COMING SOON

Visit to my friend Cristina Karekla's fashion atelier! Read all about it soon in The Lipstick Papers! 

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There's the finished product! Another of my famous Brigittes. I call her Bright Eyes :)

Work in Progress

Work in progress! Another of my famous Brigittes. BB is the only person I draw, and the prototype for two of my own literary characters, Eliza and Marianne! 

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IN GREEK TRANSLATION (Ο κήπος έμπαινε στη θάλασσα)

Lovely afternoon today, by the sea! I'm wearing my beloved military camouflage trunk top, which I got for 6€ from a Limassol tourist shop, during my amazing Easter break!

As you probably guess, I took off my shoes, rolled the socks into my pockets, turned up my trousers and did part of the walk from inside the sea. So relaxing!

The sea is the home of mermaids, Dolphins and coral reefs. Legendary poet Odysseus Elytis, compared the sea to a garden. "In all my poems, the sea is a garden". He said in an interview. Indeed, he even wrote a poem called Ο κήπος έμπαινε στη θάλασσα, The garden descends inside the sea in rough Greek translation.

Have a great rest of the day! Xxx

#οδυσσέαςελύτης #lovethesea #summer #cyprusandgreece #lostintranslation

FACING THE SEA

Yesterday was a grand moment for The Lipstick Papers, as I went to my first fashion show, the summer collection by friend and colleague Pantelis Panteli!

As promised, here are details from the show. As you can see, the summer collection was elegant, airy and romantic. The dominant color is the white. My own favorite was a puffy skirt made of satin, embroidered with little trimmings. I'm not sure I photographed the skirt, as I was too busy admiring it! 😀

The music was great, too. It was traditional Greek, I think Cretan, songs, which contributed to the other-worldly atmosphere of the show. Two singers performed live.

The venue was the swimming pool of Princess hotel. There were seats facing the pool and seats facing the sea. We chose the seats facing the sea, of course!!!

I hope this will be the first of many fashion shows to come, for your favorite blog. Congratulations to Pantelis and everyone who took part in the show! Xxx
P.S. It turns out I did photograph the skirt, it's the picture above
#fashionshow #pantelispanteli #lovefashion

CERTAINLY WIN

If life could start again, I would have become a fashion model. If they wouldn't have me because of height, I would claim Protocol 12 of the European Convention of Human Rights, which forbids discrimination of any kind and on any ground. I would certainly win and head to modeling school! This is a teaser for the fashion show of colleague and friend Pantelis Panteli! More in the next post xxx

IF THIS IS NOT COOL

The great thing about going for long walks (for exercise, for anywhere else I use my ancient car) is that you discover lovely boutiques and nice bargains! Here I am with some pretty buys today at Best Look, opposite the K-Cineplex in Larnaca!

The prices are great too. I also bought a large yellow hat, which I will premiere later in The Lipstick Papers!

Though I was never a great believer in fashion makeovers*(and of course removing my glasses is anathema to me) a change of style often makes you happy! Up until recently I still dressed as if I were still a student - maybe because, up until recently, I was still a student. Though some students are smart and trim, for me it meant the plainest clothes possible, usually jumpsuits.

After brainwashing from fashion TV, and because I want to show off my tattoos, I changed my style completely. And I managed to do that with a minimal budget.

If this is not cool, I would like to know what is???? 😎

Xxx
*More on fashion makeovers in a later post
‪#‎fashion‬ ‪#‎fashionmakeovers‬ ‪#‎tattoos‬

CONGRATULATIONS TO JUSTIN BIEBER

WE love Justin at The Lipstick Papers, and congratulate him for his Billboard Awards win! Best male artist, baby! <3
#justinbieber #billboardmusicwards

PINK SILK AND COFFEE LACE (REMEMBER THE ABC TUNE?)

I had my eye on the pink lace skirt for some time now, and finally I got it! From my friends at Vergi, downtown in Ermou square, where I always get excellent clothes 😀

In the pics you can also see me with a grey Terranova skirt and a lace top which I got about ten years ago from Gap, in Exeter!

