Blog jubilee (& give away)

Time flies when you are comfortable.

Somehow, Castitatis Lilium arrived to its second anniversary and it would not have been possible without all your support. 

So this year I have decided to make something a little different to celebrate this small part of my life, as well as acknowledging your role on this.

Here´s my idea: take the chance to ask anything you feel curious about. 

My life, hobbies, philosophy and personal opinions, habits... all kind of questions are welcome (of course  respecting some privacy boundaries).

 I´ll classify the questions into categories if necessary, and will answer them over the next few weeks.

And this is the important part: 

I´ll make a small surprise draw with all the participants and will give a prize to the winner.

Time is counting now. 

What do you want to learn about me?

I know I am but summer to your heart, and not the full four seasons of the year

It might be not surprise if I tell that we´ve been invaded by a box flood. 

It´s more like an ocean, actually.

 There are so many boxes at home right now that there´s hardly any space for us, and we (poor souls!) have to swim among the cardboard waves to do anything.

Ok, maybe I am exagerating a tiny bit (me, really?), but The Gentle One and I are feeling a little bored about all this packing up madness. Indeed, a couple of days ago we started needing  to do something else than placing our personal belongings into boxes, so cheerfully decided to go out for a coffee or at least some fresh air.

That´s the good thing about Spain: you always find the opportunity of having both things at the same time, even on September. 

For a few more days, we won´t feel the coldness of Autumn coming. Instead, we can still wearing summer clothes while we have cool drinks on a sunny terrace. And that´s exactly what we did, we flew to our favourite private garden, a place where you can spend the evening surronded by bunches of precious flowers.

Sunglasses : Primark  / Dress and belt: New Saks /  Tights : C&A /   

Shoes : H&M/
  Bag : DIY (mum´s work) /  Necklace: DIY (me) / Tiara:Claire´s

 We were just enjoying the day and taking the chance to make a smallie photoshoot when I heard the most funny comment coming from a lady: 'Oh look, she is all dressed up. She must come from a wedding!'.

She was staring (and pointing an inculpatory finger) at me as she passed through the street with a friend.

Believe me or not, it took me a couple of seconds to understand I was the focus of such a comment.

Well, I think this person was not being intentionally negative.
She couldn´t just assume that my clothes were a normal/daily outfit to me. These days anything other than jeans is considered "overdressy". And if someone judges you are overdressing, it automatically means you are a frivolous person, who is looking for extra attention and can´t be interested about serious issues. After all, if someone makes such an effort to dress up, this person must have no responsabilities at all, right?

Over the years, I have dealt with tons of comments like that (and not to mention about the gothic-look).

Not a long time ago I received a similar comment from a colleague: 'Don´t you feel akward on your dress with this rainy weather?' No, I didn´t. Indeed, I think stocking tends to get dry easier than jeans.

The way in which we judge other people´s appearance is mad, making all kind of weird assumptions.
 Are you a goth? You must be promiscuous!
Do you pay "too much" attention to your look? You must be superficial!

I consider myself a well-balanced and professional person. I have lots of other interests apart from fashion, and (oh, surprise, surprise!) dressing up is not an effort to me. In fact, is not dressing up at all. It´s just my way of dressing. I don´t know why, but I find more comfortable wearing dresses and skirts than trousers.

I don´t like being judgemental, but maybe those comments come from people who feel a bit threatened, only because they mistakenly think you did some effort to look nice and they didn´t.

For instance, in one occasion I even heard a girl excusing herself for wearing non-gothic clothes (I was wearing a black silky dress that day. We had met the previous weekend on a gothic-friendly party, where she would wear a very radical outfit). Of course, I didn´t care about her clothing. I don´t pay too much attention to other people´s look, but this girl kind of felt bad about her appearance.
 Obviously, that was her fault, not mine, but it was a little sad she thought I was judging her...

I´d like people to stop asking if I have a job interview, a Halloween party, or a fancy cocktail just because of my outfit. Clothes represent an artistic and creative way to externalize my personality, but it´s not the only one.

Wouldn´t be everything better if we could forget about first impressions?

Wouldn´t be everything better if we could just be ourselves?

How should I your true love know From another one?

 I told you about the Celtic roots of my people many times.
Therefore, it won´t be a total surprise if I say that, even nowadays, some fellow countrymen are still getting married by the ancient pagan rite. The custom dictates that weddings must be celebrated on Lughnasadh, and we respect this old belief.

Following the tradition, my friends Ana and David joined the multiple ceremony last weekend.
So I had the rare privilege of documenting the whole experience as a photographer, which made feel really honoured.
It was one of the most special occasions ever.
I had the chance of trying archery, eating lots of traditional food cooked on a bonfire under a huge canopy and drinking mead, as well as wearing a gorgeous customized gown mildly inspired by the
House Tyrrell of Highgarden  (thanks mum, you´re simply the best! ♥).
It was very pretty to witness how two of my long-term friends decided to unite their lifes on this very romantic way, attaching their hands with a red ribbon under the moon and stars, all their beloved people around in such a romantic location.

