How Christmas is like in Germany

Hello and merry christmas!

A lot of people all over the world celebrate christmas, but every country, region, family, has their own traditions. I wanted to share with you how my family does it for over 20 years now. Most of it is very typical for Germany.

The real christmas for me starts on 23rd in the evening. At that time my family and I put the tree up and my mom puts the lights on it. We always go for a real one, just because the fake ones are so... fake ;), and no, we don't have it up all through december like the americans do. We also do not decorate it. That does the Christkind. The Christkind (word to word translation: christ child) is something in between a child and an angel, and is the one that brings the presents. But that is everything we know. We don't have a story about northpoles and reindeers and stuff like that, we just "know" it exists. So when the kinds are in bed it comes to the house, decorates the tree and puts the presents under the it.
During the whole day of the 24th, the living room, so the room where the christmas tree is, is locked. That is so the Christkind has time enough to prepare everything for the evening, and to make the kids more excited about it.
In the evening we always go to church. I would not consider myself as being a very religious person, but I do love the festivness of it on that evening. Afterwards, when we come home, me and my sister go upstairs in our rooms and wait for the bell. The parents open the living room and see, if the Christkind was there, and talk with it about... well, I don't know, I never took part in it ;) . Then, they also light all the candles and things like that, and during all of that the ring with a little bell two times. Once they are finished they ring one final time, and that is the sign for us kids that the Christkind is gone, and we can now finally go downstairs and see the tree.
Now comes the fun part. We get to open our presents. Yes, on christmas eve. In most countrys you wait till the 25th, christmas morning, but in Germany the actual celebration day is 24th in the evening. So we get to open our presents, children first, then the parents, afterwards we have a lovely dinner and then we hang around, read manuals of presents or have a first look into our new books, we eat a lot of chocolate and then go to bed.
25th and 26th are public holidays as well, and are still christmas celebration days. Normally on one of the days we go and visit my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, but the rest of the time we just spend together, eating a lot of good food, and having a good time.

I hope you all had a wonderful, festive christmas with all the ones you love, just as I had. I probably will be back with a post about what I got for christmas in a few days. See you then!

Lush Magic Mushroom

To start with, I am definately someone who takes baths regularly. Regularly once a year, right before christmas. The rest of the year I am a bit to lazy for waiting till the tub fills up and then I sit in there and I am bored. In addition I am quite tall, so I can either be in the water with my top, my bottom, my left, or my right half. The rest is cold. Not the ideal situation... 

Also, I basically never shop in Lush. Just twice. The first time I bought a present for a friend and the second time I bought the Magic Mushroom bubblebath for myself. Because if I take baths, I want bubbles. Lots of them. I want to be Pretty Woman, covered in white softness. And as everyone always raves about Lush stuff I thought I give it a go. I used one half of it a few days after and was not impressed to say the least. That was two years ago. And an hour ago, I decided that it was time for the second half, just in case I change my opinion, and just to use it up (I just realised that it probably went off during that time, but I feel good, no itching skin or anything ;) ). 

1. It made the water red. I actually liked that. A bit gimmiky, but hey, the whole idea of a bubblebath is gimmiky ;)

2. It made the water soft and moistruizing. Normally, after I take a bath or a shower, I really need to put moistruiser on my skin because it feels so dry. Today I just used a little bit on the driest parts, my legs for example where completely fine!

3. Bubbles. Let's talk bubbles. It is supposed to make a whole lot of them, and they are the only reason why I spend money on a Lush product (btw, I can't remember the price, sorry). Where there bubbles? Yes. Where there more bubbles as if I had used shower gel? No. Very very disappointing. 

4. Lastly, because I know others care, it is supposed to smell like vanilla and strawberrys. I did not recognised those scents, but I don't really care for scents anyways. However, I didn't notice a particuarly bad scent ;). 

As far as I know this was limited edition. But even if not, I would not repurchase. Even more, I am a bit sceptical, if I will ever buy Lush products again (bath products at least). I think if you are just looking for something that makes a huge amount of bubbles there are a lot of cheaper alternatives around. But as it is a whole year till next bath time, who knows what happened till then...

