Thursday, December 4, 2014

the me-time tag

It's never too late for the me-time tag.


1. What do you like to watch or read during me-time?
I usually start with cuddling up on my couch and watching Netflix and here and there some YouTube videos to catch up. Watching YouTube videos also makes me feel like I’ve done something else than binge watching Netflix all day long. I know it’s pretty much the exact same thing but tell that my brain.
Right now I am currently only listening to books because I have to do so much reading for University. But “Girl Online” arrived a few days ago. So I will be reading it as soon as I can. I am also waiting for my boyfriends mother to finish “Edge of Eternity” so I can borrow it. So there will be plenty of reading during the holydays and beyond.

2. What do you wear during me-time?
My favorite fleece pants from H&Mm (until I finally go to Primark and get some extra Christmassy ones), any very soft shirt and my teddy fur sweater if I am extra cold. Oh, and super soft socks. Basically I want to feel like I am floating a warm cloud of softness.

3. What are your favorite me-time beauty products?
Me-time means no make up. So it usually doesn’t go any further than chap stick. Also applying a facemask or peeling would mean I have to get up from the couch, go to the bathroom, put the mask on my face, get my face wet TWICE (before and after) and so on. So I hardly ever feel like doing that.
I do like to paint my nails, though. I don’t know why or what it is but for me doing my nails is very relaxing. I also enjoy having the time to try to do some nail art. If I succeed awesome! And if I fail, I have the time to take it all off and paint them again. This time penguins made it on my nails. :)

4. Current favorite nail polish?
I am loving Essie nail polish right now. But I have to restrict myself a little because they are so expensive.. I have been wearing "cashmere bathrobe" a lot recently.

5. What do you eat or drink during me-time?
Right now I could eat pears and plums all day long. I also love Häagen Dazs’ vanilla caramel brownie. And popcorn! I could eat popcorn all day every day! Especially the popcorn you get at the movie theater. Not like I would ever have that during me-time because it would require me leaving the house, watch a movie and not eat all the popcorn there. Not going to happen!

6. Current favorite candle?
Yankee Candle – soft blanket
I would love to try some bath and bodyworks candles - which is impossible because I don’t live in the US. I like Yankee Candle a lot but no store near me has a large variety and none of them are ever on sale so it’s an expensive love.

7. Do you ever have outdoor me-time?
Not specifically. But when its sunny outside I love to take a walk or walk part of my way home from work or stroll the inner city of Vienna. Beautyful!

8. Would you ever go and watch a film alone?
No. I have never visited a movie theater by myself. I don’t think I would enjoy myself being there alone. Even if it was a movie I desperately want to watch. I would rather stay home and try to stream it online or convince a friend to join me to go see it.

9. Favorite online shop?
I probably would have to say Amazon, because I don’t shop for clothes online and Amazon pretty much has anything else I need. I konw I shouldn't but I haven't found anything comparable yet.
I also like Douglas and Feelunique a lot. Douglas because I always want to read the comments on products and Feelunique because they have so much stuff I can’t get anywhere else without having to pay loads for shipping.

10. Anything to add? What else do you do during me-time?
I like to bake because a) it makes my apartment smell delicious and b) I like to eat. I also like to start a me-time day with a big breakfast. I’ll make anything that a) my boyfriend would only complain about b) is really unhealthy c) something I have never tried before or d) anything I can use lots of cinnamon on.

What do you do during me-time? Any suggestions of what I shoudl try next time?

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

review: Zoella Beauty

I really like Zoe Sugg and therefore couldn’t resist buying almost everything her Zoella Beauty collection has to offer.

review: Zoella Beauty

I placed two separate orders on Feelunique and they both took forever to arrive. But I am not complaining since shipping was free. It also took me a while to work my way through testing all the products before doing a proper review on them.


