew out of my love for Barbie and toys. Today, my research involves dolls and the impact they have on female and girl identity. That is why I was happy to buy this small collection from Agra publishing house: it's called Dolls and Toys (Κούκλες και Παιχνίδια) and features little texts on dolls and toys from authors like Rainer Maria Rilke, Charles Baudelaire, Umberto Eco and others.

Agra is a good publishing house, which brings to the Greek-reading public works of contemporary importance and of some peculiarity, which more "conventional" publishers would not have ordinarily thought to translate. Examples are a work on shadows in art, which began as a museum catalogue, a lovely monograph on angels, feminist books by Marilyn Yalom and so forth. If you are Greek or Greek-speaking, I would recommend Agra.

This book I don't like too much, to be honest. The texts (though I have not read them all) seem to me to be missing something. The chapter on dolls, for instance, failed to catch my attention, and I consider myself a doll researcher. 

However, the book is a good effort, and certainly unique among works published in Greek.

Have a good Sunday and be well! See you again soon :-)

STAY TUNED

WHO can forget the hairdressing episode in Charlotte Bronte's Villette, where Lucy Snowe does not recognize herself after a hairdresser has worked on her hair? Lucy is one of the most eccentric characters in literature -- she rejects beauty and beauty rituals, then complains that she is plain!

Having grown bored with the white in my hair, I decided to pursue my lifelong dream of becoming blonde!

Also, I decided to start gradually, with a light chestnut color and eventually move to a shade of white-gold blonde which I like very much.

There I am, in the pics, starting the process and then with the eventual result!

This first shade seems to me to be a coppery bronze and, to tell you the truth, it's not me. I want either my dark natural color or the blonde. This, I don't like too much.

I hope to finish the process in a few months. It will get lighter from month to month. Stay tuned! xxx

THE PERFECT EXFOLIATOR

NOONE can go to the beach without remembering the excursion to Lyme in Jane Austen's Persuasion!

On the beachfront at Lyme, Anne Eliot's faded beauty comes back; this happens for many reasons, but mainly because Captain Wentworth is again near her, AND he is feeling jealous because another man has been courting Anne! Also, Captain Wentworth is taught a valuable lesson, after Louisa Musgrove's accident. Persuasion is one of the most beautiful love stories ever written. I totally recommend it to anyone who hasn't read!

Here I am on the lovely Ayia Napa beachfront, with the white sand and the clear blue green water. The Ayia Napa-Protaras-Ammochostos triangle have one of the most beautiful sea fronts of the Eastern Mediterranean.

I loved the day, because the sunshine was subdued; clouds hid the sun, but still it wasn't dark -- there was a soft, pale light which was kind on the eyes and the skin.

Plus, the sand is the perfect exfoliator for the feet!

Bye for now, and be well! xxx

GIVE ME McDONALD'S ANY TIME (THE LIPSTICK PAPERS BOOK REVIEW)

THERE is nowhere more appropriate to review a book about fast food than in a fast food joint! Here I am at my local Burger King.

I bought Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation in the Penguin Celebrations series, from the beloved Blackwell University Bookshop in Exeter, when I was still doing my PhD. I started reading it only recently.

I am not sure I like it, though. The start is very good: a history of the fast food industry and an account of fast food's commercial and cultural presence today (e.g. commercial ads in school buildings).

However, the rest of the book is not equally relevant or interesting and I stopped reading. It seemed to me as a repetition of the general social condemnation of fast food. "Fast food is bad for you, don't eat". Nothing original or new here.

I personally like fast food, but I didn't enjoy my visit to Burger King in Larnaca. The food is OK, and I liked the unisex parent and child post in the restrooms (rather than the terribly sexist mother and child post or, even worse, the mere placement of a board on which to change the baby in the women's toilets).

Still, the place was too noisy, toddlers were running in hysterics everywhere, AND the board floor on the outer restaurant is made of planks. Can you imagine the noise when someone drags a chair? We DON'T put plank floors in fast food joints. The noise is a nightmare.

