Modern Pin Up!

I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE vintage! So everything having to do with the Old Hollywood style intrigues me, even if it is an updated and more modern version of it. So, I came accross an interesting contest on youtube and I decided to enter. The theme was “Updated old Hollywood look”.

I got my inspiration from the Moschino 2009-2010 a/w runway look, that featured a retro but modern 50's makeup.

Source: www.vogue.co.uk

I added a bold color between the two lines, I did my hair in my own “pin up style”, et voilà:








The beautiful pictures were taken by my brother, who happens to be a professional Photographer!

You can see my contest entry here .

What do you think of this style?
Do the runway looks inspire you?

xoxo!

TAG - Three's of me!

I am finally resting a bit after a very busy month, so it's a good opportunity to catch up with my blog posts. I found a nice TAG going around the makeup blog world, so I decided to do it too. Here it goes:

Three names I go by:
1. Arietta
2. Arze (my brother calls me like that)
3. Ari

Three jobs I have had:
1. Dietician
2. Advertising Manager
3. Translator

Three places I have lived:
1. Plymouth, UK
2. Sienna, Italy
3. Crete, Greece

Three favourite drinks:
1. Coffee (milk, 1 sweetener)
2. Coca Cola Zero
3. Fresh fruit smoothies

Three TV shows I watch:
1. Sex and The City (re-runs!)
2. Ta mystika tis Edem (Greek TV show)
3. Gossip Girl (used to)

Three places I have been:
1. Vienna, Austria
2. Bali, Indonesia
3. Bangkok, Thailand

Three places I would like to visit:
1. New York, USA
2. Buenos Aires, Argentina
3. Paris, France

Three people who text (or bbm) me regularly:
1. My boyfriend (although he mostly calls me, he dislikes texting)
2. My brother
3. Maria (a friend)

Three favorite old TV shows:
1. Dynasty
2. Melrose place
3. Friends

Three favorite dishes:
1. Chicken Chow Mein
2. Greek traditional pies (all of them!)
3. Burgers

Three makeup/beauty products I cannot live without:
1. Powder
2. Mascara
3. Blush

Three things I’m looking forward to:
1. Having a family
2. Doing vintage make up for a movie (I wish!)
3. Summer holidays

Three people I tag:
1. Tali from The Gloss Goss
2. Marietta from Dream of Dreamville
3. Tina from All the vanity

Hope you like this tag and do it. Just to "know us better"!
I also tag everyone that wants to do it!

xoxo!

NYX round lipsticks, lipglosses and palettes

I know it’s been some time from my last post but I would have to blame it on my work load again! I love blogging and making videos for youtube but it takes a great deal of time and I always wonder, how do you do it? I mean how can you keep up with all these social networking and work commitments (and your life) at the same time? Maybe I’m doing something wrong, I don’t know! Any suggestions will be welcome…

Anyway, on to my NYX haul! Even though I was very busy, I managed to place a few orders (it’s only a click away!) with NYX and a few other brands.
I got my NYX stuff from Here's what I got:

4 round lipsticks: (Paris, Power, Thalia, Rea)





I like the colour payoff and the consistency. Although they are matte they don’t feel drying and they have a good lasting power. The only thing I don’t like is the smell, which reminds me of a cheap shower gel (!), very artificial and with an awful taste. You are not supposed to eat it, I know, but accidents do happen, don’t they?!!!
But overall, having paid only $1.75 for each lipstick, I am thrilled with these! Seriously, I like them a lot and I think I will be using them daily.

3 round lipglosses: (Pinky natural, Sorbet, Whipped)





They are not sticky, they smell nice but they are not so opaque to wear on their own (except maybe from Pinky Natural which is the more matte of the three). They come out sheer and Whipped and Sorbet have a tiny glitter in them. I like them but I prefer to wear them on top of a lipstick, and luckily they seem to go well with the lipsticks I got. Thumbs up for the glosses! (Considering the cost of $2/each, I am very happy with my purchase).

and 2 eyeshadow palettes: (from the "For your eyes only" collection)
Smokey eyes:



and Beautiful Green Eyes:



I must say I was expecting more from these palettes because I’ve seen swatches and they seemed pretty pigmented. And although they still seem pigmented when I swatch them on my hand, on my lid they don’t come out as strong. I have to layer the colour in order to get the payoff I want. For someone that likes a more natural look, they’d be perfect, but I like my make up to show! Apart from that, the colours are beautiful and you could easily travel with a couple of those and not need other eyeshadows (as long as you have a good e/s base and good brushes with you!). The price of each palette was $8, again pretty good. Overall I like the palettes; it just takes a bit of an effort to make them work for my liking.
I didn't do swatches on the palettes because my camera gives me a hard time with them and also, as I mentioned above, the swatches for these can be a bit misleading!

I also got a NYX Jumbo pencil in Milk, but I felt it was needless to take pictures, since everybody knows about Jumbo pencils!

What do you think of NYX products? Do you have any favorite products I should try?
Oh, and what do you think about my new background and header?

"I didn't clean my brush" look!

I know the title of this post must have puzzled you, but it's actually how this look came up! Last night I did my make up (with my clean brushes of course) and I did a look using Mac Tone: Grey quad. Last colour I used on my 222 mac brush was The Right Smoke (Rich blue with white pearl). So I went out, had fun, bla bla bla!

