Interview with my MUA teacher (Part 1)

As promised, today’s blog post is an interview with the lovely Kiera Louise Harrison, my talented makeup teacher.  From the moment I met Kiera, enquiring about her Make Up Artist Masterclass I felt inspired!  The 12 week course I am taking with her takes an absolute makeup beginner through to the professional level but the makeup academy Kiera has founded also provides a number of other makeup and hair courses. Check out her Facebook page here.

A couple of weeks ago, I asked Kiera if she wouldn’t mind giving me an interview for my blog and she happily accepted. So I made a list of the things I was dying to ask her and arranged to talk with her last week half an hour before the start of our last lesson. Tomorrow we will have our practical exam (eek)! So, because the interview is a bit long (and transcribing from a recorder is taking much longer than I thought it would) I’ve decided to produce the interview in 3 parts.

So let’s dive in Part 1 of the interview, shall we?

Q: Kiera, you are a successful, young entrepreneur, owner of a professional make up academy and a professional makeup artist. What is the secret of your success?

A: Wow! What a question! I suppose there isn’t one secret. I would probably say that it’s a combination of lot of different things, the main thing being continuous hard work,  continuous research about the industry and continuously striving to be better I suppose.

Q: What is your first memory of make up?  

A: I was a tomboy growing up.  I was never interested in makeup, I played football, I was more interested in building a tree house than lipstick and then I suppose growing up as I got into my last year of high-school all my peers and friends were all starting to look really glam and I thought “Ooh, I need to start doing this” and I saw my mum applying some bronzer and I tried it and from then I was just “Wow, I love looking tanned” ; and to be honest that was all I ever used to really wear.  A little bit of bronzer, a little bit of lip gloss. Then it was only as I went to college, I went to uni and I started working part time in a photo studio that is really when my love for make up really started to come out and progress really.  I loved watching the transformation of people and I really loved seeing how happy they were once they saw themselves. I suppose that sparked the passion for it really. It was working at that studio.

Q: Is that how your make up love affair begun?    

A: Yes. I’ve always loved art and I’ve always been quite a creative person. So I suppose makeup for me then became a form of expression for painting the face, if you like. I’ve always been experimental with colours and liked playing with things that stereotypically you wouldn’t be taught, just to create beauty really.

Q: When did you become a professional makeup artist?

A: At 18, working at the photo studio part-time while I was at uni studying Media Styling. Then I got the opportunity to work at the BBC as a makeup artist and that’s when it begun to flourish and I decided that that I want was the avenue I wanted to go down professionally as opposed to it being a hobby.

Q: What prompted you to qualify as a makeup instructor and what steps did you take to meet that goal? 

A: I was working at MAC Cosmetics and during that time I was working on various different roles.  One of those was working in the Events Team and I came back from London Fashion Week they approached me and asked me to become a Trainer. I wasn’t sure if it would be something I would enjoy but decided to give it a go. And when I stepped into it and started learning more about the products and showing people how to use them (I was also a product specialist so basically my job was to use the new collections that came in and design a look with them and showing the team how to wear it). So I suppose that came hand-in-hand with my art background and my creativity, which I really enjoyed. I loved teaching people. Found it so rewarding, watching somebody grow from knowing nothing to then being that expert so that sparked another trigger in me.

So I talked to my dad about this and said “I’m really enjoying this” and he asked me “What do you see your future? Do you want to stay at MAC all your life”?And I said, “No, I want my own make up academy but I always thought it would be in my early 50s like before I’d take that plunge”. And he said, “If that’s the goal that you would like to do, then I think you need to get a teaching qualification”. Initially I thought I had had enough of uni and it wasn’t all I thought it would be as I was sick of academics, but I went back to uni and did my PGCA which is a teaching qualification. I did that part-time while I continued to work and while I was there I got offered a teaching post at Bolton College teaching make up to young students. I decided to drop my days at MAC, going part-time while still being present in the industry and picked up 2 days teaching at the college.

