Favourtie Online Shopping Websites

Hey

So like every other girl I am obsessed with online shopping and tend to spend too much time on websites when I should be doing other things.  At present I am waiting on four separate orders to arrive which illustrates my problem.  This post is dedicated to the obsession that is online shopping and I would like to share some of my favourite sites where I love to shop on.

Boohoo

This site has been my go to for online shopping for clothes for a while now and I have bought a couple of cool pieces off it.  They used to have free shipping to New Zealand but now you have to spend over $30 to qualify for it but most of the cheapest items are 20-25 dollars and if you by more than one item its not hard to get free shipping.

Feel Unique
So I discovered this website via Nana Wintour and I am completely obsessed with it, mostly because it has free shipping.  I bought two Real Techniques make up brushes; the Blush Brush as well as the Setting Brush.  Real Techniques are not sold in New Zealand and they are really good brushes so I had to have them.  They do also sell makeup which is not good for my shopping habit, I also got a lip gloss by Rimmel London which is my favourite brand of makeup, its cheap and good quality. 

Once'it
This website is a New Zealand website and to get on it you have to get invited and it has a range of sales from designer clothes to home ware and accessories.  One thing they do that is cool is they sometimes have jewellery lucky dips in which you pay like eight dollars and you could either get a cheap piece of jewellery or a expensive designer piece.

Xo Beauty
Xo Beauty brushes are designed by Shaaanxo who does YouTube tutorial make up videos as well as other videos. She' a New Zealander and I am obsessed with her videos, every time I watch one my makeup wish list grows and I also discover new websites such as Pop Basic which every month there is a different look of like three pieces of clothing and on the websites there are also style tips of how to wear the pieces.  The brushes are amazing they are also reasonably priced which is also a plus.  I currently have the flat top brush which I use for putting on foundation and is really good.


Hope you enjoyed this post and if you have any go to online shopping websites feel free to share.


 

 

 

Étant Donnés

Hey

 

So my lectures are finally finished for the year and now I am under the task of studying for exams which I am not looking forward to.

 

While my primary interest of Art History is the High Renaissance and the Baroque period I am also fascinated with the art group Dada which was active in response to World War One.  One of favourite artists in this group is Marcel Duchamp and I particularly like his assemblage called Étant Donnés. The piece is a 3D environmental tableau and is located in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

 

One of the reasons why this piece interests me is that to view the assemblage you have to look through this door.  This aspect gives the piece a specific perspective and gives the feeling that your looking at something that's hidden with the viewing peeping through the hole in the door.

This amazing assemblage is what is on the other side of the door and transports the viewer into another world.  The figure is made of leather, glass and linoleum and is modelled on two different women.  The landscape is made from hand painted photographed elements while the lantern is made by an electrical motor in a biscuit tine which rotates a perforated disc.  The piece also has a mini waterfall.

 

This piece as well as most of Duchamp's works challenged the traditions of the art world with him using found material and was deliberately designed to shock.

 

Hope you like this piece, its a bit different and strange but is cool and interesting once you know its context.

Society 6

Hi all

My new thing that I'm doing at the moment is that I have an account on the website Society 6 which is just where can buy prints, shirts, pillows etc. with really cool designs on them that people create.  So far I've only done reworked pictures of celebrities in Photoshop and tried to make them different and cool.

This was the first image I did and I put together two images of Lady Gaga and Marilyn Monroe.  There are also a number of different filters over top which give it a cool mosaic look.

These two are also some of my favourite ones and are most popular on the site.  This has been a lot of fun for me as I used to want to design as a career but kind of lost the passion for it.  With this I've been remembering how fun Photoshop and designing is and is cool I can take knowledge from Art History and apply it my work.

My username is AshleyParis and I hope whoever reads this has a look and likes my work.

