#2014BloggerChallenge: My summer bucket list

Dear readers,

Summer is my favourite time of year, although it has no special meaning for me as we usually just continue with our every day routine and don't take any break from work.

The nearest beach is just across our street (not even 20 meters away) so we spend our weekends and a few late afternoons reading and relaxing away laying lazily in our sunbeds.

Living in a tourist town where everybody comes to spend their holidays means that we don't need to go anywhere else. We'd much rather wait until September or even October to go away on holidays.

My only concern this summer is to improve my blog and therefore my blogging and photography skills.

Here's what I've got so far:

1. Insert social media icons
2. Create tabs to have my posts classified by theme (just added this)
3. Get better at editing my pictures
4. Get better at taking them in the first place, lol
5. Get to know my camera, I'm still stuck on automatic :(
6. Improve my blogging- and make up-area
7. Practice a new nail art design every other week
8. Play more with my make up and try different make up looks
9. Be more organized about my weekly planning
10. Allow myself a day off from blogging/social media/watching youtube vids

And that's all I can think of now, maybe I can ask you for any suggestions on what I can do to improve my blog. I would very much like that, so don't be shy and critizise away!

Click here for links to all the other topic related posts.

Thanks for your help,

#2014BloggerChallenge: my sample collection

Dear readers,

It's time again for another installment of the #2014BloggerChallenge, this time our topic to write about is Collections and I thought it was the perfect opportunity to get all my samples out of the forgotten drawer and finally put them to good use.

I took this picture before packing for a short vacation last week -I just came back yesterday evening- so I took a few samples with me in my Tarte travel bag.

A lot of these samples I've had for a very long time. I always keep them for travel purposes, but unfortunately I don't travel that much so my collection keeps growing.

The most I have are foundations as I find them very useful to carry around when traveling although I'm always scared they won't match my skin tone so they keep coming back unopened.

For the sake of this post I'm making a vow to you that I'm going to use up all these samples before the end of this year, not the ones I'm getting from now on, though: hoarder alert!

As per usual, you'll find Gaby's post here with a link to all other views on this same topic.

For the love of free samples,

#2014BloggerChallenge: Music

Dear diary,

The Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) or Eurovision is an annual song competition held among the member countries of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) since 1956.

As a little girl I loved watching Eurovision with my parents. We sat down on the couch with a pen and a large note pad where I would write down the contestants in order of performance. Each of us would give each song a score between 0-10 and try to guess which country was more likely to win that year. My father always used to give very low scores until he found one song he really liked. My mom and I, however even used half scores, we were that serious and professional, feeling like real judges.

As I grew older I always come up with excuses to tell my friends in order to stay home on that particular Saturday night so I could watch the song contest with my parents. I felt I had to hide the fact that I loved watching it as it was considered lame among teenagers.

I left home at the age of 18 but I kept the tradition of sitting down with pen and paper while watching Eurovision. My father passed away a few years later and as an only child I treasure the moments I spent with both my parents in those years where teenagers would normally prefer to go out with friends than staying home watching TV with the old folks.

Unfortunately, since televoting and SMS voting were introduced I lost a bit of interest in the contest as I felt voters would support their country regardless of the song being actually good.

To end this topic for the #2014BloggerChallenge I leave you a Youtube link to my personal favourite of the year 2012; and before you ask me: no, she didn't win :(

Nina Zilli - L'amore è femmina

For the love of music,

2014BC OOTD

Dear diary,

I've waited one more day to post this entry as I was going to visit a vineyard today and I thought it would be the perfect day to dress up and show you my spring outfit of the day.

I picked out this dress I bought from ZARA two years ago for about 30€ if I recall correctly. My red coral shoes are from a friend of mine whose family owns a shoe factory that makes designer shoes for  YSL amongst many others. These are their own brand shoes ECORAL. My handbag is by LOEWE, sunglasses (prescription) by Miu Miu, watch by Massimo Dutti (birthday present), rings (vintage), bracelet (Forever 21), white rose stud earrings bought at Westfield London (I don't recall the exact store, sorry) and a lace cardigan.

