Duran Duran Set Milano On Fire on June 12, 2016!!

Duran Duran closed their 5 dates Italian Tour in Milano on Sunday June 12 with a bang!! The crowd was overwhelmed by the energy and charisma of this fantastic band once again!!
This time unfortunately I was able to go to only one concert of their Italian Tour but I am SO happy I went to the show in Milano, because I think it was the best of the Italian Tour. After seeing the other shows in streaming on Facebook I thought I knew what to expect, but I was wrong. Seeing the show live was nothing like seeing it on the computer…. the energy of the band and Simon’s immense charisma just blew me away!! The set list was exactly the same as the other Italian shows:

Many people complained about this set list but I don’t, I went to the show with a friend who doesn’t know much about the band so I was happy she would hear their hits and I was pretty sure she would enjoy the show! I was so happy when the next day she thanked me for the wonderful experience, and I can say this was the ideal set list for someone who has never seen the band live…the only complain I can have is that it was a bit short, about 1 hour and 50 minutes…I understand a show like this takes its toll especially on Simon, but even without adding any songs they could have stretched the intros of The Reflex and Notorious and the Band Intro, like they did in the last tour, and voila, the show would have been 10 minutes longer! Strange they didn’t think of doing this!

Simon during Paper Gods

We were in the first row in front of Dom but it was really hard to look at anyone else but Simon, because his stage presence is immense….he seemed to be in a very good mood, smiling all the time, driving the crowd wild with his facial expressions and moves…he is a great frontman and he knows it!!! He talked with the crowd much more than in the other Italian shows (he was probably happy this crazy Italian week was finally over!) and there was also a funny part when he said “Hello Milano, hello Toscana”….Milano is not in Toscana, so he was like “Oh, wrong place?? What is it, Lombardia? Excuse me, I’m a small frontman with a small mind…hello Italy…we are in Italy, right?? Yes, very much in Italy”!!

Musically the band was in top shape and Simon’s voice was good, he had a bad moment at the end of Ordinary World when he couldn’t hold the higher note, but he came out of it pretty well. He seemed to have a cold this week, so if you think he sang 5 concerts in 8 days with a cold, I’d say he did a great job. The show doesn’t have a dull moment, the crowd basically has no rest, one hit after another that keep you dancing and singing for the whole concert. Personally I would have taken What Are The Chances off the set list, it’s a beautiful song but for people who has not bought the latest album, it’s not as catchy a ballad as Come Undone or Ordinary World. Very touching moment was the tribute to David Bowie, when they mashed up Planet Earth with Space Oddity…I had to shed a tear or two there…Simon was just great, that’s all I can say. Fans loved the (Reach Up For The) Sunrise / New Moon On Monday mash up too, and the beautiful confetti explosion that came at the end of the song drove us all wild!! Save A Prayer is always  a special moment…I am not crazy about the whole “Light up your mobile phones” things, call me old fashioned but I still prefer to see the good old lighters instead of phone lights!! Anyway there were definitely too many people paying more attention to taking photos and immediately put them on Facebook or taking videos than to the show!! Personally I took maybe 15 photos…I couldn’t keep the camera still enough so the photos were mostly out of focus…so I decided to enjoy the show and forget about the photos!! 

The end of the show is always Rio and they threw 4 big beach balls into the crowd so that we could play with them during the end of the song…I did manage to touch one of them only briefly…some lucky persons got to bring them home!! Some fans including me and my friend wanted to make a coreography with pink and blue sequin hats …of course the coreography didn’t work as not enough people had the hats, but someone first threw a pink hat on stage, so Simon put it on, so I immediately put on my pink hat too and kept it on until the end of the show…during Rio Simon asked another fan to give him her blue hat saying “Blue is more my colour” and then gave it back to her. I felt sorry for the girl who threw the pink hat because Simon then launched it into the crowd so she couldn’t get it back, but I guess the emotion for Simon wearing it was enough for her! Later I saw that he got himself a pink sequin hat and he wore it during some shows in Canada and Usa, so he really liked the hats idea!! Dear Canadian and American fans, it all started here in Milano!!! 

All I can say is if you have the chance to go to a Duran Duran concert…GO TO SEE THEM!! You won’t regret it!! No matter what’s the cost of the ticket, the show will be worth it!! Duran Duran is the band designed to make you party…and party you will, my friends!!!

