An Actress Wardrobe: Emergency Luggage

This is definitely one of the highlights of my commercial work  here in  London. Thanks to MOT Models/Artists, I was able to work for this lovely company - The Furniture  Village - and believe me, the photography team behind this project was just so fun to work with that I couldn't be more happy to be part of it as a model.

I think there is a couple of practical points that I learned as a model and that I easily transfer to my acting projects. It's nothing intellectually related to the preparation of a character or of a screenplay, it's, as I mentioned, a couple of very practical details that I think will make you a more collaborative actor if you pay attention to them, especially because you'll be helping makeup artists and stylists. Also, these details will always come in handy for a last minute casting, audition and important interviews.

As a model  I always have an emergency luggage ready. This bag contains:

1. A pair of black and blue jeans and a pair of suit trousers, a white and a black T-shirt, a nice blazer, a leather jacket and a trench coat, a pair of flat shoes and a simple pair of black high heels/pumps.  White trainers which match with everything, A striped T-shirt, a denim and a white shirt and a pencil skirt.

2.  Simple tank tops (beige, white and black) and three bras of the same color with straps and strapless. Black and nude tights! 

3. Makeup: foundation, concealer, powder, eye shadows, mascara and blush, lipstick, lip balm and cleansing facial wipes.

4. Fake nails in a nude color and a self tan product for my legs, if necessary. 

5. A Straightener and a curler,  hair oil, hair spray and a hair brush.

For sporty photoshoots it's also good to have a pair of running trainers, a pair of leggings and also a sports bra. 

Don't forget to take care of your hair and skin and  make sure your eyebrows are threaded and beautifully done.  The same for your nails! Sleep and eat well and exercise, especially to prevent a skin reactions or acne before the shoot. 

Hope this list will help you in your everyday life as an actor. There's nothing worse than waking up and realizing you ran out of milk and coffee! The same happens when you have a casting and you realize your white shirt is in the washing machine! If I am missing something, please write in the comments bellow so I'll add it to my Emergency Luggage! 

Love, Lili

A Nervous Feeling....

I feel like writing in Portuguese many times, I feel like expressing my ideas in my native language more than in english. English makes me connect to a bigger audience but there will always be something missing in my posts when I decide to write them in english.  Words flow differently in Portuguese. English is math. Portuguese is poetry. The more I age and the more I travel, the more I connect to where I'm coming from; the more I connect to my family, the more I forgive our differences, imperfections and problems. The more I value a small life. Don't be surprised if suddenly you find a post in Portuguese in this blog. I miss Portugal. I am not sure I would live there permanently, but I know I need to go back to Lisbon for a couple of months maybe. Unfortunately,  I can't fulfill this need now due to work and responsibilities that I have here in London. I moved to this capital in 2012 which means I'll be able to apply for an english passport soon. I'll be renting a new flat in February and honestly, I am beginning to get tired of the astronomic cost of renting a place in London. Everything is overrated: the flats, their quality, the location. I used to complain about Lisbon but so far, Lisbon wins in so many things. I didn't know what I had and how lucky I was until I left the adorable, shiny and peaceful portuguese capital.  I thought travelling to London or New York would make me a richer human being, more competitive at so many levels. My thoughts were right, I am more competitive, more confident and sensitive, my eyes are more open now. I already wrote a post here talking about how grateful I am to this town. But there's something funny happening to me. I wonder if this happens to you too.... a sort of a nervous feeling, an impulse to change, to move... London is not answering my questions anymore, is not adding anything knew to me... A Change needs to be made.

I can't find a title for this one!

We didn't have Christmas plans this year.

My mother in law was very ill.

Cancer.

George travelled to Portugal two weeks ago and two days after he arrived his mother passed away. I got a last minute flight to attend the funeral and to be with him and with his family and to help as much as I could.

2016 is a year to forget. The Christmas spirit was gone. We cried and helped each other very much, especially clearing out the whole house, sorting out her personal belongings, her closet...  giving away her clothes and Ikea bags full of medication, months and months of medication... recovering pictures and diaries...

I can't describe you how hard this task turned out to be. Every jacket, scarf, every bag and shirt had a memory attached to them. Not to mention her lovely smell as well...

...