German Drugstore Must haves

If you are anything like me, one of the most important things when traveling to another country is shopping for make up and skincare products that are not available in your country or just are a lot cheaper there than where you live.

Just in case someone comes to Germany: here is what you need to know!

Where to shop:
For drugstore products you want to look out for "dm", "Rossmann", or "Müller". All of them have a slightly different selection, but most things are sold in all of them.
For high-end makeup and perfume you want a "Parfümerie". The most common one is "Douglas", but there are smaller ones as well, most of them will have the word "Parfümerie" in their name.
Beauty stuff, high and low end, is also sold in some departement stores. Find "Karstadt" or "Galeria Kaufhof".

General information:
Germany is not the cheapest place to buy beauty. Especially when you are from the US or UK it is not worth looking for high end makeup or even things like Maybelline, L'Oreal etc. We also normally have a smaller colour selection. I suggest that you stay with the Germany-only brands. If you are from somewhere else in the world, it may be worth comparing the prices before you go. Anyways, I am going to concentrate on brands and products that are basically just sold here.

What to buy:
First of, the mustest have of all must haves: essence studio nails better than gel nails top sealer. Long name but THE best topcoat of all time. I never tried Seche Vite, but from what people say about it, this is probably a great dupe for it for just the tiniest fraction of the price. A quite gloopy, thick formula, super glossy, dries very quick and makes your polish last for up to seven days on me!
More from essence: Multi Action Mascara. This is one of my all time favourites and a best seller here!
The colour & go nail polishes are nice as well. Especially if you like girly colours... Lastly: the Smokey Eyes Brush. Basically a relatively big pencil brush with purple bristles. Very soft and perfect for blending out liner or shadow along your lashline.

One of my most favourite brands in the german drugstore is Catrice. Their eyeshadows are super pigmented and soft (there may be even some dupes...). The nailpolishes have a great quality and a very nice colour selection, for just 2,50€! I also really like the Lashes to Kill Mascara. The Defining Blushes have two shades, so you can do exactly this, define your cheeks (check out 030 Love and Peach!).

Next up: Alverde (dm only!). Best product is definately the Powder Blush in Apricot. Has a nice sculpting effect without beeing too brown, and not too much pigmentation so it is basically impossible to overblush. This is one of the very very few blushes that I actually hit pan on. Their eyeshadow quads are great as well, I use the brownish one a lot (Chocolate), and definately want to buy the Fairy Forest one the next time I'm there! The colours are pigmented enough to show up and look good with not too much effort, but not so pigmented they are hard to work with.

If you are looking for a good eyeshadow base, check out Manhattan. It has a bit of a weird texture, but I found it to be nearly as good as UDPP. Their Powder Rouges are very nice as well. What I love about them, is that they look more or less matt on your skin, but have the tiniest amount of shimmer in them to make them extremely flattering and more natural than a pure matt.

That is it for now. Hope it helped someone!

Note: I was not sure if I am allowed to put pictures of the differnet stores and products here. If you want to know how everything looks like so you know what to look out for, just google it! :)

The foundation problem

Problem No.1: I am so pale!
At the beginning of this year and did the splurge and purchased a Bobbi Brown foundation in Porcelain which is really light. Now, this one is already too dark for me, and winter has just started! You see the problem?
Most brands just carry make up for the big majority of skintones. But if you are lighter than that (or darker I suppose) you really get a problem. The border is around MAC NC/NW 20 for (german) drugstore makeup, and NC/NW 15 for higher end. I mentioned Bobbi Brown Porcelain above. This actually is about an NC/NW 10. BB used to do an even lighter shade, Alabaster, which would probably be perfect for me at the moment, but they discontinued it.
There still are a few brands that do sell very fair foundation shades. The Nars ones seems to go pretty light, Illamasqua as well, then there is Dainty Doll (the whole line is actually designed for very pale people). The problem here is that you can't get those brands here in germany. And with foundation, especially in this price range, I like to test it out before I buy it, just to make sure I really like it and to make sure it is the right colour. Pale-wise and undertone-wise...

