BEAUTY TREATMENT

I had no idea that this white top would go so absolutely fantastic with the military skirt!!! I was sure that it would be a nice combination of course (I don't watch Fashion TV all day for nothing) but I didn't know the two would come together so well. A perfect latte is also a nice additional touch! 😀 I felt like Lucy Snowe in Charlotte Bronte's Villette, who cannot believe it is her own image looking so glamorous when she wears a pink satin gown with a black lace shawl!!!

So this was one of the times the mirror pleasantly surprises you. Being a committed feminist, I don't have much of a mirror complex. I can be critical of myself, but within the average medium. As the Ancient Greeks said, moderation in all things (παν μέτρον άριστον). Including self criticism.

Sadly, Bronte's Lucy Snowe does have a mirror complex, and inferiority issues. She feels plain bordering on ugly, and simply refuses to be beautiful. Yet, one of the master strokes of Villette is that we are not sure exactly how Lucy looks like, how beautiful she is or how ugly. She's certainly impressed when she sees herself after a hairdresser and beauty treatment.

Though there are people (men as well as women) who are undeniably beautiful, a part of beauty is a matter of confidence and perception. I think we must not shy away from beauty. We can all look good, energetic and fit!

Have a good start to the week, with beauty always with you xxx 💋💝💖💄💋💝💖
P.S. Military skirt from Stradivarius, blouse from Marks and Spencer (old though, from 2010), shoes Dorothy Perkins (old though, from 2007) and latte from Costa Coffee!
#beauty #CharlotteBronte #Villette #Victorians #latte #CostaCoffee#MarksandSpencer #DorothyPerkins

ALTER EGO

Though I love all my novel protagonists the same, I do have favorites. Among the boys, this is Jaden Hartright, the protagonist in my Mermaid Mirror novel. Jaden is Eliza's super sexy, super good looking but long-suffering boyfriend. Sometimes I found Eliza so annoying that I thought, "if I were Jaden I would just dump her".

I am writing this post tonight though to say how I got my boy's name. I always think carefully before I name my characters. Most authors are likethat - just look at Ellis Peters's account for how she got to name Brother Cadfael, her monk detective hero.

For Jaden, I first looked at US most popular names for boys. I picked Jaden from the list (it's in the top 10) because I think it's just lovely, plus it reminded me of the Native American boy name Jaybird - the name of the Native American protagonist in the novel Witch Child, who is one of my very favorite characters ever. As for the surname, it's from the Victorian novel The Woman in White. "Hartright" also refers to the essence of my protagonist, because his heart is in the right place, he has a good, strong and open heart.

Jaden is a gentleman; he is both the son I would like to have, and my ideal man. He is also like a male alter ego for me. I just love to write about him 😀

Thus, I wrote a sequel/ prequel to Mermaid Mirror. And I will write more books. The story is far from finished!
Xxx
P.S. The post originally appears in The Romance Diaries, my author page in FB!
#books #writing #EllisPeters #WitchChild #NativeAmerican #boynames#CeliaRees #TheWomaninWhite

YOU CAN'T GO WRONG WITH A LIPSTICK!

The times in my life that I have put on makeup are so few that I can remember them all. (But read on for my defense of makeup). Here are my ventures into makeup. Two for promotions, five for public speaking, one for an occasion last year, and one for the fun of it. That's all! I also refuse to take off my glasses. I hate all those films where the protagonist, to be beautiful and get the guy has to take off her glasses, completely change her style and, in short, lose every bit that makes her who she is. There is no glass frames versus beautiful divide. Beauty is unique to each and every one of us!

Of course, don't think I have anything against wearing makeup. I just don't like it too much on myself, often I can't afford it, and, to tell the truth, I'm not too good at applying it. Other than this, I simply love makeup. As for Lipstick, it is my favorite thing on earth, and I wear it even when I do my fitness routine. Lipstick is forever!