To find out more about Kiera’s experience of teaching at college and how she was motivated to create her own academy stay tuned to my blog for Parts 2 and 3 coming up soon.

For now, I’ve got to go and study and prep for my exam tomorrow.  Wish me luck!!!

My make-up classes – Dedicated to my father

The inspiration for starting this blog came from my spur-of-the-moment decision last April to enrol in a makeup academy which is within walking distance from my place of work. As I have mentioned before, I’ve always been fascinated by make up and colours and spent a lot of money in products so I thought that taking up professional classes was a good idea.  I still don’t know where the makeup artist certificate will take me (if I’m good enough to pass the exam at the end of the month) but it’s always good to learn a new craft.

I had first seen adverts and short articles about this particular makeup academy (KLMA) by Kiera Louise in local publications in the Greater Manchester area.  I had even enquired about Kiera’s classes shortly after I moved to the UK with my then-boyfriend/now-husband 3 years ago.  For some reason I didn’t take the plunge then but recently decided to go for it.

I work in HR. I’ve been in the profession for 20 years now and I think my father was proud of my career choices and progression; even though in recent years I struggled to find work in Cyprus, due to the economic crisis and moved to the UK in search of new career opportunities.   My dad was the person who convinced me to study Human Resources Management without giving up my idea of becoming a Psychologist as a teenage student. While I was dead set on becoming a Psychologist, without really understanding what it would be like, he didn’t push me to give up the idea although I knew he wasn’t thrilled by it. Instead he came up with an alternative which he thought I would like. He was right! He told me that some universities allowed for dual courses​ so that I could give both subjects a go at the same time. And that’s how I ended up in the HR profession.

My late father, unlike me, was an intellectual. He read a lot, liked poetry, history, current affairs and studied encyclopaedias and languages. I always admired him for his thirst for knowledge that does not come so naturally to me. Apart from having inherited his love for traveling and a condition that makes me easily perspire profusely (and suffer from it like he did) I don’t think we had very much in common.  But just a few days before he passed away suddenly last year, I was in Cyprus preparing for my wedding. I was talking to my mum and mother in law about my bridal makeup and hair trials, things I thought were trivial and superficial to him but my dad showed real interest and wanted to see the photos. His face actually lit up and I am happy we shared those moments as he didn’t make it to my wedding but he was part of the preparations.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that although the makeup classes are my indulgence I would like to believe that he approves and doesn’t think it’s silly. That he can see the potential in my “vain” decision and agrees with me for giving it a go.

I enjoy the makeup masterclass. I’ve learned the basics of skin types and skin undertones, the use of different brushes, hand and brushes sanitation, identifying different face, mouth and eye shapes​.  All these are paramount to know when putting makeup on other people. I quickly realised that working on other people’s faces is quite challenging. I am working on my techniques and have experimented with different looks.

Here are some examples of my learning so far:

Next Tuesday we will have the last lesson before the final exam and I have asked Kiera, the owner of the academy, to do an interview with me for my next blog post. Though she’s only a young entrepreneur, she’s a success in her field and an inspiration to a lot of women. So I wanted to get the chance and learn more about her and share with you too.  Thankfully, she happily accepted.

So, do you have any questions you would like me to ask a professional makeup artist and teacher? Now’s your chance!

LIEBSTER AWARD (Q+A Plus 11 Facts about Me)

I am new to blogging, with just passing over 50 followers on WordPress and 75 on Facebook so far so I was really surprised but also honoured to be one of the 11 bloggers recently nominated the Liebster Award by Sofia whose blog is A no one’s diary.  Sofia likes writing about life, random stuff and make up and you can click on her link here  https://anoonesdiary.wordpress.com/ to find out out more about her and her lovely blog.