At the end of the night I was given the bride´s bouquet, so who knows about next year?

Now you have the oportunity of joining this beautiful event at Sophistique Noir.

Let the world know about the most precious moments of your life!

Big Mistake Notification: It looks like I accidentally erased some comments while I was trying to publish them this morning. So my apologies to Faísca, 1666 X 30, Linnea-Maria, Shannon Rutherford and all the other charming people who left a comment. Technology can be a pain in the ass.

There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it

Well, it looks like the boxaholic period has finally begun.

Just before last weekend we got some of these awful cardboard boxes and started packing to face our future. I´d like to say that we are making a wonderful job but actually, the ONLY things we´ve packed so far are The Gentle One´s books. Just his books, not mine. Didn´t even try.

'Why?', I can hear you intelligently asking.

And the reason is, to be completely honest, that I don´t want to do so.

Please, do not get me wrong.
I am dying to move to Romania and start this atonishing adventure, but if only we could wake up one fine morning in our new apartment without all the Last-time drama...

The idea of packing it´s truly hard to me because, as soon as I place the first book, dvd, or framed picture in a box, I´ll be saying goodbye home and I am not ready, not quite yet anyway.

I might get started to freak out a bit here. A little bit. OK, maybe a huge bit.

We are supposed to be moving in less than a month. A MONTH, do you understand? And by then I won´t be sitting in front of this desktop computer anymore, I won´t bake cupcakes on my old oven, I won´t read books by the window (here we go with all the Last-time drama again...). Indeed, in less than a month I´ll have left this house forever.

Yes, I know this house is old (older than Matusalem, actually), and we (well, that´s The Gentle One) spend a lot of our spare time fixing up ruined supplies, but the thing is that we´ve been living here for the last seven years and a half. This house was our first house, the place where we first moved when we started our relationship. 

This shabby house is our home. And now we must leave. OMG.

Ok, I´ll keep breathing, I promise.

[Uses the asthma medicine again]

So, I decided to start documenting the little things that make me happy all around the apartment.
Like my summer reading refuge by the window, the light in my boudoir, or the glowing purple colour we painted the walls many years ago. Because someday I won´t probably remeber the place clearly, and then I´ll have my pictures at least.

'Cause, you know, baby? Life is my palette

There are many bloggers I love out there.

 One of them is the gorgeous Magda, whose last post made me think about what products I would choose in the case of someone asking about my favs.

I am not a favs person. 

I mean, I like many films, books, writers and music bands, but it is truly difficult to me selecting the very best. Indeed, I always feel a little weird when people ask me about it: 'What´s your favourite actress?' or, 'What about your fancied food?' are just not a good way to start a conversation with me (and sometimes people can become very insistent about this type of things). 

As a logical consequence, I have chosen the cosmetics that I use currently, rather than my front-runners (because well, I simply don´t have a clear list of them).

Anyway, I hope you enjoy my top ten in cosmetics!

♥ Eyelashes. I don´t really care about brands as long as they feel cozy. The ones here are a cheap pair from Primark Beauty. They are called 'Full Look Lashes'.

♥ Nail polish. A very basic, right? I am in love with a relatively unknown brand. Leticia Well offer a stunning finish with these raven black (colour #227) and sparkling ruby red (# 231).

♥ Eyeshadow. I have never been a huge fan of eyeshadow, but pigments are a different universe (and I am on the boat of liquid eyeshadow too). Right now I am very fond of Detrivore´s Livor Mortis (a very dusty purple with powerful undertones).

♥ Enlightening concealer. Totally sold to the natural look you get by using it. When I want to keep it simple, this is always my first choice. I use Softfocus Concealer by Kiko Milano Makeup.

 
♥  Liquid black eyeliner. Kind of my personal signature, I'm sure you've already noticed that. The bottle in the picture belongs to H&M cosmetic line and I bought it last week during an eyeliner urgency. Usually, I prefer Yves Saint Lauren Eyeliner Effet Faux Cils Shocking, but as I mentioned I ran away of it in the last minute before an important event.

♥ Vegetal moisturizer cream. Nothing like vegetal oil to keep your skin silky. The specimen here is Yves Rocher Organic Vanilla Lotion.

♥ Lipstick, lipstick, lipstick! My current two favs are Kiko´s  Rouge A Lévres, and Revlon´s Va Va Violet (ey, ideal name for me!). 

