Powered by Blogger.

Art Inspiration - Italian Patrons and Artists

Hey

It's been a while since I've done an art post and since I had my first lecture for my last Art History course on Friday I thought I might share some images which I found interesting and try to explain what the course is about.
 
The course is called 'Artists and Patrons in Renaissance Italy' and I soon as I saw it was being offered this year I knew I wanted to do it, Italy + Renaissance = <3 The last time I really studied this area was in high school/in my first year so I was really excited for it.  The course focuses on the relationship between the Patron and the Artist and how it reflects on the work.
 
Mantena, Camera degli Sposi, Ducal Palace, Mantua
 
This is the ceiling of the Duke of Mantua's palace and as soon as I saw it I was like whoa. I was amazed at all the detail in the greenery, the architecture and also the use of foreshortening.  The use of gold really enhances the magnificence of the painting and would clearly illustrate the wealth and power of the Duke.
 
Majolica plate with the arms of Isabella d'Este
 
This plate is very magnificent and I'm really amazed about the amount of detail and skill it would have took to create this piece of art.  The plate is thought to be for d'Este's daughters wedding which shows how the elites at the time celebrated events and how it was another opportunity to show off the wealth and power.
 
Hope you all enjoyed this post! I also am taking a course on ancient Greek and Egyptian art which is not as colourful and magnificent as the Renaissance but it's interesting and I might do some posts on it.



Beauty Shelf

Hey

I keep all of my beauty products in my bathroom on my vanity, it's not very big so every bit of surface area is covered so when something falls over there's like a domino effect and brings down everything else with it.
 
My parents bought and put up a glass shelf on the wall of my bathroom which meant that everything could be moved and neatly put away and not be prone to hit by water from the basin.


As you can see things are somewhat ordered and I can easily grab everything and is pretty close to the basin which is where I stand when doing stuff because the mirror is right in front of it obviously.  My Mum a while ago got me a Cosmetic Organiser from Bed Bath and Beyond so I can neatly keep all my makeup. 
 
As you can see I really don't have much but I do have quite a long list of things I want to get which I will hopefully one day get.

Hope you all enjoyed this post!

My Favourite Things #12

Uni stuff
While I have mentioned that I am stressed already with it still being the first week of the new semester I am however enjoying the lectures and what I am studying.  So far I've only had classes for two of my courses and have been immersing myself in ancient Aegean art and Greek tragedy.  Today I finally have my first Art History lecture which would be a nice change from all the ancient Greek stuff to the Italian Renaissance.
 
Packages in the mail
I have mentioned this before but I'm once again including this as my books that I ordered on Book Depository are finally and gradually arriving.  I won't lie it's the most exciting thing in the world going to the mail box and finding a package with your name on it, even though they're books for uni it's still exciting.  I'm still waiting on two more books to arrive so the excitement continues!
 
My IPod
Words cannot describe how much I love/need/rely on my iPod. I use it to check twitter, email, Instagram and of course to listen music which really needs a little overhaul but I just can't bring myself to do it.  It's also very useful when I'm on the train, twice a day for an hour each time :/ It allows me to block out the rest of the world and is especially good when I'm on the train from 3 o'clock onwards, noisy school kids in a confined are *sigh*
 
 
Hope you all enjoyed this post! Have an amazing weekend :D

Cover and Conceal

Hey

I've only been back to uni for three days and I already need a break, as soon as your back they hit you with all the assignment dates and I instantly become stressed *sigh*
 
Anyway on to happier things on Sunday I went to Farmers and straight away headed for the makeup.  In a perfect world I would have gotten everything, but for some reason I have a problem where I just can't decide what I want so I just end up not getting anything, this also applies to food as well.


My main goal of the trip was to invest in some foundation and concealer as my current foundation shade makes me look like an oompa lompa, not sure what I was thinking when I got it... I went with Revlon Colourstay for Combination/Oily skin again as it's good and works for me. I got colour matched in store and was two shades lighter than my previous foundation (oops)
 
While I was there I also wanted to get some concealer so I don't look like death when I get up at insane times for uni.  I had a look at the Maybelline Fit Me Concealer but decided to go with Collection Cosmetics as I've heard great things about it and it's cheaper (it was actually on sale at Countdown which was a major score).  I got it in Fair, the lightest shade and works well, it really does brighten up my eyes.  I originally thought I would be more a medium but I realise with the whole foundation incident I am lighter than I think I am which is weird, I think I'm tricked by all the redness.
 
Hope you all enjoyed this post! :D

New Beginnings (Kind of)

Hey

Today is the first day back at university for me. This should be the last semester of my degree (hopefully) so it's a bit weird not knowing what I'll be doing next year.  I haven't really decided on what I going to do, I've applied for an amazing program next year but if I don't get in I'll have to have a serious think into what I'm going to do. 
 
This accurately sums up how I'm feeling...
 
I say this every semester but I do aim to keep on top with all my courses, I'm only doing three as oppose to the usual four as I did summer school which hopefully makes it easier. I'll try to keep up to date with all my readings as usually by week 3 I just give up as I'm too preoccupied with assignments.  I also aim to start essays as early as I can so I'm not in the usual last minute rush to do them in a week as I suck at time management.
 
