Treat Me Thursday

Hello my Beauties,

this is one of those days, where you simply know, you need a little treat to cheer yourself up, because so much went wrong…
I’m not talking about a huge shopping spread here, but a tiny little mini haul, that can instantly put a smile on your face.

Ok this technic might not be the best pedagogical move, but believe me, when you have to change 4 times the subway line and then somehow manage to take the wrong train (in between of 2 cities), that brings you to a “no name village” and you need about 3 hours to get back to your actual destination…you do deserve a little treat! 

So after a long day with a  million of tasks i decided to stop by my big local drugstore and get something, that i was having an eye on for a while (and just a few other things).
Any idea what my “center piece” was, that i was having an eye on for a few weeks now?

That’s right – it’s the Astor Soft Sensation Lipcolor Butter, that is really similar to the already so famous Chubby Sticks by Clinique.
I picked the soft pink color in “010 Pink Lady”.
“Astor Soft Sensation Lipcolor Butter is my quick and easy way to perfectly polished lips. I love how the slanted tip gives the precision of a liner for lip definition.
And because the color melts onto lips, I can achieve a brilliantly even finish every time.” – Heidi Klum

The idea behind the product is basically the same as with Clinique. It’s a moisturizing lip balm with different kind of opacity. The lighter colors are more sheer, than the darker ones.

Don’t you think the packaging looks really similar to the Chubby Sticks?! You can also twist the bottom to have access to more product. The difference is that the stick itself is not round, but angular, which remind more of the usual lipstick and makes the application easier in my eyes. I can’t wait to go wild with this lipcolor butter. (Will it have the texture of the Revlon Lip Butters?)
Besides the Astor Soft Sensation Lipcolor Butter cost only 5,85 €  if you compare them to the Clinique Chubby Sticks, which retail for about 20€ – that’s not bad at all.
In case you wonder – did she buy a nail polish too? Technically i didn’t. (The usual price of these nail polishes is 4,85€).
But the drugstore had a cool promotion going on. With every Lipcolor Butter you could pick a nail polish from their perfect stay line. Well – i thought i would go pink all the way! This is the 202 Pink With Envy.
They suppose to have a gel shine formula and stay on my nails up to 10 days. So why not!

As you can see, i couldn’t pass by a bar of chocolate with crispies inside and just not get one. 😉 I love a good crunch when it comes to chocolate!
And also to finish of a relaxing evening, i treated myself to a nice paper face mask with algae extract by Balea. If you remember me talking about different kind of face treatments in my last Sunday Read, you know how much i love this kind of relaxation.

So i hope this all will help me to feel refreshed and ready to have a relaxing night.

What are your latest “treat me” – goodies, my Beauties?
Share your little secrets with me.

Until next time – stay beautiful.

ps: Don’t forget to enter my current Avene Giveaway.

Heavenly Goodies or what’s your new nail polish? (swap)

Hello my Beauties,

today i have another really fun post for you. My mail just came in and what did i see: a nice package from The Netherlands. 
By the first glance it was clear – Polish Alcoholic send way too much. I knew, that Sabrina – the master mind behind the amazing nail polish & nail design blog Polish Alcoholic – was about to send me something, but i didn’t expect it to be that much. 
Especially since a few products aren’t really from a drugstore…

This was actually not part of our Sweet Summer Swap, it just somehow happened that i sent Sabrina the Guerilla Gardening Collection, that she wanted and some other goodies and now she decided to send something back.

First of all let me tell you, how incredibly sweet all the packaging was, when i opened the box. I was facing cute little pink puffy hearts and little marshmallow like filling elements. All the nail polish bottles (of course she sent me nail polishes, what else! ) were carefully put in a pretty tissue paper, that i didn’t even want to rip off. 
A big compliment on the lovely and solid business cards, that have a good grip to them & feel really nice between the fingers.
Loved the thoughts you put in there, Sabrina!
Before i reveal the secret of the nail polishes, i will show you the little beauty samples, that Sabrina included into the box.
She knows about my passion for body scrubs, so there is one by Collistar ( heard a few good things about this brand, but haven’t had the chance to try yet), a sample of J’adore by Dior (mmm) and Lancome Teint Visionnaire (can’t wait to see if it fits my skin tone) and the cutest little Mango creamy body wash by Sephora. Love exotic fruits…
And now to the polishes. When i finally ripped off the tissue paper , i was left speechless. There were four beautiful nail polish bottles, but the “high point” was indisputably the wonderful Nfu Oh bottle. Hope you can see the actual details there –  it’s so pretty!
(click to enlarge!)
What can i say?! This is going to be a world premiere (for me) trying all these brands and beautiful colors.