The Liebster Award gives bloggers the opportunity to grow their followership by telling other bloggers a bit more about themselves and engaging with fellow bloggers through nominating them further.  It helps promote each others’ blogs. So thank you Sofia for the opportunity and I’d like to pay it forward too!

The rules are:

• The nominated blogger must acknowledge who has nominated them and also share their links
• Share 11 facts about themselves
• Answer the 11 questions that they have been asked
• Nominate 11 more bloggers whose blog they recommend
• Ask 11 questions that they would like those bloggers to answer
• Let the bloggers they’ve nominated know that they’ve been nominated.

So here it goes!

11 Facts about me:

1. I started Flamenco dance classes (and took them for about 5 years) after I was inspired by watching live Flamenco dancing in Barcelona while travelling there with friends as a graduate student.
2. I am a huge Kate Bush fan. My lifetime dream to one day see her perform live became a reality 3 years ago!
3. When we bought an Espresso coffee machine with my husband about a year ago we started a tradition without even discussing it which we continue to this day. Everytime we open a packet of espresso coffee capsules we stack them next to the coffee machine in different formations. Every time one of us uses a capsule or adds more capsules to the kitchen counter we change the shape of the formation. I don’t know if what I’m trying to explain makes any sense so here are some photos to show you better some examples of our formations.

4. I was a ferocious nail biter from a young age until I turned 22. Just before going to graduate school I woke up one day and thought to myself “Kiki, you’re too old to be biting your nails. Grow up and grow your nails already”. After that I grew my nails really long and have managed to quit my bad habit for good. I now love having well manicured nails and painting them different colours.

5. I love travelling and made it my goal a few years ago to travel to new destinations every year and visit as many different countries as possible. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to do this lately but so far I have visited 30 different countries (if I include my homeland Cyprus) in my 42 years of living on earth :

• Greece
• UK
• France
• Belgium
• Luxemburg
• Switzerlan (only passing through though)
• Poland
• Germany
• Italy
• Spain
• Malta
• Ireland
• Austria
• Iceland
• Sweden
• Norway
• Finland
• Denmark
• The Netherlands
• Jordan
• Lebanon
• UAE
• USA
• Egyp
• Israel
• Hungary
• Czech Republic
• Latvia
• Australia (I don’t know this one escaped me. A friend who read the blog just notified me to add it)

Hopefully I will get to visit another 30 in my lifetime.

6. I once won a karaoke contest in a bar in Patra (Greece) while on a weekend get away with friends. I won singing the song “Black Velvet” by Alanah Myles. It was the highlight of my singing career.

7. My husband and I became Wombassadors ever since we came back from Sydney (Australia) after we spent 6 weeks there in 2013. Wombats are animals native only to Australia, less known than koalas but equally cute. Australian organisations that care for them depend on charity to pay for their needs and we are happy to give a donation every year and buy promotional materials as gifts from them. We also hope to hug a few wombats one day. They’re adorable.

8. I love attending live concerts. Last night I had the opportunity to watch Robbie Williams in Manchester. It was so much fun!

9. I played the cello in highschool. Even though I was pretty much useless I really enjoyed being in the symphonic orchestra.

10. In case you haven’t realised already I love make-up.

11. I am a big foodie so I have been struggling with my weight for most of my life. Dieting is a real challenge for me. So in order to look nice for my wedding (which was in October 2016) I purposely ordered my wedding dress a size smaller. Setting that goal was the only way to lose weight but I still had to join a gym and exercise 2 hours a day, every day in the month leading up to the wedding to fit in it. Thankfully the hard work paid off and the dress did not rip when I wore it on the big day.

Now, on to Part 2. The questions assigned to me were:

1. What’s your guilty pleasure?

There’s so many to choose from. From chocolate, coffee, cakes … but the one that my husband finds worrying is my fascination with murder mysteries whether they are real life or fiction (reading about them or watching series and documentaries). He thinks I’m disturbed.

