Korres, Apivita and the Ancient Greeks

A selection of Ancient Greek makeup pots and mirrors.

By Tindara

A little while ago I spent a long weekend in Athens. It’s an amazing city, the Acropolis and museums are incredible and the food is gorgeous, and it’s totally doable in a weekend from the UK. If you get the chance do go, though if you’re a Brit you may be embarrassed by the Parthenon Marble gaps in the Acropolis Museum. Yeah guys, we should give them back. Honestly, it’s just completely shaming.

Obviously, there was something else I wanted to check out, Greek beauty products. Like most beauty geeks, I get a real thrill exploring a foreign pharmacy or three, and this weekend was no different. The little pots and colours and brands I know and others I’m not so familiar with are part of the whole holiday experience.

I had tried Korres products at home and was keen to see more of the range that would be available in Greece. When I went into the nearest pharmacy I picked up a Raspberry Twist Lipstick in Passion and a Zea Mays Blush in Pink.

The Raspberry Twist Lipstick is a Chubby Stick type affair that is twist up, so no requirement for a sharpener. I am loving the preponderance of these twist-up pencils of late, they’re super practical. The lipstick itself is very hydrating due to the raspberry oil included in the formulation. I am wearing this berry red a fair amount at the moment and never need any lip balm beforehand or after, as it’s so moisturising. The finish is pretty glossy so I wouldn’t say it’s the most long-lasting lipstick in the world, but it does leave a natural berry stain on your lips for most of the day. This would be a great lipstick for those that are a bit wary of stronger reds; it can be blotted down to a soft stain from the start, or layered for a more full-on lip later on if you’re going out.

The Zea Mays Blush in Pink was really good too, I chose this quite natural pinky brown shade because most of my powder blushers are pops of colour on my cheeks and I needed a subtle one for wearing underneath or on more neutral days. I could use this as a contour shade or bronzer at a push; it’s not a very deep pink at all. Not that I go in for bronzer or contouring much. I could probably do with a contouring masterclass in fact, but let’s not discuss my ruddy cheeks or double chin any further, there will be plenty of time for that in future posts, I am sure. I am doing facial exercises as we speak.

Apivita, like Korres are a Greek brand that are all about the natural ingredients and are paraben and silicone free. I tried their Euphoria Jasmine and White Tea Bath and Shower Gel and corresponding Body Milk. I chose these primarily for the scent, but these are good products irrespective of their glorious aroma. And it’s a beautiful scent, but I love jasmine anyway. There’s a touch of freshness to it too, which I’m finding really useful for this mini ‘heatwave’ we’re having in London. The Bath and Shower Gel foams well and the Body Milk moisturises nicely without being too sticky. It’s a light body milk, so not for the driest of skins but still enough to give a slight sheen. But oh, shall I say it again, the scent of this, it stays on for hours and wafts about you like a cloud of fresh white petals with a tannin and citrus hit. I love it and want to know if there’s a perfume similar so I can layer it all on together. Recommendations, please, for Jasmine scents, people!

I also spent a lot of time in the Archaeological Museum in Athens. I am a total museum nerd, having spent what felt like months at a time in the Cast Courts at the V&A sketching as a teenager, and a short time of my working life in a couple of London museums and galleries. So I never pass up the chance to go to an unfamiliar one when visiting new places. Where is she going with this you ask yourself? Well, there was a section of the museum that displayed objects associated with the average ancient Greeks’ toilette and I thought it might be interesting to have a look at some of them. Especially the beautiful hand mirrors that they used. There are what look like large compact mirrors, as well as hand held mirrors with intricate decorative work on the back and handle. Mirrors from 6BC with the short thin handles were usually sheathed in wood at the bottom like some of our hand mirrors and brushes today. The upright mirrors that were supported by female figures were also from the same period, but the folding portable mirrors were from the later 5 and 4BC. These mirrors had one or two decorative covers, usually of deities or mythological scenes. Sometimes, there was even a hook edge to hang up the mirror when it wasn’t in use. Practical, eh? There were also small pots used to contain cosmetics and ‘strigils’ which were scrapers used to remove cosmetic oils and ointments. I’m really hoping they didn’t remove their make-up with them though, it sounds harsh. What you want is a nice micellar water or hot cloth, ancient Greek Lady.

Limited Korres and Apivita products are available in the UK. Korres Zea May Blush is £17.50. The Raspberry Twist Lipstick is a new product and should be over here soon, look out for it. Apivita Euphoria Jasmine and White Tea Bath and Shower Gel is £12, while the Apivita Euphoria Jasmine and White Tea Body Milk is £13.

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Summer perfumes: Hermes Eau d'Orange Verte vs Guerlain Herba Fresca

I mentioned in a recent perfume review that I go a little bit crazy for minty perfumes and colognes and the two I'm talking about this week are two of my all-time favourite summer scents.

First off, Hermes Eau d'Orange Verte, which is a unisex cologne.  I find this is quite citrussy on it's opening (that'll be the orange in the name, I expect, I'm clever that way), and it smells a little like you've gone a bit mad with your other halfs' aftershave for a few minutes - not that I mind that too much - in the mid point it smells a little like Imperial Leather, sort of soapy, clean and warm, a little musky but not too much, and then once it's dried down completely, you get a mossy sort of minty smell which I find totally intoxicating.  Sadly this one doesn't last all that long, the top notes last minutes at most and the middle disappears irritatingly fast, and you'll find that you will have to go hunting on your skin for the dry-down (it sticks very close to your skin), but it's worth it.  Also, I find that the irritating lightness is also part of it's charm, as it means you can reapply quite regularly, without worrying that the people around you are going to need a gas mask.