Ciaté is the only brand, that is available here in Germany, but as the big hype was all about their Caviar manicure, i didn’t even realize, they had such pretty shades in their range. The “Regatta 076” seems to be a deep maritim-blue with silver shimmer in it. And the bottle has its specific bow in the front.

Before seeing PicturePolish products on different nail blogs, i didn’t even realize there was that popular australian brand out there.
Love the slogan, that the classic bottle comes with:”Cause every girl need some!” Attitude – by Overall Beauty. That’s pretty stylish. And what can i say, it’s a beautiful “midnight purple” in my eyes, with different kind of dazzling & holographic particles in it.
Here is another PicturePolish in Paradise, that Sabrina swatched on her blog, and i think the quality seems to be promising.

BerryM in lilac 235 is my very first polish from that famous british brand. Funny fact:
Probably Sabrina was right saying that. I love my metallic polishes, i think they suit my personality, if that makes sense…

And last, but ohhh most definitely not least – meet the beautiful Nfu Oh nail lacquer in 45.
You can see in Sabrina’s post, where she swatched a really similar color in 44 (Nfu Oh #44 – Shiney Opal), how wonderful it looks over different kind of polishes. Especially over a black one. This is going to be my “shine bright like a diamond” polish for hot summer days. 🙂 I literally can’t wait!
Thank you very much, dear Sabrina for your effort to make this swap such a lovely experience for me. I do appreciate the chance to try all these new brands & textures. I hope i was able to show my real excitement.

There you go my Beauties, remember i told you i was in a Swap fever!? 😉
Did you do any lovely swap’s lately?
I’ll be posting the wrap-up post on the Sweet Summer Swap next week, so stay tuned for that.
Please check out Sabrina’s blog for more amazing nail polish swatches, brand recommendations and nail art tutorials.

Until next time – stay beautiful.

Here 2 posts, that you might find interesting:
{The Friendly Bunch Blog Hop}
{Avene Skin Care Travel Kit Giveaway}
{Sunday read & many great face masks}

Swap Fever and a Kiss – FMSphotoaday Day 29

Hello my Beauties,

i hope you are having a lovely mid-week. 
I have to tell you, i’m in a huge “swap fever“, which can be easily explained.
I’m currently participating in 2 especially organized swaps, one is the Summer Lovin’ Swap and the other is the Sweet Summer Swap, that was put together by Polish Alcoholic and I.
You will see posts on both events sometime in june, so please stay tuned. But that’s not it.

Somehow it happened, that a few more bloggers decided at almost the same time to send me a few goodies over, since we all love trying things from other countries and i’m not an exception to that.
(Of course i did send them something as well!)

So these days the packages started to arrive and i can’t even express how grateful i am. Always when someone takes the time to think through what kind of goodies to get, wrap it all nicely and write a sweet note…what can be more personal?!

Without further rambling, this was the surprise from one of my favorite bloggers, the Sweet Jelly Bean. I believe by now you must know her, if not – stop by & take a look on her fabulous blog.
OMG where do i even start?! Let me tell you the most important thing first, there was nothing in this box, that i didn’t like the idea of and have tried before. I guess i have only seen Dr.Organic products on other people’s blogs.
The package came all the way from the UK to me with a lovely hand-written card (love it) and Donah’s blogger-business card.
Wow, well done!! That is such a cool (and important) idea to have a “blogger card”, in case you meet right people at the right time. I guess if you start taking blogging seriously, you need this kind of “tools” in your purse!!
If you read Donah’s blog, you might know, that she is a big lover of korean skin care & cosmetics. And as i have never tried any korean products, she was so nice to include these samples of creams, serum & BB creams, so i can get an idea of what kind of beauty comes from Korea. I’m very excited to try them and as Donah always speaks so highly about their brands, my expectations are quite high as well.
As mentioned before, i saw Dr.Organic on many british blogs before & many ladies were talking pretty good things about the products. So when i saw these two babies in the box and made a little “yeay”noise.
So here we have:
Organic Lavender Skin Lotion – An intensely aromatic moisturising lotion based on Organic Lavender oil with Aloe Vera, Cocoa butter, Shea butter, Olive oil, Sunflower oil, Irish Moss, Vitamin A and Vitamin E. An intensely aromatic and moisture rich complex which combines the properties of organic lavender with cocoa butter and shea butter.
Organic Virgin Olive Oil Skin Lotion – Bioactive Organic Virgin Olive Oil is a super hydrating, intensely nutritious fruit oil, rich in Oleic Acid, a powerful antioxidant. In combination with a proprietary blend of bioactive, natural and organic ingredients this incredibly effective skin lotion.
I already looked on the official site & notice that the Olive Oil range is a bit wider that the lavender, so i guess it must be Dr.Organic’s best seller. Thank you Donah for the opportunity to try these lotions.
Next lovely product was the Bluebell Hand Balm from Cath Kidston. And look at how it was wrapped?! I guess Donah’s little son was helping her – that’s so adorable. 🙂
A fun blue tub filled with a thick cream, very moisturising for hard working hands. Contains shea butter, glycerine and vitamin E. Delightful, fresh floral fragrance with notes of freesia, fruity geranium, muguet, violet and jasmine, resting on a base of patchouli, musk, cedar wood and amber.
I didn’t want to open this cream yet, since i still have so many in use right now, but on the official site it looked like the balm has a little blue color to it & should smell heavenly floral. Loved the description.
And because Donah knows me so well, she found an incredibly nice smelling citrus ginger hand & nail cream. The tube itself reminds me a bit of the L’Occitane or Crabtree & Evelyn packaging, which i love. I’m not exactly sure what the actual name of the brand is – London Apothecary Nr.18? Donah might help with more information… I’ so happy someone remembered my love for Ginger & Lime tea’s and included that scent into a wonderful hand cream. 🙂
Last but definitely not least, there was literally the sweetest little treat. I guess it was customized, since the chocolate says: Luchessa on it. Awww!! How can i possible eat it?! Thank you so much, Donah (it didn’t break!)

My Sweet Jelly Bean, i appreciate all the thoughts you put into this package and please give the little bean a HUG for helping you wrapping everything.
I can absolutely not wait to try everything and report back about what i liked the best.
Oh and because we are still in May and it’s Day 29 of the May Photo a Day Challenge, i added a BIG KISS to my “thank you” as well.
29. Kiss: This is our charity prompt. We’re going to kiss MS goodbye. So wear red, or pop on some red lipstick and show us a ‘kiss’!
Have you used any of the products mentioned above before, my Beauties??
Has anyone done a swap lately? If so, please leave a link below, so i can have a look. Love posts like that. 

Before i go, i would also like to thank Trine-Marie for sending me her hand-made friendship bracelets, that i won a week ago.
It’s always such a nice touch, when it’s actually hand-made, don’t you think?? 
When we finally get some summer here, i will made sure to wear them with a cute summer dress.
Until next time – stay beautiful!

ps: Here are some read’s, that you might enjoy.

Win a copy of Eat Love Pray.
Link up with us in the Friendly Bunch Blog Hop.
What does the Beauty Blogger Community mean to you?

 

Can’t live without – FMSphotoaday Day 27

Hello my Beauties,

hope your new week has started well and you are motivated & full of energy.

Today is Day 27 of the May Photo a Day Challenge and the topic is: “Can’t live without“.
27. Can’t live without: What would you rather not live without?

It’s one of those philosophical questions, where you get to decide whether you want to answer it the smart & “indispensable” way or from the beauty and lifestyle blogger (and simply a woman’s) point of view. 
Guess what – we are on a beauty journey here, so here is my short photo answer to the question, what i can’t live without. 😉
Well, those of you, who are following my blog from the beginning know exactly, what a hand cream addict i am.
I simply have to have at least one tube in each handbag, on my desk, in the bathroom, in my kitchen…i guess you get the picture. 
I can’t live without my hand creams.

I love those Hand and Nails treatments, like the Clarins one which is incredibly moisturizing, but also those  nice chocolate or fruity smelling ones. 🙂
Did you notice, these tubes know exactly how important they are, they even wear their impressive mustaches! 😉

I like trying different kind of hand creams from everywhere in the world. So far a have a few bulgarian, german, american, russian, canadian and israeli ones. I bet there are more to come! 🙂

What kind of hand creams do you love the most & why?
What are you beauty products you can’t live without?

Tell me your secrets.
Until next time – stay beautiful!

You might also like the latest posts:
The Friendly Bunch Blog Hop

The {us} in the Beauty Blogger community

Sunday Read {Vol.2}

Sunday Pampering

FMSphotoaday – Day 22 ( Change ) Caudalie Vinosource

Hello my Beauties,

how is your week going so far?
Every Wednesday i feel like my weekly goals are half accomplished, but i still have half the way to go.
Does anyone know this weird feeling?

Well, today is Day 22 of the May Photo a Day Challenge and the topic is: “Change“.
What does change mean to you? Do you get excited about changes or are you rather someone who likes things to be “the same”?
“22. Change: This can be a hard one, so put your thinking cap on. How can you show change in a photo?”

As i’m trying to keep this challenge at least a little beauty related, i will tell you about my latest skin care changes.
For the past months i have been using Avene products, which i mentioned in ♥ Avene Skin Care Travel Kit ♥ post before.

After trying some samples (and i always go for samples first, before buying a full size product) i got a moisturizer, a cleanser and a mask, which i enjoyed using quite a lot.
But last week i finished them all and really had to decide, whether to get same kit again or try something new from another brand.
And being an curious blogger, “of course” i went for something new. 

These are the samples for my new skin care routine:
Caudalie Vinosource Creme Sorbet Hydratante: with Grape water, Camomile & Grape-seed Polyphenols 
(moisturizing sorbet for sensitive skin).

Caudalie Vinosource Riche Creme velours Ultra-nourrissante: with Grape oil, Shea & Grape-seed Polyphenols 
(intense moisture rescue cream for very dry skin).

Caudalie Vinosource Sérum S.O.S. Désaltérant: with Grape Water, Hyaluronic acid & Grape-seed Polyphenols
(s.o.s. thirst quenching serum for dehydrated skin).
Basically this is how i usually pick out my facial creams & co. I like rich intensive ones as my night cream, a serum to waken up my skin in the morning and some light moisturizer afterwards, that is getting absorbed fast, so i can apply my foundation.

I can’t wait to see whether my skin is happy or not after using these products and how well they all go together if used one after another. That’s going to be my “face project” for the next few weeks. 
You can find more information about the brand and line on the Caudalie Natural Skin Care site.

Btw: when i got the samples today, i remembered a post from a few month’s ago, written by Kareen from the Ziba-Blog, where she talked about the Beauty Elixir & Moisturizing Cream and how i bookmarked that one for later.
(So Kareen, you can be proud of me, i finally managed to get some Caudalie face products as well.) 

As i was saying, i heard quite a lot about the brand before, but mostly used their amazing Hand & Nail cream (with Grape-seed Polyphenols, Vinolevure®, Shea butter, Grape oil.)
Truth is, it’s very much comparable to the Ultra-Moisturising Hand Therapy hand cream line by Crabtree & Evelyn or the L’Occitane Karité hand cremes. Moisturizes perfectly, isn’t too greesy and if you don’t want a certain scent – that’s definitely one for your purse.

Have you tried any of these before? Which one is your favorite?
And what about this Caudalie Vinosource line? Any experience with that?

 Until next time – stay beautiful.

May Photo a Day Challenge – Day 20 ( FMSphotoaday – Light ) + NOTD bonus

Hello my Beauties,

hope your week had a successful start and you’re fully motivated to achieve your goals!

Today is already Day 20 of the May Photo a Day challenge and i’m surprised how great your feedback about it was so far. 
I have seen some of your challenge entries and i got to say: i’m impressed! 😉

20. Light: Light makes a photo beautiful, so how can you play with it in your photo. Could you find a little sunflare, play with light inside or something else. Lets make magic!
As you see, today’s topic is “Light”. Being a bigger fan of natural sun light rather than any kind of pretty lamps, i decided to share with you a recent shot, that i took while enjoying a gorgeous sunny day outside.
I love when the sun light shines through the trees and leaves a beautiful reflection on the water.
It makes every location just so much more romantic and relaxed. Don’t you feel the same way?

