Top Tunes This Month

When I drive to and from work, the one thing that makes sitting helplessly in traffic bearable, is music. And since it's been half an eternity since I last gave you some listening material, I figured this would be the perfect time to do so.

Let's start with one of my total feel good songs. It has a tendency to wake me up in the morning while driving to work: Two Doors Cinema Club - What you know

This is such a happy tune, you don't have any other option than to go with it. I've been discovering quite a few indie gems ever since a friend showed me 8tracks.com so if you want ready to go playlists by mood,genre,season...basically anything, that might be the place for you.

This next one is a 2 in 1 thing. First up it's one of my favorite running songs, and secondly it always reminds me of running at night in London along the Thames, passing Big Ben, St Paul's, London Bridge...just perfect!
Daft Punk ft Pharell - Get Lucky

This next one is, remarkably enough, one of my favorites. And because I even know who wrote it and sings it *wink wink* I'm kinda even more fascinated that I like it this much. You're always critical about the things you're close to, but gosh darnit, I love this thing! There, I said it!
So if you're into discovering great new things, I think this one is right up your alley:
Joanna Kaze - Primrose Hill

                     
As far as quiet things go, I've come to the conclusion that Sigur Ros is pretty unbeatable. I've only truly gotten into them this year, even if I knew many of their songs before. But what they do is just one grand piece of serenity.
I'd usually tell you to listen to Saeglopur since that is my favorite song of theirs, but I have been listening to this one excessively lately and have come to realize that it is also really great workout music...surprisingly enough.
Sigur Ros - Rafstraumur

And last but not least, the song that is so stuck in my brain that I do not foresee it moving anytime soon:
One Republic - Counting Stars

I'll go ahead, be honest and say I typed "one direction" before realizing that was the wrong "one". Those kids are everywhere...I'm ashamed they've even almost gotten a place on my playlist.

And, I have one last treat, a super cool EP that is free to be listened and that also contains one of the songs that made it in my favorites from this post. There's 4 songs in total, but I'd dare say they are pretty awesome.



So, did you guys enjoy my current song likes?

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Overnight Masks : Kiehl's Vs. Origins

I REALLY like a good mask and with overnight masks I feel like they do some extra good simply because of the time you get to keep them on. Of course, the overnight masks tend to be hydrating ones, as the others wouldn't be much use overcleaning or overexfoliating over the course of 8+ hours.I had already gotten the Origins Drink Up Intensive Overnight Mask  when I passed by the Kiehl's counter and saw that they too have a pretty similar thing. Overnight, check. Hydrating, check. I was pretty curious to test it, since Kiehl's usually make great things and I really wanted to see if it would be better than the Origins one.

                              I will tell you this: with Origins it was a clear verdict after the first application and that's why I knew that even just using the Kiehl's mask once would be enough to reach a conclusion.

Here's what happened: Maybe because it's ultra hydrating, maybe not, but the Kiehl's mask felt much stickier than the Origins one, and while I know not to hit the pillow directly after applying it, the sticky sensation persisted for a long while. To be honest, I went to bed with a sticky face since I was tired of waiting. As far as the result goes, it was pretty much the same. Well really,it was the same. The same satisfying feeling and look of plump, hydrated, shiny baby skin. They both do a really good job at that, but the truth it, they pretty much do the exact same job.Now, if you were to calculate, there's a 10ish £ difference in price,since the Origins mask is around 20£ and the Kiehl's one, around 30£ . 

The Winner?

For me it's the Origins Drink-Up Intensive Overnight Mask, because it sinks in really fast and leaves you without sticky sensations, it does a fantastic job in hydrating your skin and all things considered, it is cheaper. Which I find to be funny, since I would pay more for this one if I were to chose.

Have you tried any of these? Would you agree?



