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,

Food Tag

Food plays a huge role in our society, it belongs to every culture and connects the family. Food has direct effects on our health and on our whole body, thus, I was really excited during this Food Tag. I translated this tag in German because it was actually a German tag on youtube. So here we go!

● For which type of ice cream would you wait for 1 hours? 
Probably for none, because I am super inpatient AND lactose intolerant. However, when I am in an ice cream shop I usually take mango and raspberry. A year ago I took Mango and Yogurt, but that's not possible anymore :(

● With which drink does your good mood start?With a diet coke/ coke zero. I usually drink water during the whole time, but when I am at home during lunch time, which is max. one per week, I allow myself a nice diet coke.

● Which food causes that you can't stop eating? 
Definitely pasta. I read an article about pasta which said that pasta produces happiness hormones in our body which is the reason why we love eating pasta so much. I am nit sure whether this is right.

● Which fruit doesn't survive in your fruit bowl for one hour? Which fruit do you like?
I love apples. Seriously, I could eat an apple every day, but during this allergy season I can not eat them. :(

● What is your personal "Must-Have-vegetable"?
Courgettes! I chop them in sauces, meals in the wok, basically everything.

● Yummy Pasta... Which type of pasta do you use most?
I love colored pasta, it makes much more fun to eat them. And structure wise, I'm not sure whether you call them the same, but we call them Spirelli. This is 
the pasta with the helix structure.

● Go out for a romantic meal: Which restaurant would you choose, it doesn't has to be romantic?
Italian, oh that's probably the standard answer!

● Water: frizzy or still?
Frizzy during the meal, still when I do sport.

● It's Coffeetime! What would you choose?
I hate coffee!

● And Teatime? Which sort do you really like?
I love black tea until 12p.m., from then on I drink mostly rooibos tea.

● What represents you while eating? Any eating habits?
I can barely eat really hot food, my mouth is just to sensitive, but I can eat cold food really fast even though I get the famous frozen brain.

● Do you prefer a sweet or hearty breakfast?
Well, from Monday to Friday I have my breakfast at 6 a.m. and so I prefer sweet. On the weekend I also like a hearty breakfast.

● How do you eat dinner? What is a must?
Dinner is the only meal when our family eats together, so it definitely has something familiar and we have our "huge" meal together.

● No time to cook? What do you order in your pizzeria?
Thanks to my lactose intolerance I choose any type of pasta with tomato sauce.

● What do you order from Mc Donald's or Burger King?
I can't not remember when I ate something from them the last time. I really hate Mc Donald's and Burger Kind, but when I am forced to eat something, then I take Mc Nuggets.

● Your nerves are taut, what about chocolate, but which do you like most?
dark chocolate (<60%) or chocolate with chili or pepper

● Everyone loves candies. Which are your favourites?
apple and peach rings

● Which type of chips do you like most?
I am a bit confused... I thought chips are chips, are there exist different types of chips? Well, when you mean normal chips or wedges, then I take the normal ones.

● What is your favourite and your least favourite spice?
I love ginger, muscat, chili, curry and vegetable stock. I absolutely hate parsley and dill!

I really enjoyed doing this tag and I tag you all and hope that you are doing this tag too!

I wish you a wonderful day! All the best,

Catrice Lipstick Shy Flamingo - Review & Swatches

Der Catrice Ultimate Shine Lippenstift in der Farbe 110 Shy Flamingo ist mit 3,99€ einer der preisgünstigeren Lippenstifte. In der Ultimate Shine Reihe von Catrice sind insgesamt 16 verschiedene Farben aufzufinden.

 

Verpackung

Der Lippenstift ist in einer schlichten, jedoch dadurch sehr elegant wirkenden Verpackung gehalten. Die Verpackung ist Silber verspiegelt, der Deckel schließt sehr gut und das Markenzeichen ist sehr dezent am Deckelrand eingraviert.

Herstellerversprechen

"Natürlich und verführerisch zugleich: Die geschmeidig cremige Textur mit mittlerer Deckkraft verschmilzt förmlich mit den Lippen, spendet intensive Feuchtigkeit, pflegt und verführt mit ultimativem Glanz."

