Forever 21: jewelry haul

Dear readers,

Forever 21 is my favourite place to shop for jewelry, it's cheap so I don't mind purchasing new items once the older ones have started to rust. I usually wait for them to offer free shipping and order a bunch of different items.

Last year I was obsessed with statement necklaces but this year I'm in need of some dainty ones so I picked these:

Layered Cutout Geo necklace for 5€

Geo Pendant necklace set for 7€ You can wear them all stacked up or one at a time.

Rhinestone Spike necklace for 5€

I thought the necklace would pair perfectly with this bracelet I got last summer although the spikes from the necklace are much smaller.

Happiness bracelet set for 4€ and I can wear them on my wrist or on my ankle, like I'm showing you here below.

Rhinestone Mini Hoop earrings for 2.50€ I've been looking for something very similar in real gold for ages now so I thought I'd see if I liked them enough to splurge on the real deal later on.

I also went outside my comfort zone and got these Oversized Hoop earrings for 3€ this shows my obsession with my recent girl crush Jaclyn Hill. You can watch her rave about hoop earrings on this YouTube video, just jump to minute 11:10.

And last but not least I couldn't not order another statement necklace. I picked out this Rhinestone-Encrusted Statement necklace for 12€ because the ones that I have are all very colourful and more difficult to pair with certain clothing items. 

What do you think? I paid 38.50€ for all of this, I think it's a pretty good deal as I'll be wearing these loads over the spring and summer.

Free blotting sheets

Dear readers,

I've been meaning to post about where I get free blotting sheets for quite a while now but I've never come round to it. I wasn't sure this would be interesting enough to share with y'all but here we go anyway.

You can find these napkin holders in almost every "Tapas" bar in Spain. The napkins are paper-like and very thin so there's not much use you can give them but they are a lot cheaper (I think they get them for free with any drinks order) than the softer tissue-like napkins. I never cared much for these, as they are uncomfortable and rough when wiping your mouth clean, until last summer. 

On my lunch break I sometimes go over to a bar and have some kind of toast or sandwich. I was sitting outside in the sun when my gaze came upon the napkin holder. I started thinking of how useless these napkins were when a thought hit me: they looked very much like blotting sheets so I grabbed a bunch and put them in my handbag.

I have very oily skin and my this becomes apparent very soon. This is a picture of me 9 hours after applying foundation. I didn't touch up my make up for the sake of this post.

#nofilter

And this one is after using the free blotting sheets or napkins. I hope you can see the difference, I haven't edited these pics in order to show you the real deal. And yes, I could have brushed my hair beforehand as it gets tangled up and messy after a hard day's work but hey, #keepingitreal

#nofilter

I apologize for the next pictures, I suppose it's a bit gross to share my oily residue with y'all but it's in my sharing contract... not funny, I know, I'll keep trying.

Above you can see how the napkin has absorbed all my face oils like a regular blotting sheet would do.

When you open up the napkin you can feel it's rough on one side and softer on the other. The softer side is very similar to the regular blotting sheets but even the rougher side won't alter your make up if you only use soft pressing motions. Wiping your face would take some of your make up off but the same applies to regular blotting sheets. I especially like them because I'm good to go with only one of them, if I used those tiny blotting papers that are sold at the drugstore I'd need at least 4.

I know that many of you may use tissues or toilet paper for this purpose but I can assure you this one's much better at absorbing all the oils in your face.

If you don't need to carry around blotting sheets, you're very lucky and I'm jealous :)

BEAUTY TREND ALERT: Shaving your face for better skin

Face shaving: say what?????

imagen taken from Birchbox

Dear readers,

A few days ago I received a newsletter from Birchbox featuring this face shaving trend that's called Kao Sori in Japan. Apparently it has been going on for decades.

Face shaving is comparable to exfoliating your skin or using dermabrasion systems in the sense that it will get rid of dead skin cells and therefore increase collagen production.

We already have heard of the benefits of exfoliating the skin on a regularly basis. There's no point in spending half your salary in expensive skincare products for the promise of eternal youth. If your skin pores are clogged up with dead skin cells no amount of beneficial anti-ageing ingredients will ever be able to come through.

But are we ready to add face shaving into our beauty routine? Only time will tell.

What do you think of this trend? Yay or nay?