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DIY Golden Candle Jar

As you may or may not know, I have a not so secret obsession with candles. Preferably the kind that smell ridiculously good. Which of course also leads to the issue of where to put them, and most importantly: where to put them to look pretty.
And this is where my DIY side makes an appearance:

What do you need?

• A mason jar, a decorative jar, a glass, basically anything that is transparent and you can envision a candle in
• Gold paint that applies to glass
• A brush

                            
It really isn't difficult at all, and unlike the "dip your jar in paint" method which requires a certain kind of paint and a bowl that needs to be filled with said paint so that the jar can be dipped, here you just need a space to make a bit of a mess. Preferably outside as the paint has its fumes you will want to avoid in an indoor space.

How do you do it?

Just brush on as much or as little of the paint you want. I recommend letting it dry and adding coat after coat, as it will give a much better effect. Also, you might want to dab it on as opposed to regular brush strokes, it will give you a more vintage look. It's how I did it with this one.


Add a bow, add some rhinestones if you wish, add some glitter even and you're ready to light up a gorgeous candle in your pretty new candle jar!




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Week in Pictures # 40

This week has been pretty full of pictures and I had to make a selection, but I did want you to properly see the pictures I'm about to show you, so I switched to bigger collages.

 1. The Farmec Winter collection which looks awesome! 2. Some brush maintenance

3. The current reads. Yes, I multitask 4. Yves Rocher lovely smelling things

5. That is a 600ml coffee 6. I'm developing a technique in pomegranate peeling

7. My favorite smell at the moment: Christmas Rose 8. No less than eight bags were received at the Bbloggers meetup. And the contents are awesome                            

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Seche Vite Top Coat - My Conclusions

                              
As someone who is very fond of colors and patterns on her nails, you can imagine there was really no way around trying out this top coat. Everyone is immensely satisfied with it and praises it, and even with that somewhat creepy "this might harm you" warning for one of the components, there is no sign of its popularity going down.
I have now tried it on several times, with different polishes, textures and in different situations and I've come to a pretty solid conclusion:
It dries your polish in no time - This is one of the incontestable truths about it. As the name says, it dries any polish in under a minute. If you've ever read the leaflet, it will tell you that it does so, by going into all polish layers and making it one big,solid, dry layer. Which I can actually tell. I feel like I have little solid shells on my fingernails and as if my polish is an entity of its own. 
It chips - Now even if it builds a one layer armor, it still chips. And it sometimes makes the polish chip faster than it would without a top coat. Not so practical, but if all you need is very dry and very fast, you've got it.
It's a pain to get off - Only recently have I come to the final conclusion that it is much too hard to get off. It took me 10 minutes to rub it all off, and I truly don't appreciate it. It seems that said one layer armor becomes so solid that even nail polish remover has troubles with it. It would be good if it also wouldn't chip though, being so solid.
And then there's the warning .... - Well if you are expecting a baby, I'm definitely going to tell you to stay away from it. If not, then it's your decision. Many other nail polishes probably contain the same ingredient, just that, by not being produced in California, they are not obliged to state that warning on their product.
I for one, after weighing in all of the pros and cons would rather stay away from it myself, because it truly dries a polish insanely fast and gives it a lovely shine, but that's about all the pluses you get.

Have you ever tried this? Or did you want to?



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Newest Candle Additions

There once was a day where I shockingly realized that the places that used to sell Yankee Candles had stopped selling them. A wave of despair, then another, and then one more came over me because I am a very big candle lover. Especially the kind that smell so exquisitely delicious.
But on a happy Wednesday evening I once again stumbled upon a place that sold them! Not too many, but enough for me to find some delicious smells to become happy.

                           
I picked up these three, but I now am sure than in a few days, I'll be back for more. What is now burning next to my bed is Christmas Roses and it has such a comforting, clean floral smell! It's like I washed my laundry with pure roses. And that's just from this little wax tart. I actually find these tarts to be much more practical and they have a lot of burn time in them. But then again, I also love my huge candles than just burn so beautifully.
On the same Rose theme, I also picked up Fresh Cut Roses. Let the name remind you of what they smell like exactly. Roses. Fresh cut. Been wanting to try this one for a while, but didn't seem to find it anywhere, and as I so often do, before buying the bigger version, I like to test it out on small candles to be sure that my fantasy indeed smells like reality.