Problem No.2: Undertones??
It sounds easy. You either have a pink skin untertone, then you are cool-toned, or you have a yellow undertone, then you are warm. More or less professional people said I have a pink undertone and therefore am cold. However, I found that I like foundations better, that are slightly more on the yellow side, just because I tend to have a lot of redness in my face and the yellowness counteracts that. Now that I really have a hard time finding a matching foundation I googled a bit (as you do) and found, that some of the very palest of palest beautys found their skin not to have a yellow or pink undertone, but a blueish one! Now, to clear that up, I am very pale, but not superdupersnowwhite pale. But when people matched me to a pink undertone it was spring or summer and I was not as pale.

The solution?
The one thing that I have that is light enough is the Missha Perfect Cover BB Cream in 13. However, after a few hours it looks a bit pink. Not so much you could tell from a distance, but enough to bother me. Which is weird as BB Creams generally have a very greyish undertone. Also, I am really into high coverage foundations at the moment. And even though this one has amazing coverage for a BB Cream, it is not quite what I am looking for.

Something a little bit different that I purchased lately is the Barry M Foundation Creme in White. You do not want to use this on its own, no matter how fair you are, you are supposed to mix it with foundations that are to dark to lighten them up. And as the Bobbi Brown Porcelain seems to have the perfect undertone I think mixing those two could actually work (but I have not tried that yet).

Concealer: I use the MAC Studio Finish Concealer in NW 15 on and around my nose (rudolph!). Even though it is darker than my skin it seems to work. For undereye I really like to use the Rimmel Match Perfection Concealer in the lightest shade, it gives coverage but is also illuminating! The Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer in 1 is also light enough.

I actually really like being pale, at least in the winter time. I like how it looks against the darker colours in clothing and lips and my relatively dark hair.However, the hassle that comes with it is just annoying. And I am definately not the only one that struggels to find fair shades, so I do not understand why there is not more available for us. I am looking forward to go to UK or US the next time to pick up a good foundation that matches, I heard lots of good things about Nars Sheer Glow and Laura Mercier Silk Creme!

The sisterhood of beauty

I am the only person I know, out of all my family and friends, that is really into beauty. You know, the whole youtube, blog, twitter, beauty, skincare, hair, makeup community. And as much as I enjoy being a little part of that community, in the end, all of it is in the internet. And wouldn't it be nice to talk about beauty in real life? Have someone that helps you decide which blush colour looks better on you? Goes shopping with you? Just shares your passion? Well, I think, yes.

Also, image you get into a new class, meet the friends of your new boyfriend, start a new hobby, or in general, meet people you don't know. If you could just know if one of them is into beauty? Yes, if they wear a lot of makeup, that is a sign. But not a proof. If they ask you what lipstick you are wearing, that is a sign, but not a proof. I hope you see where I am going here, I just think it would be so nice to tell immediately if someone is a beauty or not.

So here is my idea. We need some sort of sign. A pendant for a necklace for example. Something that is known in the beauty community, that you can wear, something that shows everyone who knows about the meaning of it that you like beauty as well, but something that most other people would not think is something more than just a regular necklace. Because, honestly, I don't want to wear a necklace saying "Beautycommunity" or something like that, I don't want everyone that just walks by to know about what I love. Maybe something like a very stylised outlining of a lipstick? But if I meet new people, and someone wears the same necklace, we could start talking.

That obviously is no guarranty that you like that person. You may hate her. But at least you can try. And it makes it a bit easier I think to find a topic to talk about, to get some sort of communication or relationship going.

Buffing Collection

I love brushes. There you have it. I have tons of them, and I keep buying more. Today I want to talk a bit about a specific categorie, buffing brushes. Buffing brushes are the only kind of brush that I like for my base product. It is quick and leaves the nicest finish. Here is what I can choose from ever day:

L-R: Real Techniques Expert Face Brush, Sigma F84, Sigma F86, Sephora Mineral Powder brush, Real Techniques Buffing Brush, Zoeva #104

In the above picture I arranged them from the stiffest, densest, to the loosest, fluffiest. Basically, the denser, the higher the coverage you get with it. All of them are equally soft and are great quality. I always wash them after two uses with brush soap, and none of them has ever lost hairs or colour.