Konsistenz

Der Lippenstift hat eine feste Konsistenz, wobei die Glitzerpartikel auf den Lippen spürbar sind.

Farbe

Shy Flamingo ist ein sehr schönes, intensives Korallrot mit leichtem silbernen Glitzer. 

Haltbarkeit

Da der Lippenstift fester ist und keine cremige Konsistenz hat, verzieht er sich nicht und die Lippenfältchen oder Mundinnenwinkel. Essen und Trinken hält der Lippenstift jedoch nicht stand. Er hält jedoch alleine bis zu 5 Stunden.

Positiv

Der Lippenstift hat eine sehr intensive Farbe, die sich dennoch durch Auftupfen auf den Lippen verringern lässt. Das Korallerot ist genau zwischen zu rot und zu orange, des weiteren ist der Preis unschlagbar. Außerdem bleibt der Lippenstift dort, wo man ihn aufgetragen kann und das Design ist sehr ansprechend.

Negativ

Obwohl die Serie "Ultimate Shine" heißt, hätte ich mir den Glitzer weniger grobkörnig gewünscht. Zum einen ist der Glitzer auf den Lippen im Alltag ein wenig zu auffällig und zum anderen erinnert das Lippengefühl eher an sehr kleine Sandkörner auf den Lippen, daher fühlen sich die Lippen trockener an, obwohl sie dies nicht sind.

Fazit

Shy Flamingo ist DER Sommerlippenstift! Er hat eine wunderschöne Farbe, die perfekt zu einem gebräuntem Teint und milden Sommernächten passt. Auch der Glitzer erscheint bei der intensiven Sonne im Sommer weniger auffällig, sondern verleiht dem Gesicht noch den extra Touch. Jedoch muss man bevor man den Lippenstift aufträgt unbedingt eine Lippenpflege benutzen. So vermeidet man das grobkörnige Gefühl des Glitzers auf den Lippen und das "Schein Trockenheitsgefühl" der Lippen.

★★★★☆ Sterne

Ich hoffe ihr fandet meine Review hilfreich! Was haltet ihr von den Catrice Lippenstiften?

Alles Liebe,

The Secret of Being Happy

Being happy and satisfied with our life is really important. Not only increases this your life expectations, but also makes our life more livable. Finding your own "Pursuit of Happiness" can help you with that. When I talk about the "Pursuit of Happiness" I am not talking about the American Dream which means if you work hard then you will have success. I am talking about little things that can be included into your daily routine, that make you happy and that symbolise little steps until you have reached your final happiness.


Every one has other things that lead to its pursuit of happiness. In order to find these, you have to think about your past, analyze it and ask yourself: what makes me really happy? Which thinks do I really enjoy to do? When did I feel kind of fulfilled? When you have determined a few things, write them down and look if you can sum them up. For example, when you love cooking, watching cooking tv shows or videos and you also like to do researches on diets, then combine these things to "Doing something with Cooking" or only "Cooking/Diet".

all photos from pinterest

My personal pursuit of happiness consists of:

1. healthy and light eating
2. some kind of work (seriously, I get a bit depressed in the holidays)
3. doing sport
4. relaxing time, e.g. reading/taking a bath
5. writing a blog post

Of course, there are also a ton of other things that I really enjoy doing, for example meeting with friends is really important for me. But as I have already mentioned I wanted to add things in this list that can be easily included into your daily routine. I also know that we usually don't have the time to fulfil all of these things every single day because of our lack of time and I know that hobbies are changing, so that you have to delete and maybe add a few point to your list. However, knowing the things that really make yourself happy really helps you feeling much better even when you have a bad day or something terrible has happened. Thus, you are also going to be more independent from negative critics. 

Please let me know which thinks you like to do in your daily routine?

All the best,

L'Occitane Angelica Hydration Cream - Review

Today I want to review the L'Occitane Angelica Hydration Cream which my mum bought for me. I probably hadn't invest in this cream because it costs 35€ for 50 ml. It lasts for 6 months.