♥ Fluid Comfort Foundation. Don´t try to look for it in the picture, I totally forgot to include it! However, it´s the very basic product I use everyday. Yves Rocher makes a fantastic product called Couleurs Nature. My tone is Teint Trés Clair.

♥ And of course I had to include the main tool that helps me with the basis of my everyday look. That´s the Real Techniques Stippling Brush by Samantha Chapman. Ok, it´s not a cosmetic itself but, what could I do without it?

So tell me, darlings, what are your cosmetic favs at the moment?

The fine art of impersonating Violette

 Can you recognize the girl in the picture?

 She´s Violette, right? 

This friendly little bookworm who loves tea, cats and sometimes might be a bit hypocondriac.

That´s the girl, the original one.

If you know her well enough then you are already conscious of her limitated tolerance to deal with strangers on the net, plus she´s not a big fan of huge social networks.

Alright, that´s in theory.

All of a sudden, she has developed a brand new personality (maybe as a consequence of a spider bite, who knows!) and now is playing to open dozens of online profiles all through the web.

 Yes, you guessed: I´ve been impersonated. 

I know what you´re about to say. 

Being impersonated is totally cool, indeed it is the mark of the social  success. And normally I wouldn´t be so upset, but the thing is that this person not only stole tons of pictures from this blog (among them these, these, or these) but also used my nickname, real age, current location, profession and real name to found a net of lies in order to flirt with the first candid person unlucky enough to cross her path (it looks like she is a woman, and even more scary, one of my FB contacts).

And that´s exactly what happened: one of her victims encountered this site and after some logical questions told me all the story and showed me some important information, such as the fake profiles created by this person. 

The worst part (if you ignore my real name and basic information merrily given away) is that she even stole pictures of my beloved ones, including portraits like this, or (OH, God!) pictures of me with my thirteen years old sister. 

And you know what, people? 

For me that´s the limit!

I have serious suspects about the identity of this hussy girl, plus a couple of hackers who can work totally free for me and the serious determination to smash this person with an oficial complaint in the police.

So I beg you to forgive me if, for a while, my pictures contain an awful watermark.

Oh! And if one day I start to make silly posts about, I don´t know, low fat recipes, or cheap trips to Miami, or my last pair of Manolos, well, you may be reading the fake Violette here.

My Transylvanian fate

I am the kind of person who makes plans. I really mean it. 

I write a list with all I need before packing for a trip, I decide what to wear one week before a dinner out, and if I have to host people I choose the menu as well as the sheets for the guest room with time enough (and what I call time enough is considered insane by many others, I can tell you).

Obviously future is a source of concern to me. 

Double concern when speaking about career and professional choices.

I am sure some of you already know about my plans of moving to the UK in order to improve our occupation standards (The Gentle One is also very focused on his walk of life), and that was supposed to happen at some point between this autumn and next winter-tide.

I said was supposed because something else took place.

♥ The Gentle One is fond of taking unadvised pictures.

At mid-February The Gentle One and I decided to take precautions (you never know about life, do you?) and apply for several international programs. My choice was obviously Great Britain and a modest post as Spanish teaching assistant. Meanwhile, my fiancé applied for a vacancy as Spanish language and literature lecturer. His initial idea was asking for a slot at some British university, but (oh, alas!) there was not such an option this year. So we moved to the next reasonable choice: the European continent.

Because well, we were not expecting a real chance of moving to another country apart from England, and the whole thing sounded funny and misterious to us. Were we totally senseless by playing that way with fate?

YOU BET!

As the little unwise people we are, we totally forgot about the grants-thing and continued with our working daily routine for a while. And then, during May, I was told I wasn´t given the teaching assistant job in the UK. No need to say how disappointed I was.

But those bad feelings finally vanished and once more we forgot about all the international issue once again (yes, I told you we can be fool children sometimes), until June.

One fine morning I was still lying in bed when The Gentle One bounced into the room like a flood and simply said: 'Darling, I just received an email from the Foreign Office and I think we are moving to Bucharest'. At this point you might know me well enough to predict my reaction. Exactly. 

I totally freaked out. Like a LOT. 

 I was puzzled and couldn´t figure out how that had happened, after all, we were just playing with possibilities. And playing does not kill anyone, huh?

Sunglasses : Primark  / Jumper Skirt: Gift from my sister (Japan) /  Shirt: Zara / Tights : Calzedonia /   
Shoes : Customized/
  Bag : Brigitte Bijou (old) /  Necklace: Family heritage / Hairclips: Primark 

But ey, after some post-considerations we started framing the whole picture and decided that a couple of years in some other European capital was a good thing for both of us (lots of professional experience and good money to save up). I even got another teaching position over there, so everything looks fine at the moment.

So yes, darlings, this little Vamp girl is moving to Romania on September.

My whole family had a good time joking about spotting me in Transylvania!

