May/June Favourites

Two new months are over, so it's time for my bi-monthly favourites. I currently use so a lot of different products that I think about doing a favorites post every month, so let's have a look whether this will happen. 

Essence Sun Club Bronzer for Blondes

I bought this products years ago, but I never knew how to use it because it has a really red undertone so that it isn't usable as a bronzer. However, applied as a normal blush concentrated on the apples of the cheeks, this products gives you a natural tanned and "heated" look.

Essence Eyeshadow - 22 blockbuster and Artdeco Eyeshadow 520

I used the Essence eyeshadow to create a neutral and flawless base and the Artdeco eyeshadow to put this in the crease as a natural shadow. Especially the Artdeco is the best eyeshadow for a natural shadow in the crease and it can also be used to fill in your eyebrows.

Maybelline Everfresh Concealer

I used this concealer for my under eye circles for years now. However, recently I used this concealer for pimples, any redness and my under eye circles, so that this little concealer replaced my whole foundation. I think this is a great alternative for the summer.

Manhattan Gel Eyeliner Black and Manhattan Eyeliner Brush

Even though I had a love-hate-relationshio with gel eyeliner, especially with cleaning the eyeliner brush afterwards, I really love these two items a lot. After a bit of practice the eyeliner brush is absolutely great to draw a precise line and the eyeliner lasts the whole day.

Rival de Loop Eyeshadow Pencil - 11 Frosty White

Originaly this pencil was bought in order to function as a base for any eye make-up look. However, the colour payoff is not extremely intense, so I found out that it refreshes every eye make-up when you apply it along your waterline.

Blistex Lip Tone

I did a review of this products (click here), but to sum up, it is the perfect everyday lipcolour which moisturizes the lips and gives a natural red lip colour.

Essence Stay with me lipgloss - 02 my favourite milk shake

This lipgloss is a long lasting lipgloss and indeed, it lasts at least 6 hours. It is a natural, beautiful, nude rosy colour that doesn't crease and your lips even appear bigger.

Alverde Bodybutter Macadamianut and Karitébutter

This is an absolute amazing body butter, because it really moisturizes even very dry skin. In fact, this is the first body butter that has a strong smoothing effect on my skin.

88 Neutral Eyeshadow Palette - light green and medium brown, green eyeshadow

I mixed a light green eyeshadow with a little bit of gold glitter and a medium green eyeshadow with a tiny brown tone in order to create an eyeshadow that is similar to  the MAC eyeshadow Patina. I loved to use this natural, but unordinary eyeshadow as an everyday look all over the lid.

So these were my beauty favourites for the last two months. I hope you liked reading this post and please let me know whether you would be interested in a beauty favourite every month and even in a non-beauty favourite!

Wish you a wonderful day!

8 Effortless Ways How To Save Space In Your Luggage

Everyone knows the problem: We are packing our suitcase and even though we have planned everything it doesn't suit into our suitcase. However, you really need the four pairs of shoes and the five different trousers! So I want to show you how to save space in your luggage without cutting out any fashion items just by preparing yourself.

1. Exfoliate

Start to exfoliate your body a few times before going to vacation. This will make your skin really smooth and once you create your skin before you leave really well, you can skip the exfoliating routine for your vacation.

2. Moisturize

As well as it is important to exfoliate you will really notice a difference when you start to moisturize your body a few days before leaving for vacation. This will make your skin smooth for the holidays.

3. Self tan

Apply a light self tanner on your body or in the areas where you want to apply it. You can also just apply it on your face. With a bit of self tanner you will look healthy before arriving in your destination and when you go in a warmer country, you don't have to take self tanner with you because you are going to get tanned anywhere. Also, when you have a long flight, with a bit of a tan on your face you will look a lot fresher.

4. Fix nails

Of course you should take an emergency nail kit with you, but it is really useful when you fix your nails and do a little manicure. So you may even don't have to use your nail kit.

5. Paint your nails

Or should I better say DON'T paint your nails. What I mean is that you shouldn't paint your nails with a bold colour, because you have to carry a nail polish remover and your nail polish with you. However, a clear top coat will look really lovely on your nails.

6. Plug your eyebrows

Don't forget to plug your eyebrows before leaving to vacation. Eyebrows are the frame of your face and will enhance every eye make-up.

7. Shave

In order to jump right into the sea, you don't have to forget to shave. For a longer holiday you can use these shavers with an integrated soap than you can save space too. 

8. Don't try something new

This sounds a bit strange, but by avoiding trying out new products you can also avoiding have an allergic reaction. Any by avoiding an allergic reaction, you don't have to take with you extra concealer, make-up, anti-allergic creams etc.

Of course, when you are staying for a two weeks vacation, you might have to take on of these products with you. However, even the preparation of yourself can at least save some time and effort on your body during your vacation, so that you can totally get relaxed and don't worry about your body.

I hope this post was helpful. 

Do you any preparation on yourself before leaving for holidays?

All the best,

Tasty Cherry-Amaretto-Muffins with Chocolate Chips!