RT Expert Face, Sigma F84, Sigma F86

 The Expert Face Brush is the stiffest and tt is oval. I find myself not buffing with it, but use it more in strikes, it still leaves the foundation nicely blended in. The F84 is oval as well, but it is also slanted. Again, I don't really buff with it but just slide it down my face. The shape makes it really easy to get underneath the eye or on the eyelid (I like to put a bit of foundation there as well to conceal a bit of uneveness). The F86 is obviously perfect for small areas as well. I still find that this is the one that I reach for the least. I can't really explain why, but I don't like the way you need to use it if that makes sense.

Sephora Mineral Powder, RT Buffing, Zoeva #104

The Sephora brush is great. It is dense enough to give good coverage, but is bendable enough to really buff the product into the skin. The Buffing Brush is a lot less dense, and the circumference somewhat bigger. This is the one I reach for the most when I don't look for super heavy coverage. Lastly, the Zoeva one is even bigger. With this one, it takes about 20 seconds to apply foundation to your entire face which is quite useful sometimes. Because it gives less coverage and blends very well, I find I get the most natural coverage with this one. And it was my first one out of all of these, so I will always love it :)

Essie In Stitches

Hello hello!

I just quickly wanted to brag with my new nail polish: Essie in stitches:

In Reality it is a bit more brownish. And please excuse my super dry cuticles, my hands just can't stand cold weather!

I think this is a perfect fall colour. Redish, but not too bright. Goes with everything. Just two thin coats needed. Above it is already 3 days old and no chipping or tipwear what so ever. 

If it reminds someone of Angora Cardi by Essie, you are not alone. But (at least in the bottle) that one is quite a bit darker. The general colour however is pretty similar!

Hungry. Need to go.

How to make heels out of flip flops (kind of)

I have this problem. My feet are quite wide in the front, but small at the back. This means, if I want to wear ballet flats or high heels, I always flip out at the back, because I need to buy them so big, that they fit in the front. 

Here is what I did today. 

1. Cut two long strips of fabric. They should be about 1-1.2 meter long and about 4-5 cm wide. (As you can see on the picture, if you don't have fabric that's long enough, just put two pieces together)

2. Pin each of them right sides together lengthwise. As you do so, put a piece of string in the middle. Then sew along the long side, also sew the string to one of the short sides where it comes out.

3. Pull on the string to turn the tube inside out. Press.

4. Finish the edges. (I just wrapped thread around them, but maybe you want to add some beads?)

5. Go from this...

to this!

Or get creative with other ways to wrap them!

These are super simple and fast to do. They not just add a bit more to your outfit (match the colour to your shoes, your dress, your purse or do some colour blocking! Vary the width of the bands!) but also stop your feet from flipping out of your shoes. You can walk a lot easier and more sophisticated!

P.S.: I forgot to mention: it works better with non-stretchy fabric!

The three day make up bag

So I am at my parents house over the weekend, so I thought I share with you what makeup I brought with me. As always, it is a lot more than you actually need, but hey, I like to have a couple of options! :)

My go to foundation at the moment is Rimmel lasting finish foundation (see my review on it here). As I get fairer, I started mixing in some green face base, mine is from Alverde, to lighten it up and make it more yellow based! For concealer I have L'Oreal True Match in Vanilla for under the eye and on bigger areas of redness, and MAC Studio Fix in NW20 for blemishes. For powder I took the Essence mattifying compact powder in translucent, then NYX blush in Taupe for contouring and MAC Cream Colour Base in Pear for highlighting. I also brought two blushes, a neutral version (Sleek in Suede) and a slightly deeper, berry colour (Alverde Pastell Rosé). 

