Nail of the Day // Hot Chocolate Season

Last May I already posted about this Astor Quick & Shine Nail Polish in 502 Hot Chocolate Season. I loved wearing it solo for a night out all year round but now that autumn is here I have been wearing it lots in the day time as well. The color is just so wonderful - it is the perfect mix of gold and silver. Since I have been wearing it so much lately I wanted to give a little twist to it this time. That is why I put a glitter top coat on top. (I am wearing the glitter top coat in both pictures).

This flormar Super Shine Shine & Hot Prfect Nail Polish 39 is by far my most worn glitter top coat and I love how it brings out the silver tones in the Astor nail polish. It also gives just the right amount of texture to the nail. I always wear a base and a top coat so the actual surface of the nail is smooth and shiny but it still looks slightly textured.

I have pledged not to buy more than five new nail polishes this year and while I still have a two more left I can buy this cut down on new additions to my collection makes me try new combinations and revisit older colors I almost forgot about.

What are you wearing on your nails today?

New In // H&M

The H&M accessories section is killing it lately. I do not like their clothes as much but - as you can see - I have shopped quite a few accessories there recently. I have scarves in almost every color - but a simple grey one? - Nope, not until now. This is a really soft grey infinity scarf. It has a lighter and a darker side to it and it is long enough to wrap it around twice. It is important to me that a scarf is actually thick enough or has enough fabric to actually keep you warm. Ihave already made the mistake of wearing it with a black dress before - it was covered in grey fuss - but it has not transferred to any other of my clothes.

I have been looking for a new bag for university for forever (my old one is starting to fall apart). I wanted a black bag that was big enough to carry around all my stuff with but not humongous - as a lot of bags seem to me these days. This bag has a long and a short strap and one big compartment in the middle that you can close with a zipper. 

The design reminds me a lot of the Balenciaga bags I have loved for years now. Those bags are just too expensive for me but this H&M bag is an affordable way for me to still get the look. Another plus side to this bag (at least to me) is that it is not made out of real leather. I try not to buy leather and as far as I know Balenciaga does their bags in leather.

The last thing I bought were tennis shoes. Even though they are white these were my most practical purchase. I do not own a lot of flat shoes lat alone any that are still wearable in the colder seasons. White is not the most practical choice but I do like the look and since these are made out of faux leather they are easier to clean than the white tennis shoes made out of fabric that I own.

Where is your favorite place to shop for accessories? 

Updated Skin Care Routine // Part II

Last week I posted the Part I of my updated skin care routine. This week I would like to talk about some more products that I use in my everyday skin care routine.

I do not just have dry skin, I also have dry lips. Every night before bed I use the labello Lip Butter  Raspberry Rosé (you might know these as a Nivea product but in Germany labello sells these lip butters - it is the same product). During the day or when I am out of the house I use the Carmex Classic Moisturizing Lip Balm. That is much more hygienic and I prefer the look of it. It just looks like a clear gloss whereas the labello lip butter has a milky finish that I do not like on my lips.

Another product that I - try to - use every night is hand creme. I do love L'occitan hand cremes but I do not buy these for myself because they are rather expensive. A hand creme that I have been really liking lately is the Nivea Anti-Age Hand Creme. I mostly use it at night but I really like that this hand creme has SPF. It claims to have an anti-aging effect which I do not really believe in. If it actually has such an effect I would not mind but I would not depend on that.

The alverde Body Butter Macadamia is the best body moisturizer I have ever used. It is the most moisturizing and at the same time sinks into the skin quicker than anything else I have ever used. I am generally not a big fan of body lotions and I prefer the consistency of body butters'. I do not actually like the scent of macadamia but it is a very subtle scent and even though I would prefer a different scent I still like this product.

There are a few more products I use in my skin care routine but I do not actually like them enough to call them staples or repurchase them when they run out. One of those products is the the Body Shop Body Scrub Blueberry. It is a good body scrub but it is rather expensive and when I pay that much money for a products I expect it to be great and not just good. It removes dry skin well but it does not clear out my skin as well as I would want it to. Another product I use regularly is the Alverde Clear SOS Serum as a spot treatment. Again I do like this product but it does not work as well as I would want it to. I will use this product up but I probably won't repurchase this.

What are some of your skin care staples?

What products can you recommend?

Updated Skin Care Routine // Part I

It has been over a year since my last skin care post. There are things that have changed, products that are still the same and others that have been replaced. My skin is sensitive but there are not too many products that break me out. The biggest problem I have with my skin is how dry it can get and this is the skin care routine that helps me manage that.