Today, I had to meet a friend for a coffee and I didn't have a lot of time on my hands to do my make up. So, after my usual face routine (moisturiser, concealer, foundation, powder) which I did really fast, I applied soft ochre paint pot all over the lid and brow bone and then a matte beige e/s on the lid.

And then? Had to think fast and do something simple but nice: so I grabbed my 222 with what was left of yesterday's "right smoke"

and I swiped it over my crease. I then picked up a little of omega

and blended it on top of the right smoke.
So, after applying a beige eyeliner at the waterline, fluidline on the upper lash line, and mascara, the result was this:



It's not something special but it's a very easy look that you can do if you are in a hurry. Of course I am not suggesting that you use a dirty brush to do it nor that you shouldn't clean your brushes. You could achieve the same result with a clean brush. Just tap most of the blue eyeshadow off because it's an intense colour.

Unfortunately I didn't have the time to take more pics to show the rest of my face, but I kept it simple (a light dust of NYX espresso blush on the cheeks and a nude lipgloss).

Do you like improvising when you do your make up? Or do you always go "by the book"?

xoxo!

Mac mini haul

I recently discovered that my favourite outlet in the city also sells discounted cosmetics. I don't know why, but the thought never crossed my mind that I could find Mac products there. Imagine my joy when I did! You have to do a lot of searching amongst shattered eyeshadows and multiply swatched make up stuff to find something unopened and in a good condition. I managed to find a few things (I'm going to do a better search on my next visit) and I'm very happy with what I got, especially for the price I got it!
I got 3 eyeshadows: chill, which is a frosty white (discontinued)
Quarry, which is a soft muted plum-brown (Matte)
Omega, which is a soft muted beige-taupe (Matte)

(here they are in this order from left to right)


Although I haven't seen the warm & cozy collection in person yet (deliberately avoiding Mac lately - have to pay bills!!!), I think that quarry is quite similar to modelette but on the matte side. In my picture they seem a bit washed from the flash but you can get an idea. I was so glad to find these at only 7euros each! I've already depoted them and put them in my palette!

Next, I got two fluidlines: frostlite, a frosty white with gold reflections
and sweet sage, an olive green with gold pearl (both discontinued).



I got these at 5euros each (!) and luckily they were in mint condition. (I sanitized everything just to be sure and even scraped off the top layer from the fluidlines). I love them as eyeshadow bases because they have a nice shimmer that shows through and gives dimension to the colour. They can crease a little bit if you've got oily lids like I do but if you layer the eyeshadows enough then it'll be ok. Frostlite makes a good highlighter for the brow bone or the inner corner of the eye. They say it's like vanilla pigment in a fluidline form.

As you can see from the photo, I also got a brush: a 222 tapered blending brush. I already have 217 and 224, so I grabbed this the minute I saw it! (You can't easily find a Mac brush here for 10euros, believe me!).

That's my mini haul! I will be going back there soon for more treasure hunting...
If you have also found similar bargains in your country or at the internet share them with me, I'd love to know!

xoxo!

At last I got a camera!

And do you know what that means? That I no longer have excuses for not posting!
It's not the most expensive out there but it's decent so it will take decent photos. Better than my cell phone's, that's for sure! So, I got the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS4. It's a 8.1 megapixel Digital Camera with a 4x optical zoom lens and 2.5-inch LCD screen. Also has intelligent scene selector, face detection and red eye reduction.



Tomorrow, after reading the manual (I hate reading manuals, couldn't there be an explanatory video or something?) I will start photographing all those products I wanted to review and start posting asap. I may also start posting FOTD's (Face of The Day).

What camera do you bloggers use? Do you also use it for filming videos?

A bientot....

xo!

Introducing my two cats: Chewy and Loulou!

I am the proud owner of two beautiful cats, Chewy and Loulou. Chewy is a Himalayan 2 and a half years old (approximately) and he's gorgeous. All of my friends are in love with him because he's such a cutie and he always purrs. Loulou is 2 year old a Persian, with a strange and funny character. She's is not as cudly as Chewy, especially with strangers. She has the habbit of getting inside boxes, sitting on tables and hiding in weird places. I've found her sleeping inside my shoe boxes (without the shoes) numerous times and the sight is so cute and funny! Today, I wanted to decorate my house with a few Christmas ornaments and I laid them on the floor trying to figure out how to do the decoration. Loulou grabbed the opportunity to be a part of the procedure and lay amongst the ornaments!!! I added a bow and here she is...feeling festive:



Chewy on the other hand, was in a different mood. He crept in a bookshelf (it's just a piece of furniture that holds my TV) and acted as a bookend!!!!



Aren't both adorable???! I am crazy about them, they make my day and keep me great company. Although they are both breed cats, I got them from pet societies. They were both abandoned and not in a very good shape. I first found Chewy and after a few months I found Loulou. I am against buying pets because there are so many stray ones that need a home out there... I wasn't looking for a particular breed, it just happened.
Anyway, I know this post has nothing to do with make up or fashion, but I am a cat lover and I can't hide it!!!!

xoxo!!!

Pasiphae

PS: if you want to see more of Chewy and Loulou, I will be soon uploading a video with them on my youtube channel.