For eyeshadow bases I obviously could not stick with one, so I packed the Urban Decay Primer Potion and the Essence soft touch eyeshadow in my caddy in the wind from the A New League LE, which is a shimmery champagny colour. Catrice Eyeshadows in C'mon Chameleon! and My First Copperware Party for if I want a little bit of colour. Black eyeliner from Essence and a nude one from Rival de Loop. The mascara of choice is Catrice Lashes To Kill in ultra black. Last but not least: Rimmel Eyebrow Designer in Black-Brown and Essence clear Browgel. 

I am really into bright lips at the moment, so I chose NYX Round Lipstick in Doll and the Revlon kissable Balmstain in Crush. But I could not leave the house without a slightly less dramatic option, so Revlon Mauve it over lipstick hopped in as well, which is my "my lips but better shade". 

Lastly, I managed to reduce my growing brush collection to only six that where allowed to take the journey with me: Real Techniques Multi Task(powder, contour), Buffing (foundation), Detailer (lips) and Domed Shadow (concealer) Brush, Kosmetik Kosmo Rouge Rosi (blush) and Zoeva #225 (eyeshadow). The Real Techniques Brushes just arrived a couple of days ago, but so far I like them, and the case is very handy as well!

Food of the weekend

Okay, I don't know if I mentioned it before, but I am a bit food crazy. I love food :) And I love cooking. So here is what I did this weekend!

Friday: A plate of salad. I love doing that from time to time, it is not just healthy but also really delicious. Lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, red pepper. The dressing is from Sami from beautycrush on youtue. To make it not too healthy I added a big slice of wholegrain, buttered bread and two slices of smoked salmon. 

Saturday: Beef Rendang Curry with rice from the "Beginners get Sorted" book from Sortedfood! I love those guys and their recipes, and this is no exception. A tiny bit too hot for me, but the taste, mh, the taste...

Sunday: Filled Peppers. Basically, you just put some minced meat in a pan with some garlic, onion and chili, I added a tiny bit of cream cheese, fill it into halfed peppers and put it in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Super easy.

Later on Sunday: Baked Banana. Honey. Whipped Cream. A hint of cinamon. OMG.

Review: Rimmel lasting finish foundation

Heyho!

Today I want to talk about my favourite foundation at the moment! It is the Rimmel Lasting Finish 25h Foundation in the colour 100 Ivory.

What do you get: 30ml/1fl oz for under 10€. The squeezy tube is not particuarly nice looking, but is small and light for traveling or on the go, and allows you to press out exactly now much you need. Nothing gets wasted in the end, and it is hygenic. 

Coverage: I normally use it with a buffing brush, and get a medium to full coverage. Keep in mind, the more you layer it to get a heavier coverage, the less natural it will look.

Finish: Pretty natural. Neither too matt, nor too glowy. It can get a little bit cakey if you apply too much, but with a reasonable amount that should not happen. I have combination skin and normally powder everything a little bit, it gets a little bit shiney after maybe 6h.

Lasting power: Aaaaaamazing. I put it on around 7 am, and removed it around 9.30 pm. That makes more than 14h. And in two of them I did sports. Yes, it was somewhat more shiney than in the morning, but nothing was fading, creasing or disappearing. Great job! (I have not tried to wear it for 25h, but first, who wants to wear a foundation so long? and second, it still looked perfect after 14h, so it should keep up for a couple hours longer as well.)

top: MAC studio finish concealer NW 20
bottom: Rimmel lasting finish foundation 100 Ivory

Colour: I am about an NW20 in MAC at the moment, and Ivory is a pretty good match for me. It is slightly yellow toned, which I like, because my skin tends to be a bit red, so the yellow counteracts that. However, Ivory is already the lightest colour they have. And with winter around the corner I am going to be too fair for it very soon. Also, I don't know about other countrys, but here they just sell four shades if I remember that correctly, that is not a lot!

All in all, this is a lovely foundation if you like something with more coverage and want your base to last all day. Being drugstore, the price is reasonable as well. Pick one up if you find a matching colour!