2. Describe your first kiss.

I am over 40 so it was a very long time ago but I’m sure it was awkward and I probably didn’t breathe during my first kiss as I wouldn’t know what to do.

3. What do you want to be when you grow up?

I love this question! When I was a child I wanted to be a fashion designer. Then I grew up, studied Psychology and HRM and followed a 20 year career in Human Resource Management. Growing up even further my dream I guess would be to become an exceptional and renowned make-up artist.  But it’s probably only going to stay just a dream.  But dreaming never hurt anyway so I’ll keep on dreaming.

4. Most cringey situation.

I think I’ve had quite a few of those that I’d rather forget or have a selective memory of!

5. Tell us a secret!

When I was doing my Master’s degree as a graduate student I wanted to dye my hair bright red (the Coca-Cola can colour kind) but was too scared I wouldn’t be taken seriously. I resorted to going for 1 blue strand instead. I thought it would look cool against my dyed blue-black hair. It was a botched attempt at the dormitory. I tried to bleach a strand of my (already dyed) blue black hair and then dying it blue on top. I ended up looking ridiculous with a patch in the middle of my head looking orange/purple! After my perplexed university tutor asked me what I’d done to my hair I dyed it back to black.

6. What is the worst purchase you’ve ever made?

I’ve made a few bad purchases in my life, from buying beautiful, very expensive shoes that turned out to be uncomfortable and unwearable to make up products that turned out to be rubbish. A recent bad one that comes to mind was a L’Oreal hair spray product that’s meant to cover grey roots. It just makes a mess! I’d rather dye my roots every fortnight than use that product again.

Sorry L’Oreal, I do like you as a brand in general but I wasn’t worth THAT product!

7. What’s the most useless talent you have?

I can’t think of any. I’d like to think that any talents I may have are useful in one way or another.

8. What trends do you hate?

Throughout the decades I’ve hated trends like shoulder pads and straight fringes on afro hair but the latest trend I can’t get over is “scouser eyebrows”.

9. Have you ever messed up, but no one ever found out it was you?

Hmm. I’m pretty sure I always fessed up to things I messed up. I’m not one to deny a mistake I’ve made. I sometimes even tend to apologise for things I didn’t do wrong rather than try to argue that I haven’t. So that’s something I need to work on.

10. What’s the worst habit you have?

Picking my spots. I don’t have the patience to let them go away naturally. I know it makes things worse but I can’t control myself. I know it’s a disgusting habit but you asked, sorry!

11. What’s your dream travel?

Going to the Seychelles. Ever since I saw a documentary from the 70s on the Seychelles islands with their dreamy beaches I’ve always wanted to go there one day for a romantic holiday.  At some point I decided that that’s where I would go for my honeymoon if I ever got married.  When I got engaged I told my (now) husband that this was my dream honeymoon destination but he wants to do a grand tour of Australia instead as he’s not interested in sitting by a beach for 2 weeks. To comprise, we’re planning (a very belated) honeymoon comprising of 2 or 3 days in Bali AND go on an adventure around Australia.

My nominees are:

1. Ephemeral to stay
2. maddy loves life 

3. Life with Meg

4. Cats and contours
5. the girl with an accent
6. Kim Styles Cards
7. cassixmakeup
8. Tales of Belle
9. the lil beauty bean
10. whos that girl blog
11. hollife

and the questions I want to ask them are:

1.  What inspired you to start your blog?
2.  What is your favourite vice?
3.  If you were a colour which one would it be?
4.  How lucky are you and why?
5. Are you more of a hunter or a gatherer?
6. What was the last gift you gave someone?
7. What is your most favourite thing about humanity?
8. What is the funniest thing that’s happened to you recently?
9. What inspires you?
10. If a genie granted you 3 wishes what would you want to wish?
11. If you were a tree, what would you be?

I hope you enjoyed reading this post and that those nominated have fun answering my questions and continuing the nominations!