I am not going to Burger King ever again. Give me McDonald's any time! :-)

BACK IN FULL BLOOM

HOW happy I was the other day to find the uprooted wild jasmine back in full bloom! Can you believe that it turned like this in the space of only one week?????????? When I was there last week there was NOTHING, while on Friday there was THIS. 

There is a reason it's called "wild" (apart from "Turkish") jasmine!!!

More nature news -- I pictured this lovely banana tree in a friend's garden. 

You can see the fresh bananas growing too. Yum, yum!

My friend has an amazing little garden, with aloe vera, too, which provides me with free ointment for the eyes and the skin!

Have a good Saturday evening, be well, and don't forget to use the lipstick!!! xxx

IT'S IN THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY, SO IT MUST BE TRUE

"ALL ART is quite useless". Oscar Wilde declared in the famous Preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray. Of course, Wilde was targeting those narrow-minded critics who censure art and writing, and want art to have a clear moral purpose. "There is no such a thing as a moral or an immoral book". Wilde added. "Books are well written, or badly written. That is all".

Wilde was right. Often, art with a moral purpose serves the narrow minded majority.

Here is my latest drawing, roughly based on my beloved Brigitte Bardot. 

Here it is in pencil and then in ink.

Art is, for me, tremendous fun, and a chance to express my ideas about beauty, color and harmony. "Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter". Wilde said, in the words of Basil Hallward, his artist hero in Dorian Gray.

If it is in The Picture of Dorian Gray, it must be true. One of the best novels ever written! 

Have a good night and be well :-)

MERMAIDS, MIRRORS AND DOLLS

MY own novels are all about breaking stereotypes and showing that feminism and fairy tale romance can go together very well. In my novel Mermaid Mirror and its sequel/prequel, Eliza and Marianne, my protagonists, are lookalikes, and based on Brigitte Bardot!

I have made a sketch of Brigitte in a lovely pose on the sand, which you can see here. It is roughly my idea of Eliza and Marianne. Tall, curvy, with green eyes and blonde hair!

My novels are all about breaking stereotypes. I state boldly that beautiful women are clever and dynamic. I refuse to objectify beauty, while also remaining true to romance smile emoticon

Might I add that Marianne and Eliza, lookalikes, are mother and daughter in law? Freud would have a field day...

WHAT MORE CAN YOU ASK FOR (THE LIPSTICK PAPERS BOOK REVIEW)

HELLO and good evening for a Monday! Let's go today with The Lipstick Papers Book Review and Pretty Honest by Sali Hughes!

This is yet one more beauty book from my collection. I really love it, for many reasons.

The edition is lovely. Amazing pink cover, beautiful, thick paper, pretty fonts, artistic pictures of cosmetics inside. What more can you ask for? You are right! Nothing.

The advice is sound and reasonable, so that the book can serve as a good introduction to make-up, skin-care and all sorts of cosmetics.

What I love most about Pretty Honest, and I think is what makes it different from other beauty books, is its female-centred, feministic viewpoint. Pretty Honest honestly explains that feminism and beauty are perfectly compatible -- and they are, as committed feminists like myself will testify. Beauty means feeling good and having self-respect. Beauty and cleverness go together.

I also love the advice on hair: long hair is good at any age. Turning a specific age does not mean cutting your locks, not if you don't want to. Long hair looks great at any age.

Though I don't agree that beauty counter staff are as inimical and intimidating as Sali Hughes says they are, I give this book the thumbs up.

Bye for now and be well! Kisses :-)

HOW TO BOIL AN EGG AND OTHER COOKING MYSTERIES

SOME pictures from yesterday! Here I am in the cookbook section at Parga bookstore in Larnaca. I collect cookbooks, but don't think I can cook. I can hardly boil an egg! To boil an egg I have to read the instructions -- thanks WikiHow and About.com!

Apart from boiled eggs, the one dish I can do is pasta boiled in half water half milk. Pasta boiled in milk is a very old, if not nearly ancient, Cyprus delicacy, called trin (τριν) as a friend who is a dedicated amateur cook reminds me. He is also the friend who took these pics, thanks!