Banksia II

I finished it! My first ever Banksia! And it looks good! I am really happy with my choice of fabric and buttons. Now let's hope my sister will like it as well, and it fits her, because there comes the problem. Two problems.
1.: It is too short. According to the table on the pattern it should come out with about 56cm or something like that. That would fit perfectly, so I did not change that when I cut the fabric. But now it is finished, it looks far too short! I have not measured it out, but I feel like it is at least 5cm!
2.: It does not fit me.  For me, it is too narrow around the shoulder area, the armholes are a bit small, it just feels uncomfortable. Now, to make that clear, my sister definately has a different figure than I have. But, according to the table and our measurements, I made an XS for her, and I would have done an XS for me as well. But her shoulders are definately narrower than mine, so maybe she is fine, but I am a bit worried.
However, we will see. In the meantime I started Banksia no. 2 for me, in an S. Will keep you updated!

New York Alphabet

ARRIVAL Horrible. The flight itself was great, but at the airport were so many people, we had to wait in line for over 3 hours, hot, no drinks, security persons, who constantly told us to get even closer to the people before us so there was no room to move at all, just all in all an awful organization, and after we finally went through that last security control, all our luggage was lying around all over the place. For such a big airport, that should not happen!

BREAKFAST very different. Either sweet (pancakes, muffins etc.) or warm, heavy and quite unhealthy as well. With lots of coffee.

CARS a lot of them. It felt like 80% cabs, 15% black or silver cars, and 5% limousines.

DRUGSTORE yes of course! The only one I could find though, in whole NY, was Walgreens. And it was not as cheap as I thought, but still, nice to see that those brands actually exist ;)

EATING To be honest, I don’t really know what American food really is.  Burger King? Mc’D? Starbucks? When we went out we always went for Italian, Spanish, Brazilian etc. But it was good and I think it is nice to have all of that together in one city!

FASHION That is a weird thing. When you go to Paris or London or any other city I have visited so far, you can tell what the style in the city is. But not in New York. I don’t know if it is because of too many tourists that distract from the actual New Yorker, but I could not find out what is in style at the moment.

GARBAGE I was surprised to see how clean New York is! No cigarettes, no papers, no other junk, well rarely any.

HOTEL We stayed at the Hilton Hotel at Times Square. Nice people, clean, excellent view and the subway just two minutes away. Just don’t have breakfast there, way to expensive!

IMPORT On the plane they told us, we were not allowed to import any sort of seeds, foods or plants to the US. So if we still had an apple from Germany with us, we should either leave it in the plane or eat it while we are still in the air… Just FYI ;)

JAZZ According to my parents, New York is the city of Jazz. And because neither me nor my sister are a lot into it, the two of them went to Jazz cafes in the evening without us. But they told us it was good!

KANGAROO okay, common, find a world with K that has something to do with New York…

STATURE OF LIBERTY You can get there with a ferry, but the line was so long, it took us 5 minutes just to walk past it! So we decided that we wanted to do something better with our time, and just took the ferry to Staten Island. It goes past the Statue so you can get a good view and a couple of photos if you wish. On Staten Island is not really something to do, but it was free, so why not.

METRO great. In very good condition, we never had to wait longer than 10 minutes for the next train and it brings you everywhere. I did found though, the stations in London are closer together, so you have to walk less and the “please mind the gap between the train and the platform” is a bit annoying ;)

NEW YORKER very nice people! I cannot count, how many times we were standing somewhere, didn’t know where we are and someone came up to us and helped us out, showed us where we are or where we need to go. I have to say, I did not expect that. Normally, in big cities, people like to stay very anonym and are a bit annoyed by all the tourists…

OPPOSITIONS lots of them! I find, what really makes America is the oppositions. Between city and countryside. Between rich and poor. Between designer clothes and the cheapest clothes I have ever seen. Between their dieting and health kick and the food that you get. Just take the subway for half an hour and get out in Harlem. Completely different world! That list can go on and on. Very interesting, but, on the other hand, a bit frightening as well.

POLICE everywhere. I have never seen so many policemen, security staff, cameras and and warning posters in my whole life. I don’t know if that always was the case, or just till 9/11, or if it is an American thing or because I have never been to such a big city before. Again, on one hand it makes you feel very safe, on the other observed and worried that that is needed.