review: Zoella Beauty

Soak Opera Bath Soak & Shower Cream
I had a very hard time opening the bottle which is sealed with some aluminum foil thing that is very hard to get off... But when you come to the actual produkt it is worth the struggle. This is the first shower cream I ever had looks beautiful itself. The actual gel/cream has a very pale pink color with a slight shimmer. Thankfully the shimmer doesn’t stay on your body when you shower. The smell is very fresh and maybe even bloomy. I like it a lot because it is not too overwhelming and not sweet. Also the name “soak opera” hello!? Winner!

review: Zoella Beautyreview: Zoella Beauty

Fizz Bar
As expected from Zoe (the Lush addict) there are more bathing products. Again same smell as the rest of the line. I have never used a fizz bar before so I didn’t know what to expect. What made me laugh though was the “do not eat” sticker on the fizz bar itself. Yes it smells really good but not like something I would want to eat. Not like pretty much any Lush product I own… But I guess you can never be too careful.
  

review: Zoella Beauty

Blissful Mistful Fragranced Body Mist
Again cute name! Well done, Zoe (and her team)! The fragrance smells exactly like the shower cream. Well, the entire line smells the same. But can we talk about the bottle? I have to admit I bought this one just to have the bottle. The only thing that would have kept me from buying it would have been an awful smell. But I bought the shower cream before the body mist, so I knew what it would smell like. It is, as I already said, a very light and fresh smell that would also be ok for young teenagers to wear. Who I guess they are the main audience.

review: Zoella Beauty

"Eyes" Beauty Bag
LOVE! I am thinking about getting the guinea pig beauty bag as well, because I am so in love with this one. I really like the color and the polka dots. And who doesn’t love those beautiful eyes? The size is pretty big actually so you can fit lots of make up in it. Unfortunately my make up brushes don’t fit.. But I am thinking of using it to organize my purse.

review: Zoella Beauty


Let’s Glow Fragranced Candle
A candle fan like me couldn’t pass on this. What sense would that make? Again adorable packaging and signature smell. When you burn the candle you can smell it but it is not too overwhelming. I would have liked a slightly stronger scent though, just an notch. I also expected the candle to be bigger. Honestly I was a little disappointed when I saw it for the first time. But luckily I bought three :)

So this is all and I have to say. Well done Zoe! Also the pricing is totally acceptable with the body mist being the most expensive at  €12,35.

I don’t know if I will repurchase any of the products but they were fun to test and an eye catcher never the less.

Monday, November 17, 2014

so tiny

A short entry for extra small things.

I don’t know why but anything tiny is adorable. On Friday I received my Glossybox and with it the cutest sample size perfume I have ever seen. Not one of those small spritzer-things that you usually get but what looked like a shrunken version of the actual perfume.

I instantly went looking for other tiny product samples I had and this is what I found. I never want to use them because looking at them is so much more satisfying.

Oh and the MAC lipstick is an original one. I put it in the picture so you'll get a better idea of how little and adorable these samples are.

 
Also with this perfume I might have found my fall and winter scent. Which is something I have never had before.
 

Friday, November 14, 2014

Christmas is Lush


I might be late to the party but I finally made it into a Lush shop. Reading all the blog posts about the delicious Lush bath products made me itch to get some myself. I did try the Melting Snowman and the Butterball last year but this year I wanted to get some more. Armed with a list of products I sniffed my way through the store.




Covered from head to toe in glitter and smelling like Santa himself I left the store with half of what was on my list. I am very picky with scents and so (unfortunately or luckily for my wallet..) I didn't like them all... 


 

Butterbear

I red online that the Butterbear had the same vanilla-like fragrance as the Butterball which know I love. So this was a no brainer. And it is true. It smells like vanilla heaven with a fresh touch to it and not too sweet somehow. It is supposed to create a creamy soft bath and nourish and protect your skin. I also love the look of it! It is simple enough for every bear to look the same. Also, who wouldn’t want to bathe with a vanilla polar bear?


 

Cinders

I have two of them. One I bought myself and one I got for free with my purchase. Score! Anyway. This bath bomb is smaller than the usual one and cheaper of course. Lush sais it smells like almond, cinnamon and sweet orange. I can't really make out the different scents but it does smell very Christmassy, fresh and lovely. It is also supposed to have popping candy in it which is supposed to make crackling sounds when you put it in the water. I will definitely be listening to my water like a child when I put it in.




