Season's Greetings

Am lovin' Bieber's Mistletoe (not that am a fan of his). Humming these lines for the past few days...

"It's the most beautiful time of the year,
Lights fill the streets spreading so much cheer...."

Merry Christmas everyone :D

Girl With A Pearl Earring

Saw this painting years back in an encyclopedia and fell in love with it. The GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING (Dutch: Het Meisje met de Parel ) is the best known work of Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. Take a  look at the painting-

image and information courtesy: en.wikipedia.org

Today kept in the Mauritshuis gallery in the Hague. It is sometimes referred to as "the Mona Lisa of the North" or "the Dutch Mona Lisa". Understandably, the central focal point of the painting is the pearl earring.


Dear Opal of Girl With a Pearl Earring has named her blog after this famous painting,very apt title,I would say :D


There was a film made in 2003 by the same name.

image courtesy : www.imdb.com

 I had to see this film for 2 reasons-
1) The name is what made me see it in the first place
2) It has 2 of my very favorite actors- Scarlett Johansson as the maid girl in the painting and Colin Firth as painter Johannes Vermeer.
There is a very beautiful scene in this film,the part when Firth uses a needle to pierce Johansson's ear. What I loved about the scene is how the director and the actors have unitedly proved that you don't need nudity or vulgarity to bring sensuality to any scene. 


Take a look at how Scarlett Johansson looked when posing for the painting as Griet,the maid servant who is the model for the painting-

Did you see the painting before or did you see the movie and did you like it??
Would love to know from you :)


Till next
Love
Swarnali

Guest post

Hello everyone!!
This is the very first guest post on my blog and am so glad that Anju agreed to do it for me....thanks a bunch Anju :D
So here's presenting *drum rolls* Anju!!!  Am sure she is somebody who needs no introduction. She is one of the best make up bloggers I know of. Found her blog while checking up for some good eye liners and am so glad I found her. She has the most wonderful make up tips on her sleeves and whats the best part,you have regular product and site reviews which are very very helpful. And guess what??? She is a doctor by profession,yep you heard me (or rather read me) right!! She is a doctor. Am amazed how she manages to keep her job and maintain such a wonderful blog together!!
Ok...now no more blabber lets go straight to what she has to say-


Hi all, Its been a long time since I did a guest post and Swarnali was kind enough to give me the oppurtunity
and a big thanks to you Swarnali.Your blog is amazing and I love reading the posts. I am flattered and happy
to know that you like my blog. It sure is nice to post your thoughts on other blogs once in a while
and once again I thank Swarnali for thinking about me. Today, I will be reviewing MAKEUPFOREVER HD POWDER.
Read on to find more......

When this product was first released it was hyped to be the next BIG thing in makeup industry. It is an HD powder that
claims to keep the face matte and promoted as the product to use during photoshoots. But, then came the huge
Hollywood makeup accident where a number of celebrities were photographed with whitish cast on photographs and this 
was found to be the culprit. I know that this is not the proper way to start talking about this product but it sure is a 
huge con and people planning to buy this should keep this in mind.

In the pic above you can see the horrifying faces of both Eva Longoria & Nicole Kidman

I was on the look out for an HD powder that would keep my face matte and came across this wonderful 
product that claimed to do exactly that. It can be worn on its own or over foundation to provide the
smooth velvetty look to face.

It comes in a 10gm jar and has a sifter on top which allows the product to come out. Make sure that you keep 

half of the sifter closed and if not most of the powder will come out and sit on top of the jar leading to

unnecessary wastage.

The product itself is a white colored setting powder that becomes transparent once its on the face. So, it

can be used by all skintones.I use a kabuki brush to apply this. No whitish cast will be seen by the naked eye. 

Overall it gives the face the much needed evenness and keeps the makeup lasting longer and fresh.It does not 

provide any coverage. It is talc free, but contains silica powder.

Personally I love this powder.Ok......so why so much negativity surrounding this particular product. It DOES NOT

leave a whitish cast even under flash photography when used with a LIGHT hand. I have used this & I have purposefully

taken flash photo to see the effect and I didn't see any white cast as I used only a very "light, needed" amount 

on my face.If you have your way with it then in real life you will look normal but once the flash hits you, you will end

up looking like one of those celebs above which is not acceptable and that too from such a big company.

I think the powder fails and gets so much of negative press as its marketed as HD powder for heavy duty flash

photography and falls short of its promises. 

Overall, this is an amazing product if you are sure to use with a very light hand and its best to avoid this

powder on days when you are subjected to flash bulbs going off. Just be safe than sorry :)

Overall I love this powder and I will repurchase as I love the smooth non oily effect it gives to my skin.

Cost 1500-1700 Rs( it comes in that range) and available at MakeupForever Counters.

Do checkout her supa cool blog here and don't forget to stalk her!! 

Love

Swarnali

Whos who???

Stumbled into Jennifer of  I know,right? and saw this post about the numerous look alikes in Hollywood and thought of doing a post myself. Here are a few celebs whom I always found difficult to differentiate between-

1) Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes-

Can you tell who is who?? Well I never could and still can't!! Liam Neeson is on the left and Ralph Fiennes on the right.

I always thought them to be the same person until I saw them together in Schindler's List.

Ralph Fiennes

Liam Neeson

The two together in Schindler's List. Ralph Fiennes is shorter. You can tell them apart in this pic (I could).

2) Zac Efron and Kevin Zegers-

I was always confused whenever anybody asked me to tell the High School Musical and The Boy Girl Thing stars apart. Take a look-

Zac Efron

Kevin Zegers

3) Natalie Portman ,Keira Knightlyand Winona Ryder-

These three actresses look very similar especially the first two. I always have a tough time trying to differentiate them.

Keira,Natalie and Winona (L-R)

Don't they look ridiculously similar?

Both Natalie and Keira acted in 1999 Star Wars Episode 1 the Phantom Menace. Natalie Portman played Queen Amidala in the movie while Keira Knightley was her double. 

A still from the movie. Natalie is in red and Keira in Black.

You can tell them apart if you are a big fan of either of them,Natalie has 2 faint moles on her cheeks which Keira doesn't,plus their eyes are quite different and so are their stares.

Natalie Portman

Keira Knightly

Winona Ryder

Could you easily tell whos who among these celebrities?? Do you have other sets whom you can't tell apart? Please share.

Love

Swarnali