This is on our way to the vineyard. In the back you can see a shy Hello Kitty that didn't like to be photographed.

It was a lovely sunny day and lots of people showed up for the wine tasting (it was only 5€ for 12 wines) so I had to find a quiet spot to have some pictures taken.

The hubby is not a certified photographer so excuse the bad lighting and such, we're not professionals yet...

We had a lot of fun after the first 10 wines or so.

Happy Easter to y'all!

Please stop by Gaby's post to follow the links to all my fellow blogger's different views on this topic.

All about nails

Dear diary,

This topic for the 2014BloggerChallenge came in with the most perfect timing. I was just trying on a new nail polish when I received Gaby's email on topic #5.

Last month I added some new L'Óreal nail polishes to my collection. The first two I got for free with a purchase at LookFantastic.com they are 617 You are worth it (a powdered grey lilac) and 211 Opulent pink (a dark bright fucsia). I love how easy they are to apply -I'm a bit of a klutz painting my nails but I'm getting better with practice, lots and lots of practice.- They also are well pigmented, needing only two coats and the brush is wide and round at the tip so it makes it very easy to apply in just three strokes.

They are not cheap (for drugstore standards) but they are so easy to take off. I hate it when taking off a dark nail polish it gets all smeared on your fingers and you'll end up walking around with coloured fingers for a while.

So I got a bright yellow: 834 Banana pop and a bubblegum pink: 209 Ingenious rose. But my favourite one has the perfect name description: 844 Rocknroll denim, it's a sparkly blue denim shade that I think will look amazing when I'm a bit more tanned.

As for nail tutorials, I'll leave you a link to my favourite nail art guru: Janelle.

For the love of sharing,

High end vs Drugstore

Dear diary,

Next up on the #2014BloggerChallenge is a discussion themed post: High end vs high street products.

This could be an endless discussion topic so I've decided to keep it quite simple and jump to the conclussion right at the beginning: in my humble opinion you could find any similar or even better products at the drugstore. Why then do I keep splurging on higher end products? Because it makes me feel special and glamourous. Stupid, you'd think? Most probably, but... I can't help myself.

image taken from Wikimedia Commons

If I had to choose a clear winner I would say the key word here is routine. In day to day life we tend to avoid routine in order to not get bored but when it has to do with skincare, following a routine morning and night will be your best friend.

I've been following a skincare routine for as long as I can remember, way back to elementary school. I'd put some regular hand cream on my face but at least it was a start. Since a very young age I intuitively avoided using regular soap to wash my face as I felt it was too drying. But it wasn't until I went to study abroad when I started cleansing my face morning and night, I was 18 at the time. I can't remember when I started using an eyecream but it must have been in my early twenties. I also found out about the importance of drinking lots of water so I made this an important part of my routine. The use of serums came in later, maybe in my late twenties but surely before I turned 30. At 30 I was already worried about fine lines and switched over to some richer and nourishing formulas. At 41 I'm gravitating towards anti-ageing treatments that target wrinkles, firmness and dark spots. A high SPF is, of course, a must.

I suppose genetic inheritance plays a great role in the way your skin evolves and changes throughout the years and there's nothing you could do to change that. Instead of cursing your genetics make an effort and focus on the things you can actually change. It may not give you instant gratification but if you do it consistently you'll reap the benefits in the long term.

For the love of sharing,

Book review #2014 Blogger Challenge

Dear diary,

For the 3rd topic of the #2014BloggerChallenge we have to write a post about a book.

This year I've been drawn to dystopian fiction novels after reading The Hunger Games. I've just finished reading the Divergent series by Veronica Roth and started reading Eve by Anna Carey. I really wanted to read the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch as they were recommended by Tanya Burr but I haven't been able to find them in epub format just yet. I tried purchasing them from Waterstones but they only sell inside the UK. I suppose I'll end up paying more and getting them from iTunes.

But I'm not going to talk about them as I figured they'd be the most obvious choice.