In my everyday life I usually wear waterproof mascara and my favorite eye make-up remover is the Garnier Make-Up Remover 2 in 1 waterproof. It is gentle on the skin but at the same time it removes all my mascara. If I ever wear non-waterproof I use the Rival de Loop Clean & Care Oil Free Eye-Make-Up Remover which I have used for years before I started wearing waterproof mascara. I do not wear foundation or BB creme so I only use water to remove any make-up residue on my skin and no extra products. I have tried many eye cremes and my favorite - by far - is the alverde Eye Creme for every skin type. This has already been a part of my last skin care routine and I have talked about this in my Favorites 2014. It moisturizes well, sinks in quickly and does not irritate my skin or eyes. At night I also use an old favorite: Weleda Skin Food. If you have dry skin you should definitely give this product a try. It is the most moisturizing creme I know because the skin actually takes in the moisture and the creme does not just sit on your skin without sinking in. It does leave your skin feeling a little sticky which is why I only use it at night but it works really well.

Sometimes - when I feel like my skin needs it - I do like to use the alverde Apricot & Calendula Face Scrub for normal skin. To me it is the perfect mix of effective and gentle. Of course it does not give you perfect skin over night but it definitely has a positive effect on my skin. It helps my skin to clear out and gets rid of dry skin very gently. After that I use the Weleda Skin Food at night or the alverde Face Oil Wild Rose for dry skin in the day time.

If I did not wash my face or take a shower in the morning I still apply a moisturizer in the morning. It is either the Nivea Sun Anti-Age Moisturizer with SPF 50 in the summer or the alverde Teint Perfection Beauty Serum now that the sun is not out that much anymore. I would like the alverde Perfect Teint to have an SPF too so I am not sure if I am going to repurchase this again but I really do like the finish it leave on my skin.

Part II of my skin care routine will be coming up next week. I only realized how many different products I do actually use when I started writing this post so I decided to divide this up into two posts. Today I talked about what products I use on y face but next week I will talk about what else I do to take care of the rest of my skin.

What are your favorite skin care products?

Nail of the Day // Mirror

 

KIKO Mirror Nail Lacquer 629

Rosegold has been a trend for a while now and I still love to wear it. My boyfriend usually does not care what color nail polish I wear but even he really liked this one (which is a first!). I applied two coats but if you want you could probably get away with applying only one. The downside to this polish is that every brushstroke and every little bump on your nails is very visible. Applying a second layer and a top coat on top helps with that but you can still see the irregularities. If you do not want to apply a top coat the finish of the polish is already shiny. Usually I do not wear simply metallic nail polish with no shimmer or glitter but this color itself is so pretty I love it on my nails. I did a post in September about my TOP 10 Autumn Nail Polishes and I should have included this one - I must have forgotten this nail polish in my collection.

What are you wearing on your nails today?

Fleur de Force Eyeshadow Quad Lunar Rose // Review

Fleur de Force is one of my all time favorite YouTubers and when she came out with her make-up line over a year ago I was really excited. You can see it took me a long time to actually try out some of her products. I bought this eyeshadow quad from feelunique where they do great sales prices on a regular basis.

When I ordered this eyeshadow quad I also ordered the Urban Decay Naked 2 palette so I did not want to by both eyeshadow quads by Fleur de Force. Lunar Rose has a wonderful rosegold theme and the other quad called Cosmic Bronze is (obviously) bronze themed. First of all I love the color combination in this quad. There is one mat light rose color, a shimmery, lavender highlighter, a rosegold shimmering shade and a deep purple eyeshadow with golden glitter in it.

All of the colors translate beautifully onto the eyelid. They are intense and easily blendable. Usually non-highend eyeshadows crease on me but these once don't. The quality of the shadows is really impressive and I think Fleur did a great job designing these. All of these are unique colors but they work especially well in combination with each other.

swatches on top of the Urband Decay Primer Potion Original

When it comes to shimmery or mat eyeshadow I go through phases. Right now I love shimmer on my eyes so that is what I gravitate towards. The most special out of these four shadows might be the one on the bottom right side. It is a really deep plum base with just the perfect amount of golden glitter in it. I do not own anything like this and I do not think I have ever seen an eyeshadow like that.

Can you already guess? - I am a big fan. The price point at around 10 Euros is fine and the quality of the actual product is wonderful. This is a great addition to my collection and I am already thinking about adding Cosmic Bronze to it next.

Have you tried Fleur de Force make up before?

What are your favorites?

Drugstore Haul // October

Can you believe it is already October? It is finally getting colder and autumn has definitely arrived. I love this time of the year. When it comes to drugstore products they often skip autumn and jump straight into winter and Christmas scents. I would prefer some actual autumn products that are maybe pumpkin-scented or something like that. Still, I love most of the new scents and I am excited to try these new products out. Some of them have nothing to do with autumn but I had to restock on some essentials as well.

dusch das Shower Gel Red Apple & Grenadine: I cannot believe I never noticed this in the shelves before! Apples are probably my favorite food and I love everything apple-scented. This apple and grenadine and it smells amazing. The only thing I already know I will not like about this is the color of the gel. Don't get me wrong, it looks pretty in the packaging but I do not like my shower gel to be red.

