YES, I BRAG ABOUT THIS BOOK

Will books go platinum, like music? What is an Evergreen book??? Do I have an Evergreen book in my garden, er, I mean my library? (Yessss, see photos!!!!) The other day, I heard a spokesperson from the Nielsen Book Centre (a resource Centre on book sales and book stats) talk about the initiative to award gold and platinum status to books! Books will be certified gold or platinum according to sales.

An Evergreen book, the guy explained, is a book that sells every week. A book that has become ingrained in the culture. The example he gave is one of my favorite children's books ever, namely, We're Going on a Bear Hunt, by Michael Rosen.

Bear Hunt is a wonderful story, with a tour de force that will have you rolling with laughter for days. I bought a small and a larger edition, and it is one of my most prized books. I love it that the family in the story is not conventional - is it a single dad with four kids, as Wikipedia says, or a band of siblings?- and the ending is ambiguous. Some of my friends (yes, I brag about this book to friends) have read it differently than I did.

Bear Hunt won the prestigious Nestle Smarties Book Prize in 1989, and it is read out in YouTube clips too. Michael Rosen, the author, is a cool guy, who was Children's Laureate for the years 2007-2009.

Though a children's book, Bear Hunt is a brilliant read for adults too. And an Evergreen! Don't miss 😀

Have a good start to the week, taking beauty always with you! 🌹💋💄💄👠💝
#books #weregoingonabearhunt #beauty

BEFORE YOU SAY NO

Can soap ever be sinister??? Before you say no, think of Mr Jaggers's formidable scented soap in Great Expectations! Mr Jaggers, a famous criminal lawyer, continually washes his hands with scented soap, to distance himself from the crimes of the legal system itself, like Pontius Pilate washed his hands off the blood of Christ. Generally, though, there is nothing milder than soap, and Victorian women were expected to be able to produce all things home and beauty, from tooth powder to honey water for the hair, and from soap to cloth dye! At the same time, the 19th century was the era when industry could finally make affordable cosmetics for nearly everyone.

Here I am yesterday at a most beautiful soap and cosmetics store, called Arwma Sapouniou (Άρωμα Σαπουνιού, Greek for Scent of a Soap). It is in Anexartisias street in Limassol, and it is beautiful, with lovely home made soap, huge chunks of soap from where you can take your own portion, and scent in pretty little phials too.

I loved the soap bars in the shape of cake and biscuits, and I bought some for home. They are so pretty that I won't use them, of course. They take pride of place on my coffee table!

Have a good evening, and take beauty always with you! 💋💄👠🌹💝💝💝💋
#thelipstickpapers #beauty #home #Victorians #GreatExpectations#cosmetics #CharlesDickens #scent

AKA BEAUTY GODDESS

Mary Quant, popularizer of the mini skirt, started off making hats. She found her work very enjoyable. "Every hat I made was a little sculpture". She would say. Brigitte Bardot, aka the Beauty Goddess, wore hats magnificently. The power of a plain straw bonnet is demonstrated in Charlotte Bronte's Villette. Lucy Snowe and Ginevra Fanshawe, outstanding each in her own way, both wear it to great effect!

My love of hats is well known, and you can see me here with a fantastic hat with thick pleating, perfect for the winter sun ☀️ and with a witch's hat from Jumbo's carnival collection! Isn't it beautiful????? Can't wait to wear 😀

As for favorite literary witches, I think I will not say Hermione from Harry Potter (though I love her very much). I think my number one literary witch has to be Aunt Pol (aka Polgara the Sorceress) from David Eddings's Belgariad series. The series features ten books and I have read them all. Aunt Pol appears in all of them. Aunt Pol is beautiful, capable, an excellent seamstress and cook. She raises Garion, her orphaned nephew, loving him like only a good mother would have. But secretly, Aunt Pol is about a thousand years old and the most powerful witch of her time. Does Garion find out? Of course! I very much enjoyed the Belgariad.

Hats have a bit of magic of their own and can transform a face or an outfit, whether in everyday life, or at carnival 😀

Have a good night, always with beauty and a book! Xxx
#MatyQuant #HarryPotter #CharlotteBronte #Villette #BrigitteBardot#carnival #hats #bonnets #seamstress

GRAFFITI ON THE WALLS

Since there is no symbol for lipstick, the ampersand is by far my favorite! (The one other symbol that comes close for me is the @). You can imagine how happy I was when a darling friend brought me a figurine ampersand, complete with little lights and battery! Here it is at my desk keeping me company 

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The ampersand began life as graffiti on the walls of Pompeii. It's rival, the Tironian et, was invented by Tiro, Cicero's secretary. The ampersand, however, is "an orphan": "the closest it comes to a parent is the anonymous first century graffiti artist who scrawled it hastily across a Pompeian wall" (Keith Houston, Shady Characters, p. 64).

For me, what makes the ampersand special is its connection and popularity with the Victorians. The Victorians used the ampersand to great effect, especially as an alternative to "etc" which they wrote "&c". Great Victorian letter writers like Dickens and Gaskell and the Victorian model Jane Morris, all used the ampersand instead of "and". In the neo-Victorian novel Possession, Byatt deployed the ampersand, in her recreation of the Victorian world.

So the ampersand takes me immediately back to my beloved Victorians and Victorian writing, which, to me, is the most amazing writing ever!

Have a good evening, and have beauty always with you! 💝💋👠💄🌹💝💝😀
#ampersand #Victorians #Victorianera #graffiti #Dickens #Gaskell#lipstick #JaneMorris #Cicero #Pompeii #Byatt #Possession #letters

ONLY TO THE BEAUTY OF LIPSTICK

Here I am at the fantastic Taschen bookstore in Limassol! It is really a dream place, in a renovated stone building, welcoming, modern and full of books!

I went last night and bought the herbal books which I shared in the last post, vowing to return for a full post in The Lipstick Papers! So I did. A dear friend took the pics and we had a lovely chat with the store manager.

There are amazing books, some of which are reprints of rare volumes, such as the herbals I presented in the last post. The cookery section is also great. The best news, of course, is, that more books are expected!!!! 😀😀😀

It is my firm belief that you can never have too many books. How is it possible for the magic tidying bible (I forgot the name) to say that we should throw away our books? The beauty of books is comparable only to the beauty of lipstick!

Have a good day, always with beauty and a book! 💝💄💋🌹👠👠😀
#taschen #books #Limassol #TheLipstickPapers #beautyblogger#bookblogger #lipstick