“Curvy” Barbie dolls: Why I don’t like them

Is the new Barbie Fashionistas line of dolls nice or not??
Mattel has released some months ago its new Fashionistas line of Barbie dolls and immediately on Tv we heard stuff like “Finally Mattel has created a line of dolls based on normal women” or “These dolls will help little girls realize they don’t need to be extra thin to be beautiful”…. Well, let me tell you what I think about this whole “Barbie is too thin, Barbie is not like a real woman” subject….IT’S A DOLL, FOR FUCK’S SAKE!!! It’s not a woman, it’s not a model you should base your life on, it’s a doll!!! Dolls are meant to make little girls play and dream, let their imagination flow, create all sorts of worlds… they are not made to shape your own life on! Sure when I was a kid I wanted to be like Barbie: blonde, tall, with big tits and blue eyes…. eventually I dyed my hair blond, my tits are OK (and no, I didn’t get fake boobs to look like Barbie, they are my own tits!), if I want to have blue eyes I can get coloured lenses, but there is one thing I will never, ever be, and that’s TALL!!  Well, guess what?? I learned to live with it!! And why blame A DOLL saying it makes little girls ashamed if their bodies are not perfect while on the runaways we have anorexic models that look like skeletons, and everywhere in magazines they keep telling us how much we need to lose weight?? I would say these are the wrong role models, because these are real humans, Barbie is a doll! It’s up to you to explain to your little girl that this is a doll and not all women will look like Barbie (and why’s that?? Again, because it’s a doll!!), and if your daughter grows up and starts asking to have plastic surgery to look like Barbie (like the stupid Russian girl did…) instead of blaming a doll maybe you should question what did you teach her about women’s bodies (also with your own example) and have a good talk with her!

The New Fashionistas line of dolls

Ok, having said this, here is a picture of the new Fashionistas dolls (you can go on www.mattel.com to see more pictures of the single dolls). Would you say these dolls are beautiful?? Do they look like Barbie dolls at all?? In my opinion the answer to both questions is: NO. I am a Barbie Collector, and I don’t see any doll here that I would buy. Frankly, I don’t see any doll I would like to have even if I didn’t have to pay for it. There are curvy dolls, short dolls, tall dolls (how come only the short ones are really curvy anyway?? Isn’t this discrimination against short girls?? Soon someone will say that too..), but beside the shape of their bodies, I look at the dresses and I don’t like them at all…there isn’t a single beautiful dress on these dolls. And their faces?? Plain, no nice make up (is there a crusade against make up too?) and the features are not as detailed as they used to be. Take a look at the Barbie faces in the pictures below, and then take a look at the new dolls…you will see the difference for yourself.

Now compare the faces of these dolls with the new dolls…I think you can clearly see the difference. It’s not just the make up, because if you look at the last doll, she hasn’t got much make up on but her facial features are so much nicer than the new doll’s.

And do we want to talk about these dolls’ dresses??? Come on, what are these, housewives Barbies? Not that there is anything wrong with being an housewive (been there, done that), but even as a kid, when I wanted to buy a new Barbie, it was a lot about the dress she was wearing! I don’t believe in this new line of “Barbie Vet” or “Barbie Doctor”…dolls are made to make little girls dream, in my opinion there is no need to dream to be a Vet, you can do that, so what’s to dream about?? Dream about being  Princess, a Rockstar, an Actress, an Astronaut, a Character from a movie, but please, DREAM!! Dream Big, or don’t bother to dream!

If you want to see some wonderful Collector’s Barbies you can to go http://www.thebarbiecollection.com and you’ll see there what I call THE REAL BARBIE DOLLS!!

The Blonds Blond Gold Barbie Doll By Bill Greening

Haunted Beauty Zombie Bride Barbie Doll By BIll Greening

In my opinion these new Fashionistas dolls are not Barbie. Give them other names, sell them as relatives (like Skipper) or friends of Barbie, but these dolls have nothing to do with the real Barbie. They kinda look like those cheap imitations they sell for a few bucks…this is not a nice thing to say, but as a Barbie fan I feel kinda “betrayed” by the look of these dolls. 

What do you think?? Do you like them???

Barbie “Curvy”: perchè non mi piacciono

La nuova linea di Barbie Fashionistas vi piace o no??

La Mattel ha lanciato sul mercato qualche mese fa la sua nuova linea di Barbie Fashionistas e subito in Tv abbiamo iniziato a sentire cose tipo “Finalmente la Mattel ha creato una linea di bambole ispirata alle donne normali”, o “Queste bambole aiuteranno le bambine a capire che non c’è bisogno di essere magrissime per essere belle”…Beh, lasciate che vi dica cosa penso di tutta sta “Barbie è troppo magra, Barbie non è come una donna vera” storia… E’ UNA BAMBOLA, CAVOLO!!! Non è una donna, non è un modello su cui basare la tua vita, è una bambola!! Le bambole sono fatte per far giocare e sognare le bambine, far lavorare la loro immaginazione per creare tanti mondi fantastici…non sono fatte per basarci la loro vita futura! Ovvio, quando ero piccola volevo essere come Barbie: bionda, alta, con gli occhi azzurri e due tette così… alla fine mi sono tinta i capelli, le mie tette vanno bene (e no, non mi sono rifatta le tette per somigliare a Barbie, sono le mie!!), se voglio avere gli occhi azzurri mi posso comprare le lenti a contatto colorate…ma c’è una cosa che non sarò e non potrò mai essere, ed è ALTA!! Beh, indovinate un pò? Ho imparato ad accettarlo!!