Guhl Deep Repair Conditioner: I repurchased this conditioner before I even used it up. I knew  I wanted to try another Guhl conditioner because I liked the last one I used so much. When I was in the store and debated about what to get I just decided to repurchase the one I loved so much. I still want to try other versions of this conditioner and I think the next shampoo I am going to buy will also be by Guhl.

Dresdner Essenz  Limited Edition Winter Magic Bath: This is a caramel and apple scented bath and it smells delicious. Dresdner Essenz came out with more Christmas scents and I am excited about pretty much all of them but it is a little too early for me for ginger bread and similar scents. I don't think I have ever tried Dresdner Essenz products but if I like this one I am definitely trying out more.

Dresdner Essenz Aroma-Creme Bath Pomegranate: Usually I add a little bubble bath when I use another bath salt or bath product that does not produce bubbles itself.  I really like pomegranate and I am looking forward to trying this product out.

alverde Body Butter Macadamia Nut: This used to be my favorite body butter ever and it still would be to this day if they had not changed their scent to one of the few things I really cannot stand. Every body butter or body lotion for dry skin in the drugstore is either made with sheabutter or macadamia nut and I really don't like those scents. Since I am beginning to run out of options I decided to go back to what I already know I love even if I dislike the scent.

Balea Shaving Gel Limited Edition Oriental Flower: I have talked about this shaving gel a million times but still wanted to include it because there is a new scent in the range! I am always excited about their new scents (even if I do have to admit it would be a more autumn or winter related) and the design is again amazing.

Yankee Candle Tart Spiced Orange: This scent reminds me so much of autumn and winter and cold weather and all those good things. I wanted to repurchase this tart last year but I could not find it anywhere. That is why I was even more excited when I spotted it in the shops.

Profissimo Apple Cinnamon Scented Tealights: When discovered these tealights in dm last week I was really excited about it because I have owned these before and did not think I would ever find these again. The scent is phenomenal (can you tell I like apple scented things?) and can fill up the whole room.

Garnier Eye-Make-Up Remover 2-in-1 Waterproof: With the change of the season I got back into wearing eye-make-up and liner and all this good stuff. That also means I have been using a lot more of this eye-make-up remover than I did in the summer time.

ebelin Polishing Nail File: When you wear nail polish for a long continues time and switch it out again and again your nails are going to suffer from that. Then you have to take better care of nails to keep them healthy. I find that filing my nails properly and taking care of them in that way makes a big difference. The nail polish goes on smoother and it lasts longer because there is no 'broken' nail under the polish and it can stick to a healthy, smooth nail that will make it last longer.

What did you shop for this month?

Favorites // September 2016

September has been a great month for beauty products. I have tried a lot of new things and rediscovered old favorites. In fact there have been a lot more products I liked to use this month but because there were so many I only included the once I used the most and have formed a well thought-out opinion on already.

Nivea Anti-Age Handcreme: I am not good with hand creme. I forget to use it most of the time and so it takes a long time for me to use one up. That also means I hardly ever try new ones. I want my hand creme sink in quickly and moisturize well. I do not really believe in the anti-age effect this product claims to have but I do like the added UV-protection. This hand creme works well for me and the price is fine as well.

KIKO Mirror Nail Lacquer 629: I wrote a post in September about my Top 10 Autumn Nail Polishes where I talked about the nail polishes I was looking forward to wear again now that autumn was about to arrive. My nails were painted in those colors the majority of the past month but one nail polish I also wore that was not included in that post was this one by KIKO. I could have included either one of the nail polishes I wore but because this is the only one I did not talk about in the post I wanted to included here in my September favorites. There will be a Nail of the Day post coming up soon where you can see what it looks like exactly on the nails and I will talk about it some more there.

Fleur De Force Eyeshadow Quad 020 Lunar Rose: I have worn these eye shadows at least every other day that I wore make up. I love this. My favorite colors are all of the shimmering ones. They are very pigmented, easy to blend and there is no fallout. The quality is amazing and so is the color selection. The colors also remind me of Fleur herself and I think they were a perfect choice for her collection. The only problem is - now I want the other one!

alverde Body Butter Macadamia: The fact that this made it into my monthly favorites even though I do not like the scent should mean something to you. It sinks in quicker than anything else I have ever used to moisturize and it works like a dream. The scent is not too strong so I can ignore that. I have dry skin and moisturize every day. This might be one of the products that makes it into my favorites of 2016...

What were you favorite products of last September?