Packaging

The product is in a slightly green glass bottle with a matte surface and has a silver metallic cap which closes really well. In total, this design looks with the glass bottle expensive and because of the green organic and natural which exactly represented the concept of L'Occitane. 

Description of the producer:

"Made with organic angelica from the Drôme region of France, the fresh and silky smooth Angelica Hydration Cream efficiently moisturizes and revitalizes the skin. 

L'OCCITANE’s patented angelica complex reinforces natural skin hydration by stimulating aquaporines, improves skin elasticity and protects from free radicals.
Skin is plumped, smoothed and more radiant.
Best for dry to normal skin."

Consistency

The product has a normal cream texture, but it is really based on a lot of water, so that it is really light and is absorbed by the skin quiet fastly.

Colour

white

Smell

The smell reminds me, probably because of the packaging, of "Green". It is a mixture of a hay, gras, plant and cream flavour. However, I had to get used to this smell which took me just five applications.

Application

After cleansing I apply this before going to bed, I usually just use a sunscreen in the morning. I have got combination to oily skin, so I just need a fingertip of product for the whole face. It blends into the skin really vastly, because it is so light.

Positiv

When I apply thick moisturizer e.g. the original Nivea Creme, then I start to sweat underneath the cream. Because of its light texture and the high amount of water, I don't start my odd sweating with this cream. You also just need a tiny amount of product for the whole face because it is moisturizing and light on the same time. The best thing is that I haven't had any breakouts and my skin feels quiet balanced in the morning.

Negativ

I don't have anything against the product, I rather have against the producer: L'Occitane. I know that they have a certain target, nevertheless, the product are bit overpriced. I also don't like the description "Best for dry to normal skin." because I think that this moisturizer could be way to light for a dry skin. I have got quiet oily skin and for me it is the ideal night cream.

Conclusion

I am really impressed of this product. It moisturizes my face even with a tiny amount of product, it doesn't sit on the skin, is really light and looks really nice next to the sink. I think it is a really nice day and night moisturizer for normal to oily skin and not for dry to normal skin. However, I am not use whether I would buy this product once again because of the price. I still believe that there has to exist a really good, but effort able moisturizer on the market. Thus, I keep on searching.

★★★★☆ Stars

Hope you found this review helpful! Do you like the L'Occitane products?

All the best,

I Got A New Haircut!!!

Since a really long time I wanted to change my hairstyle, but I was to scared of cutting my hair off and I wasn't sure which hairstyle suits me. In the picture above you can see Rosie Huntington-Whiteley's hair which shows my hair in the exact same situation. I have long hair for two years now and two years ago I was one of the first in school who had these long, wavy hair. However, during the last year the Hollywood trend finally arrived in school and everyone started to grow his hair. Now even in university, everyone has these long hair which are seen as the ideal, perfect hairstyle. And when everyone wears a trend, I am the first one who changes his style in order not to suit into the mainstream. 

By the way, I have light to medium curly hair, I have medium thick, but a lot of hair. My hair colour is, like in the picture, medium to dark, red blonde and I get blonde highlights in the summertime. Because I have so many hair, you just saw hair and I was nearly able to go out topless, because I had like a fur over my breast :)

Inspired by Scarlett Johansson's totally glamourous appearance and her fresher hairstyle, the idea of changing my hairstyle was set. After searching a long time in the internet I found this incredible Virtual Hair Makeover by Instyle which you can find here.

I really tested a lot of Virtual Hair Tester, but this is the best one. So I started testing all the 160 hairstyles and I found the one I was searching for.

Because I was still to scared of cutting my hair off above my shoulders, I finally cutted my hair like this:

Elizabeth Olsen has exactly my hair colour, so this picture shows my actual hairstyle quiet well.

The funny thing was that I wasn't scared of cutting my hair off when I was sitting in the seat of my hairdresser at all. I really felt that this was the right thing what I was doing and I actually longed for this look. 