Poi perchè demonizzare UNA BAMBOLA, dicendo che a causa sua le bambine si vergognano dei propri corpi se non sono perfetti, mentre sulle passerelle abbiamo modelle anoressiche che sembrano scheletri, e dappertutto sui giornali continuano a dirci quanto dobbiamo dimagrire per essere belle? Io direi che questi sono i veri modelli di comportamento sbagliati, perchè queste sono persone vere, Barbie è una bambola! Tocca a te insegnare a tua figlia che questa è una bambola e che non tutte le donne somigliano a Barbie (e come mai?? Perchè, appunto…è una bambola!!), e se tua figlia crescendo comincerà a chiedere di farsi operazioni di chirurgiaq plastica per somigliare a Barbie (come la stupida ragazza Russa…che ancora non le somiglia..), invece di biasimare una bambola forse dovresti domandarti cosa le hai insegnato tu sul corpo delle donne (anche con il tuo esempio) e farci una bella chiacchierata!

Le nuove Barbie Fashionistas

OK, dettoo questo, qui sopra vedete una foto delle nuova Barbie Fashionistas (potete andare suwww.mattel.com per vedere le foto delle singole bambole). Direste che queste bambole sono bellissime?? Sembrano delle Barbie?? Per me la risposta a entrambe le domande è: NO. Io sono una Collezionista di Barbie, e qui non vedo nessuna bambola che comprerei. Francamente, non ne vedo nessuna che vorrei avere se me la regalassero. Ci sono bambole cicciottelle, basse, alte (ma come mai solo quelle basse sono cicciottelle?? Questa sarebbe discriminazione verso le donne basse! Presto qualcuno dirà anche questo..), ma a parte la loro linea, guardo i vestiti e non mi piacciono… non c’è un bel vestito su queste bambole. Le facce? Smorte, senza un bel trucco (c’è anche una crociata contro il trucco??) e i lineamenti non li trovo così belli e fini come al solito. Se guardate le facce delle Barbie nelle foto sotto e poi guardate le facce delle nuove vedrete da soli la differenza.

OK, si dirà, queste qui sono Barbie da collezione, costano un sacco di soldi, le nuove sono bambole meno costose. OK, queste qui sotto sono due Barbie meno costose...mi sembra che i lineamenti del viso siano belli comunque!

  

Ora confrontate le facce di queste bambole con quelle nuove…la differenza si vede. Non è solo il trucco, perchè se guardiamo le ultime bambole (che appunto non sono quelle costose da collezione, ma bambole più abbordabili come prezzo), non hanno molto trucco ma gli occhi e i lineamenti del viso sono meglio disegnati e più raffinati di quelli delle bambole nuove.

Vogliamo parlare dei vestiti? Dai, cosa sono queste, le Barbie Casalinghe?? Non che ci sia niente di male ad essere casalinga (ci mancherebbe pure!  ma anche da piccola quando volevo una Barbie nuova la scelta dipendeva molto dal vestito che indossava! Non credo nella linea “Barbie Veterinaria” o “Dottoressa”…per me le bambole devono far sognare le bambine…non mi pare ci sia bisogno di sognare di essere una veterinaria, lo puoi fare, quindi cosa c’è da sognare?? Sogna di essere una Principessa, una Rockstar, un’Attrice, un’Astronauta, un personaggio di un film, ma per favore, SOGNA!! Sogna in grande o non sognare per niente!

Se volete vedere tantissime favolose Barbie da Collezione potete andare su http://www.thebarbiecollection.com e vedrete quelle che per me sono le VERE BARBIE!!

Blonds Blond Gold Barbie disegnata da Bill Greening

Haunted Beauty Zombie Bride disegnata da BIll Greening

Per me queste nuove bambole Fashionistas sono Barbie… saranno amiche o parenti (come Skipper), ma queste bambole non hanno niente a che fare con la vera Barbie. Sinceramente mi sembrano le imitazioni da poco delle Barbie…non è una cosa bella da dire, ma da fan di Barbie mi sento in un certo senso “tradita” dal look di queste bambole. Voi cosa ne pensate? Vi piacciono?