Holly Golightly

This is an absolute beauty! I can’t get over how pretty it is! It will probably make my entire bathroom glitter for weeks but that’s fine since I will be in the Christmas spirit pretty soon. The Lush-woman told me that I can get up to four uses out of this one bar so there will be lots of time for glitter baths. It is made out of patchouli oil, Persian lime oil, clove leave oil and sweet orange oil. I guess you – like me – have absolutely no idea what that could possibly smell like. I do smell the clove and the orange but that is pretty much it.




Melting Snowman

I was waiting for this bath melt since I bought it last year and fell in love. It smells like almond, cocoa and cinnamon. It is sweet and spicy and perfect. You will have the most relaxing oil bath you have ever had. Last year I was so tempted to lick its eyes to see if it was real chocolate. It felt and smelled so much like real eatable chocolate. But I didn’t do it. Maybe if I feel brave and childish enough I’ll try this time. I bought two so I will have plenty opportunities.




Shoot for the Stars

I can’t wait to use this bath bomb. It is supposed to paint the swirling colors of the night sky over the surface of your bathwater. Sounds like a lot of fun to watch! It smells sweet like honey and something else I can’t quite make out. It is huge but you can only use it for one bath, I was told. So I will have some special bath time with it.



I can’t wait for the weekend so I can take my first Christmassy Lush bath! *so excited*

Monday, November 10, 2014

the Holy Grail of hot chocolate

Generally I am not a big fan of chocolate in general but this dark hot chocolate is amazing!


Yesterday I passed a Lindt shop and went in just to have a look at all the Christmassy stuff. Usually walking in a shop selling nothing but chocolate is not very dangerous because I am simply not that much into chocolate. After a while I caught myself looking for this really good drinking-chocolate I had last year which my boyfriend told me was from Zotter. Ooops…

But what I found was just as good if not better. A while ago my boyfriend told me a mythical story about a hot chocolate he had in Italy that was so extra chocolaty and so thick in consistency, he almost couldn’t drink it. Since then I always wanted to try that exact one. I don’t like the common hot chocolate that consists of milk and whole milk chocolate powder. So this unbelievable chocolaty dark hot chocolate sounded amazing.

Yesterday I found something that came very close to what I was looking for. I started with heating 100ml milk and put the powder of the package in. Then I cooked it until it had the desired consistency. Depending on how thick you like your hot chocolate you could add more milk or don’t heat it as long. But I took my time heating until it was super creamy and yummy.

And oh my god, I have to tell you I was in chocolate heaven! I made a small cup of wonderful thick and creamy dark hot chocolate that was perfection. When I was half through I added some cinnamon and found the Holy Grail.

I am sure this is not for everyone but I am in love.


Monday, November 3, 2014

let's talk shampoo

Who would have thought it would be so hard to find a shampoo that I love?

I am currently trying to cut down the amount of money I spend on beauty products. It is so easy to spend more and more money on more and more fancy things. I had to stop now before I went anymore overboard.


These are the shampoos I have gone through while trying to spend less money. As you can see from the prices it was quite a process.

I am looking for products that give me volume. My hair goes down to my waist so it loses every volume it would naturally have. It also tends to get greasy roots very fast but stays super dry at the ends. This is what I’ve gone through.


Moroccanoil Extra Volume Shampoo € 25,00 (250ml)
What a waste of money. My roots felt like I forgot to wash out my conditioner, which I would never put on my roots in the first place. I guess it was completely over-treating my hair. (is that a word?) I haven’t finished the bottle till this day because I couldn’t figure out a way to make it work.


Matrix Biolage for dry hair € 16,70 (200ml)
This was in my Glossybox so I technically didn’t spend any money on it. I was very skeptical because it is for dry hair and I definitely don’t need that. But when I ran out of shampoo I thought I’d give it a go and I actually liked it. It didn’t give me any volume obviously but it does make my ends less dry without making my roots gross.