We love Manchester

I’ve been meaning to write on my blog for a couple of weeks now about the colour wheel and the different styles of eye makeup I’ve been shown in class but I had my lovely day out in London last week which I was excited to write about and then there was last Monday evening… Where out of the blue tragedy struck Manchester. The wonderful city I’ve been living in for the last 3 years.  A city with history, beautiful architecture, industrial significance, great music scene.  An inspiring city which re-emerged from the IRA bombings and rebuilt itself beautifully to combine the old with the modern. A city of wonderful, compassionate people.

The sensesless act of bombing innocent people, mostly children and teenagers, has  left everyone in shock​. I could not even think about writing about make up and colours when so many families are suffering.

But Mancunians are strong and caring people. They don’t live in fear. They took to the streets to show solidarity and opposition to terrorism by flooding central Manchester and showing their love for the great city of Manchester and its people. Buildings, shop windows, walls covered with signs of love for Manchester.

It is inspiring to see that although people are hurting they are not defeated. I too will resume my usual blogging about makeup soon.

 

Love and peace,

 

Kiki

Ladies who brunch and go make-up shopping (Part 1 / London)

I hadn’t seen Asha, my good friend from uni, since my wedding in Cyprus last October. She lives in Surrey (but commutes to London for work) and has a busy schedule so although we now live in the same country again, meeting up is not that often and requires some planning.  We keep in touch regularly, sending each other messages via social media but so far since 2014 we managed to see each other about twice a year. She was due to visit me in Manchester at the end of June but in the meantime she suggested we arrange a meet-up for the day in London sometime in May. So, I booked my train ticket a few weeks in advance to avoid the ridiculously extortionate prices that the Manchester-London trains sometimes charge and off I was yesterday for a girly day out!  We planned to do the things we like the most: eat nice food, chat, have coffee, talk about make-up, look at make-up and eat cake!

We met in Euston train station and took the underground to Covent Garden where we were booked to have brunch at Bill’s in St Martin’s Courtyard.

Asha in Bill’s

Our nice, filling late breakfasts (Asha had the veggie breakfast and I went for a yummy avocado on toast with poached eggs and streaky bacon) were followed by a cup of coffee and a stroll around the make up stores in Covent Garden.  We had been having a running debate about whether Asha’s foundation number/colour was too dark for her skin tone and we wanted to check it out in MAC where she buys it from.

First off though we visited the Charlotte Tilbury shop. It must have been a very new shop there because although it was very busy with people more than half of them were staff members!  The staff to customer ration seemed to be 3:1! The staff were very eager to service customers but I’m not sure how many sales were being made. We had a good look at the face creams and make up products and asked about the prices (which were a bit high) but we didn’t find anything that we couldn’t live with so we left without any purchases.  I then spotted, on the opposite side of the street, a KIKO store. I first had heard of this Milanese brand in Sweden on a 2009 trip there where while at a shopping mall with my friend Maria we stumbled across it and bought a few colour correcting/concealer products.  Asha hadn’t heard of it before so we went inside to have a look there as well.  KIKO prices are very reasonable and they had a good range of quality make-up brushes and I ended up buying an eyeshadow pencil brush at half the price of a MAC one as well as a loose face powder and a powder puff.  I also bought a few make-up goodies a late birthday present for Asha, one of them was a very promising highlighter.

Kiki, the happy KIKO shopper

3 shops to the right was the MAC store which felt really crammed and the staff on the first floor were too busy to attend to all the customers.  We almost left with nothing when we realised there was a basement floor. I am SO glad we took the stairs down. It was not busy and that’s where we found a make-up artist who finally put mine and Asha’s debate at rest (the correct foundation number apparently is somewhere between the one she has and the number I suggested).  The make-up artist/assistant even gave Asha a freebie with the suggested foundation to try the lighter tone at home (woohoo!) and I was overjoyed to finally be re-united with the eyeshadow brush no. 227.  It is by far the best blender eyeshadow brush I have ever used.  I had bought it from the Cyprus MAC store 10 years ago and it was stolen from my car in Cyprus 2.5 years ago when someone broke into it at Christmas time and stole my make up bag. Since then I had been mourning that brush more than my expensive sunglasses and other items taken from my car as I was unable to find the same brush in the Cyprus or Manchester MAC stores I looked into.  I couldn’t find it in the UK online MAC store either. So I shrieked with delight when I saw it in the Covent Garden store. The shop assistant there who heard me couldn’t believe how happy I was over a brush!  So the MAC visit was a win for both my friend and I!

