What I'm reading + NOTD pt. 102

Money can buy you freedom. But what about happiness? 

When Jocelyne looks at herself in the mirror, she sees a middle-aged, married woman who runs a dressmaking shop in a small provincial French town and lives a very ordinary existence. But what happened to all those dreams she had when she was 17? 

Then she wins millions on the lottery and has the chance to change her life for ever. So why does she find herself reluctant to accept the money? To help her decide what to do, she begins to compile a list of her heart's desires, never suspecting for one moment that the decision might be taken out of her hands. 

The List of my Desires (original title La liste de mes envies) is written by Gregorie Delacourt, who I thought, don't know why, is a woman, but Gregorie is a man. What is your opinion about men who write about women like they really know how is like to be a woman? 

The nail polish is from Essence, from the old line Colour&Go with the name Free hugs and the colour is a true barbie pink and it looks nice on my hands now that I have a little bit of tan. The application was nonproblematic. 

Have a great day!

What I'm reading + NOTD pt. 101

Fruit of Knowledge (original title Kunskapensfrukt) by Liv Stromquist is a funny, powerful and eye-opening graphic nonfiction book about the female body and our love-hate relationship with it throughout history.

From Adam and Eve to pussy hats, people have punished, praised, pathologized and politicised vulvas, vaginas, clitorises, and menstruation. In Fruit of Knowledge, celebrated Swedish cartoonist Liv Stroemquist traces how different cultures and traditions have shaped women's health and beyond. 

Her biting, informed commentary and ponytailed avatar guides the reader from the darkest chapters of history (a clitoridectomy performed on a five-year-old American child as late as 1948) to the lightest (vulvas used as architectural details as a symbol of protection).

On the surface this is indeed a entertaining and amusing read (because of the writing style), but the stories presented are indeed horrifying, especially if you are a woman. I definitely recommend this book.

The nail polish is from Depend. There was a limited edition holographic line a couple of years ago. The number of nail polish is not visible any more, but with some research I think that my nail polish is number 2033 Ocean Blue. The holographic effect is so strong. it's one league better that the Catrice one, that I showed you last time. The bottle is so small though, it has just 5 ml of nail polish. The application was easy, and two coats were needed.

Have a great day!

What I'm reading + NOTD pt. 100

Clay Jensen comes home from school to find outside his front door a mysterious box with his name on it. Inside he discovers a series of cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker - his classmate and crush. Only, she committed suicide two weeks earlier. On the first tape, Hannah explains that there are 13 reasons why she did what she did - and Clay is one of them. If he listens, Clay will find out how he got onto the list - what he hears will change his life forever. "You can't stop the future. You can't rewind the past. The only way to learn the secret . . . is to press play." 

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher is a YA novel, first published in 2007, but got more publicity again after the television series 13 Reasons Why was released in 2017. The screenplay contains several deviations from the book, including, but not limited to, name changes, plot elements, and character personalities. 

The book received recognition and awards from several young adult literary associations, and the paperback edition reached #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list in July 2011. 

The nail polish is from Essence's limited edition, that was in stores a few years back. It was a summer limited edition with the name 50's Girls Reloaded and the nail polish has a name You're a Heartbreaker. The colour is blue grey with tiny silver shimmer. A pretty one. 

Have a great day!

What I'm reading + NOTD pt. 99

Lust, romance, attachment... Anatomy of Love explores such questions as whether monogamy is natural, why we choose certain partners and why we might cheat on them. In this completely revised edition, anthropologist Helen Fisher adds a host of new data on the brain in love and on courtship in our digital age. She casts an original (and optimistic) lens on modern love, proposing that we are returning to patterns of romance that evolved in our primordial past. 

Helen E. Fisher is an anthropology professor and human behaviour researcher at the Rutgers University and is one of the major researchers in the field of romantic interpersonal attraction. 

The nail polish is from Catrice (discontinued) with the name Oh My Goldness! and in the bottle it looks like the China Glaze's Harvest Moon, but this one is not a foil nail polish like China Glaze, but it has tiny glitter. And for that reason, I chose a peel off base coat. The polish needs at least three coats for decent capacity, I'd say the more the better and for that reason I don’t like it. 

Have a great day!

What I'm reading + NOTD pt. 98

Young Pip Tyler doesn't know who she is. She knows that her real name is Purity, that she's saddled with $130,000 in student debt, that she's squatting with anarchists in Oakland, and that her relationship with her mother - her only family - is hazardous. But she doesn't have a clue who her father is, why her mother chose to live as a recluse with an invented name, or how she'll ever have a normal life. 

Enter the Germans. A glancing encounter with a German peace activist leads Pip to an internship in South America with the Sunlight Project, an organization that traffics in all the secrets of the world - including, Pip hopes, the secret of her origins. TSP is the brainchild of Andreas Wolf, a charismatic provocateur who rose to fame in the chaos following the fall of the Berlin Wall. Now on the lam in Bolivia, Andreas is drawn to Pip for reasons she doesn't understand, and the intensity of her response to him upends her conventional ideas of right and wrong. 

