Glow In Three, Two, One... | Beauty

Do you ever put off repurchasing a product because you think yours is going to last you for at least a few more weeks?

That's what happened to me when it came to the one and only highlighter I was using which was by Manhattan, I kept telling myself that I'd still get some use out of it, but by the time I had to face the fact that there was nothing left and went to buy a new one, I found out that it had been discountinued.

Nonetheless, I was obviously still in need of a highlighter, so I wandered around the drugstore, searching for an alternative.

That's when I stumbled upon Essence's "soo glow!" highlighter, a cream to powder product - which I was very skeptical about, but more on that later.

As it was only 2,79€ for medium sized product, I decided to check it out.

There are two shades to choose from, but I went for "bright up your life", which appears to be a rosey shade at first, but actually shows up as more champangey, which I feel compliments my skin quite a bit.

Now, I have never used a cream highlighter before,

Actually, I haven't used any cream products on my face before - I'm not entirely sure why, but I somehow always stuck with powder ones.

Application wise, this is okay - not great, but also not completely bad.

I use my fingers to apply it to the desired areas, which is all good and well, but it takes quite a while to blend into the skin to get more of a natural looking glow - if you don't blend it in sufficiently, you might end up looking greasy in the sunlight.

What I really like about this is that it doesn't feel heavy on my skin, which I had expected from a cream product - it actually feels like I'm not wearing anything at all.

The longevity however, is really neat.

I usually apply my make up at around 6 in the morning, and this always stays on until around 11 or 12, which I find outstanding for such a affordable product.

Overall, I think this is a really nice, affordable highlighter, but definitely not for someone who is looking for something more subtle - especially people with darker skin - or someone who doesn't have a lot of time they can spend on their make up in the morning.

I actually have a lot some time to do my make up in the morning - I mean, I don't get up at 5.30 for nothing - so this has become a set step in my make up routine!

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An Ode To My Mom

Judging by the title of this post, you might've thought that I wrote this as mother's day is this Sunday, but that is actually not the case.

I had an idea for this kind of post as today is the birthday of just about the most important person in my life - my mother.

Now, you can't see her face here as she doesn't like being all out there on the internet for everyone to see, but instead you have an impression of what we do best - enjoying delicious food.

I know quite a few people who have a friendly, but kind of neutral realtionship with their mother, but in my case, it's anything but that. I feel like my Mom and I have a very deep bound, and as I feel like through writing, I can express my feelings and thoughts better, I wrote this letter.

Dear Mom,

thank you so much, for all the great things you do for me, but especially for all the tiny gestures, like remembering that I talked about that one chocolate bar and buying it for me, or encouraging me before an exam.

I feel like when I was younger, I didn't really realize how much you sacrificed for me, my brother, and our family as a whole, but now I do, and it leaves me without words.

You're the most selfless person that I know, always putting everyone before yourself - even though I keep going on about how important it is to be selfish sometimes and do what's best for you, and only you.

I know that both of us are stubborn little humans with quite a bit of temperament, so sometimes we tend to lock horns with one another, but I also know that we always end up making up at some point or another, and I guess that's what makes us not only mother and daughter, but also best friends.

Thank you so much for all the things you've taught me, not only stuff like baking and cooking and sewing, but also really important thoughts and ideas, like "There are only two things in life you won't need to chase - true love, and true friendship." and the fact that if I want to live life the way I want to one day, I have to give my best every single day and try to make the most of academic career as possible - even though it might seem horrible most days.

To refer to those "great things" that you've done for me I mentioned earlier, if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have done all the unbelieveable and incredible things that I got to do over the past year.
When I got the chance to go to America, I hesitated because I knew how much money (and nerves) that would cost you, but you didn't even take a second to decide that I should, because you knew that that was a once-in-a-lifetime sorta deal for me.
Not to mention that you helped me renovated and furnish my own apartment - I mean, what sixteen year old gets to live in their very own place?

You might not think highly off yourself, or think that you're anything special, but to me, you're a star, Mom.