I love the Gap lace top very much, because it reminds me of my student years and the lovely town of Exeter. For me, Exeter is my second home. I will never live there again, I know, but it is precious in my heart.

As Tad Williams said in To Green Angel Tower, "memory is the greatest of gifts". Memory can travel time and beat death.

Have a good night, always with beauty and a book xxx 💖💝❤️😀
#silk #shopping #lovefashion #loveshopping #exeter #exeteruni

THE MERMAID MANIFESTO

I am not sure if Mermaids like wine, but I am sure of, and declare, the following:
1. Mermaids exist and are real.
2. There has been evidence of their existence since antiquity.
3. There is still evidence today.
4. All mermaids are beautiful!

In Cornwall there is even a mermaid that became a Christian Saint; also, the Virgin Mary was portrayed as a mermaid in the novel Η Παναγιά η Γοργόνα (Mermaid Virgin Mary) by modern Greek writer Στρατής Μυριβήλης (Stratis Mirivilis).

I don't like Mirivilis at all, so I can't tell you anything about this book. My favorite mermaid book is Indigo, by Alice Hoffman.

This is another of my Brigitte Bardot mermaid drawings. I only draw Brigitte Bardot and no one else. I think this is because her beauty is so classic, I feel as if I am drawing a picture from a painting. The only other person which resembles this, is, for me, the model Kate Moss.

Have a lovely Friday, always with beauty and a book! Xxx 😃
‪#‎mermaids‬ ‪#‎virginmary‬ ‪#‎originaldrawing‬ ‪#‎original‬ art ‪#‎brigittebardot‬

TAKE A PLUNGE

To wrap up my Pafos Easter visit, here is traditional Cyprus cheese in the making! Pafos is renowned for its amazing cheese (as for the bread, it has been famous since antiquity. Geographer and world traveler Strabo, Στράβων, declared that bread from Pafos was the best he had eaten anywhere).

To return to cheese. They make this with cow's milk. Milk boils and curdles (with rennet) in a huge cauldron. It is broken in chunks and placed in special wicker baskets called talarka (ταλάρκα, Cypriot dialect, singular talari). The chunks are pressed until all the water (whey) runs out. Then they are dipped in boiling water, are left to dry then salted. The chunks are cut in smaller pieces, placed inside (unused!) tights and are hung to dry. You can see them in the pics. Cheese stays like this for 5 to 8 days, at the end of which it is ready to eat or to be sold at market.

So amazing!!! To make a round of the Pafos villages is to take a plunge into Cyprus traditional art, cookery and crafts. I love Pafos and I'm proud to call it my home country 😀

Have a good night, always with beauty and a book! Xxx

#Cyprus #Mediterranean #cheese #cheesemakers #home-made #sunshine #Paphos

MY DEAREST SUE

Erasmus Darwin, grandfather of Charles, wrote this lovely boyish poem for his sister Susan (Sue):
My dearest Sue
Of lovely hue
No sugar can be sweeter;
You do as far
Excel Su-gar
As sugar does saltpeter

So nice! I found it in the book The Lunar Men, by Jenny Uglow, an account of the life and times of a group of British
Enlightenment thinkers. The Lunar men included Erasmus Darwin, James Watt (see the steam engine) and Josiah Westwood (see famous porcelain).

The bond between brother and sister was exalted in previous centuries, as per William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, for example. Centuries later, the Romantics were mystified by the pull of blood, in a way which resembled the erotic. This trend culminated in Lord Byron's real life passionate and doomed love for his half-sister Augusta Byron.

Today, sibling love can still be romanticized, or even eroticized, as in Flowers in the Attic, the "incest classic", as one y/a (young adult fiction) website put it. And the love between suspected siblings Jace and Clary in The Mortal Instruments.

I hope you are enjoying a nice afternoon, always with beauty and a book!