On Wednesday I flew back to London. Work commitments were waiting for me. George stayed with his family a little longer. His mum's ashes will be taken to Switzerland according to her wishes.

The Christmas Eve was spent on my own. I worked during the day and I cooked a traditional Portuguese recipe when I got home so I could have my dinner in front of the telly watching Christmas movies while talking to my family over the phone as well. I fell asleep really early.

On Sunday, I wrapped some presents to give to the Staib's Family - a family, friend of ours, who invited me to spend the 25th with them. They literally adopted me for Christmas:) Andy cooked the lovely and yummy traditional Turkey, we played games the whole evening between cheese and wine.

I hope you all spent a wonderful time with your family or together with those you love the most. Families have their own dynamic. Sometimes everything flows smoothly, sometimes the family picture is far from being a happy Christmas card. I hope we all learn to let go our differences and we all learn to forgive in the end. Sometimes, the only solution is to let your sense of humor win. I think that's an important thing I learned from my mother in law. She taught me not to take myself and my life so seriously, to develop a sense of humor as a surviving skill!:)

Merry Christmas Everyone.

Love,

Lili

A Table for One, Please!

"I've just finished work and I felt like eating pizza today...so I came to rossopomodoro." 

"Ok. Good." 

Silence. The phone connection was perfect. Silence, just silence.

"But... Are you having dinner alone at Rossopomodoro?"

"Yes, I am! Why?"

"You're so corageous! How can you do that?

"Easy. I came in and there was a table for one still available on a Friday night, not the best table but since they cook my favourite  pizza,  I took it, and here  I am."

"Uau! I wish I could do that!"

"The waiter already  asked for you, by the way."

For my boyfriend, booking a table for one is an act of courage! If you book it on a Friday night that's an act of heroism! I always had dinners and lunches on my own, I never felt unconfortable or weird, but now he is making me too aware of it. 

Recently I went to another place, a Japanese restaurant and, again, I went on my own. The waiter asked for George as well. I said to him, George had to travel for a week or two. I came back to the same restaurant three weeks later and, at this point, George hadn't come back from his trip yet. The waiter became suspicious. I introduced the restaurant to some friends who loved the place and now the staff started confirming their suspicious thoughts.

"She's boring, she always chooses the same from the menu. I knew he wouldn't come back from his trip! He left her!"

I think George made me too aware of the courageous act of having a Curry Laksa on my own in a restaurant. It never crossed my mind thinking of what other people might think about it. But now I'm even googling and writing about it!

I never felt lonely doing things on my own. I love it. Recently I said to someone:

- "I am going to take the train to visit the place X and I'll spend the afternoon there"

- "Hum... Are you OK?  Do you need time for yourself?"

- "Well... It's not necessarily a need and I am not  necessarily excluding the possibility  of having company. It's something I decided to do without creating a Facebook event for it."

I love social events. I love people and dinners and shopping with friends, a good conversation and family gatherings. But my solitude is also fantastic. Sometimes I try to name it, I try to label this duplicity, a mix of introversion and extroversion. I like to have this balance. 

When I'm in a restaurant on my own,  people talking in the background,  the staff... Those details are a company to me. I could stay at home but it wouldn't be the same!

A Pleated Skirt... Finally!

Pleated skirts... They've been everywhere, I know!

 I can be very slow in catching up with trends... I see people wearing things and I wonder what they would look like on me but I'm quite lazy when it comes to actually buy them.  I keep seeing people wearing those trends until they stop being trendy, only to become just another normal item that everyone has in their wardrobe. That's when I go there and buy it! That's when I stop to look at them. That's when they start look like a trend, that's when they look fresh to me. Too late maybe, but I like to take my time. When everyone is crazy about something I just don't find it special but when people stop wearing it and talking about it, and silence prevails, then I'll go there and I'll take a closer look...

These thoughts are only to tell you that I finally got a pleated skirt in my wardrobe.

Love

Lili

The Red Lipstick

In my hometown, I have a neighbour I adore, my mum's best friend, and everytime her name pops into my head, I have this beautiful picture of her smiling, with a red lipstick on. 

She has decades of red on her lips.

I think I only saw her once without it and I felt something was missing. 

Her signature  was missing.

