I adore Halloween! Ever since I was a little girl, what I loved more doing during playtime was to dress up: I would wear things in my mom's closet and put a t-shirt on top of my head like long hair and pretend to be something else than I was.... Pretending felt good! And still in this day, nothing excites me more than this time of year, when we forget who we really are and dress up.

I was never a fan of the whole zombie-bloody version of Halloween. For me Halloween is witchy, spiritual, funny, punny and very Hocus-Pocus-y :)
However, this year, due to work, limited time and resources I didn't dress up, but I put on dark make-up (I wanted to look like a goth, but there's no blonde goth, is there?) and my cat-ear headband and filmed my October favourites.

The products mentioned in the video are:

The Body Shop Spa of The World Egyptian Milk and Honey Bath
Dove Pampering Body Wash, Coconut Milk & Jasmine Petals 
Ingredients Shampoo Chamomile & Lemon
Kueshi Revitalizing Face Toner 

White Musk Smoky Rose EDT 30ml

Makeup Revolution Brow Dual Arch & Shape - Medium 

So Susan Dual Brow Powder

KIKO Metallic Eyeshadow - 02 Absolutely Rose

Tanya Burr Hollywood Eye Palette 

Collection Speedy Highlighter

Collection Speedy Blush Stick

Revlon Colourstay Moisture Stain in Parisian Passion

Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Berry Couture 835

Bourjois La Laque Nail Enamel Lycheers 07 

And finally: Primark Natural Point Nails. As you may know, Primark doesn't have an online shop, but you can browse their website for products. But here is a picture of me wearing the nails:

My favourite YouTuber of the past few months is Gabriella, or as some of you may know her, Velvetgh0st. 

I talk a lot about her and why I have she is my "YouTuber crush" for many months now in my video, so I thought I would put here some of her links:

Gabby's main channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/velvetgh0st
Gabby's vlog channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/PlanetGabb
Gabby's Primark Range: http://www.primark.com/en/search/search-products-results?q=gabriella&c=home and feature article http://www.primark.com/en/features/home/2015/july/gabriella_x_primark_home
Video of Gabby and Zoella having a blast (best YT video ever, with the girls singing "If I Had A Chicken" - available to download on iTunes soon! ;) ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pflqz3SVuZI

So that's it for this month. Very happy I'm back on the blogosphere again, I will be blogging more often - I have a few things planned :) but for now, here's my video xoxoxo

Well, hello world!

It's been over a year since my last blog (forgive me world for I have sinned).
And the reason was that my trusted and beloved Dell laptop decided to leave me for greener pastures, just around August-September last year... Yes, sadly my silver machine is no longer. It's packed into a box, ready to join its other millions of silicon cousins, into the stratosphere of recycled parts.

Therefore, for over a year now, having to shoot, edit and upload from an iPad, meant that blogging was nearly impossible, as this magical little thing that does everything else, is not very user friendly for typing, unless you have your whole life to touch-type or very small hands that can blind-type onto a Bluetooth keyboard; either these options or, unless I was using a friend's Mac (insert angry emoji, as no "right-click") or fight for one of the six PC's at our staff restaurant, which is always a very traumatic experience, given the time limit of our breaks.

I missed blogging and expressing my thoughts in writing. A lot. And I felt that I was letting my increasing number of viewers, subscribers and followers (woah!) down, as I could not really write extensive blog posts (like this one) to accompany my videos.
But Lord (of the vloggers) has mercy and finally I found a laptop with a price that didn't mean I would have to starve for the rest of the year to get it (thank you PC World-Currys).
Thus, I am happy to announce that the blogging is back and so is the sophisticated editing (natch!) and the more frequent filming, vlogging and seeing my pretty face on your screens and social media! I am happy to announce that I am currently at Starbucks, drinking my coffee, b-l-o-g-g-i-n-g!!
Woop-woopee-doo!!!
(Huge parenthesis: I can't believe it took me four paragraphs to reach the point of actually writing the blog post I was meant to write, to accompany my current video. And although I have missed writing, and feel the need to write a lot, I am someone that doesn't like to digress. I mean some people may go on and on and on about things completely irrelevant until they start talking about their subj... oh well you know what I mean! End of huge parenthesis)

So,on to our Video Subject: the mighty Greek Salad!
Living in the UK it's a struggle to get a proper Greek salad, anywhere, even at home.  The tomatoes at the supermarkets are usually horrific, tasteless and colourless. Bliax! I am showing on my video the right kind of tomatoes, the ones that have a healthy colour, size and texture and are full of juice.

Olive oil, unless you fork out a small fortune, is also hard to find in the supermarkets. Greek Extra Virgin Olive Oil, that is. Because the supermarkets are full of cheaper, not-even-close types of "Mediterranean", "salad", "dressing" kinds of  oil, which are not only disgusting, they are also dangerous, god knows what you might be getting.
My doctor is always stressing that the best cuisine for your heart is the Mediterranean cuisine, based on the virtues of the mighty olive and its golden extract.

The search for good olive oil has always been my nemesis in this country, if I ask for it at restaurants, they look at me like I am asking for liquid gold or something (well, in a matter of speak, it is)
Try to find the real Greek Extra Virgin Olive Oil, the one that makes your salad and the rest of your cooking rich in flavour and full of healthy benefits.
A visit to your Greek, Mediterranean or Turkish market and you are guaranteed to find Greek Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Minerva, or Elanthi, olive oil from Kalamata (as well as olives as well), Crete, Mytillini, Lakonia and Halkidiki are only a few ones I can think of. Trust me, the difference is huge.

Feta cheese is also of utmost importance. A salad can be a hit or a miss depending on the quality of the feta. You need to find semi-hard, salty and one that crumbles on your salad, bread or mouth - but not too much! The best one would be the fresh one from the counter of your Greek market, or a very good packed one is by Dodoni, but if you can't find either one, Sainsbury's have a good barrel aged one.
 

So for the perfect, authentic Greek Salad you will need:
For four people as a starter/side dish or for one/two as a main meal, depending on the quantity - with the salad really it depends on your own taste and needs

• 2 vine tomatoes (the good kind)
• 1/3 of a cucumber (or however much you want)
• 1/2 onion
• 1/3 green pepper
• 100gr good quality feta cheese
• add Kalamata olives according to taste
• 3tbsp Greek Extra Virgin Olive Oil (accept no substitutes!)
• 2-3tbsp cider/white wine vinegar
• Oregano
• Dill
• Parsley
• Salt & Pepper according to taste (forgot to mention it in the video)

After you have found all your ingredients all you need to do is put them in a large bowl and drizzle them with oil and vinegar. You can then add anything else you like, however, the things I show on my video are the ones that will make an Authentic Greek Salad, with just the right stuff for the real thing. In places I've been (including my sister and my best friend's houses) people make an approximation of the Greek Salad (I was this close of writing an abomination) by adding lettuce, leeks, broccoli, peppers other than green, capers or taking the friggin' onion out (sista!) I know it's smelly but for me that's what makes the salad, Greek!! I can accept that, or maybe the capers, but I can't accept pine nuts, prunes (WTF?) or parme-effin-san!

Always have nice, warm fresh bread, to make good "papara", which is to dip your bread at the oil,  vinegar and the other juices and bits at the bottom of the plate. Albeit horribly fattening, (like all the delicious things in this unfair world) it's totally indulgent!!!





KALI OREXI (Bonne Appetite)

Here's the video: