Molton Brown hand lotion - I smell like cotton candy

Using handlotion is essential to maintain your hands... unfortunately I simply forget to do it. This problem improved after I placed a big dispender with hand lotion in each bathroom, just besides the soap. My prefered brand is Molton Brown - my favorite lotion is the naran ji which smells exactly like cotton candy! This smell lasts for approx 20 min, even if the lotion is absorbed immediately. There is no oily feeling remaining, simply a fresh creamy feeling - and the perfect scent of cotton candy!

Nespresso Aeroccino - if milk becomes a cloud :-)

I love a good caffe latte - the problem is that I hate hot milk. Not because of the taste, simply because it takes hours till my coffee is cold enough to drink. I used a manual device to foam my milk, but the result was never satisfying...
Now I am the happy owner of a fabulous device: a Nespresso Aerocciono 3 in white. What is this? It is a small electronic device that can heat up milk or foam milk. It has 2 spirals - one for stirring milk that is simply heated (have a cup of hot milk in 30 sec...) or foam milk - cold or hot in less than 1 minute.
It is completely covered with some teflon-like coating, so cleaning only means to clean the surface with a sponge....
I absolutely love it - and use it every morning for my own perfect caffe latte!

French Shellac

Perfect for a french manicure, if you do not want to spend time and money for a professional one...
Simply buy the new shellack nail polishes

I have found one that is quiet cheap (Amazon, 9€ per bottle).....
Colours: Rosetta (light pink, close to my nail colour), White for the tip, Base/Top Coat (combined)
You only need a swirl stick for the finger tip....
Apply in the order

• Base Coat  - dry 2 min under UV light
• Rose polish - dry 2 min under UV light
• apply white colour with swirl stick on nail tip - dry 2 min under UV light
• cover with top coat - dry 4 min under UV light
• clean with cleaner or alcohol

 The manicure lasts for approx 2 weeks and cost only 3 € per manicure... cheap and fast..... and you can cover the french in every nail polish, as long as you use an aceton free remover!

Rituals Car Perfume

I like things that smell good. Perfumed candles, perfumed lotions or bath oil - I prefer things that simply smell good.
My car is always a bit problematic if it comes to smell. 2 kids and frequent use are not helpful for the aroma of the car, and the normal car perfumes stink (from my point of view) or cause a headache.
Last week I fell over a new car perfume from Rituals. It is available in 4 scents - from fresh-fruity to warm-wood-like. I decided to go for sandalwood - that is a perfect winter scent.
The use is simple: a clip at the back is attached to the cars ventilation outlet - and after some minutes (using the heating) the car starts to smell.
The smell is warm, like a forest on a warm day. As I use the heating, it is very intense and a bit sweet. Unfortunately you can only regulate the intensity with the aircon - that means if you want to have less scent, you have to lower the aircon... this is not very practical.
But it looks good in my car, and I like the smell.
Perhaps I go for something fresher next time... but I will try another one for sure!

Caviar manicure

Caviar Manicure is very fancy - you can spend a lot of money on those little pearls, e.g. from Ciate. The funny thing is, that you can get exactly the same peals in a Dollar-Store in a lot of colours and styles.
How does a Caviar Manicure look like?

Vom Blog "Beauty and Bad Taste"

For my personal taste, doing all nails in Caviar is too much. It is hard to dress yourself with those pearls on your nails, and styling my hair is impossible, as those pearls tend to fall off if you comb your hair with your fingers. It can look a bit flamboyant in red or black, or very elegant in white.

It is very easy to apply: simply apply a matching base coat in 2 layers - pour the pearls on a small plate and press the wet nail in the pearls immediately after applying the polish. Work one nail after the other and press on the pearls with your fingers. You have to let that dry for approx 15 min.
If you want, you can fix it with some Top Coat. The pearls do not look that nice with top coat on, but you do not loose so many pearls. I simply use some spray on glue - this fixes the pearls for 2-3 days.... After that you have to remove them with a tissue that you soak with dissolvant and press on the nail for approx 10 minutes, then you can rub off the pearls

Photogenic Lumessence from Lancome

During the long german winter, my skin tends to get a bit grey and pale. This is normal for germans, the only problem is that my normal foundation is getting much to dark and pink for my skin. I used to mix my normal Lancome foundation with a light BB Cream, because I was not able to find a matching colour.

Lately I found one - the Photegenic Lumessence in Lys rose. Even if the name makes you think of something with a pink undertone, the real colour is a very light goldish beige with some yellow undertone - which perfectly matches my skin. 

By doing the neck-test (apply a line of make up from your chin down to your neck - if you are not able to see where the make up has been applied, you have found the perfect colour) it became clear, that this is perfect for me.

The foundation is light, my freckels are still visible. It is rich enough to take away the dry feeling from my skin - I always apply a layer of cream underneath the foundation. Lancome promises some "glow effect" - and I really look less tired after applying the foundation....

I think this is something that helps me survive this german winter

Mac Sheer Loose Powder

A good powder is worth its weight in gold - I need it to fix my make up, to blend my blush.........
My preferred powder is the compact powder from Bobbie Brown, and the loose powder from MAC. I prefer the Sheer loose Powder No 30 - which is a yellowish beige that suits my natural skin colour very good.
The powder is very fine, it is a good advise not to breath to close to the box..... I managed to inhale some of it already and that made me sneeze for hours.
The first layer of powder takes away all the unwanted glance, without destroying the shine that I have applied on my sheeks. A second layer works as a make up, combined with some BB Cream this can replace a foundation.

Essie meet me at sunset

The older I get, the more I love nail polish. I think that it is a very easy way to add colour to my outfit. One of my favorites is Essie. The colours are always up-to-date, the price is ok and the quality is great. My actual fav is "Meet me at sunset", a very intensive coral or orange. The problem is, that it lookes more coral under artifical light - and nearly neon orange in the sunlight. For my pale hand (it is winter in Germany) the colour is much to bright - I look paler than I am.
But I am convinced that the colour will look great on my toe nails in summer, when I am a bit tanned... and wear my new yellow Tod's sandals.

Essie sleek sticks

Today I bought stickers for my nails. I have seen them often in shops, but only in crazy designs that I would never wear. By checking for new Essie nail polishs I found the sleek sticks. They come in a pack with 18 stickers in different sizes. They are white with a love poem on them - perfect for Valentine.
They are easy to use - simply clean the nails (I use some alcohol to get rid of oil) and put the sticker on them. The stickers are too long for my nails, but I simply glued them on and then shortened them with a small file. The stickers are very thin and look very good on my nails.
I think they are great to decorate one finger - I do not like them for a complete look... but it is a funny and fast "manicure pimping"

Shellac on my nails - lasting manicure

Shellac is something I know from working over furniture - but it is new for me to use it for my fingernails. I used to have acryl on my nails, because they are thin and tend to break easily. Unfortunately a manicure takes about 1,5 hours and cost approx. 40 €.
I fell over this shellac polish in a manicure blog, and found some colours from Emmi for 8-10€.
How do you use it?

• you need a nail file, the polish and a special UV light to harden the polish. Those lights are available on ebay for only 20-30 €
• shorten your nails with a file, roughen them a bit with a buffer and apply the base coat. The base coat has the same thickness than a normal nail polish. My trick is always to do the thumb first, let this dry under the uv lamp for 1 minute and then do the rest of the nails. The reason is, that the thumb is always a bit ankled in the lamp - and the polish tends to flow a bit.
• the hardening time is 2 min,, after that you can start with the colour. I decided only to use one layer, as I like the colour like it is now. The colour is called Sage - and looks like my favorite Essie polish.
• The top coat needs 4 min to harden - and it is necessary to clean the nails with some alcohol afterwards.
• The procedure took me about 30 minutes - I like the result
• The commercial said, that the polish will last 14 days - I will let you know whether that is true