QUARTER why? Honestly, why? Why do you have a Quarter? And a one Dollar BILL?? Funniest currency ever :P

RENTS don’t really want to talk about that. High. Very high.

SHOPPING well well… What can I say… It is definitely the perfect city to shop. So many brands that I have never seen before, amazing. But, I have to say, it was more expensive than I thought it would be (still a lot less than here!) and I was a bit disappointed with Forever 21… Just not my style I guess.

THRIFTING I went to a goodwill with my sister. More for her than for me. I got a lovely dress, blue with white flowers, for summer or with tights and boots for now, pretty proud of myself. But to be honest, I am not a thrifter. I just don’t feel comfortable, and I rather spend more on something that has not been worn, but hey, personal preference. My sister enjoyed it a lot, I think she found about 10 pieces, for less than 50$!

UMBRELLA definitely. We had rain for the first three days, and it was cold for all the days. Not the nicest weather… But I got to wear my sunglasses as well… once… for half an hour…

VAT is it just me, or is it weird that they do not add it on clothes and food or something like that? Or just if it is more than 100$? Or 110$? Can’t remember, but weiiiird…

BROAD WAY fascinating. Obviously, when you stay in New York, you want to visit the Broadway! We decided for Mary Poppins, as it is one of my favorite movies. It was really lovely, not the easiest to understand, as all of the actors had quite a strong accents, but the dancing and singing was just amazing. Even though they changed the storyline I enjoyed it very much!

XENOPHOBIA okay, I had to look into a dictionary to find a world that starts with an X… and no, I haven’t noticed any xenophobia.

YANKEES Yes, we were there. No idea who played, no idea who won, or what the rules are, but hell, that is America! If you can, go and watch a game. Just for the atmosphere, the anthem, the flag, the people, the fast food, just great.

ZzzzSUMMARY I had a lot of fun. Especially at the Yankees Stadion, at Mary Poppins and while shopping. It was very interesting to be in America and learn what America is about, still, it won’t become my favorite city and I don’t think I will ever live in there. For that, it is just too, I’m sorry, weird, too different from what I am used to, and what I feel comfortable in. But I definitely recommend to visit New York once in your life, as far as I know, it is certainly one of a kind!

Banksia I

Wow, it has been so long! But I have an excuse for one of the weeks, I was in New York! I am working on a post about it, probably even two, but for the moment I want to talk about the Banksia sewalong.

I already started with the first one that I am doing, the blue one for my sister. You can see from the picture below how far I am.

As my sister is realatively big busted, I did a FBA for her. This was definately not easy and I am happy that I won't need to do it for myself, but I hope it will make the top fit her a lot better. I skipped over the darts to begin with, because Megan said that it might be easier when it comes to the placket part. Shoulder seems wheren't a problem, and also the collar was quite easy to do with the great explanations and pictures of the sewalong. And, I am amazed at the idea to use the bias tape as a facing. Looks so fancy, so professional and is so easy!

The next step for me will be the placket, and I have to admit, I am nervous. I am going to do the easier version, but still, it looks pretty tricky. And I know you need to be very accurate at this point and to be honest, I am normally not that way. But we will see. Sleeves, sideseems and hems should be easy. I plan to add some adornment on the sleeves in the end as well.

No, I am not on a diet...

Hey guys!

It was my birthday yesterday! And even though the day was pretty boring and I haven't had the best mood, my mum made a lot of birthday cake! Please excuse that none of them is whole in the pictures, I am just not used to blog and to make photos of everything before it is touched...

The first one is my all time favourite cake. Ever. The dough is made with melted chocolate and hazelnuts. Then you spoon it out in the middle, and put pears on it. Then you mix the spooned out dough with even more chocolate and lots of whipped cream, put it on top, and decorate it with even more chocolate. Aaaaaamazing!

The second one is even more special. Ice Cake! (Or do you call it a frozen cake??) Basically, you mix nutchocolate, walnuts, meringue and whipped cream and put it in the freezer. Yeah. Hello calories...

And fortunately, there is a lot left, so I will have it for a couple more days... :D

Byebye!

The Saturday Projekt

Hello hello!

