Under the Azaleas

 

When the white azaleas start blooming,
I'll come back to you.

 

-- Bing Crosby "When the White Azaleas Start Blooming"

 

NOTES

 

    I bought this purple Modcloth dress on a whim around a year ago, the tempation of its cut-down price overriding all considerations of practicality in my simple mind. When the dress arrived, I was perfectly satisfied with it -- the length and fit hardly needed any alterations and the quality was good, the only problem was getting an occasion to flaunt it. When the itinerary of my England trip was settled, I thought to myself, "Well, this dress hardly ever got out of the closet anyway, I'm going to find a garden and shoot to my heart's content with it!" I did not expect it then, but when I saw the Rhododendron Walk of the Hever Gardens on my first day at Hever Castle, I felt it was the most perfect scene for this dress. The rows upon rows of pink and purple azaleas in full bloom, the sculpted stairways buried in fallen flowers, the soft morning light peeking through the rustling pines in a distance -- it felt almost like a fairytale.

(p/S  I've received some mail enquiring about the photographer and the fees of this shoot, just to be clear, these photos were taken by yours truly with a tripod and the timer setting, there were no others involved  ; ) )

 

    大約一年前我在Modcloth網站上一時衝動入手了這件紫色長洋裝，當時五折折數誘惑太大導致理智自主忽略實穿性的問題  XD  收到洋裝的時候其實是很滿意的，長度腰身什麼幾乎不用修改，質感也好，就是穿不出去啊啊啊（抱頭）。這次英國行的行程確定後，我就在想＂反正這件大概也沒什麼機會出櫃了（誤），不如在英國的時候找個花園幫它拍個過癮！＂當時沒有料到，但是在赫弗城堡的第一天看到花園裡的杜鵑花道時，就覺得根本是拍這件洋裝的最佳風景啊。兩旁一排排盛開的粉紅粉紫杜鵑花樹，埋在落花下的雕花石階，遠處沙沙作響的松樹中透進來的溫柔晨光 -- 就像置身久遠的童話一樣美好。

（p/S 昨天收到了詢問攝影師及拍攝價格的信件 XD 再次說明一下，照片都是用腳架自拍的喔，沒有攝影師哈哈）

 

 

 

 

Dress :  Modcloth

Shoes :  here

Floral crown :  AmoreBride (via Etsy)

Bracelets :  Cor-date

 

 

Bises! ♥♥

 

 

 

Arabian Nights

 
    Instagram is a very dangerous thing. Some time ago, while browsing through some random posts, I noticed a new eyeshadow palette released recently by Sleek on one of the pages. That opened a whole new world of i-Divine palettes for me, and after relentlessly perusing reviews and swatches and musings and whatnots, I ended up with this Arabian Nights eyeshadow palette that is as enchanting as its namesake a fortnight later.

    Instagram真的是很可怕的東西。不久前在IG上隨意亂晃不小心瞄到Sleek這品牌新出的一款眼影盤，然後就一發不可收拾了 XDD  被這家的i-Divine系列眼影盤燒到不行，在努力不懈地看了不少心得啊試色啊跟一堆有的沒的後，終於在兩個禮拜後入手了這盤如一千零一夜的故事般迷人的Arabian Nights眼影盤。

    The eyeshadows are housed in the usual flat black palette of the i-Divine series and come with a double-tip sponge applicator and a large mirror. I've come across reviewers finding the box hard to open, but I'm glad to say I have not encountered this problem so far. The shades are a collection of rich jewel tones and golds and bronzes, with one matte and shimmer aplenty.

    跟Sleek其他i-Divine的眼影盤一樣，眼影們包裝在俐落的黑色扁平盒子中，隨盒附上雙頭海綿棒跟一面大鏡子。之前有看到一些心得文提到盒子難開的問題，不過所幸我目前為止都還沒遇到，就跟一般眼影盒一樣容易打開。眼影顏色方面大多是艷麗的寶石色調跟金銅色系，幾乎都有珠光或亮粉亮片，大概只有一個是完全霧面的質地。

    The top photo is, I think, a pretty accurate representation of the colours under sunlight indoors. Most are very pigmented, apply like a breeze and last quite long, though the gold glitter shade Gold Souk has some fallout issues. I'm sorry the colour swatches do not translate well on paper and you can't perceive the shimmer or matte finishes from the picture. You can find a lot of lovely swatches and reviews of this palette on the web, though. 