This post is about the one book (this makes me think of the one ring that rules them all and in the darkness bind them, lol), yes THE ONE book that I haven't been able to read from cover to end:

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco.

image taken from wikipedia

It's a murder mystery set in medieval times in an Italian monastery. Many of you may have seen the motion picture, me too. But the book is completely another story, you may think that it would be an easy read with the murder plot being unfold step by step, like an Agatha Christie or a Sherlock Holmes kind of story but I always get lost with the large and boring description of the monastery and I've never been able to pass the first 50 pages. And believe me, I've tried. After try number 5 I just gave up and got rid of the book, I didn't even wanted it on my bookshelf anymore. I just kept picturing the book making fun of me and smiling in a smug kind of way like he's come out of a fight victorious. Blah!

If you are curious about what kind of books I've read in 2013 you can access the full list here.

Good reading to y'all,

Skincare routine 2014 Blogger Challenge

Dear diary,

I really don't change my skincare routine from summer to winter as my skin stays pretty much the same: oily. The only dry parts are my hands, as I wash them too often, and my lips.

During winter I apply any regular hand cream/lotion more often (4-5 times a day) and at night I use a more nourishing anti age hand cream that I've been loving recently, sadly I used it up this week and I haven't repurchased it yet.

Collistar anti-age hand treatment:

For lips I'm still on the hunt for the perfect balm, I've tried a lot of different brands including the Nuxe Rêve de miel. Currently I'm using the cherry blossom lip balm by Integrate (Shiseido). What has really helped me over the past months is putting my eye cream on my lips as well. I have the Bubblegum lip scrub from Lush but it hasn't worked for me, mainly because I always forget to use it, lol! I'm on the hunt for the Crème de Rose by Dior but I'm waiting to get a good deal on this as it is pretty expensive.

For the rest I drink a lot of water and take some supplements for hair, skin and nails.

And for an extra skin pampering I love using masks:

If you want to read a full post about my morning skin care routine press here and for my nighttime skin care routine press here.

As for body care this product has totally changed my life, it's the NIVEA rinse-off body lotion for under the shower.

You can find a complete review here.

I also leave you the link to Gaby's post on Topic 2 where you'll find a list and link to the other participants' entries here.

For the love of sharing,

New Year's inspiration

Dear diary,

Last year I finally made one of my biggest dreams come true: A trip to Tokyo.

I first planned to go in June or September but after looking at different dates I settled on the Easter holidays as it coincided with the Sakura (Cherry tree) blossoming season. I'd never heard about this being such a big thing among the Japanese and it would never have occurred to me to plan a trip just to watch some random flowers but my husband was very keen on this. He had had a Japanese girlfriend some time before we met and she had told him all about this traditional custom called Hanami (flower viewing: where flower mostly refers to cherry blossoms).

And you may ask what this has to do with my New Year's inspiration. After our trip I have to say that what inspires me most is not so the beauty of these magnificent trees and flowers, but the gathering of thousands of people whose only desire is to enjoy a day in the park sitting below the blossoming cherry trees sharing the company of friends and loved ones and leaving all troubles aside just to be in close touch with Mother Nature.

Hanami is inspiring me to be a better person in 2014, making me wish for a perfect world in which every day Nature is celebrated and worshipped.

And if this wish of mine fails I can always go back to any park in Japan, or even to: Taiwan, Korea, The Philippines, China or within the USA: Washington DC, Macon (Georgia) or Brooklyn (New York), where smaller hanami celebrations take place.

Happy Hanami 2014

You can find a list and link to all the #2014BloggerChallenge posts on Topic 1: "New Year's inspiration" here. Thanks for stopping by.

For the love of sharing,

2014 Blogger Challenge

Dear diary,

Gaby from AnotherGirlyBlg has come up with a wonderful idea for all kinds of bloggers: the #2014BloggerChallenge.

The participants will get some topics to write about twice a month, so even though my blog posts are mostly beauty related I am very much liking the idea about having to write about something completely different.

I am not the greatest writer and I have known this since forever but I started this blog as a means to improve my English and maybe get lucky by getting to know more beauty obsessed people like.

If someone is reading this blog and wants to join in the fun please visit: Anothergirlyblg for further instructions.

I want to thank my first made blogger friend Zoe Archer for posting the info for this event.

For the love of sharing,