Schellack kenne ich von Schallplatten und Möbeln. Dass Shellac (so heißt das jetzt modern) auch für Fingernägel modern ist, habe ich zufällig mitbekommen. Da ich seit längerem Probleme mit extrem brüchigen dünnen Nägeln habe, habe ich mir immer Gel-Nägel machen lassen. Das dauert jedesmal über 1 h (ohne Hin- und Rückfahrt) und kostet knapp 40 €.
Shellac scheint mir eine gute Alternative zu sein.
Wie wendet man den Lack an?

• es gibt verschiedene Hersteller und verschiedene Preissegmente. Ich habe mich für Emmi entschieden, die Lacke kann man bei Amazon bestellen und sie kosten nur ca. 8-10€ je Flasche, also auch nicht wesentlich mehr als meine Lieblingslacke von OPI oder Essie
• man braucht eigentlich nur eine Nagelfeile, die Lacke und ein UV-Gerät zum aushärten. Die UV-Geräte gibts für wenig Geld bei Ebay oder Amazon zu kaufen
• die Anwendung ist denkbar einfach: Nägel auf die gewünschte Länge kürzen, mit einem Buffer oder einer feinen Feile leicht anrauhen und einen Unterlack auftragen. Da ich mir einen kombinierten Base/Top-Coat gekauft habe für mich kein Problem
• 2 min aushärten lassen und dann den Farblack drüber. Da ich es gerne klassisch mag, habe ich mich für die Farbe "Sage" entschieden - ein schönes helles Greige, das meinem Lieblingslack von Essie sehr nahe kommt. Die Farbe habe ich nur 1 x aufgetragen, da mir Farbintensität und Deckkraft so schon gut gefallen haben. Mit 2 Aufträgen wirkt es sicher noch intensiver. Dann wieder aushärten, Top-Coat drüber und dann 4 min komplett aushärten. Anschließend mit einem Cleaner (das ist Alkohol) die klebrige Schwitzschicht abnehmen - fertig.
• Die ganze Maniküre hat mir nur ca. 30 min gekostet, ich konnte in der Zeit aber noch parallel Zeitung lesen... also sehr entspannt.
• Der Lack soll ca 14 Tage halten - das warte ich mal ab.... die Entfernung funktioniert mit Aceton einfacher als das Abschleifen bei den Gel-Nägeln.... ich werde berichten!

Spring flowers

I love fresh flowers, unfortunately they look great for 3 days, and then I have to throw them away. A perfect alternative to fresh flowers is planting flowers in your vase.
You only need some soil or decoration sand or marbles to fill the bottom of the vase. Put the flowers in a jar that you fill with soil or special granulate. This guarantees, that you do not have exessive water at the bottom of the vase (can become very smelly). Now you hide the jar with some moss or nice branches - you can use decoration material like glass marbles or sand. I love it with mini tulips!

Le Volume de Chanel - the new Chanel Mascara

Unfortunately I am born with short lashes. I tried to glue on false ones, but I do not like the glue - I always have the feeling of having sand in my eyes. Therefor I started using "false lashes" or Volume Mascara - actually I love the one from Benefit.
In the actual Glamour Magazine I found a nice tester from Chanel - the new "Le volume de Chanel".
By opening it, I was surprised by the brush. In opposite to my other volume mascaras, this one is very small - but by using it I found, that this small brush really catches all of my short lashes.
The mascara itself is not to thick - not to liquid.... but unfortunatly my lashes immediately stick together. I detached them immediately with a lash brush, but after applying the second layer of mascara, the lashes glue together so I had no chance to really achieve the effect I wanted.
I tried warming the mascara up a bit - this sometimes works - but I was not able to get a good result.
Sorry - but I am not going to spend that much money for a mascara, that does not work!