My KIKO and MAC purchases

The last thing on our day’s To -Do list was a must visit to Hummingbird in Soho.  We wanted to have some cake but also take some treats back home but we were still quite full from our brunch so we only bought cupcakes to take home.  Although we both have a sweet tooth we still could not have cake in the afternoon so we decided that we would have them as dessert after dinner at our homes. I chose Carrot, Dark Bottom, Salted Caramel and Red Velvet to share with my husband back home. (He loved them so much he now wants me to go to London again just for the cupcakes).

cof

cof

All in all, it was a lovely day, catching up with my friend, doing some shopping and enjoying yummy things!  Even the weather wasn’t too bad with sunshine most of the day. We ended up using our umbrellas only for a minute as the showers were sporadic and we were indoors most of the time.

Having one last cup of tea at Pret-a-Manger before taking our respective trains back we decided that we could meet more regularly in different towns to shorten the distance between us. However, the next time will be a proper visit in a month’s time when my friend comes to stay over in Manchester to spend some quality time and be make-up guinea pig . So part 2 of ladies who brunch and shop for make-up will be in Manchester at the end of June!

P.S. I do have to try some different eyeshadows for my course homework but I am continuing with my personal make-up challenge and was wearing the MAC Deep Truth and Cien’s sky blue eyeshadows on my London day trip.

Make up your mind! (Part 1 of my personal challenge)

The title of this blog post came to me yesterday morning when the sound of heavy rain, (instead of sunrays through my bedroom window), woke me 20 minutes before my alarm was due to ring.  And yes, the pun is intentional.

The British weather is notorious for its unpredictability but it is mid-May and with the weather not being able to decide whether it wants to spring into summer or step back into the Ice Ages I think I’m going slightly mad! Can’t the weather make up its mind already? Not only I do not know how to dress from one day to the next, I also don’t know what make up look to go for.

I once had a one-to-one make up lesson in Cyprus with a famous local make-up artist who, amongst other useful tips and tricks he taught me on make-up, he talked to me about the winter and summer make up colour trends.  These can only work when you live in a country where seasons and weather are stable, more or less.  In Britain, they go out the window!

One day in Great Britain can contain all four seasons. Anyone who’s lived in this country knows this. As there is absolutely no straightforward winter / spring / summer / autumn seasonality in this country, sticking to fashionable colour themes to align looks with the weather seems impossible.  Equally seemingly impossible is my ability to stop buying more and more make-up products.

I love variety too much, which is why I could never stick to the same make up look on a daily basis. I would get bored if I made my face exactly the same day in, day out. My love for different looks often gets me into trouble with trying and buying new make-up products and experimenting with new looks.  As a result, I have accumulated over the years a large collection of products that is always difficult to go through and use up.  Unless I lose a lipstick or an eyeshadow (or have it stolen as it so happened once but that’s a sad and bitter story for another blog post) it’s extremely rare that I will have to buy a replacement of the same thing.  That’s because I have too much of a variety to choose from at home already.  (Foundations, concealers, mascaras, eye pencils and powders don’t fall into this category of course as they are the staples of every woman’s daily make up routine).

So, I’ve thought of a way of combating the indecisiveness of not knowing what make up look to go for while using my existing products and slowly getting rid of some.

I dare say, I’ve come up with a strategic decision on make-up usage!