Eventually, I bought not a cookbook, but a Greek historical romance called Η Πριγκιπἐσσα Ιζαμπώ, The Princess Isabella, if I translate the name correctly. This is an early twentieth century novel, by classic Greek writer Angelos Terzakis (Άγγελος Τερζάκης). It's very famous, and I bought a nice, scholarly edition. Here it is:

However, I must also say that I rarely read Greek literature, apart from the ancient classics. I can't vouchsafe for the quality of the novel, therefore. It seems to me to be in the tradition of Sir Walter Scott, and I loved the edition. Some illustrations are ugly, but the paper, fonts, edition are very pretty, and so are the small illustrations which illumine the start and end of each chapter.

More about this novel later! xxx

IN ALL SHAPES AND SIZES

AS you know, the rose is my favorite flower and one of my personal symbols. My other personal symbols include the owl, the moon, the pen and, of course, the lipstick!

Thus, this tiny little book is one of my favorites. Beauty and wisdom come in all shapes and sizes!

This is The Lipstick Papers Book review, and we have The Rose, an Ariel Book by Maddison Malone!

I bought The Rose nearly fifteen years ago, during a lovely week in London, and have treasured it since.

Though tiny, The Rose is full of information about the beautiful flower. The rose in history, legends and myths about the rose, the rose in religion -- did you know that the red rose symbolizes the blood of Christ? Or that an angel made the tears of a poor shepherdess into a bouquet of roses? She gave the bouquet as a present to the baby Jesus! ;-)

This is the book which began my interest in the cultural presence of the rose. Apart from interesting information, it is full of pretty pictures and sketches.

A small example of perfection! xxx

TURN THE WHEEL -- FULL TURN!

YESTERDAY, I had a most original kind of help with taking the car out of a parking yard!

I am not too good with parking or un-parking the car (car = my ancient Toyota Corolla). Yesterday, I got stuck and could not get out except on reverse gear. However, the way and angle the other cars were parked made it difficult for me. Who do you think came to my aid? An elderly couple from the third floor of a block of flats. They shouted instructions to me from the third floor balcony!

"Turn the wheel -- full turn"! "Go"! "You can still go"! "Now stop"! "You can go now"!

It was great fun! They will not be reading this, but I thank the kind people with all my heart.

Plus, I found another huge Turkish jasmine bush (in the parking yard). There it is:

How I love this flower! It's highly aromatic and, as you can see, amazingly beautiful. The one I put in the earlier post was taken out  -- but not uprooted! The Turkish jasmine is reproduced with seeds which are easily carried by the wind. There is a new jasmine bush growing in the same place right now. ;-)

Have a good night and be well xxx

HEAVEN IS SOMEWHERE BETWEEN A LIPSTICK AND A BOOK

FOR ME, one of life's greatest dilemmas is this: do I love the beauty store more, or the book store??????? I really can't decide!

When I get into a beauty store: heaven! I love everything. The creams, the lotions, the syrums, the packaging! The packaging enchants me.

Most of all, I love the lipstick! The lipstick is a world of luxury all of its own. Heaven is somewhere between a lipstick and a book.

Because this is another of life's greatest loves, possibly the first love: the book store. Our book stores in the Cyprus of the 70s were not that good (clue: the book collection remained the same throughout my whole childhood). Still, I loved them. I loved the book titles, the covers, the stories, the feel of the book in my hand.

Like I said, if there was a heaven, for me it would be somewhere between the lipstick and the book. Here I am yesterday with the new Dior colors and in my beloved Estee Lauder nook!

Have a good Saturday morning xxx

PAPER LOVE

HERE I am today drawing Brigitte Bardot, who is my model for female beauty! 

I draw in pencil, then in ink, and color with professional pencil. My journal is the Moleskin artist's journal though I must confess that, for drawing paper, I prefer Fabriano from Italy.

If you have been reading this blog from the start you will know my love for Italy, all things Italian, and my love for Fabriano paper. Fabriano were the first, after Moorish Spain, to produce paper in Europe. Gutenberg bought paper from them.

We had Fabriano imported in Cyprus years ago, but not anymore. When I went to Italy, in 2004, the first thing I did was to go to the Fabriano store for paper. I still have some blocks!

Have a good night and be well xxx