And because sun light can be so important, when it comes to great makeup or nail polish swatches, here is a little bonus to the “light” topic for you. 
Most of us here are big nail polish lovers and you guys know, when there is a holographic polish – light can be the “make it or break it” part of the photo. 
Sharing my “nails of the day” (#NOTD) with you!
Really hope the beautiful holographic effect is visible on this one. This is a quite unknown Lithuanian polish brand Sincero.
If anyone knows more about it, please share. The quality of it is really nice and i enjoy wearing the this color. 

Until next time – stay beautiful!

ps: Don’t forget to link up with Nia & I in our weekly Friendly Bunch Blog Hop and participate in my current mini Giveaway!

Follow My Secrets and discover Womanity! (Giveaway – closed)

Hey my Beauties,

it’s just me dropping in with a little “Thank You” note for all of your latest support, comments and emails. 
Makes me so happy to see you being that active on here. 

So to make it even more fun for everybody, i decided to share with you “My Secrets” and to let you have some “Womanity”.

What is she talking about, you will ask yourself?
It’s simple. This is a mini Giveaway for those of you, who follow me via email (or WordPress of course). 
I noticed, many of you who comment on the regular basis are my email subscribes, so that is my little reward for you.
One lucky follower will win: 

A stylish little makeup pouch and a 100ml / 3.3Oz Thierry Mugler Womanity Perfumed Body Milk.
“Womanity by Thierry Mugler, This is first in a series of fragrances that celebrate women .
The first was angel and the second was alien. In this new celebration of the divine feminine, three accords were used to symbolize the three faces of every woman.
There is sweet ripe fig fruit, symbolizing a woman’s feminine side joined with a savory note of black caviar that symbolizes her sophistication and complexity. Finally, there is fig tree wood which evokes power, intuition and wisdom.”

Enter now using * Rafflecopter! *

Good luck everyone!
Until next time – stay beautiful!

May Photo a Day challenge – Day 14 (FMSphotoaday – Need)

Hello my Beauties,

what a stormy day it is…i’m wondering if the spring is thinking about staying at all this year…it seems to be so inconsistent these weeks.

Anyhow, today is Day 14 of our May Photo a Day challenge and the topic is: “Need“.
14. Need: What’s a need in your life? – asks the creator of this challenge Fat Mum Slim.

Of course, i could have gone all philosophical here, talking about the big needs in life, such as love, health and knowledge and maybe simply the roof over your head.
But let’s remind ourselves, that this is still a beauty blog and this challenge suppose to be fun – so my “need” is going to be more of a “want – need”, if you know what i mean. 😉
Meet my absolute “beauty need” – the glorious nail polishes by the german brand P2 cosmetics.
If you follow my blog for a while now, you will know that i do own nail polishes by different kind of brands, from very cheap to more expensive ones. You have also seen me raving about P2 for a few times now, but only because i do like the quality, that you get for a really affordable drugstore price. 

Right now there are a few lines, that P2 has on the market, such as the Color Victim (pretty expressive colors), Volume Gloss (shiny & glossy texture – smilar to BarryM Gelly line), Stand Style, Summer Attack (hot metallics – limited edition) and the Perfect Look (nail care polishes). 
Some of you were able to try these polishes as well, either through a giveaway, that i was holding or a parcel swap and every time i got a great feedback. 
Have to admit, i’m very pleased to have a solid drugstore brand, that can hold up to the expensive high-end polishes. 

So my “need” is first of all to always have a neat and well-done manicure and secondly to have some great P2 colors to choose from. 🙂

What is your “need”, my dear readers? To stay with the nail polish theme: do you have a drugstore favorite, that has become your go-to brand? Share your secrets with me. 

Until next time – stay beautiful!

ps: If you want to participate in the Sweet Summer Swap – there is still time to sign up. Check it out now. 

P2 Sand Style swatches + GIVEAWAY (closed)

Hello my Beauties,

how are you doing? What’s new on your side of the globe? 