Hildegard Braukmann Jeunesse Volume shampoo € 8,95 (200ml)
This is my favorite shampoo that I am trying to replace it by a more affordable one. Yes, I know that € 8,95 is not the world but for now it is just too much money to spend on something I go through so quickly. This shampoo volumizes, keeps my roots clean and my ends hydrated and it is silicone free. Winner!


Herbal Essence Volume Wonder € 3,29 (250ml)
I really liked the fruity smell of nectarine and something else but unfortunately it didn’t do anything for volumizing my hair. Also my roots got greasy very quickly. There was no way I would have gotten away with not washing my hair for a day.


Herbal Essence Clearly Naked Volume € 3,29 (250ml)
The smell was more minty than grapefruity. This was my first paraben and silicon free shampoo and I have to say I didn’t notice any difference. It was maybe a bit more volumizing than the other essence shampoo. But the biggest difference was that it didn’t make my hair go greasy as fast. With a little dry shampoo I was able to go a day without washing my hair.

I am currently looking for a new shampoo to try so if you have any recommendations, let me know!

Friday, October 31, 2014

Halloween nail art

I love Halloween. I love dressing up and looking scary. It might be an afterglow from my “dark days” when I was wearing all black thinking I was somewhat Goth.


This year I have to work on Halloween so I decided that I wanted to have a little Halloween on my nails. And I wanted to do something very simple that I couldn’t possibly mess up even using my left hand.

I looked up a lot of nail art and MissJenFABULOUS’ "Halloween Spooky Eye Nail Art!!!" tutorial was the winner. It is as simple as it can get but still very cute and wearable.

All I needed was a white and a black nail polish and a dotting tool. I used both sides of one dotting tool but I took a picture of both so you could see the different sizes.



Happy Halloween!

Monday, October 27, 2014

audible love damper

audible.de app on my phone
Until this day I was in love with audible.de. I subscribed in March and listened to 13 books within the last 8 months. Today was the first time that I came upon a very annoying damper in quality.

I am about to finish listening to “City of Bones” by Cassandra Clare. I like listening to book series because I feel like a single book finishes too fast when you listen to it. City of Bones is the first book out of six, with a story that I am not overly excited but somehow curious about. And six books are going to keep me occupied for a while.

Since I have only an hour of my book left, I figured I should download the sequel “City of Ashes”. This is where the disappointment started. City of Ashes is not available in English on audible.de. Every other of the six “City of …”-books are available in English but not this one.

Why? This I asked the customer service. They told me it is because they didn’t get the rights on it. What? How is that possible? How can a company like Audible – run by Amazon btw. – not be able to provide the same content of audiobooks to every country their service is available in? How can a writer exclude one of his books to one single country? I would understand if he didn’t want his book to be composed (right word?) in German for whatever reason. Fine. But if he agreed for his book to be available on audible.com in English, why should the same book – ONE book out of a whole series - not be available in the same language in another country?

Anyway, I gave in and I looked City of Ashes up on audible.de again to find the German version. And yes this post would be completely unnecessary if the second problem didn’t occur.

WHY ON EARTH is City of Ashes red in German abridged? WHY did someone feel the need to shorten the book of five and a half hours? That is almost half the book!!! You cannot do that to me!

Dear Amazon,
I am very disappointed in you.
Sincerely,
me

Yes I know I could subscribe to audible.com as well, but I refuse to pay Amazon twice.


Friday, October 24, 2014

teddy cozy




I am planning to have a super cozy Sunday. After a week full of work and university, I feel like I need a day of doing absolutely nothing.

I will burn my new “soft blanket” Yankee Candle, which smells like vanilla and something else I can’t make out. According to Yankee Candle it’s supposed to be warm amber although I have no idea how warm amber is supposed to smell. Anyway, it is delicious and not too sweet like you might expect from vanilla.Simply the perfect scent for a cozy Sunday.

When I spend a day on my couch I want to be as comfortable as possible. That means I need a lot of teddy fur clothing. I recently bought teddy fur lined socks to go with my white teddy fur sweater and my new super soft Norwegian pattern fleece pajama pants. It's all about feeling like a warm cuddly cloud.