Jonathan Franzen's Purity is a grand story of youthful idealism, extreme fidelity in our morally complex times. 

Nail polish is from Catrice and is still available. it’s from the line Spectra Light Effect Nail Lacquer with the name Holo Enchantment. It is silver and it has a holographic effect that is not too strong but still visible. The application was a breeze, although I later found a bald spot on one of my nails, but maybe I bumped into something. The staying power on the other hand is very poor on me, not even a single day of perfect wear. 

Have a great day!

What I'm reading + NOTD pt. 97

In the depths of winter a killer stalks the city streets. Two women are found drowned in their own blood. A third woman is hanged from a diving board. The crime scenes offer no clues, the media is reaching fever pitch, and the police are running out of options. There is only one man who can help them catch the killer. But Inspector Harry Hole doesn't want to be found. 

Deeply traumatised by The Snowman investigation, which threatened the lives of those he holds most dear, Inspector Harry Hole has lost himself in the squalor of Hong Kong's opium dens. But with his father seriously ill in hospital, Harry reluctantly agrees to return to Oslo. He has no intention of working on the case, but his instinct takes over when a third victim is found brutally murdered in a city park. 

The Leopard (original title Panserhjerte) is the eight book in the Harry Hole series by Jo Nesbø. And like all of his books that I've read I liked it very much. This book has a little less than 700 pages, but I've read it in three days, because it's just so captivating and I couldn't put it down. 

On my nails is nail polish from Essence, from the Show Your Feet line. I have to say that this line had some very pretty colours. This one is pastel blue with the name Pop Pastel Blue. The application is ok, two coats were needed for full opacity. 

Have a great day!

The best three from the season 2017/2018

Like last year I will tell you which three films had the greatest impact on me in this working season. Two of them popped in my mind immediately, third one is a bit more difficult to choose. I'd like to point out that it's not necessary the films were made in 2017 or 2018, it's just that I've seen them in this season. So here we go. 

1. CALL ME BY YOUR NAME 

Drama, Romance, 2017 

Director: Luca Guadagnino 

Cast: Armie Hammer, Timothee Chalamet, Michael Stuhlbarg 

In 1980s Italy, a romance blossoms between a seventeen-year-old student and the older man hired as his father's research assistant. It's the summer of 1983 in the north of Italy, and Elio Perlman, a precocious 17-year-old young man, spends his days in his family's 17th century villa transcribing and playing classical music, reading, and flirting with his friend Marzia. While Elio's sophistication and intellectual gifts suggest he is already a fully-fledged adult, there is much that yet remains innocent and unformed about him, particularly about matters of the heart. 

What is not to love about this film. I've seen in two times and I could easily watch it another time. In the middle of winter, the film brought me in the hot summer days. Oh, how I wished it would be summer and I could feel the vibe of summer that the film portrayed. The photography, the music, everything was perfect. And the love was so pure, I felt very deeply with the characters during the film. The film is based on the book Call Me by Your Name written by Andre Aciman and yes, I've read the book also. 

2. I, DANIEL BLAKE 

Drama, 2016 

Director: Ken Loach 

Cast: Dave Johns, Hayley Squires, Sharon Percy 

A 59-year-old carpenter recovering from a heart attack befriends a single mother and her two kids as they navigate their way through the impersonal, Kafkaesque benefits system. With equal amounts of humour, warmth and despair, the journey is heartfelt and emotional until the end. 

With this film I cheat a little, because I saw it on TV (it was on my must watch list) and not in cinema, but I think a lot of times about this film and I just must include it in this list. The film made me angry, sad, melancholic. I don't want to tell you too much, but at the end I cried and wondered what is wrong with our world. 

"I am not a client, a customer, nor a service user. I am not a shirker, a scrounger, a beggar, nor a thief. I'm not a National Insurance Number or blip on a screen. I paid my dues, never a penny short, and proud to do so. I don't tug the forelock, but look my neighbour in the eye and help him if I can. I don't accept or seek charity. My name is Daniel Blake. I am a man, not a dog. As such, I demand my rights. I demand you treat me with respect. I, Daniel Blake, am a citizen, "nothing more and nothing less. Thank you." 

3. LADYBIRD 

Comedy, Drama, 2017 

Director: Greta Gerwig 

Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts 

Christine "Lady Bird" MacPherson is a high school senior from the "wrong side of the tracks." She longs for adventure, sophistication, and opportunity, but finds none of that in her Sacramento Catholic high school. Lady Bird follows the title character's senior year in high school, including her first romance, her participation in the school play, and most importantly, her applying for college. 

Something easier for the last pick. A nice coming of age film, that had some funny scenes. The film takes place from 2002 to 2003 which was a nice trip down the memory lane, since it was the time that I also attended high school. 

What do you think about my list?

Have a great day!