Tested For You: Avon Gel Shine Nail Polish

Avon recently launched in Italy its new Gel Shine nail polish line: 20 colours plus one clear Top Coat. Some colours remained from the previous Gel Finish line but the formula has been improved and many new colours have been added.

The whole range of colours of the new Gel Shine line by Avon

Let’s make this clear: these are NOT gels for nails, these are GEL EFFECT POLISHES, this means nail polishes that are very shiny, much more than the normal polishes, but still common nail polishes. These DO NOT dry in the Uv Lamp and you take them off with your polish remover. Many people think “gel effect” means that these are gels for nails but they are not. All polishes you find in a glass bottle with the brush are nail polishes, not gels!

Purplicious

(Picture by another Avon Lady - Thank you!)

Mint To Be

(Picture by Avon)

Sapphired Up

(Picture by another Avon Lady - Thank you!)

The colours range goes from a very light pink to a very dark grey. Personally I would have added a black (even if Charcoal Smoke is such a dark grey that can be mistaken for black), some more blue and violet shades, taking our maybe one of the beige shades, but of course this is my personal taste.
I personally love strong colours and my favourites in this line are definitely Fabolous (a shade between fuchsia and red), Mint To Be (not a strong colour but I love aqua colour) and most of all the most beautiful colour in this line for me is the Red Velvet, a dark metallic red, really fantastic! There are classic colours for the ladies like the classic red Roses Are Red, light colours for young girls or even little girls like all the pastel colours, and stronger colours like the Purplicious violet or the Sapphired Up blue. I think this line can satisfy all kind of clients!

Rain Washed 

(Picture by another Avon Lady - Thank you!)

Red Velvet

(Picture by another Avon Lady - Thank you!)

All the colours

(Picture by another Avon Lady - Thank you!)

The colour is strong already after the first coat but a second coat is always recommended to obtain exactly the shade of colour you see in the bottle and to improve lasting. On my hands I have gel reconstruction and almost every nail polish lasts long on gel nails but on feet it really lasts for a long time, even 2 weeks without croppings and without the Top Coat! Using the Top Coat it should last even longer. The colour is super shiny just like gel, so I’d say this nail polish passes every test!! With a price in Italy at the moment of 3.95 Euro it's a real deal I would highly recommend!

Pinkylife: Testato Per Voi: Smalto Avon Gel Shine

Pinkylife: Testato Per Voi: Smalto Avon Gel Shine: Avon ha recentemente lanciato la nuova linea di smalti Gel Shine: 20 colori più un Top Coat trasparente. Alcuni colori sono rimasti uguali a...

Testato Per Voi: Smalto Avon Gel Shine

Avon ha recentemente lanciato la nuova linea di smalti Gel Shine: 20 colori più un Top Coat trasparente. Alcuni colori sono rimasti uguali alla linea Gel Finish ma la formula è stata rinnovata, e sono state aggiunte molte nuove tonalità.

Tutti i colori dei nuovi Smalti Gel Shine Avon

(foto non mia, trovata su Internet)

Sfatiamo un mito: questi NON sono gel per ungie, sono SMALTI EFFETTO GEL, ossia smalti molto più lucidi degli altri, ma pur sempre smalti. NON asciugano in lampada, e si tolgono con comune solvente. Molte persone confondono la dicitura “effetto gel” con “gel unghie”. Qualsiasi smalto voi troviate in una boccetta di vetro con il pennellino, è uno smalto, non è un gel!

Wine & Dine Me (foto Avon)

Roses Are Red 

(foto di un'altra Presentatrice Avon di cui non conosco il nome e che ringrazio)

Parfait Pink 

(foto di un'altra Presentatrice Avon di cui non conosco il nome e che ringrazio)

Sapphired Up

(foto di un'altra Presentatrice Avon di cui non conosco il nome e che ringrazio)

La gamma di colori va dal rosa chiarissimo al grigio scurissimo. Personalmente avrei aggiunto il nero (anche se il Charcoal Smoke è un grigio così scuro da sembrare nero), qualche tonalità di blu e di viola in più, eliminando per esempio uno dei due beige, ma ovviamente questi sono gusti personali. Io amo i colori accesi, i miei preferiti della linea sono sicuramente il Fabolous (via di mezzo tra fucsia e rosso), Mint To Be (non è acceso ma adoro il verde acqua!), e soprattutto il colore secondo me più bello della linea è il Red Velvet, un rosso scuro metallizzato veramente favoloso! Ci sono colori classici per le signore come il rosso classico Roses Are Red, colori chiari per ragazzine e anche bimbe, come i colori pastello, e colori più forti come il viola Purplicious e il blu Sapphired Up. Ritengo che questa nuova linea possa veramente soddisfare i gusti di tutte le clienti!