Villa of the Mysteries

Hey

So as well as Art History I also am fascinated with the ancient world particularly with Rome and Greece.  Last semester I took a Classics paper that combined my two loves Art History and Ancient History.  The Villa of the Mysteries is a house outside of the ancient city of Pompeii and in one of the rooms are wall paintings with scenes that relate to an ancient mystery cult.  The use of the room is uncertain but is thought to be used for weddings and women rituals.

This is part of the first wall scene and reads from left to right.  The belief of the paintings illustrating a cult partly comes from the women holding a plate which could be a part of a sacrifice.  She also has a garland on her head which is involved in a religious ritual.  The women walks towards a group of women out of shot who also have garlands and look to be pouring libation which is 'wine to the gods'.

This shows the corner of the first and second wall and the story the paintings are telling start to become mythical.  The male figure on the harp is a Silenus figure who was a follower of the god Dionysus who was the god of wine.  The god himself is possibly pictured as the leaning figure against a female whose identity is unknown but is believed to be Ariadne who was Dionysus's wife.  The reasoning of it being of Dionysus is the fact that lying on his lap is what looks to be a Thyrsus, his wand/staff.  The depiction of the couple is to show marital bliss a possible indication the rooms use for a marital ritual.  The figure behind the Silenus holds a theatre mask which corresponds to Dionysus also being the god of theatre.

 

While the definition of the paintings are not entirely clear it is still a fascinating room in terms of its decoration with the colour and how well the figures are done.  This artwork gives us a glimpsed into ancient Rome and shows what they were capable of in terms of art.

Vintage Finds

Hey

So today my family and I went to my Grandparents house to clean it up and get rid of some junk so it can be sold.  Like pretty much all Grandparents they had a lot of old vintage stuff some of which I liked and got to take home.

J'adore by Christian Dior
I found this cool bottle in a box full of other jars and bottles and this one in particular stood out to me.  I love the curviness and the shape of it and it kind of reminds me of one Katy Perry's perfume bottles (I think).  There are still traces of the scent which has a slightly musky smell to it but is not really my type of scent.

Vintage Suitcase
I found this as well as bigger ones in my Grandparents garage and really liked it.  In cool little shops such as Typo I always see suitcases likes these with stickers or images of the Eiffel Tower on it and I have always wanted one.  The case used to have tags on it and there are still faint traces of what was on them which I think was my Grandfathers name and phone number.  I hope to do these up like in the shops and put cool little images on it such as monuments from places I'd love to travel to.

Crystal Quartz
I'm not really sure what the stone is exactly but I found it in my Grandparent garden and liked the look of it.  The stone is quite big and heavy but fits well in my collection of different crystals.

Lorde

Hey

So I and pretty much everybody around the world love Lorde and I am obsessed with her new album and I have my favourite songs on repeat.

My favourite song so far has to be Glory and Gore I have it on repeat on my Ipod and its constantly in my head.

My sister is also obsessed with her and for her birthday earlier this week I bought her the album as well as Metro magazine which had her on the cover.

I especially loved the photographs as she looks amazing and I loved the clothes she was wearing and the ear piece jewellery she wears in this photo and on the cover.

Looking at these photos definitely makes me regret not taking photography in high school as I love how they capture a moment.

Samson and Delilah

Hey

So its finally that time of the year when I'm pretty much done with all my coursework for uni (thank god) apart from the final exams.  My last essay was for a theology paper which I took because my interests in Art History are set around the Renaissance and Baroque era which most of the subject matter is religious.  One of the many stories in the Bible include Samson and Delilah which is the subject matter for my first painting.

This artwork is by the Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens and was done around 1609-1610.  This depicts a important point in the story when Delilah betrays Samson when he tells her the secret of his strength.  She informs the Philistine guards who then cut his hair and arrest him.  I personally love this painting as it highlights Rubens key characteristics such as the voluptuous curves and muscles of the two main characters as well as the signature pop of bright red of Delilah's clothing.  I also love the attention to detail in terms of the satin material which look realistic and works well with the light coming from the left.

 

I'm not sure how much more say but ill leave it there and hope you like this painting as well.