But, my all-time favourite summer-minty fragrance of all-time is Guerlain's Herba Fresca, which is part of their "Aqua Allegoria" range of scents inspired by nature.

It's decidedly green, and smells of fresh cut grass, hay and MINT on first spray, it's cooling and delicious, and very, very, very light.  I spray it everywhere (and I mean everywhere, arms, legs, chest, back) and then spend the day sniffing delightedly at myself.  It's clean and fresh and very different to anything else I own, which is probably why I like it so much.  Occasionally, if I want it to last longer, I will layer it over Korres Spearmint Shower Gel and Body Lotion, which are an excellent companion to this scent.  This is also the only perfume I own that MrLippie comments on spontaneously, saying how wonderful it smells.  Of course, he thinks it smells of orange, but hey, that's men for you, right?

What are your favourite summer fragrances, and what do you think of mint as a perfume ingredient?

Makeover: Jane C

Another Sunday, and another makeover (or two) today!  Please meet Jane:

Jane's great, and I think she's one of the most naturally gorgeous people I've ever met, so having her volunteer for a makeover was a lovely surprise!  Jane was interested in finding out a simple look suitable for daytime, and trying out a more dramatic look too.  Here's what we came up with - and before we start, I must apologise for the quality of the pictures in this post, we lost the light quite dramatically towards the end of our session, and so some of the later pictures have a lot of shadows which I find really distressing!

So, for the daytime look,  as always we started with the base.  Jane is blessed with naturally creamy skin, so, instead of using a foundation, I used Benefit You Rebel in Light to even out her skintone:

I used a very tiny bit of ELF High Definition powder on Jane's T-zone, but there really wasn't a huge amount of corrective work that needed doing here.  We then moved onto Jane's eyes, I dug out my Bobbi Brown  palette, and used Flesh as a colour wash all over the lid up to to brow, then used Naked as a crease contour:

 

Jane uses a lot of grey shadows ordinarily, but we thought something a little different might work, so, as an eyeliner, we used a Korres pencil in blueblack - I love these pencils, they're buttery-soft and beautifully blendable, perfect for a novice user - to set off the browns in her eyes:

 

 

Then, we finished off with a little Lancome Hypnose, a dusting of Cargo Illuminator in Wind on the cheekbones, and a little beige lipgloss:

For Jane's more dramatic look, we removed the eyemakeup altogether and started from scratch.  I was determined to make this as simple as possible for Jane to be able to replicate at home, so I used a very similar application technique, and mainly just worked with different colours.

As a colour wash over the lid, I used Korres eyeshadow in Base 12s, which is a lovely taupe with a slight pink iridescence.  The iridescence made Jane a bit nervous, but once I explained that it's not actually a PINK eyeshadow, and it would just make her eyes seem a bit brighter, she relented and let me use it.  Then, to accentuate the crease, I use MAC Behold, which is a grey-taupe, and possibly the most useful eyeshadow I have in my kit:

 

 

I then applied an extremely thin line of black powder eyeshadow in place of liquid liner, and accentuated the lashes with a coat of Lancome Hypnose Drama (forgot to take pictures of this step - sorry!) Once the eyes were finished, I applied Ellis Red from Ellis Faas to Jane's lips, and the look was finished:

Personally, I love how this looks on Jane.  If I were to try to re-create this look, I'd probably do a little cheekbone contouring too - probably using Ilamasqua blush in Rumour - and add another coat or two of mascara.  I'd also make sure the lighting was right!

Thank you very much for being my sitter, Jane, I hope you enjoyed the session as much as I did.

Face of the Week - Korres

This little lot was supposed to be saved for a makeover, but when it arrived I fell in love with some of it so much that I had to give it a trial run for myself:

I'll talk more about the foundation and mascara (at the back) later, but I wanted to talk about the shadows today, they're lovely.  I got 77s Plum (on the left) and Base 12s which is a pale taupe colour, with a twist, here's how they look in the pan:

(top -  with flash, bottom - without)

I'm not sure how visible it is in the pic there, but the pale taupe has a gorgeous - and unexpected - hint of iridescent pink, and I was delighted with it.  The shadow had been a little banged up in the post, so I'd had to smoosh it back down into the pan a bit, hence why it's looking a bit bumpy there.  It was during this that I discovered that these are really silky soft, buttery-smooth shadows, much silkier than anything I own from, say, MAC for example.

Here's how they swatch on the skin:

 (Left - with flash, right - without)

They start off pretty sheer, but the colour is buildable. I've swatched them here on bare skin on the left of each pic, and over base on the right.

I used the 12s as a colour wash all over the lid, and added the plum on the outer corners and worked it into the crease, I found them very blendable, and loved how my eyes looked after, so much so, that I've worn this look a couple of times this week already!

The eyeliner is really very soft and blendable too, I got the blue-black shade, and it's very beautiful, but I couldn't pick up the gorgeous colour on these pics for some reason. I'll try and post pictures of it  that actually do it justice next time I use it. Please enlarge the collage to see the colours.

Korres Cosmetics are available from Liberty, or online at ASOS.