Xxx😀

THE LIPSTICK T-SHIRT (PART ONE)

The next best thing after a lipstick tattoo is, of course, a lipstick T-shirt! I recently got two, and the first one is this. From Stradivarius, my favorite shop!!!

Wearing makeup is an act of defiance. For centuries, women were condemned for trying to enhance their beauty. Lipstick was reviled, because it reddened the lips, the sexiest part of the face. Women were in the right, as they are always: since society rewards beauty in women, of course they will try to enhance it. Condemnation of beautiful women, blonde jokes and everything else, is plain hypocrisy and a way to control women.

In the Victorian era, rejection of makeup reached its peak. Beauty had to be natural and only a simple cream was allowed. Even my hero Charles Dickens ridiculed women who wore powder, lipstick and rouge.

However, in came the 20th century, Hollywood, Max Factor and electric lights. People could see each other better. All women wanted to look like Hollywood sirens. Nothing could stop makeup!

So, wear your makeup with pride. As Naomi Wolf has said, makeup is oppressive only if we feel inadequate without it.

Try to forgive Charles Dickens too. All geniuses have their odd moments.

More on lipstick T-shirts soon!

Xxx

SUMMER TO COME BACK

Here I am on the beach in Limassol over the Easter weekend! I'm missing summer so much now that the weather has taken a turn for the worse. Gr! Rain, dark clouds and sharp wind. Exactly what I hate!!!

Still, the summer weather over Easter was fantastic. If I didn't have the new tattoo, I would have gotten in the water, which looked amazing!

The weather forecast looks good, though. Summer is supposed to come back on Sunday.

Weather can be unstable in Cyprus as late as June 20. Then it is as a Bfbs reporter described it once: "someone turns on the switch and it is hot until November".

I would add, "and sunny too"!

Xxx
P.S. "Bfbs" is the British Forces radio.

NOWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD (THIS POST TO HER)

Are you ready for some traditional Cyprus Easter baking??? Here they are, all home-baked in Pafos by my Aunt Anna, who has amazing baking and cooking talent, especially for anything traditional!

I am posing near a basketful of flaounes, (φλαούνες), a type of cake made with a filling of cheese and raisins. Then it is covered with a sesame and egg mix. You can see the flaounes by themselves in three of the other pics. Flaounes are the sine qua non of the Cyprus Easter.

The other baking goody is the so-called paskia (πασκιά). In Cyprus dialect, it means something like "Easter bake". It's similar to the flaouna, but with meat inside as well as cheese. Plus, the filling is covered with dough, then baked. Paskia is particular to Pafos, you find it nowhere else in the world. It tastes great, and it is very filling. A couple of bites and you are full for hours!

Finally, we have the afkoti (αφκωτή). In Cyprus dialect, it means something like cake with egg. You see that it is a small dough case for the Easter egg.

My aunt says that my grandmother Eudocia baked for each of them when they were children an afkoti. It was a grand event!

My grandmother Eudocia, who passed away 20 years ago, was one of the kindest persons I have ever known. I am sad they did not give me her lovely name, which means, in Greek, "well-given". I was her only granddaughter and she loved me deeply. I loved her too. Let's dedicate this post to her.

Xxx

OUR FAVORITE FOOD-OBSESSED BILLIONAIRE

Here I am for an Easter getaway in Limassol and Pafos (the Greek Orthodox Easter was yesterday, May 1st). I am staying at the lovely Londa Hotel, in a room upgraded to deluxe last minute!

Upgrading is a wonderful surprise, though not always. Christian upgrades Anastasia's flight booking in Fifty Shades, making sure that, (a) she is in first class, and, (b) the seat next to her is empty. That is, he booked the seat next to her too. This feat makes Ana realize that Christian can be dangerous.

Yet Christian will always be "our favorite, food obsessed, Sado-masochistic billionaire," as one website put it. Fifty Shades of Grey is my favorite book!

I am having a very relaxing time in Limassol and Pafos. The pictures are from the fab Limassol beach. Pafos is nearly as old as time, mentioned by Homer in the Odyssey. More posts from Pafos soon!

Xxx