watchya wearin' ?

Here's my Halloween costume sorted. This year I'm doing this thing with a friend: get yourself a non-stereotypical halloween costume and pose in front of your nearest major landmark. This year I'm a bat.

You will need:
A broken black fold-up umbrella
A bra insert
Shoes from the 80s

1. Cut the umbrella in half, so you end up with two semi-circles. Cut the handle off somehow. This may involve bringing out the wire-cutters.

2. Cut the bra insert in half along its short axis. Sew each half onto a piece of elastic and turn into a headband. You now have your ears.

3. Pin your wings onto your clothes/catsuit, be sure to pin them to your wrists and body.

4. Paint on larger-than-life cat-tails, black nail polish, apply fake eyelashes and all that jazz. Et voila!

So anyone else looking forward to Ye Olde Hallow's Eve? :)

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La Tour

Some personal snapshots of the Eiffel Tower I thought I'd share:

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Lovelies for the Autumn

Gotta love creamy eyeshadow in a pot.

images found here

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Les Choses Qui ne Sont pas Glamour

The things which aren't glamorous.
The first in a series of posts about the things you shouldn't be doing if you want to resemble those Parisian goddesses everyone's talking about.

1. Trowels of eyeshadow are like warpaint.
 You just end up looking like a drug addict. Eyeshadow in subdued tones, applied with a small brush along the lower lid can look phenomenal, but coloured eyeshadows, especially pinks and purples, are an absolute no-no. Chanel here is a major offender, but then again, it's best not to follow catwalk make-up trends.

{image found here}

2. Dark Lipstick isn't pretty.
 It's not chic. Sure, it's got attitude - a gothic undertone and, furthermore, it makes you look unhealthy. Studies have shown that the redder your mouth, the more attractive it is, because it demonstrates good oxygen carriage in your capillaries. This is supposed to ensure good DNA and be an asset to procreation, so the opposite sex find it more attractive on a subconscious, biological level. OK, so Megan Fox looks reasonably good here, but there's a slight aspect of aggression, isn't there? Furthermore, I can't help but note that this was taken at the premiere of Jennifer's Body, where Fox plays a teenage vampire. Was her stylist trying to echo this in her outfit perhaps? Remember:Your first goal in looking beautiful is to look clean. As long as you look (and smell) clean your outfit/make-up can be as minimalist as you like, you'll be fine. Looking dirty is an absolute crime.

{image found here}

3. Long blond locks can be a bit much. 

How many Parisians have you seen with hair past their shoulder blades? The answer is not many. Let me tell you why. Hair has long been a motif and a demonstration of sexuality, in a psychological sense. Long, loose hair, is a reflection of the woman. And, to return to the concept of cleanliness, it's slightly mangy when it goes beyond the under-wire of your bra. So keep it short. Short hair has attitude, and can still be gorgeous, but you concentrate on the face more.  Dree Hemingway's got it right in all departments:

{image found here}

She therefore wins our beauty laureate of the day, in that a) look at 'em peepers: clean, discreet, gorgeous eyebrows, fabulously understated, b) her mouth is fab, c) She's got the bedhead thing goin' on, but it's no longer than the second button of her cardigan. Simple and Sexy.

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Tonal City

A town that lends itself superbly to black and white photography.

image found here, here

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Gets me Thinking

There's something very thought-provoking about this.

Congratulations Carla!

Le Premier Bebe de l'Elysee!

image found here

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ohmygawshthisisglamorous

It's called Shourouk. It's sublime.

image found here, here, here, here, here, here, here

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Glamorous destinations

In the mood for a trip to the opera sometime soon, my chickies? This season Cinderella will be on in the Opera Bastille (OK, so it's not the gorgeous Opera Garnier with its hordes of chandeliers and marble staircases, but still), from the 25th of November till the 30th of December. Buy your tickets here. I think I'm in serious need of a fix of sparkle. It's been a while since my last dose.

image found here, here, here, here, here

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Paris l'hiver

...Paris in the spring is dazzling, Paris in the summer is stunning, Paris in the autumn is captivating, but Paris in the winter is enchanting...

It's now safe to say that I am officially settling into my winter mode. And I've started daydreaming about all the mischief I'll be getting up to this winter season. First on the list, is, of course, Versailles in the snow. It's a dream, my dears. Then of course there's Galeries Lafayette and all that jazz - shameless window-shopping and drooling over all that lavish materialism. I put the Pont Alexandre III in there because there's something very whimsical about giant gold statues sprinkled with snow, isn't there? Finally, there's the Eiffel Tower at New Year's. If we're lucky again this year it might just change colour...

image found here, here, here, here, here, here

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Only slightly cool

This came out, as I am told, when the movie came out. So a while ago. So I'm a little behind. But this is artsy and awesome. I'll eat it up I love it so. 

And I'm thinking: hard to make on my own? Maybe not so much. I am running to the nearest supermarket to buy myself a crumby white t shirt to paint the next opportunity I get! Someone is going to go WILD with a paintbrush later this week. 

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A Different Kind of Gorgeous

Now here is a new French movie star, shortly, I am sure, to take the world by storm. Astrid Berges-Frisbey is another Audrey Tatou-esque figure - one of French finesse and delicacy, elegance and quiet sophistication, without the Hollywood meets European sex-bomb appeal of Marion Cotillard (as much as we may love her). No, she is demure, modest, intrinsically beautiful. Audrey Hepburn goes French. Carey Mulligan brunette, Felicity Jones Rive Gauche.

I love the way at all three of these catwalk events she has been dressed in white or grey - so fresh and clean, so elegant and yet so un-pretentious. It allows for room to play with texture, cut, detailing and has an entirely flattering finish. Also, notice the way she is always wearing something short, a way in itself of making a statement. She's that girl who comes to the party in jeans, who goes to the themed disco in normal clothes, and is immediately infinitely cooler solely because she did not go out to buy an outfit specifically for the event. Here it's the same concept: no, she did not don a floor-length fishtail dress embedded with Swarovski crystals and peacock feathers. No, she does not carry a tiny bag containing the grand total of a lipstick, no she does not frost herself with jewels galore. She is gorgeous, and that's all there is to it. There's even a completely admirable lack of warpaint.

the minimalist make-up combined with the slightly tousled hair: chic with an edge.

because beige is unperturbably chic.

When Cinderella went to the ball on the first night (because anyone who's anyone knows that there were three nights), she might have looked a little like this:

I suspect that she wore her hair in a chignon, put on a quick dash of eyeliner and a swipe of lipstick. She wore gold drop earrings and those divine Valentino lace shoes from a season past...

She didn't have a bag, because who needs to bring anything to a ball? She was wearing magic make-up from her fairy godmother anyway, so it never came off. She did, however, have a rather nice ride:

image found here, here

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