I really love my new hairstyle. I feel more matured, sophisticated, glamourous and more neat. Now with less hair in my face, you can see my face, my jewelry and my clothes much better, I can also wear totally different make-up. Thus, I can totally recommend to try out the Instyle Hair Makeover and to change your hairstyle. A blogger wrote: "Every woman should cut her hair short once in her life." and I totally agree with this and maybe next time I am brave enough to cut my hair off above the shoulders.

What do you think about shorter hair?

All the best,

First Date Make Up Tutorial

Today I want to show you a nice and wearable First Date Makeup. I believe that even though men pretend that women look best without any makeup, they still like a tiny bit of make up that makes you look fresher and enhances your features. Because of the fact that during a first date there is a lot of eye contact, you want to pay attention to your eyes whereas you minimize your lips. Men are usually afraid of kissing perfectly made lips.

Step by step guide:

• Apply a golden, green slightly shimmery eyeshadow all over the lid. I mixed some eyeshadows together from the 88 Neutral Eyeshadow Palette, but MAC Patina would be the best choice. 

• Apply a medium matte brown eyeshadow into your crease and blend it.

• Draw a black line with a black eyeliner pencil along your upper lashes from the middle of the lid outwards. Smudge it with an eyeliner smudger outwards, so that you create like a "winged-smudged-eyeliner-look". Bring the rest that is left on the brush on the outer part of your lower lash line.

 

• Apply a white matte eyehadow in the inner corner of your eye. Apply a lot of mascara or even fake lashes because seriously, men won't realise them.

• Finish this look either with a clear lip balm or a slightly rosy lib balm which isn't that sticky, so that your lips super natural but in the same time have a little bit of colour.

And then you're done! I hope you liked this look and I hope that your date will be successful. You can wear this look also for any other occasion or even as an everyday make up look when you want to look natural and fresh.

All the best,

Book Review: The Leopard by Jo Nesbø

After a long time I finally finished a book. I had a little break in between my last book because I had to read a lot of books for school and thus, I didn't had the energy to read a book in private again. But here we go with a new book review and let's say it straight from the beginning, I used to hate crimes, but this book makes me loving them! 

Before I start I want to mention that I am not going to much into detail because I don't want to reveal the whole plot or important details.

Book Description:

In the depths of winter, a killer stalks the city streets. His victims are two young women, both found with twenty-four inexplicable puncture wounds, both drowned in their own blood. The crime scenes offer no clues, the media is reaching fever pitch, and the police are running out of options. There is only one man who can help them, and he doesn’t want to be found.

Deeply traumatised by The Snowman investigation, which threatened the lives of those he holds most dear, Inspector Harry Hole has lost himself in the squalor of Hong Kong’s opium dens. But with his father seriously ill in hospital, Harry reluctantly agrees to return to Oslo. He has no intention of working on the case, but his instinct takes over when a third victim is found brutally murdered in a city park.

The victims appear completely unconnected to one another, but it’s not long before Harry makes a discovery: the women all spent the night in an isolated mountain hostel. And someone is picking off the guests one by one.

My thoughts:

I was a bit shocked of the length of the book, because 610 pages full of one crime can be quiet intimidating, especially if you are a beginner in crimes like me. However, Jo Nesbø makes it possible that the times flies because of the changing settings and constantly changing goals. In this novel, the protagonists, are not searching for one detail 610 pages, they rather work on a lot of different goals which at the end and even many times in between the novel come together like a puzzle. The characters of the novel are extremely interesting. Especially the appealing figure Harry Hole is with his anti heroic behavior (alcoholic, anti-authoritarian and melancholic) very interesting. Besides the crime plot, the novel also deals with love, rivalry, illness and grief.

Additionally, Jo Nesbø introduces new characters really intelligent and shows similarities between the new character and the murder and links them directly to the crimes. This causes that you automatically start guessing who the murder is, which I started to do for the first time ever, and seriously, you don't have a clue who the murder is reps. I have NEVER thought that this person is the murder. 

In conclusion I would say that Jo Nesbø did an incredible good job with his new novel. With his changing settings, goals, various characters and the fact that at the end you want to be the one who solves the crime, he involves the reader and keeps the excitement until the end.