Wearing makeup is an act of defiance in three ways. First, women throughout history were condemned for wearing makeup. They were considered vain, immoral and out to trap the men. So makeup is revolutionary. Second, during times of war, women wear makeup to boost the nation's morale. Third, women wearing makeup use their skills to make themselves more beautiful than they already are!!! If this is not boldness, I want to know what is 😉

I am posing here with the new lipstick shades for winter and the new ads. You can't go wrong with a lipstick! Xxx 💄💄💄💄💋💋💋
#lipstick #TheLipstickPapers #Dior #Chanel #YvesSaintLaurent #beauty#makeup #glasses #feminism

ONE SPECIAL DAY

Already missing summer? I guess, so I'm using this nice summer pic. A special day at The Lipstick Papers today: It's National Authors Day!!!! All the best to all authors out there!

For me, writing is not part of my life, it's my whole life. I write and study every day. When I was less than three years old, I could understand what others did when they wrote and thus I invented my own writing system. That way I wrote my stories.    Indeed, there is the theory that the alphabet as we know it today was invented by children, who actually could not produce the more complex pictographs and ideograms (see Andrew Robinson, The Story of Writing).

Whether you are published, or, like me, unpublished, enjoy this special day! 😀💝💋💖💄
P.S. This post originally appears in The Romance Diaries, my author page on Facebook, sister page to The Lipstick Papers!
#NationalAuthorsDay #writing #TheRomanceDiaries

GERARD BUTLER, ARE YOU READING THIS?????????

On the way to renewing my blonde hair color today, I came across the new ruins discovered in Chrysopolitissa (Χρυσοπολίτισσα) here in Larnaca. Kition (Κίτιον), now Larnaca, my town, is a really old place. Though it is not mentioned in the Iliad or Odyssey (Paphos is) it was built around 1900-2000 BC. As historian Andreas Demetriou says, Kition was a meeting place for the Greeks, Phoenicians and the autochthonous Cypriots, a mysterious race which existed here since before recorded history. Kition is Kittim in the Bible; a stele found here is among the first sources of history for the whole island; we joined the Ionians in the revolt against the Persian empire (Gerard Butler, are you reading this?) and produced the world famous philosopher Zeno (Ζήνων). But do we respect our history???? This is a different matter.

I photographed the ancient ruins found under the works for the sewage system. The two municipality people told me that the ruins are going to be covered. I was appalled!!!

They find ruins continually in Larnaca. A couple of months ago a huge mosaic was discovered under a street and is now being transported to the museum. Sometimes though excavations stop and the ruins are covered.

I hope this does not happen this time! Xxx 💋💋💋💄💄💄💄👠👠👠👠
#Cyprus #ancientruins #Larnaca #Larnaka #Zeno #Iliad #Odyssey

THE M&Ms LOVING, ANCIENT, ALIEN BOTANOLOGIST

Halloween is my favorite day of the year! All saints, pumpkins, ghosts, vampires, witches - what's not to like??????? I think werewolves are also included. Because Halloween is not officially celebrated here in Cyprus, I first learnt about it when I was a child and saw E.T. - the film about the M&Ms loving, ancient, alien botanologist, where Halloween takes center stage. E.T. gets stranded on Earth, falls in love with M&Ms chocolate and befriends a troubled human boy called Eliot. The rest, as they say, is history.

Now Halloween is celebrated in Cyprus with parties and jack-o-lanterns, and All Saints is of course part of the liturgical calendar. A few shops have been decorated, and Fairy Cakes made a Halloween fairy cake, with a chocolate bat on top. I miss England, where everything was decorated in orange, black and all things spooky!!!!

The Halloween festival is very old, and you can read all about it in Merriam-Webster online. There is a lovely little article on Halloween today!

Happy Halloween everyone - and don't forget to take beauty always with you! 💖💝🎃🎃🎃💄💋👠💄
#Halloween #cupcakes #vampires #witches #pumpkins #AllSaints #ET#ETthealien #TheLipstickPapers #beauty #spooky #Cyprus