    上面的第一張照片我覺得就是眼影盤在室內自然光下的樣子沒什麼色差喔！大部分都很顯色，易上色也蠻持久的，不過問題最大的金亮片那色 Gold Souk，色澤很美但掉粉有點嚴重。不好意思顏色上在紙上好像不太顯色也拍不太出來各色的質地（沒有微距模式加上手抖 XDD），不過網路上有超多這盤的超美試色跟心得文，有興趣可以搜尋看看喔！


Top row, from left to right :

    Scheherazade's Tale :  light peachy gold with metallic finish（有金屬亮澤的蜜桃金）
    Gold Souk :  pure yellow gold with glitter（帶亮片的黃金色）
    Aladdin's Lamp :  metallic bronze gold（有金屬亮澤的古銅金）
    Sultan's Garden :  khaki green with gold shimmer（帶金綠亮粉的卡其綠）
    Hocus Pocus :  Jewel green with metallic finish（有金屬亮澤的寶石綠）
    Simbad's Seas :  Bold rich deep blue with purple tones（色彩濃烈的帶紫深藍）

Bottom row, from left to right :

    Genie :  warm bronze with reddish undertones（帶紅感的暖銅色）
    Black Magic :  black with navy blue shimmer（帶深藍亮粉的霧面黑）
    Stallion :  matte burgundy brown（純霧面的暗紅棕）
    Sorcerer :  black with purple shimmer（帶紫金亮粉的霧面黑）
    Valley of Diamonds :  matte plum with a bit of gold shimmer（帶少許金色亮粉的梅子色）
    1001 Nights :  satin black with a pearly finish（有珠光亮澤的純黑）

 

    1. Apply Scheherazade's Tale over eyelids.
    2. Apply Simbad's Seas from the outer corner of the eyes and dab towards the center.
    3. Layer Hocus Pocus next and use an eyeshadow brush to blend between the colours.
    4. Apply Gold Souk from the inner corner of the eye to the center.
    5. Blend between Gold Souk and Hocus Pocus by layering Scheherazade's Tale in between.
    6. At the outer corner of the eye, apply 1001 Nights upwards to accentuate the crease.
    7. Apply black eyeliner fully on the upper lids and 2/3 lower lids.
    8. Dab a little Scheherazade's Tale over lower inner corner of the eyes.

    1. 用Scheherazade's Tale上在整個眼皮。
    2. 從眼尾開始上Simbad's Seas，並往中間疊擦暈開。
    3. 接著疊上Hocus Pocus的綠色，並用眼影刷暈開兩色交界處。
    4. 從眼頭開始疊擦Gold Souk，同樣往中間暈開。
    5. 在Gold Souk跟Hocus Pocus間疊擦一點Scheherazade's Tale並用眼影刷暈開交界處。
    6. 在眼尾處用1001 Nights往上勾勒來達到讓雙眼皮更明顯的效果。
    7. 在上眼皮畫上黑色眼線，下眼皮由外向內畫到眼睛2/3的位置。
    8. 在眼頭處擦上Scheherazade's Tale就完成啦！

    That's it, really! Overall I'm pretty pleased with my first Sleek palette, especially when you consider the colour selection that is rarely found in drugstore brands and the relatively low price versus the quality and quantity of eyeshadow you get. By the way, I'm in love with rich plum lips right now, so I think I'm going to try emulating the plump lips look of Japanese actress Satomi Ishihara next, haha!

    這次就醬啦！整體來說我對於這第一盤Sleek眼影蠻滿意的，尤其是考慮到它的色彩選擇一般開架上很難找到，以價格來說眼影的量跟質都很不錯。題外話，最近超愛這種帶紫桃紅的唇彩，下次好想來個石原里美風的厚唇look啊啊啊  >///<！

 

 

Bises! ♥♥