You still don't believe me? Go into your bookstore, immerse in a new world and enjoy the book!

All the best,

Gigantischer Rossmann, DM & Douglas Haul

Obwohl ich wahrscheinlich viel zu viel Make up für eine Person habe, konnte ich es mir dennoch nicht verkneifen wieder in Rossman Dm und diesmal sogar noch Douglas zu gehen.

Daher ist hier meine rießige Ausbeute.

Maybelline SuperStay 24h Foundation and Concealer

Ich hab sehr gute Kritiken zu diesem Produkt gelesen und entschloss mich daher dieses Produkt zu kaufen. Ich suche nach einer Foundation die langanhaltend und mittlere bis starke Deckkraft hat. Der Concealer sollte perfekt zur Foundation passen und meine Unreinheiten sehr gut überdecken. Mal schauen, ob die beiden ihren Dienst leisten.

Blistex Classic Lip Protector

Mein letzter Blistex ist zu gut wie leer und nun stand ich vorm Regal und haderte zwischen einem klassischen Labello oder doch der amerikanischen Variante, dem Blitex. Wie ihr seht, habe ich mich für den Blistex entschieden. Ich denke, beide sind von der Pflegewirkung fast identisch.

Essence stay all day long lasting eyeshadow 02 Glammy goes to...

Dieses Produkt ist perfekt für den Sommer, falls dieser mal kommt. Dieser Creamlidschatten soll anscheinend nicht in die Lidfalte kriechen und hat einen wunderschönen metallischen, goldenen Schimmer.

Sunozon Sonnenfluid LSF 30

Von der Hausmarke von Rossmann habe ich mir das Sonnenfluid für Gesicht und Dekolleté mit LSF 30 gekauft, was einen mattierenden Effekt verspricht. Ich hoffe, dass diese Sonnencreme nicht zu ölig auf der Haut erscheint.

Garnier Hautklar 24h Feuchtigkeitspflege

Ich habe mir nach Überredung einer Freundin eine neue Hautpflegeserie gekauft. Ich werde noch bei meiner alten Pflege blieben, werde diese aber nicht weiterführen, was das VICHY Reinigungsschaum einfach zu austrocknend ist.

Garnier Hautklar Gesichtreiniger

 Garnier Hautklar S.O.S. Anti-Pickel-Stift

Marc Jacobs Daisy

Ich hab lange nach einem Sommerduft gesucht und habe ihn schließlich gefunden. Es ist zwar nicht das günstigste Parfum mit 45€/20ml, dennoch ist der Duft sehr frisch, blumig und leicht.

Rival de Loop Liquid Make-up

Für eine Freundin habe ich das Make-up mitgenommen, obwohl ich in letzter Zeit ein wenig Foundation süchtig geworden bin, habe ich mir nicht auch noch die hier gekauft.

Rival de Loop Mineral Powder

Obwohl das Puder sehr dunkel aussieht, ist es auf der Haut sehr hell und lässt sich sehr gut verteilen. Zu Not kann man allein die dunkle Seite nur zum Konturieren benutzen.

Rival de Loop Long Lasting Nail Colour - 74l & 95J

Ich bin mir jetzt nicht sicher, ob dass wirklich der richtige Namen ist, aber ich finde die beiden Farben wirklich sehr schön. Deckend nach zwei schichten, jedoch ein wenig streifig.

Rival de Loop eyeshadow - 11 cherry plum & 10 mocha beige

Wenn man bedenkt, dass ich den Ständer von Rival de Loop bisher so gut wie nie beachtet habe, ist diese Ausbeute erstaunlich. Die Lidschatten sind wirklich sehr gut pigmentiert, zumindest nach dem ersten swatchen. Mal schauen wie sie sich auf der Haut verarbeiten lassen.

So dies war mein viel zu großer und monströser Haul! Ich hoffe, es hat euch gefallen und ich wünsche euch noch einen wunderschönen Sonntag!

Alles Liebe,