Guess what I did yesterday. I went from this...

to this!

The dress used to be my mums, but as it didn't fit her anymore she gave it to me. It is linen and sits beautiful on the top, but the length, oh god, the length... Basically it hit me about ten centimeters above my ankel. Never a good length, but especially with my short and stumpy legs... It just looked aweful. So I cut off a good amount and now it is the perfect LBD! It comes down to a couple of centimeters above my knee, which I think is a universal flattering style, and I am realy happy I did it!

I turned the dress inside out, and marked at the hight that I wanted, cut it, cleaned the edges with a zig-zag-stitch and hemmed it. It was a bit more difficult as it has a lining, but I basically just did the same thing again with the inner fabric. In the end I just secured the lining to the actual dress with a couple of handstitches on each side, and that was it! Didn't even took me two hours!

Hope you had a lovely saturday as well!

Feelunique Haul

Hello everyone!

When the big sale on Feelunique was on, I ordered a couple little tiny things...

So, first things first, I got the Caudalie S.O.S. Thirst-Quenching Serum. My skin was so dehydrated around that time, that I couldn't even move my forehead without having that tight feeling on my skin. This serum was recommended by quite a few people around the internet, so I decided to get it. And it really does the trick. My skin is still not in its best condition, but I definately feel like this helped a lot!

What also helped with the dryness is the Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser. Again, something that was recommended by a ton of people. I used to use foaming gel cleansers, but found, that the dry my skin out quite a bit. Changing to this one did great things to my skin. However, it is horrible for removing makeup, so I just use it in the morning, and for a second cleanse in the evening.

Third, and last skincare item that I got is the Elemis Soothing Apricot Toner. The spray thingy is rubbish and it does not smell the best in my opinion. It is not a bad product,but I don't feel like it is doing a lot, but to be honest, I feel like that for every toner...

The blush just happend to be in my basket as well, no idea how it got there... It is the Jemma Kidd Creme Blushwear Cheek Colour in Pawpaw, a nice summery apricot colour (I need to figure out how to make good swatch photos... I tried it, but it never looked like in real life, not even close to it...). The texture is really nice, and the colour looks extremely natural on my skin.

So all in all I am quite happy with what I got, especially because I got everything with quite a bit of a discount. And Feelunique has free worldwide shipping, extra bonus!

Banksia Top Sewalong

I can't believe it was 28°C today. Just complained about the fallish weather and boom, summer is back :). I was reading in the sun the whole day, and I obviously "forgot" to put on spf, so you can imagine what my back and my thighs look and feel like at the moment...

Anyway, I actually wanted to talk about the Banksia Sewalong. Do you read Megan Nielsens Blog? No? You should! She is a fashion designer but also brings out her own patterns! One of them, the Banksia Top, is especially gorgous, and she is going to do a sewalong with this pattern, starting on 24th of September. You can find more information for this on her webside if you are interested (just click the little logo in the sidebar on the right - I am so proud of myself that I managed to put it in there!). I personally am really looking foreward to it!

I am propably going to do at least two versions. The first one is going to be a christmas present for my sister. I decided to go with a dark blue cotton fabric with a slight sheen. For buttons I bought creamy white ones to lighten it up a bit. I thought this would go with everything, and I really hope she is going to like it!

The second one is for myself. The fabric is exactly the same, just in a different color. I am really bad at taking decent pictures, so it just gives you an idea of the color, but in real life it is a beautiful watermelon-raspberry-coral color. The buttons are again light, but not white, but these have have some kind of (flower?) pattern on them (maybe you can see it better when you click on the photo...). 

I won't be able to do all the steps of the sewalong on the days they are put up on the blog, just because I am still at home and really don't want my sister to see what I am doing, and also because I will be on holiday for about a week during that time. But I will try my best to post an update from time to time how I get along. I never sewed anything with a pattern but it is going to be so much fun!

Fall is here

I snapped those pictures on my way to my internship this morning, and is there any doubt that fall is here??

I actually really like fall, but it is too early... I think I was just able to lie in the sun once this year! :( But well, what can you do... ;)