Orange You Crazy

(foto di un'altra Presentatrice Avon di cui non conosco il nome e che ringrazio)

Emerald City

(foto di un'altra Presentatrice Avon di cui non conosco il nome e che ringrazio)

Il colore risulta forte e coprente già dalla prima passata, anche se sarebbe comunque consigliabile mettere due passate per ottenere esattamente il colore desiderato e per aumentare la durata. Sulle mani io ho la ricostruzione gel e quasi qualunque smalto dura molto sul gel, ma posso dire che sui piedi dura davvero tanto, anche 2 settimane senza sbeccature, e senza Top Coat! Usando poi il Top Coat la durata dovrebbe aumentare ancora. Il colore è lucidissimo, veramente effetto gel, quindi promosso a pieni voti! Con un prezzo di 3.95 Euro è un’acquisto che consiglio sicuramente!!

DAVID BOWIE – Why We Still Mourn Him

David Bowie passed away on Sunday, January 10, 2016 and the world went into shock. January 10, 2016 was The Day The Music Died. Immediately on all social networks fans (and let’s say it, even those who have never been big Bowie fans) started to write loving and mourning posts about him. The amount of posts was overwhelming…the only star who died in the past few years that caused a similar amount of posts was Michael Jackson, but from what I recall it was not close to the number of posts about David. Prince didn't even get close, let's say the truth. In the first week I think 90% of Facebook posts I was seeing in the Notification page was about him. At a certain point after about a week I even started to see posts like “Ok, enough with Bowie already”, “Stop posting about him and let him rest in peace” or just “I’m tired of seeing Bowie posts”. What pissed me off the most is that those posts were coming from people who call themselves “fans” of other bands… I was like “How will you feel when your fave singer will die?” and I heard stuff like “I will be sad but I won’t make all this mess” (Yes, really?? We’ll see then) or “It would be worse if a member of my family died” (Nooo, really??? What a wisdom pearl!). To this people I want to remind first that if you are tired of seeing posts about Bowie (or anything else), there is a magic scroll wheel on your mouse, you scroll down and you will see different posts!! Wow, how magic is that?? See, it didn’t take much, right?? Second, in OUR Facebook walls we are still free to post whatever we want without asking permission to anyone! Don’t like my posts? Go somewhere else!

So, why is it that people are mourning David Bowie so much??? Not only his biggest fans…. let me tell you, Bowie was not my #1 idol, for me first there are Duran Duran, and then came David Bowie…so I can try to explain it from my point of view. David Bowie changed my life, and so many other people’s lives.  Let’s face it, David Bowie was the greatest artist the world has ever known. Without David Bowie leading the way, most of today’s greatest bands and singers wouldn’t have started to make music in the first place. He changed the face of music – if I think about it, after Elvis, David Bowie is the artist who really invented something new in music! Not only  he created Ziggy Stardust but he kept on reinventing himself album after album…change is good, that’s what Bowie taught us. He taught us that it’s ok to be different, it’s ok to be gay or bisexual, it’s ok for a man to use make up, it’s ok to have less-than-pefect teeth, it’s ok to just be yourself…or to be someone else if you’d like to. He broke all the rules again and again, until the rules set for common people were not applicable to Bowie anymore…and in the meantime his superb talent gave us great music, great concerts, great movie performances, great paintings. While he knew he was dying he worked til his last days to leave us a last album, a final gift for his fans, and maybe more music for the next years to come. He taught us how to live and he taught us how to die with his battle against cancer.

In all these years he became like a family member for all of us, his music would always be there when we needed it, and believe me, this is more than you can say about some members of our real families! Perhaps one of the most beautiful posts I’ve seen about his passing on Facebook is one that says “Don’t cry, they tell me – You didn’t know him” – “No – I say – But he seemed to know me”! 

I think this pretty much says it all!

I was lucky enough to see David Bowie in concert 3 times in 1987, 1997 and 2003 and I will never forget it! His Glass Spider Tour was, and still is,  the greatest show I’ve ever seen!

For those of you who happen to be in Italy, you can visit the Exhibition DAVID BOWIE IS at the MAMbo in Bologna until November 13!! The exhibition had over 1 million visitors in London, partly surely due to the emotional wave caused by David's passing, but it's an appointment you shouldn't miss if you love Bowie. Videos, Costumes, Song Lyrics handwritten by him...for a Bowie fan it's a feast! If you have the chance to visit this exhibition do it, you won't regret it!