I have decided that every day of each of the following 8 weeks I will use the exact same blusher and eye products.  Shocker isn’t it?! This is probably not so alien to most people. But the thought of this to me was!

Starting as of yesterday (Monday) with the 1^st day of the 1^st of the 8 weeks of my challenge, I will be using the same blusher Estee Lauder bronzer as blusher and a cheap and cheerful blue/grey eyeshadow palette for the eyes, my MAC Deep Truth (a sapphire deep blue) eye shadow, my mascara, my black eye pencil  as eyeliner. Only! It does not have to be the exact same look every day but I will stick to the same colour palette for eyes and cheeks.

Cien’s 19 Blue Magic trio palette & MAC’s Deep Truth

I will continue using the same mascara (Rimmel’s Super Curler 24HR) throughout the 8 weeks, unless it runs out earlier, as mascaras have a short life and I need to use this one up before opening up the new one I recently bought.

 

Mascara and bronzer/blusher

The purpose of this personal challenge is to repeatedly use the same products so that I get more use out of them before they reach their use-by-date and need throwing out.  I’m hoping that this attempt will help me spend less time thinking what make up to go for on a daily basis but also get some results in getting specific products used that otherwise would be left in my make up box unused.

But already by day 2 of the personal challenge, which was this morning, I struggled a bit.  My day did not start very well. I was already running late to get ready for work when I accidentally squirted concealer inside my eye (it really stung) and then squirted foundation all over my dress. I had to run upstairs to change into something else (still wondering if the stain will ever come out of the dress) and didn’t have time for an elaborate eye make up. I just used the silvery light blue shadow of my eyeshadow palette to apply on the eyelid and using a pencil brush I used my dark blue MAC eyeshadow as eyeliner on the upper lid for a blue feline look.  I didn’t even reach for the eye pencil. It was a struggle against time but I managed to stick to my self-administered basic rules.

I wonder how much difference the challenge will make to the usage of my products but I will be checking them all at the end of this attempt.  The end of the 8 weeks happens to fall on my birthday so it should be an interesting one.  Watch this space for Part 2 of this post in 8 weeks’ time!

 

Mother’s Day

I’ve completed more than a 3rd of my make up course so far.  5 sessions down, 7 to go.  The 18:00 – 21:00 hours every Tuesday evening are good for fitting my make-up class around work but they are late in the day and it can get tiring.   After a full day in the office and with getting home around 22:00 to have a very late dinner and then feeling hyper and not being able to sleep early the whole day is having a bit of a knock-on effect on the rest of my week.  But I shouldn’t complain.  I’ve come to know my fellow students a little bit by now and learnt that a lot of them work and study in college or uni at the same time, not just doing the make-up course in their spare time like me.  Some of them have kids as well so they have a lot more busy schedules and commitments than me.  I cannot even imagine how it must be for Julie* for example, who juggles taking care of her 3 children, working 2 days a week and is currently studying for her university degree exams in social work, while attending this 3 hour per week course on top of everything else and trying to fit in homework make-up trials during the week!

This reminds me of all mothers who have to take care of the household, looking after their children, putting their wants and needs before their own. Mothers are every day super women who need to be respected and cherished.

As this coming Sunday it is Mother’s Day in Cyprus (I honestly don’t know why it’s different in other parts of the world like the UK) and my blog is vaguely based around the search for beauty I would like to dedicate this blog post to my mum, a strong, positive and beautiful person, inside and out.  I don’t often show her my appreciation for all the things she does for me and the whole family but she’s been a pillar of strength and positivity through many difficult times, especially in the last year which has been the most difficult.

 

She has shown me, with her courage and positiveness, that love does not end with the loved ones that one day have to go.  Love and the happy memories stay with us for ever and we have to continue making new happy memories.

Happy Mother’s Day from abroad mum 

Love, Kiki xxx

 

* the name has been changed to preserve the person’s anonymity