Today I had to bake a cake or anything like that for our last days in university before vacation starts. So I decided to do muffins because they are a nice portion and can be eaten right out of your hands. In order to create something different and not only the ordinary Chocolate Chip muffins I added cherries and amaretto to them.

Recipe for approx. 8 muffins

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 150g flour
• 70g sugar
• 70g Butter
• 1 package of vanilla sugar
• 1/2 package of baking powder
• 3 EL milk
• 2-3 EL Amaretto
• 1 glass of cherries
• 1 bar of chocolate

Guide

1. Melt the butter in a microwave or in a pa until it is totally liquid. Let it cool down a bit,
2. Separate the yolk from the white and mix the white, so that you have whipped egg whites.
3. Eat the sugar, butter, yolk, flour, vanilla powder, baking powder, milk and amaretto in a bowl and mix it, so that you get a smooth dough.
4. Gently fold the whipped egg whites in the dough.
5. Drain the cherries and gently mix them with the dough.
6. Crush the bar of chocolate e.g. with a rolling pin. The chocolate chips shouldn't be too small and also not too big.
7. Mix the chocolate chips with the dough.
8. Put some paper muffin moulds in your muffin mould and put the dough into it.
9. Bake the muffins at 180° for 30-40 minutes.

And then you are done! I have tested the muffins and they taste absolutely amazing! They are definitely something different and not the muffins that everyone is expecting. 

Do you like muffins or do you prefer cakes?

All the best,

Best of German - Beauty Brands

Inspiried by the upcoming Olympic Games in London and by Pixiwoo's post "Best of British", I decided to do my "Best of German" version. The problem is that Germany is not known for its fantastic cosmetic companies, we rather are popular for our cars (Audi, BMW, VW, Mercedes,...).

However, this is a beauty blog and therefore, I tried my best to find the best beauty companies who are internationally involved because we also have thousands of brilliant beauty companies who are quiet common here, but no one ever heard of them abroad.

I am also planning a "Best of German" in a fashion edition.

Nivea

Nivea is probably one of the most popular and oldest brands in Germany. They have a huge variety of skin products which costs from 3-10€. About two year ago they also launched a make-up line in Germany which was sadly discontinued a year ago even though the make-up was really good. The skin care, especially the classic cream in the blue packaging, was even used by my grandmother. Even though there are critics because they use paraffins, my grandmother hasn't noticed any negative aspects for 50 years! This particular creme is a absolute all rounder and can be used from every skin type.

Essence

Essence is one of the cheapest brands in drugstore and has launched his line in America and Canada too. I am not a massive fan of their nail polishes, but 1€ for a huge variety of colour is a good deal. Essence has got the philosophy not to pigment the eyeshadows too much, so that the teenagers are not wearing too much make up. I think, this is a really nice idea when I look at the 11-year-old girls in school. I really like their eyeshadow palettes, eyeliner pencil and the mascaras are absolutely amazing!

Hugo Boss Perfumes

I am totally in love with the Hugo Boss Perfumes for men and women. We all know Hugo Buss for its luxurious suits for men, but the perfumes smell as luxurious as the suits look like. I love in particular the Hugo Boss Orange. It is the perfect summer, autumn, winter and probably also spring scent that makes you feel female and glamourous.

Lavera

Lavera is the most common natural skincare line abroad, but I would say that we have a huge amount of natural skin care companies. Even every drugstore has its own natural line. I really love the lavera cleansers and moisturizers and their bath gels are amazing too. I think, it is always good to use a few natural cosmetic products, because you can make sure that there are no paraffins, formaldehydes...

Wella

Wella is one of the world's leading cosmetic supplied. There currently have launched a hair care line in the drugstores and supermarkets, so that we common people also can buy the shampoos. I am nit really sure whether I like the shampoos in the drugstore, but the ones that are just from your hairdresser are really good. They really make your hair shiner, smother and healthier, however, with 13€ they also have their price.

These were my "Best of German" beauty companies. I hope you liked this post.

Which are your favourite beauty products?

All the best,

Pre-Announcement: Travel Week

This Friday is the last day of school in my county in Germany which means that the holidays officially start in exactly one week. In order to celebrate this special day and to introduce SUMMER 2012 I will post about traveling and vacation the whole upcoming week. I know that a lot of people of you are going to go into holidays and thus, this might help you to get a few inspirations or tips right before leaving for holidays.

I will post from Monday to Sunday, seven days. The thought behind this is that our imaginary departure is on Sunday and every single day I will give you advice which also show you when certain things have to be done or how early you have to start doing specific things.

Obviously, this will be my opinion and my priorities. There are a ton of different topics about traveling and vacation, which would take years to talk about all of them, but I picked out a few that came to my mind and were the most important for me. 

The next week I will give you really important advice before leaving to the airport, I will give you a look into my travel makeup bag, I will show you how to save space, I will reveal my secret of the most exciting thing we do on any trip and many more things.

So I hope you are looking forward to seeing the posts as much as I do.

I wish you a wonderful day!

All the best,