Today i want to share some really fun news with you.

Sabrina – the Polish Alcoholic and I have teamed up to make the most of the huge sand nails trend this spring.
You see them everywhere. Big brands like Zoya, KIKO & OPI have their hyped collections out there. The german drugstore brand P2 has it’s own little 6 piece collection on the market and as i’m really liking it, i thought it would be worth mentioning.

As we all probably know, Sabrina has just the best nails to make any nail polish look great, so that’s why it’s her hands you’re seeing on the pictures.
You can find four of the six P2 Sand Style swatches in her recent BLOG POST and to make it even more fun for you, i’ve decided to give away 3 sand style polishes of the winners choice + Ultra rich hand serum with grape seed and evening primrose oil & permute extract.

So all you have to do is to swing by Sabrinas blog and enter through the Rafflecopter form, as usual. 
Good luck everyone.

Until next time – stay beautiful!

NOTD + Featured nail art + mini Giveaway (closed)

Hello my Beauties,

how are you doing?
Today’s post has 3 different parts, that i’m sure you are going to like. So grab your favorite cup of tea & let’s begin.

By the end of march my Twitter friend Radi and i have decided to do a little nail polish swap. As Radi lives in Bulgaria she was kind enough to offer me some of the polishes that are being sold there & i on my part of course picked out a few german based brands for her. 
You can see her post on the swap HERE. She also did a beautiful design with the KIKO Sugar matt, that was originally the idea for a swap. 

Today i got the parcel from Bulgaria and obviously couldn’t wait to try some of the sparkling goodies, that i’ve found inside. 
I tried my best to take a few good pictures in today’s horrible light, but the gloomy & grey weather didn’t make it easier for me. I really hope you get the idea anyways.
As you can see the “Perfect” base coat appears much more purplish in the flash light. 
The Jolly Jewels polish has quite a thick consistency and is really opaque in just one coat.
In this shot the “shiny jewels” are much more noticeable & visible. They have a lovely rose gold shimmer to it.
I really like how the two polishes became one mani. Now i’m really curious for how long it’s going to stay on my nails.
Have you tried any of these polishes yet?

As the second part of the post i would like to share with you Radi’s guest post with you. I asked her to do a nice & fun spring nail art and she did a really great job, if you ask me. But see for yourself and don’t forget to visit her blog, to see more great swatches and design ideas.

Hello everyone!
This is my first guest post I`m making for Luchessa`s blog and I hope you like it!

I`ll show you Step by Step how to paint these cute ladybugs on my nails.
First are the things you`ll need:
Base coat, pink polish, top coat, black, white and acrylic paint, regular and detailed brush.

1. Make the pink french and when it`s dry paint the bodies of the ladybugs next to each other.

2. Outline the ladybugs with black acrylic paint. Make their legs, dots and heads, too.

3. Make two white dots and smaller black ones over them in every ladybug`s head as eyes.
And a little waterry white paint onto the wings` edge.

4. Cover with top coat!
And here is one closer look of theese cute ladybugs on my both hands:
And this is the complete look of the design:

Hope you like it and it`s useful to those of you who like painting their nails.

 

All the best, 

Radi

So what do you think, Beauties? Isn’t it just a cute mani? If you try to do it yourself, make sure to take a picture and tweet it to Radi, who can of course be found on Twitter HERE.
And now to the last part of this post. For those of you, who read it until this point, it should be worth it. 😉
You can WIN a great Golden Rose rich color nail polish in 07, sponsored by Radi.
And a KIKO sugar matt 641 strawberry pink (sand polish) + a Ultra Glossy Stylo Lipstick in 816 Pearly Hot Pink (bought by me), that’s going to match the polish color perfectly!
All 3 products are part of the Pink Dream Giveaway, which is going to run for a week, until April 18th and the winner is going to be picked via random.org

And the rules for this international Giveaway are going to be very simple:

1) Follow Radi’s blog via Blogger.com or email,
2) Follow me via WordPress or email,
3) Tell me in the comments below how you follow AND:

WHAT POLISH COMBINATION IS YOUR FAVORITE ONE IN THE SPRING TIME?

Good luck everyone and stay beautiful until next time!