And since it's almost the season to be jolly, how does one resist Mandarin Cranberry ? It has a fruity but spicy smell, all while still staying very fresh scented. Imagine that delicious mandarin smell,but with a hint of cinnamon and the warmth of baked cranberries.
The most important thing with any fragrance for me is that it doesn't have an overpowering smell that will just make me so sick of it, that I never want to smell it again. Thus the love for this hint of freshness in every scent I pick up. So far, the best candle to have a fresh but delicious fragrance has been the MUJI Pomelo and Lychee one, that I could just smell for ages without tiring.

Really look forward to burning all of these up, because Yankee Candles really fill the air once you start the flame. One of these small candles can easily fill up a whole apartment in under 10 minutes with their scents and it's something I really love about their products.




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The New Favorite Necklace

Can we take a moment to appreciate some sparkle on this otherwise dull and "let's get it over with" Monday morning?
I think we should, because I'd like to share my new favorite thing with you:

  
I'm a definite necklace person. More than any other piece of jewelry, I'm more prone to picking out a necklace if given the chance. I always liked to keep it simple, clean and beautiful, but we all like a chunky statement necklace every now and then,do we not? 
Well this one is on the simple and beautiful side. Did I mention I like wings, leafs and feathers,or anything of a long-ish shape dangling round my neck? Well I do,and this little feather is clearly true to the model.

I got this from Borealy.ro and to my shame, I had absolutely no clue what pretty things they had to offer.

It does say it is made with Swarowski elements, which I am not sure what it means, but it is encrusted with so many carefully placed stones that I am very much inclined to believe that the stones are the elements that are being mentioned here.

To me, it is pretty much the perfect necklace and, as the people who have seen me this past week can attest, I've been wearing it every single day.
It's just the right amount of sparkle all while being really classic and chic.

 Be prepared to see much more of it because I am really,really in like with it. I also may have developed an obsession for polka dots,and navy blue. I kinda have a mini collection of said print in said color...as you so clearly can see from even what I am wearing here.




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Week in Pictures # 39

This week has kind of predominantly been about... mugs.
Don't ask me why, but on Monday I ended up in a bookstore that sells all sorts of pretty drinking utensils and seeing so much prettiness, I decided I should make my own mug. Which indeed resulted in my dearly beloved "Primrose Hill Road" Street Sign mug that you will get to see riiiiight now

1. The mug and thermos selection that started it all 2, Primrose Hill Road Mug! 

3. General wisdom we sometimes skip 4. Alexandra has proven to me that a good Pumpkin Spice Latte is not exclusive to Starbucks

5. This awesomely cute framed piece of art! 6. They had heart cookies at the BBloggers meetup!             

I don't know how you are with mugs, but I have this feeling that you'll see many more cups and mugs in the weeks to come, especially since the warm beverage season has begun


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Saving Face | My Favorite Face Masks

                  
What you favorite pampering moment? Mine is definitely using face masks. I love feeling like I'm doing something really good for my face, especially on Friday or Saturday evenings, after a week of dust, wind, impurities or cold. Just let my skin relish in some cleansing and hydrating.

As you guessed, I start by cleansing it, and the two choices are either the Dirty Works Power Berry Detox Mask or the Mario Badescu Enzyme Revitalizing Mask. The former does some magnificent detoxing and doesn't leave my skin feeling dry, like most clay masks. I had almost given up using clay masks because when you have dry skin, you don't really enjoy having it feel even more parched and almost cracking after you take off a mask. Luckily, there are no signs of that with Dirty Works. It's the only detox mask that leaves my skin pretty much feeling the same as before. No extra drying, just extra clean.
The Mario Badescu mask also does cleansing, but it's less intense. It does however do other things, like leaving your face looking extra fresh and sparkly. It's my go-to "I need to look awake and alive" mask. I've only got this sample size left but I can definitely say that both this, and the full size last you for a seriously long while, as you don't need too much of it.