Last but not least I fill my favorite apple elder punch tea into my cute teddy cup and read a book on my Kindle in piece and quiet.

How does your perfect Sunday look like?


Tuesday, October 21, 2014

hairy worries

It is a very personal matter but somehow I feel quite passionate about it. Hair care. And by that I don’t mean taking care of the hair on your head but getting rid of body hair.

I think I can say that I’ve tried every possible way there is to get rid of my body hair. This sounds so gross, like I am a hairy monster.

Let's talk about what I've gone through.

Shaving
Oldy but goodie. Although somehow I always manage to cut myself and even chop off part of a nail sometimes. You’re wondering how on earth I do that? I have no idea. But shaving my legs requires more of my attention than I like to admit. Don’t even get me started on cutting myself accidently…
And after shaving my legs feel so dry that I have to run for some body butter immediately. Not to mention that it is a never ending story. For perfectly smooth legs I’d have to shave every single day. Who has time for that? Thank god it’s getting colder and I can hide my legs in some pants.

Hair removal cream
It stinks, it irritates your skin and who ever said the result lasts longer than shaving never tried it themselves. And whatever happens DON’T try it on any delicate area. Just don’t. I haven’t tried it myself but I doubt it’s gonna be pretty. Only thinking about the fact that this cream is burning your hair off and even sinking into your skin to get closer to the root is an alarming thought. Who would voluntarily put something acidly on their skin?

Epilate
You might as well call it instrument of torture. It growls like a monster when you turn it on and then it rips your hair out piece by piece and doesn’t even get them all. Do I need to say more?
A friend of mine told me that you just have to get used to it but I just couldn’t do it. To me it hurts and sounds like hell. Ripping your hair out piece by piece with tweezers is more pleasant, I suppose.

Waxing/sugaring
Yes, it means ripping out a lot of hair all at once and yes that hurts BUT you will be hair free for two weeks and then your hair will grow back thinner and the area where your hair grows might even thin out a little. If I had the money I would get my entire body waxed every month. I do get my bikini line (right word?) sugared every month and I couldn’t go without it. Sugaring means a few minutes of pain and weeks of being hair free. You can start with your arms or legs if you want to get used to it, but I tell you, there is nothing better than not having to shave and therefore no stinging hair “down under”. It might amaze you but the body part that sugaring hurt the most at – at least in my opinion – were my armpits. It felt like she ripped my entire underarm off. Oh my god! I would only do it again if I wanted to get it done regularly because than the hair will get thinner eventually..

If you want to have some fun try waxing one of your guy friend’s chest. I have rarely laughed so hard in my life!

Do you have any funny hair stories? Is there anything I haven’t tried? Let me know!


Friday, October 10, 2014

I give in.. It's fall.

This year summer came and left almost unnoticed - at least where I live it did. It was cold, rainy and just not summer at all. Yes, we had a few very warm days but that was by far not enough. I didn’t go on vacation anywhere this year so I couldn’t even enjoy a full week of summer somewhere else.

This beeing said, I guess it is understandable that I denied that fall was around the corner as long as I possibly could. My mind didn’t even give in after wearing a scarf and a fall jacket for a week. I was born in the wrong country. ;)

What did it for me though was going into Depot to shop for a make-up mirror. For those who don’t know, Depot is one of the cutest home décor shops I have ever been to. And there it was. Fall! The entire shop screamed fall from every possible angle in every possible way. The fall décor was so adorable that all of the sudden I got really excited about the seasons changing. Finally! I bought some décor stuff and – of course - no make-up mirror and rushed home to give my apartment a fall makeover.


For this vase I only had to buy artificial apples and popcorn. The candle is made out of plastic and can be lit by a switch at the bottom to get a burning effect. I tied a ribbon around the Vase to complete the look and to make it less "naked looking" at the top.

 

I also put an artificial apple in another vase with some moss and other stuff that was in a potpourri mix I bought from Depot. The stones at the bottom were in the vase before with some spring déco stuff so I just left them there.

