#penelope echart

[athena-with-duolingo-owl]

[miliyaread]

[book review] Villains Are Destined to Die by Gyeoeul Gwon

4.5 ⭐️/5

Start reading for the manhwa, but settle down with a novel, which is lots to digest. But I had my fun.

Reincarnation to the dating game, but not fully die on the real world. She is really a villainess. She does anything to survive, like her last life. She really can be a villainess and turn around all the bad events that happened to Penelope Echart. To be honest, I hate every single male lead (except for the Crown Prince. Because he is crazy as hell) and her dad as well. Her real-life is has also not so well. She has practically been abused since her mother's death. The difference was, she is rich in her new life.

All the Male Leads were crazy. Her brothers have blamed her for taking their sister's place. Her father just ignored her after one of her brothers accused her steal the necklace. That was the bullshit thing to do after her father adopted her. Same as her previous life's family.

The other two Male Leads also do no justice to Penelope. This whole route was totally unforgivable. The reason why I support the Crown Prince is that (he is handsome) he had already messed up since the first day they're met.

This book is not the regular villainess reincarnation from bad turns good. She is still a villainess. She just change her way so people will look at her differently. Can you imagine the crazy Crown Prince and former villainess becoming emperor and empress?

However, I love when Penelope got to confront her former family. The way they treated her was bullshit. Bullied her and let the sons do whatever they want to torment her to the point she suffered from stomach cancer? Penelope does a good job to kill her former body and returning to her husband and daughter.

Disclaimer: All the opinion about this book is based on my personal view!

[ship-ovnik]

Thank you for sharing these thoughts! And especially for the eye shape cheat sheet. If I could also learn about crooked moon eyes that would be splendid but for a another time.

I completely agree with your choice of eye shape. Many would give her the fox eyes, but I think phoenix’s have the tender roundness that is crucial to Penelope’s character. Also come on, she is a phoenix. She literally died and became stronger, ringing from her ashes and the world’s.

As for the lips I would imagine something in line with the picture of this hottie I don’t know.

So maybe like heavy lower lip according to the classification below

I actually have a dissonance in my head, because the looks are somewhat asian inspired but I imagine the empire like something British empire inspired.

As for body type… I head canon her with a smaller breasts, still hourglass shape, but her nutrition just wont allow her to have very prominent curves, if you know what I mean. I think she is the slender beauty type.

Also I wanted to talk about her hair. She won’t have this iconic wavy curls look if she curls her hair, so while we enjoy it, for the nobility it looks like bed hair. Like she haven’t bothered. Because if they went for curls it looked like you mom heated you hair for your primary school and told you to brush them but you never did, you know. I like to believe this is the freedom she allows herself. The freedom not to feel the pain from the tight hair updo.

As for the eyes the mother pearl has a great texture and mixing, but they are so blueish. I would go with green opal, if I had to. But I really like green eyes. I like that it contrasts with Yvonnes blue eyes. And Echarts in general. Like she sees differently, symbolically.

The green opal in question:

OG! Penelope Eckhart Headcanons: Appearance

Part 1!

This is gonna be the first of a small series, I think? A lot of my headcanons revolve around my fanfic Shrike, and that doesn't necessarily appeal to a lot of people. Besides, I do have separate hcs for Shrike!Penelope and OG!Penelope, so that's the basis of this little series.

There WILL be some overlap between Shrike and these headcanons, though, just for you eagle-eyed readers who've read my stuff.

This is the first part, focusing on Penelope's appearance! I'm merging what we know from the novel and how SUOL-nim draws her since I imagine Siyeon as less precocious about her appearance than Penelope. I've included some links in the list to elaborate on further.

——— SPOILERS AHEAD ———

Physical Appearance

Penelope, as a villainess in a dating game, is portrayed with sharper beauty than the innocence of Ivonne.

First of all, unlike the roundedness of the manhwa, her eyes are incredibly sharp, catlike, and upturned. I think a better description for her eyes would be "danfengyan"(丹鳳眼), which are "vermillion phoenix eyes". There are two types of phoenix eyes, with danfengyan being the sharper one with double eyelids. Danfengyan is also associated with the beauty standard of China, a symbol of nobility and majesty in ancient China as well.

Additionally, it's also associated with more historical vibes, with their charm brought out the most by the opulent clothes of nobility.

It would certainly lend to a villainess feeling if a pair of aristocratic eyes gaze down at you with grandeur.

This chart is often used in Chinese eye shape posts, especially English ones.

While we're still on the topic of her eyes, the novel has them as green while the manhwa is this blue-green hybrid. I'm going to combine these together and add a bit of a magical element to them.

I think Penelope has eyes like nacre(also known as "mother-of-pearl"), eyes that shift from blue to green when the light hits them just right. I actually do have a reference picture for what her eye color looks like.

It also fits the idea of the "Mermaid Tear" jewel matching Penelope's eyes in the canon novel.

However, they now have a hazy, glassy quality to them that is normally hidden by a mask that Penelope wears, from the result of the pain she has suffered.

Reference

Penelope has aegyo-sal!! The cute little puffs of fat underneath your eyes which are all the rage in East Asia right now, it softens her eyes a tad.

She has long, thick magenta lashes, pretty well-defined like the manga-lashes trend. The lashes are a bit darker than her hair color.

In the same vein, her eyebrows are actually magenta/dark pink like the novel cover! Just a tad darker, with a slight curve, a bit thicker than the pencil brows that manhwa girls usually have. They're naturally set in a manner that makes Penelope look aloof.

She has a cute button nose but a higher nose bridge than Ivonne, making her look more elegant than cute. In addition, she has a more pointed nose tip than Ivonne as well. A small aristocratic nose.