After all is clean and bright, what do we do? We hydrate, and we hydrate well. There is nothing that beats the Origins Drink Up Intensive Overnight Mask. After using it, my skin has actually gone from dry to almost normal. Besides waking up with the most plump, glorious skin, I've begun to notice that the whole dynamic of it has changed. It doesn't dry up so easily and definitely retains more moisture. I'm starting to think, this mask has long-term effects!

Are you a mask lover too? What do you use? I always love trying out new masks!



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My Nails Love | Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Creme Review

Where do I start with this cuticle butter? Should I say I never want to live without it? Or that it makes me wanna bury my nose in it and inhale it from now until forever? I think I should keep it classy and say it has done things to my nails and cuticles that neither had thought possible.

Many cuticle creams and butters have graced my nails, but none so spectacular as this. I purchased it thinking "Ah well, why not give it a go? I love Burt's Bees anyway". As latently confident as my attitude may have been, it has resulted in one of my wisest choices.
The first time this cream was applied on my nails, there was a slight bit of misjudging of how much I actually need and I scooped up a bit too much, but smeared it on anyway. I can just say that by morning, my almost dry to death nails had been reborn and there was no sign of them ever being anything than hard as nails (Excuse the pun. No don't, it was a good pun.High-five my pun!).

Not to mention it is the best friend of any cuticle as mine were in a serious dry zone. After a couple of applications they are now healthy, happy and hydrated as never before. I'm starting to think this cream has made my nails even better than at their default state at birth...

You might think this is a small tin, at 15g, but 3 months later and not even half of it has been used up, even after intense, almost daily consumption.

What it is, is basically solid oils mixed with vegetable butters like lemon oil,rosemary or canola oil.It is initally hard but it softens up to the touch really easy because of our body temperature.

The smell is beyond anything as it is so fresh and soothing and fruity that once I start sniffing it, I get into an instant state of joy. It basically smells like lemon peel. Pure, fresh,zesty lemon peel.

Here's the closer look at the ingredients and all I can say is, if you are looking for something to make your cuticles happy and your nails strong, this is the thing for you. Not to mention you will be addicted to the smell.
I got it on Feelunique.com here but I am sure there are many physical stores that carry it. One that I know for sure has it, is the Whole Foods in Piccadilly, if you are based in London or plan on going there, that's a really great place to start and find some amazing natural beauty bits.





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Week In Pictures # 38

Have you seen yesterday's post? Then you may have noticed I have a new fondness for stretching my body into happiness. It is yoga, but it's Pinterest yoga, as I get the moves from there. So I can't flatter myself into thinking I'm more than a beginner. But this week has definitely been about discovering the benefits of a proper stretch.

                              

1. No filter sunset perfection 2. True that

3. My magnificent Saturday breakfast  4. The plant babies 

5. One of my many pinspiring images 6. Trying to make milk foam in a blender and succeeding

If you want to try or see more of my Pinterest yoga, here's the Fitness & Health Board I always update.




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Let Me Show You How To Stretch in Under 5 Minutes

I don't know where you work but I work on a chair. I sit a lot. Most of us probably do, because most of us do more sitting than standing or running or walking.
Because I sit a lot, my muscles tend to not find that too good,so stiff necks happen, back pain and legs that would just want to run the marathon are placidly sitting under the desk.
But even if you can't really change your work routine, you can change your pre-, during- and after work routine to make it much more comfortable for yourself and do your body some good.
As I was wondering on Pinterest I came across this picture and have been doing these moves each morning.
Not a single pain has been felt since ! I sometimes even do some of these moved during breaks from work as a refresher and they are fantastic and not too complicated

                             
You might not be able to do them exactly like this on your first couple of tries, nobody can. But it takes less than 5 minutes to do and it stretches your body in such a fantastic way that I can't really imagine going a day without doing them.