  There's always the thought that might stops us from choosing red:

Life happens and I have to retouch my red lips over and over again, after a sandwich, after my morning coffee... I can't be bother with it so let's choose a nude shade instead. 

Red ca be a spontaneous and a natural choice but there's nothing wrong in having an agenda about it. Yes. I have an agenda when it comes to my red lipstick:) It projects confidence and it can definitely up lift a weird mood day. There's shy shades of red for those moments when you don't feel like wearing a super bright colour like the one in the picture. I love those shades. 

That's what I normally use. 

Have a lovely week, 

Love, Lili

  

Mission: Rescue My Skin From Spots, Part II

Recently I wrote a post about skincare, particularly the steps to rescue my skin from acne. The post has been published already but the list of steps to help you and me achieving a good looking skin haven't finished yet. I will always keep researching and trying new products! My most recent discovery was an hydrating gel from Sesderma that I bought in Portugal. 

I went to the pharmacy to by a product from Vichy rich in glycolic acid but I left the pharmacy holding this one with a lot of hopes in one pocket and zero euros in another pocket. It´s slightly pricey, around 45€ but the pharmacist was absolutely right when she promised my skin would be clear in two to three weeks. For severe cases of acne breakouts, I believe you should definitely talk to the pharmacist about the percentages of salicylic acid or glycolic acid that are recommended for you. 

This hydrating gel from Sesderma is a combination of glycolic acid (4%) and salicylic acid (1%). 

The glycolic acid renews, regenerates and hydrates the skin. 

This acid is an exfoliator, so it will gently exfoliates the top layer of your skin, removing dead cells and therefore preventing clogged pores. The speed of natural exfoliation of an oily skin is slower than other skin types which leads to clogged pores. Clogged pores are the source of whiteheads, nodular acne and blackheads. 

Also, it's important to reinforce the use of suncream since the exfoliation process will make the top layer of your skin thinner and more sensitive to the sun. The pharmacist recommended me to use this product only at night. During the day I always combine SPF50 suncream with my moisturizer.

My acne scars, general dark spots and marks seem to be less noticeable which is another advantage of this acid. If you suffer form hyper pigmentation or sun damaged skin, the Glycolic acid is a treatment to consider.

Thanks to its small molecules, this acid will not only perform on the top layer of our epidermis but it will also penetrate deeply reaching the dermis and stimulating the collagen and the elastin production,  increasing the skin's hydration and its firmness. 

This makes him an excellent anti aging ingredient as well. 

A Girl on a Train to Weybridge for an English Sunday

An English Sunday means long walks in the Park, a massive brunch mixing a full English with a full continental breakfast, a spectacular roast with family and friends, a crumple apple pie for desert. 

The evenings are spent watching series, driking a glass of wine and having some crackers and cheese too.

This Sunday was perfect to recharge my batteries.

Judging  by the massive roast in the picture I might have overcharged them:)

Love, Lilly

Welcome Back, November! Look What I Bought for You!

November.

November brings yellow, green, red and purple colours to the landscapes.

It brings us back the hot and spicy drinks with a cinnamon smell.

November brings us hot soups for dinner too, Christmas's expectations, turtle neck sweaters, long coats and furry fabrics.

It brings us scarves and boots, candles and lazy moments in front of the television wrapped in blankets.

It brings us the tv series and the movies we already watched a 1000 times.

Sweet November, in return, I bought you some clothes. You're so cold already. You will need them. I went to Primark where I found  the scarves and the sweaters. I got the basket in TKmax. The cat is mine, sorry! * I chose pastel colours for you this year and, off course, the brown and the camel are coming along. 

November, welcome back and stay warm!:)

I Miss You, Theatre!

Visiting Portugal means visiting my Theatre School, where I studied, where I changed my career path and where I found that important feeling of belonging when I moved to the capital without knowing one single soul there. 

I went to see a collection of monologues performed by the students of the second year acting course. It was a lovely exercise that made me feel like jumping from the audience to the stage, that made me realise how much I miss the process of discovering characters and plays and their human condition, the preparation of a theatrical performance, the feeling of buterflies in my stomach every night; also, the devastating insatisfaction afterwards, an insatisfaction that keeps you wanting to turn up every night to deliver everything all over again. The repetition,  the "never the same repetition".

 I truly miss theatre.