La Bottega Gentile Authentic Italian Style in the South of Italy

 Yesterday I had the pleasure of visiting one of the most interesting shops I have seen in the area where I live in a long long time. The shop is in the gorgeous little town of Martina Franca ,  Apulia and it's called La Bottega Gentile . The shop is a mix of carefully chosen one of a kind pieces from brands such as Porselli , the well known ballerina shop next to La Scala in the centre of Milan . Porselli is now making spledid handmade ballerinas also available to the public together with other models such as anckle boots. The owners of the shop were quick to capture the simple yet unique style of Porselli and insert it in their store. Everything in La Bottega Gentile is carfully chosen to represent a specific and unique Italian style made by excellent artisanship . The beauty about this shop is that each piece is singular.  The owners buy one to two pieces per  item. You can be sure to be be original in one of their outfits. They also have handmade jewelry which is made by the owner herself. The shop offers everything from formal dresses , everyday casual clothes all the way to accessories.

 

 Each piece of clothing is easily interchangeable with other pieces in the shop as to create uncomparable and modern looks.

 Singular handmade jewelry

 The shop is situated in the heart of Martina Franca which is to me is one of the most luminous and gorgeous towns in Puglia . I have taken some shots of the city center here below. What is most spectacular here in Apulia and mostly in La Valle D'itria is the blinding white light reflected from the white buildings which creates a sharp and crisp contrast with the bright blue sky.

My Hair Evolution

Six Months Ago...

 I ruthlessly chopped off my gorgeous hair and never looked back! Do I regret it? Do I miss my long hair? Yes I do !!!! I know it's just hair but you don't miss something until you've parted with it. I

actually don't regret it but I do miss it. I think I needed to get it out of my system and so I did. I now know that I am very good at cutting hair since I have done it on myself. This below is the evolution of my hair in all it's glamorous changes! I must warn you that once you go short there is nothing holding you back from cutting it even shorter and playing around with it...that is what I did by dying it blonde then to black and now back to blonde. I've always very happy the the various haircurts and hair dyes and have given myself throughout the year except to the last mishap when I mistakenly went to the hairdresser's and asked for a even shorter haircut and some highlights! Bad decision, from now on I am sticking to my natural hair color and growing it out.

                       This above picture was taken at the hairdresser's... What I had done still hadn't hit me!

This is the last of the hairstyles that I have come up with in order to same the unsavable. No worries I am sure I will modify it some more until I am content ;-)

Need to go back to THIS!!!

Rachel K CC Cream * Perfection in a Bottle

I am wearing the amazing Rachel K CC Cream in Original (lightest Color) with a little bit of concealer and that is it!! I love this CC Cream. I was so excited to get this after watching LisaLisaD1 applying it for the 200th time. I must say that I like it on it's own. It will work wonders this summer as this is especially made for humid climates. It corrects my color and fades my pores and imperfections extremely well. In Mac foundations I am an NC 15 and that of course means I am yellow based however this color (Original) is more pink based but it acts as a brightener to my skin. I simply go and correct it by balancing out the pinkie look with some bronzer or Mineral powder. It lasts all day and keeps me looking neat and polished without making me look oily by the end of the day.Actually to tell the truth the more you wear it during the day the better it gets. I know that this is not a foundation but it surely acts like one on my skin. I find it to be divine! I can't wait to buy the darker colors and the powders too. The trick about this CC Cream is to dab it into the skin and not blend too much otherwise it doesn't have the same finish to it. It's a semi-matte finish which normally I hate however somehow it works out to a nice finish with this product because it doensn't make me look powdery and it's also very moisturizing! The best part about all this is that it as 10 things in 1 !! Moisturizer, Spf 35++, Brightening agents, Colagen etc... What more do you want from a product ! Like I said , this will be great in the summer time when I won't have to apply 5 different products with 40 degree wheather !

left side with Rachel K CC Cream and right without anything !! Picture taken in artificial light.

Before

 After

 As you can see this is me with my makeup done.(Picture taken in daylight) The only extra things that I have applied are:

Caudalie Mineral Bronzer Powder  Teint Divin (apllied with Mac 187)

Catrice Blush in 030 Love and Peach

Maybeline Fit Me Concealer in 15

EYES:

Mac Painterly Paint Pot, Wedge in Crease and Espresso in outer crease

Shiseido Hrydro Powder E/s in H6 Violet Visions

Stila Black eyeliner

Chanel Mascara le Volume de Chanel

LIPS :

Revlon Pink In the Afternoon Lipstick

Revlon Bellini Lipgloss

How To: Store your Makeup Brushes

I finally have found what I'm looking for!!  lol...Two glass vases with lids! The perfect storage for my makeup brushes. I live in a city and like all cities they are polluted and usually a lot of dust accumulates at home and that's is why it is important to store your brushes away where they can stay dust free...the last thing you want to be doing is to put all that dust and pollution accumulated on your brushes on your face! We are so careful about hygene however some things we just don't think of. I had seen this idea on Pinterest and loved it...I especially loved the shape of the vases. Of I did not rest until I found them :-) I bought them at Sia . I divided my brushes into two vases, one with my Mac brushes and the other one with Real Techniques .

In middle are my plexiglass drawers . Now I need to buy new and bigger drawers from Muji .

Avène Micellar lotion

After seeing Lisa Eldridge post a picture of Avène's Micellar water on her Instagram page saying she was really loving this product, I of course, had to rush out and purchase it as though my life depended on it! Sometimes the pharmacist where I buy my skincare from must think I have serious issues :-) Like many women in the  beauty community I use the Bioderma Sensibio H2o micellar water...I find it to be a top product and a must in my skincare routine but as many of us are (curious) I was dying to try something different and ditch the Bioderma...well that did not happen!

The Avène micellar water is an excellent product don't get me wrong, however there are some things to get used too. It removes makeup very efficiently leaving you skin feeling moisturized and has a baby powder smell ( many don't like) and since it is more emolient than the Bioderma it leaves a slight film like texture on my skin which I don't really like seeing as this should be a water like consistency. It is also good at removing eye makeup however if too much gets in my eyes it stings! The Bioderma has never given me that problem. 

This bottle is a 200 ml and I believe it's the largest bottle that it comes in whereas with Bioderma also comes in a 500ml bottle and has the same price as the Avène 200 ml ( around 15 euros)

I don't think I would re purchase this for the reasons stated above however I do think it's a good product just not the best.

March Favorites , Discoveries and Regrets!!

Favorites: 

Shiseido Sun Protection Compact Foundation SP 40

Caudalie Bronzer

Mac 187 Stippling Brush

Mac Painterly paintpot

Pupa True Lips Lip Liner in 02

Maybeline Color Tattoos in Tough as Taupe

Discoveries and Favs:

Diego Della Palma Neutral Palette

Laura Mercier Loose Mineral Powder In Natural Beige

Avène Tinted Mineral SPF 50

Shiseido Perfect Refining Foundation In I00

Shiseido Foundation brush

Maybeline Fit Me Concealer in 15

Chanel Rouge Allure in Séduisante

Revlon Lip Gloss in Bellini

Catrice Love and Peach Refinbing blush in 030

Ben Nye Banana Luxury Power

Vichy Dermablend Tranlucent Powder

Regrets:

My Hair!!!

Mycli Mene&Moy: Eye C Contour 5