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The Other Halloween Looks I Promised to Show You

Remember I said I had colored people around the office for Halloween? Well here are some of those people.
A really popular request I got was the psycho clown (who was not supposed to smile, but it always did) and several people got this look. I will show you just one picture because, quite honestly, it was the only one whose picture I managed to take.Everyone else was too busy being psycho to jump in front of the lense.

 Another thing I got asked by two people to do was spiderweb/random lines around the eyes. It was insanely fun to do because I used a ruler to do them. It was really the only way to get straight lines across someone's face and the fun factor while doing it was the highest it has ever been. Imagine yourself sticking rulers on people's faces repeatedly and tracing lines with an eye pencil. Another option would of course be, to use liquid liner to trace those lines, because they would be darker and sleeker, but since we only had the pencil, we made do. And we made it look really good I think.

 Which one do you like most? And actually, which one would you rather wear?           




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Nails of Halloween Past

I said I was going to give you a more in depth look at my bloody Halloween nails, and voila!
I have been wanting to do this manicure for the longest time. Last autumn, for Fashion Week, I remember seeing it at one of the runway shows, and yeah, it only took me a year to do it.
Truth is, it is a pretty theme specific manicure, as running around with bloody nails for say...Christmas or people's birthdays might not be the best idea. Same goes for the office. Are you sure your boss will like you pointing to reports with that? Well, he might, but then he's awesome. Like mine.
Enough about my awesome boss and let's discuss blood.
The office is the actual place where this happened and I'm sorta surprised it turned out so well. Initially, I wanted to do the drips with a needle, but the brush itself proved to be much more effective.
Blood is the color Essie Hip-Anema and apart from it being one of my favorite colors, it looks pretty realistic, doesn't it?
Have you ever tried doing such a manicure?



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New Wave Nails

                                
Come autumn, my favorite thing to wear is Essie Bobbing for Baubles. But because I've shown you pretty much every angle of my nails wearing the shade, I thought I'd spice things up a bit and pair it up with the electric blue that is China Glaze Sunday Funday. 
Have you ever watched any creepy movie where the water suddenly turns dark and something bad is about to happen? Well that could be an interpretation of this manicure, but I much rather prefer the idea of waves and really like the way the two colors mix with each other.The contrast is really great and I don't think any two shades I have tried out thus far looked so nice!

It actually is really simple to do, and if you want, I can do a tutorial for you next. What do you think?


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Week in Pictures # 37

I feel like I sound like grandma, but where did the time go? It's November! I'm proud to say that October has been pretty nice in terms of weather, especially the last couple of weeks. And then of course we had Halloween. Is it an interesting fact to mention that I have never even bothered with it before? Because this year was truly the first time where I did something in that direction,since the whole company was in a creepy craze.

1. Very surprising dupe discovery 2. Dupe-ing it out 3. Got my first creepy cupcake! 4. Baked pumpkin is a truly spectacular thing

5. Oh you know, just looking friendly 6. Lunch nails

7. Awesome carvings 8. Some people look very cute when avoiding pictures 9. It's a love affair with this coffee 10. Omelette made in the sandwich maker. So good!                            

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My Halloween Face

                              
I'm not a Halloween person. At all. But the fellows at my office seem to be really into it and after spending half of my morning making them look creepy ( and I will post their looks soon!), I grabbed the black pencil and smeared it on my lips. And then, I figured I can't just leave it at that.
What started out as the Adams Family kinda turned into an evil Black Swan. But I kinda like it. A lot.
You can also see my nails went creepy, but I will do a separate post on them because I really like how they turned out.
So what do you think? 



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