For her mouth, Penelope has a full bottom lip with a slightly smaller upper lip, which has a defined cupid's bow. The novel cover has her upper and lower lips the same size, but I just think it's because the lower lip isn't colored in as much.

Her face is pretty sharp and slim, with a mix of doll-like elegance but the classical villainess sharpness.

Penelope's skin is extremely pale like the purest of pearls, both from her intense skincare regimen, the beauty standards of Eorka, and the fact that she rarely exposes herself to direct sun. Parasols are her best friend.

Her magic is subconsciously used for small things in her day-to-day life, so I would imagine Penelope's desire to fit into the nobility's beauty standards influencing it to affect her appearance.

Her hair, no matter how long, maintains its perfect curls and mirror-like shine. Its vivid rhododendron hue contrasts sharply with her skin.

I think that the "appearance-enhancing magic" was dimmed down when Siyeon was transmigrated in since she is a tiny shard of the original. It's gonna be my in-universe explanation for why Penelope's hair went to waist-length later on, Emily having to cut it because of the lack of magic supplying it with healthy nutrients.

Her hair, thusly, reaches to like. Her knees? Very Long Hair.

I'm referencing another Tumblr user's post here, I'll edit the post with the link when I find it. BUT. I've been drawing recently and trying to diversify the body shapes we see in manhwa.

I feel like Penelope's body would be more mature, "shapely" for lack of an appropriate term. She wore a lot of extravagant and mature dresses that weren't age-appropriate but suited her at the same time(I will have to fact-check this).

TLDR: hourglass body yo... peak example of beauty standards...

If she wasn't so ostracized, and her personality was less abrasive, I feel like her nickname would've been "The Temptress" or something, with her body being lusted over by other men(which feeds into her disgust at their hypocrisy. Will go into this in more detail in later posts). Think Roxana's 19-year-old body(Roxana) or Larcy(I Will Fall with the Emperor).

Tiny waist, which is even more pronounced by the tightlacing she does.

This is also due to my headcanon of a fictional plant named "Scipretta"(seen also in Shrike). Penelope was continuously dosed with it since she was 13.

Scipretta is a plant of Delman origin, from its Western Plains and has been cultivated for six centuries. It was used for physical enhancement of secondary sex characteristics, especially in females. Essentially, Scipretta would push puberty along, full of magical growth hormones. It was often taken by Delman concubines to appear more physically attractive. Unrefined, it acts as a mild poison that eats away at one's energy, causing the trend of "Slumbering Nymphs" in Delmanese culture.

The Eckhart maids regularly dosed her with it to cover up potential signs of malnutrition while harming her as well. Then, if someone were to be suspicious of the malnutrition, they could point to her body and say "how could Lady Penelope have a perfect body like that if she wasn't eating well, and being taken care of like a princess?"

However, Penelope does have a naturally beautiful body, the Scipretta fed to her was of questionable quality and really sapped her of her energy. When Dona was kicked out, she stopped getting dosed.

She has sharp shoulders, slender and pale limbs, and she has long fingers that are good for playing instruments. Her decolletage and bone structure are quite pronounced.

Clothing

Everything, and I do mean everything is expensive and extravagant.

Penelope wears a lot of dark colors and subtle but expensive patterns and fabrics. However, she does have a large variety of clothes in all cuts, styles, seasons, and occasions. She easily has one of the largest wardrobes among the noblewomen.

As mentioned above, Penelope tightlaced her corsets. It had the side-effect of making her not hungry even when she was starving from malnutrition. It kept it off her mind.

She carries parasols and fans, embroidered with beautiful lace and patterns.

Her accessories are as numerous as one may believe, with countless unique, stunning jewels in her collection. She has a lot of expensive, gem-studded accessories because they can be pawned off, especially if she has to escape to a place that doesn't use the standard currency.

Penelope has a lot of pieces and even luxurious gifts from foreign admirers.

They range from tame, to cute, to extravagant.

Her dresses are all structured with large skirts, but as she mentally matured during the time loops, she gravitated toward less structured silhouettes or mermaid gowns. In addition, her clothes began to cling more to her body, emphasizing it along with lower-cut necklines(think something along the lines of the Hunting Competition red gown).

She shows her shoulders off often with off-shoulder clothing.

Her layers also grew more sheer, like sheer overskirts, sheer sleeves, and other sheer details.

Scent

Flowers: She has that sweet, floral scent of roses, lilies, or fragrant rhododendrons.

Fruit: Penelope sometimes has notes of bergamot, which does wonders for stress. For fruity scents, she picks ones that induce calm.

Cloves: A hint of that spicy, woody scent, especially when she wears rhododendron perfume.

However, Penelope always carries around the scent of sweet flowers, which comes from her magic powers, described later on.

Makeup/Nails

While Penelope favors deep reds and pinks for her lips, she does wear lighter lipcolors during daytime occasions.

Her cheeks are constantly dusted with blush, a subtle all-over and concentrated a smidge more around underneath her eyes.

Her aegyo-sal is highlighted by highlighter(ha) and pink eyeshadow.

Speaking of eyeshadow: her eyes are highlighted the most with bold colors, but Penelope tones it down with shades of pink, red, and coral, as well as gold and silver powder to tie in the looks. She knows her makeup and how to not overwhelm a look.

As for nails, while she prefers to match her nails to her outfit, Penelope favors jelly-colors or pearl-patterned nails. The sort of blurry, glass-like nails that are popular all over East Asia right now and fast entering the West.

She imports a lot of products, accessories, and clothes(both styles and fabric) from all over.