I'm naturally a shy person and am not confident enough to go up and talk to people so this semester I want to try to talk to new people. In tutorials I don't really say anything ever so maybe I'll try to be more involved, I only have one tutorial this semester and it's for Art History so hopefully I know what I'm talking about.
 
Hope you all enjoyed this post, if your starting back at uni today good luck! :D

My Favourite Things #11

New Socks
Pretty much all of my socks are boring and old (I really need to go through them and throw some away) so they're not that interesting to write about.  Yesterday after my Mum came home from her travels into town she gave some socks, at first I was like 'oh, socks' then I really looked at them and was like 'OMG socks!' (something like that)


They're cool as far as socks go. You may or may not know France/Paris is a place I'm obsessed with so you'll see why these socks really appealed to me.  I especially love the middle pair, polka dots and a red heart with J'adore on it <3 ;P

Pinterest
I know I'm not the only one that loves Pinterest.  I've had it for a while but only recently gotten back into the obsession of finding images for my boards.  I created a board of my 'dream home' and since then I've been finding inspiration everywhere. I'm really not sure exactly what I'm looking for all I know is if I like the image I'm pinning it.  It's something I could spend hours doing, I especially love searching all the vintage images; dresses, makeup styles... I'm a lost cause.

Organising Clothes
I was going through my drawers one day and just realised how messy it was with clothes just stuffed in and also the fact I didn't wear most of them as they were more summer clothes. I decided to have a clean out and in doing so threw out quite a bit... For some reason I tend to hold on to things just in case I might change my mind or need again, however I was in a particular mood to throw out stuff so it all went which in a way feels very liberating.

Hope you all enjoyed this post :D  Next week I start back at uni, I always try to be on top of everything every semester but never seem to do so. Hopefully I can do it :) I'm also applying for a really cool program which I'm really excited about, it's that time where I have to think about next year but still not sure about what I want to do...

Shopping Trip Pt. 2

Hey

This post is a continuation of the one on Monday where I'm showing off all the clothes I got which I am now obsessed with and can't live without.

Once'it posted this last week and I believe it correctly describes how I am feeling about my new purchases.



Like I said on Monday's post I love the whole skirt over tights look and have been in dire need of some skirts. 
 
These two are both from Valley Girl and they are now my favourite pieces of clothing.  I especially love the tartan one so much you won't believe, I really want a tartan dress now!  There weren't much sizes left of the top skirt and the biggest they had was a 12, but thankfully it fitted me because I love it, it's black and white and you could dress it up or keep it casual.
 
 
I've wanted some black boots for quite some time now, I have a tan pair which I love but black goes with everything.  These are from Number One Shoes and there're not too high and uncomfortable and I love the buckle detail.  I could wear these with both skirts and jeans so it's good to know I can get some good use out of them unlike some of my other shoes...
 
Hope you all enjoyed this post! :D

Shopping Trip Pt 1

Hey

I mentioned in Friday's post that I went for a shopping trip with my Mum on Thursday.  I got some pieces that I've really wanted for some time which is great, I'll show some of it in this post and the other pieces later on.
 
Pretty much the first stop we made was to Mirrou which was right by the entrance to the mall. I love Mirrou in that they have some really great pieces that don't cost a lot so I always love going in and seeing what they have.  I found some pieces I really liked and left the store with two shirts.
 
 
 
As you can see the first is just a nice fitted grey shirt which I can just wear with anything. It flares out at the bottom which is great for me as it doesn't draw attention to my stomach.
 
The second top is something I saw when I went to Mirrou before and I really liked it so this time around when I saw it again I got it.  I just love how simple it is; black and white with the hearts. It's quite long, it could possibly be a short-ish dress, and the material is very soft which is a plus.
 
I've always loved the skirt over tights look but I don't really have much of the way of skirts which I could do that with so I've been wanting to get some skirts for some time.
 
 
This is one of the three skirts I picked up and is from Temt and was on sale for $8!! As you can see it's black and white and has a floral design on it and has a stretchy waist. I love it and since I got it I've been wearing it around a lot.
 
Like I said I got some other pieces mostly skirts and some boots which I will do a post for later this week.
 
Hope you all enjoyed this post :p

My Favourite Things #10

My Nails
It's been a while since my nails have been painted. I confess it's mostly due to my laziness in bothering to attempt it and also because I can't decide what colour I want to paint them with.  This indecisiveness is due to having pretty much used all the colours I have in my collection and I am just itching to get more colours ;D
 
 
I eventually decided on this colour which is Eyes Like Sapphires by China Glaze. I love this colour as it's a deep but also royal blue and you can't really see but it has shimmery bits in it which really make stand out.
 
Shopping
Yesterday was my first real escape from the house when my Mum and I went to the mall. We were planning to see a movie but there weren't much options and the movies I really wanted to see were either too late or not showing at all.  We made up for it by shopping and founds some great pieces that were not too expensive. I'll do some haul posts next week to show you what I am now OBSESSED with.
 