Nonce, and as you can see in the pictures, I am having a lovely summer here in Spain (maybe the last one for a while).

Stay stunned, this is the beginning of an era!

Lillian colours

 Can you believe Saturday was the first sunny day of the year? 

Considering I live in Spain it is pretty surprising. And even so, it was not really warm but windy and a little cold. I am sure The Gentle One would have preferred to stay home in comfort clothes and reading books (poor little thing), BUT I had finished my May exams and I needed a break. Besides, my mother gave a gorgeous new purse to me last moth and it was the first real chance to use it. 

Among my multiple and very annoying manias there is one that it can be a pain in the ass sometimes:

If I get a brand new piece of clothing and, by any chance, I can´t inmediately use it for the first time I feel that the piece of clothing in questions starts looking at me with sad eyes... I really mean it. For the las thirty days the purse (which by the way is one-piece handmade collection item from a local artist) has been looking at me every single time I entered the bedroom.

 Every-single-time. 

Trying to sleep? Bag watching. Trying to write a post? Bag watching. Trying to watch a movie? Yeah, you get it. Too much pressure.

So? Exactly! Off we went.

I have to recognize I wasn´t specially brilliant when decided that a light poncho would be enough to keep me warm for the day. As a consequence, we had a really short walk. And this included non-stop walking to avoid freezing, which basically explains why the pictures are so bad (I know you´ll excuse me this time, but I had to choose between proper outfit pictures and keeping all my fingers!).  

 But ey, am I not lovely on this hippie-like attire?

There´s something on it that makes me think about Dark Shadows and Barnabas Collins ♥ 

So tell me darlings, are you already enjoying summer?

Exams and other apocaliptic things

I wish I could say that this little period of blogging inactivity is due to many wonderful events running through my life recently. 

But the truth is that I have been dealing with big dosis of stress as well as very narrow schedules. 

These last two months have been a bunch of kicking-in-the-ass plans, including lots of work to be done, helping my students to prepare their Cambridge level exams and so on.

 And now, in the top of all that, it´s time for my university exams ( which I am very far of being well-prepared for).

That´s the reason why I haven´t been spending much time in the blogosphere lately. Besides, I think world has enough hysterical blog posts anyway. You don´t need me complaining here all the time.

So I prefer to look for some good stress-killers right away.

And I can say I found a perfect anxiety saviour in visiting art galleries.

♥A spot of modern (and unintelligible) art: Fringe-like cars and spiderweb case.

 Yes, sometimes I spend my spare time at museums, even if I don´t like the artist or the collection, because then you can find a chance for having fun and laughing a bit.

For instance, the contemporary gallery here in my town can be really awful sometimes, but I keep visiting. After all, bad art might be really crazy and a good stop on funnyville (and much more productive than eating tons of ice-cream or compulsively buying books that I don´t have time to read).

And oh, I forgot! 

Empty bright corridors are an aceptable place to take some quick outfit pics. You might even consider it the first episode of the saga "Violette over-dressed in a total weird location". Yeah, it could be funny to cast places such as abandoned supermarkets and zoos where you could see how unsuitable is wearing high heels.

Mmmh... totally promising!

Sunglasses : Primark  / Coat: Los Telares /  Tights : Pamela Mann  /  Shoes : Mary Paz /
  Bag : New Look (old)/ Necklace: Random shop

 

 

So tell me darlings, what are your favourite stress-killers?

It was you who poisoned my mind

Do you remeber when I mentioned I had one entire holiday week and how much I wanted to enjoy it?

Well, the faerie of the bad luck was obviously listening, because as soon as I announced my fantastic plans I got sick. Without notice I woke up on Tuesday morning and looked myself in the mirror just to find that I had been converted into a red-eyes-congested-nose cartoon (it looks like the fairy had been working really hard all night).

So yes, I had lo leave all my spectacular holiday ideas involving shopping, dressing to kill extra time, writing and studying as long as there was no energy left for those activities and fever is not friends with fun.

Here I am, after three days of complete home quarantine (bio-hazard alarm ringing) doing nothing but little and boring reading for seminars, listening the same CD´s in a never ending loop, cuddling cats, and playing to organize my shoes a little bit (shoes that should be worn, not organized).

But The Gentle One is so sweet that has been looking after me all this time with a good dose of soup, cuddles and Harry Potter films, that looks like the definitive therapy for ill-timed flu, just because he´s so nice, and maybe a little bit because I can be a total hypocondriac.

But ey, once you overcome the continuous 

OMG I AM SURE I AM GOING TO DIE THIS TIME 

you can act like a normal person again (even pretending that panic attack didn´t happen) and keep going with your life, or at least with the recovery routine.

Anyway, I hope you are all having a great Easter darlings.

Lots of love!