 

Last but not least I brought a piece of forest into my living room. I used the leftovers from the potpourri mix and just had to arrange them.

Friday, October 3, 2014

Disappointing Mascara


I want to talk about 6 mascaras that I wish I wouldn’t have bought. I wanted to take a picture wearing the mascara to prove my point but I failed miserably. It was impossible to take even one decent picture of my eye. So I will do my best to describe what I don’t like about each mascara.
 
·  Serious Skin Care - THE Mascara € 16,04
 
Thankfully I didn’t actually spend money on this one because it is by far the worst mascara I have ever tried! I received it in my Glossybox and was very excited. Who doesn’t love to try new mascara?
What it claims to do:
“formulated to lengthen, thicken, curl and define for maximum lash fullness”
What I think:
All it did for me was lots of fiber in my eye and not a lot of fiber or mascara on my lashes. I couldn’t even begin to really play around with it because there was so much fiber in my eye that I got really irritated. I had to take the mascara off and rinse my eye because it was itching and burning like hell. That killed it for me. I never tried it ever again.
 
·  Maybelline – Illegal Length, Waterproof € 10,99
 
This mascara is not awful but we are not becoming great friends any time soon. I bought it on a youtuber’s recommendation.
What it claims to do:
“Build 4mm of measurable extensions! Fiber-fix brush has 6 different contact points with each lash for optimal fiber placement.”
What I think:
First of all “4mm of measurable extensions” is a ridiculous promise. For me it didn’t extend my lashes at all. The brush and the color payoff is ok but nothing more. It makes your lashes look thin and lightly coded with mascara. Like I said fine but not what I look for in mascara.

·  Astor – Big & Beautiful Boom! Volume Mascara € 9,49
 
What it claims to do:
“Its exclusive over-sized One Coat Brush, instantly volumizes and plumps lashes without clumps!” “One coat. Ultra thick lashes.”
What I think:
First try – nothing happens. The mascara stays on the brush and my lashes stay untouched. On my second try I wiggle the brush and press it on my lashes. The tiniest bit of mascara actually gets on my lashes. I repeat wiggling and pressing and manage to get the thinnest coat of mascara on my lashes I have ever seen. Not matter how many layers I try to put on, that was the best it got.
 
·  Look by Bipa – Special Eyes Long & Define mascara € 2,99
What it claims to do:
“Ultra long and well-defined lashes.”
What I think:
The brush has thick and hard plastic bristles with lots of space between the rows of bristles. That is probably the reason why you get an uncontrollable ton of mascara on your lashes at the first stroke. It feels and looks like your lashes are drowning. Every stroke makes it worse and glues your lashes together. I ended up with the thickest spider legs ever. Wow.
You can save your lashes by using a mascara wand you like to get all the excess mascara off and then it works fine. I sometimes use it if I want extra thick lashes AFTER I put on mascara I like and that one is dry.
 
·  Sleek – Lash Out mascara € 8,49
What it claims to do:
“Lengthening and volumizing. Spiral nylon brush captures every lash for maximum coverage. No clumping formulation”
What I think:
I bought this one when I was in London because I saw some nice reviews online. First of all the mascara wand looks like its bristles caught on fire and melted to pretty much nothing. It does separate your lashes though I don’t know how and it does give ok volume. I don’t hate it, but I used it only a couple of times and then gave up. Now a year later I is completely dried out without being used.
 
·  Essence – Get BIG Lashes, volume boost mascara € 2,65
What it claims to do:
“For maximum volume and especially thick lashes.”
What I think:
It reminded me a lot of the Astor Big & Beautiful mascara. Its packaging is huge and it has a large and puffy wand, if that makes any sense. You don’t have to work as hard as with the Astor mascara to get some color on your lashes but there is absolute no volume and no length. You get slightly coated, very natural looking lashes. Not what I want. But if anyone is just starting with mascara and wants to try something very simple and cheap, than you could go for this one.
 
I hope this was a lttle helpful if you were eyeing one of These Mascaras. Let me know your opinion on my selection and bad Mascaras in General. Help to save me from a bad buy. :)