Online Shopping
I know I'm not alone with this one but somehow buying something online just puts me in a good mood. It doesn't matter what it is such as the books I bought for my upcoming courses for university.  The added aspect of getting it in the mail is also part of the excitement. I've always loved getting stuff in the mail since I was little and getting presents is so much better than letters from the IRD.
 
*just realised this post is mostly about shopping, oh well   :p
 
Hope you all enjoyed is post and have a great weekend :D

Popbasic Le Breton

Hey

I mentioned Popbasic before which you can see here. I mentioned I was probably going to order their Le Breton shirt, well I did and today it arrived which is very exciting and I currently have it on now.

Please excuse the haggard photo-shopping skills, you don't want to see what was behind me.
 
I got mine in a large, I always worry when I buy stuff online that it would be too small but thankfully it's not. It's actually a bit baggy but I like it. 
 
As you can see it is long sleeved and is generous in length.  What you can't see however is how soft the material is, it's very comfortable to wear and I often find myself stroking it which is a bit weird but whatever.
 
I very happy I ordered it and I can see myself wearing it a lot of the time.  If your not on Popbasic's mailing list you should know that you can now pre-order the Le Breton in red here. Just like the one I have but red stripes. Like with this shirt it is $48 US and the website has free shipping which is the best thing ever!  There is a Popbasic badge along the side bar at the bottom and if you click on the link you'll get $15 credit!
 
Hope you all enjoyed this post :D

Art Inspiration - Conceptual Art

Hey

As you can tell from the title this post is another little insight into modern art that really interests me and especially with these works which make me think.  Conceptual art is similar to Minimalism in that it's simple but the concept/idea of it is the real purpose of the work.

Rene Magritte "The Treachery of Images"
 
While Magritte was a Surrealist artist this work could be seen as one of the earliest conceptual pieces.  I first saw this piece in year 13 and it blew my mind. The line translates to "This is not a pipe", when you really think about it you realise it's not a pipe but a representation of the pipe. MIND = BLOWN.
 
Joseph Kosuth, "One and Three Chairs"
 

Joseph Kosuth, "Glass Words Materials Described"
 
Joseph Kosuth, "Art as Idea as idea"
 
Like with Minimalism I love how simple but powerful these works are and how they cause the viewer to think about what they are seeing.  I especially love the 'One and Three Chairs' where it's showing the same object but it three different ways.
 
Hope you all enjoyed this post :D

My Favourite Things #9

True Blood
I've been kind of lost for a while as all my favourite shows are on hiatus; Game of Thrones, Reign, Vampire Diaries and others.  I've been at a loss as to how to fill my time which belonged to obsessively watching these shows but now one of my obsessions is back and it is True Blood.  I only really started watching it when it was a few seasons in but now I'm so wrapped up in it.  This season started is it's last ever so it's a bit sad but I'm really interested to see how their going to end it.
 
My Wall
This one sounds a bit weird but whenever I'm bored or procrastinating from uni work I just gaze over to the wall as it's pretty to look at and to imagine being in Paris, one of my dream places to go.
 
 
The three canvas image of Paris is from the Warehouse, The Audrey Hepburn image is from Briscoes, the LOVE cut out is from the Market Day in Pauanui a few years ago.  The ribbons and bow is from when Mum decorated my room for my birthday and I just decided to leave it up.
 
Disney
I did the Disney Tag on Monday and since then I've been remembering all the amazing movies (including Frozen).  When I was younger I was Disney and most specifically princess obsessed.  I would always find it hard to which dress was my favourite and with Sleeping Beauty to choose whether I preferred it blue or pink.  She was one of my favourite princesses as she had three fairy godmothers, her hair was so pretty and blonde and of course because of her dress which was both blue and pink.
 

Hope you all enjoyed this post, hope you all have a great weekend :D

Garnier Miracle Skin Perfector BB Cream

Hey

I'm a member of Beauty Review which is this website in which you can review and read other reviews of a variety of products from makeup, hair products and nail polishes. It's really a good place to go to when deciding on a product to buy as there is a good amount of reviews to read and see if it's worth getting.  They also send out products to review and I was lucky enough to get sent this BB Cream which is for combination to oily skin which is has been the state of my skin for as long as I can remember.
 
 
I decided to get it in medium as I thought the light would not suit me but now I regret it as the medium is way to dark for me.
 
The formula is very runny and watery but does easily spread across the face so there is no need to use a lot of the product.  I used a flat top brush to blend it out which was very easy to do, it did blend out nicely and didn't look too patchy.
 
The product promised to reduce imperfections, moisturise, give the skin a healthy glow, deliver a beautiful matte finish to skin and to provide sun protection with SPF 15.  The product did cover my redness which was great, it was a matte finish and it did feel like a moisturiser on my skin rather than a foundation.
 
I'm still not sure what I think about this product, maybe if I got it in a different shade I could properly use it but otherwise it's probably something I won't wear, I think I'll just stick to foundation.
 
I hope you enjoyed this post :) I joined the Pen Pal program run by Popbasic and I just got my first letter which is exciting!  After this I'm going to make some cupcakes which hopefully turn out all right, I might put up pictures if they don't look to disastrous.