You're the reason that I grew up to be the person that I am today, and I couldn't be more proud to call you my mother.

I love you to the moon and back.

15 Very Real Girl Problems | Lifestyle

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Being a girl - or woman - is hard.
There, I said it.

Whenever I drop that sentence, just about every single male human being around me seems to groan and have a good five reasons on hand as to why being a man is even harder.

Well, lovely fellow male citizens, I put together a list of very real problems that I, and probably a lot of other females, face almost every single day to enlighten you.
And if you, like me, are a girl who struggles with what feels like just about everything, let's just laugh at how miserable we are together.

1. Desperately wanting a new haircut, thinking about what it should look like for months, and once you actually take the plunge and get half your beautiful locks cut off, you end up absolutely hating it - hating yourself as well, because how could you be this stupid?

2. The one day you actually make the effort to straighten or curl you hair, it's raining like there's no tomorrow. 

3. You are very good at applying eyeliner - but only on one of your eyes. You're always sporting the perfect cat eye on that one, but the other eye just ends up looking like a black, smudge mess.

4. Same goes for eyebrows. You might as well just give up now, one of them is always going to look weird.

5. Your skin looks pretty decent for around a month or so - but only until you want to go out one evening. Then you'll have your entire face erupting in a rash.
Excuse me, I thought my early-teenage acne days had gone?

6. Guys always think that we know nothing about sports, especially football.
I mean, my Dad is a huge football fan, and I sometimes feel like I get more into it than my brother does.
Leave, and please take your stereotypes with you.

7. Expecting your nails to have dried around fifteen minutes after you've painted them, only to smudge them somewhere.

8. Realizing that with spring and summer comes the need to shave at least every second day. Oh, the pain.

9. "I'll only pick up some cotton pads and toothpaste." - Leaves an hour later, having spend 40€ on make up that's absolutely unnecessary.

10. Having a different clothing size in every single store. There is no way that in one store, an XS shirt seems to fit just fine, and in another I will have to get an M.
What is this.

11. Chosing an outfit in the morning is impossible. Changing two or three times before you leave the house in the morning is considered normal.

12. Creepin' really hard on someones Instagram and accidentally liking a photo they put up half a year ago. Don't pretend this hasn't happened to you.

13. Losing hair grips and bobbles all the time. Like, one time I purchased twenty of each, and I have managed to lose all of them.

Were did they all go? I hope they are okay.

14. People assuming that it's "that time of the month" when you're acting snarky.
Nope, sorry. That's just my moody personality.

15. Feeling like you own a dog, or a cat, or both because you keep finding hair absolutely everywhere. And I mean literally everywhere. Why am I losing this much hair at the age of sixteen. I'm scared.

Dear male readers, I hope you didn't take this one too personally. I didn't write this post to offend you or play the things you struggle with down, I just wanted to point some, admittely quite hilarious, daily struggles of us females. Maybe you even got a laugh out of it too, as this is what I mainly tried to achieve.

And if you're one of my female readers, please tell me that I'm not completely alone with my struggles here and just completely failing at life.

Stop Being So Damn Scared | Lifestyle

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It's Sunday, which means it's the perfect time for me to have another heart to heart with you guys, because let's be real here, finals are nearing and I have more issues than Vogue nagging at me that I could tell you about.

Some of those are my fears. There's quite a few things that I'm afraid of, things like heights, snakes and Physics exams.

But there is nothing that makes my stomach turn or my thoughts take a really dark path at 3 in the morning like the sheer thought of death.

Now, I don't know what provoked my insane panic regarding that topic, it might be the fact that, starting from a really young age, I've lost a lot of family members and people that are close to me, but the thought that I could just get hit by a bus any minute without having accomplished anything literally leaves me breathless.

When I tell my family about that, they either tell me that I should stop acting up or they just give me weird looks - but I can't be the only one this is happening to, right?

I think death might be scarier for me than it is for other people because I'm very cautious, reserved and plainly afraid most of the time.

I'm too scared to tell people how I feel about them, and that might be weird to you, but to me and others, this is just the way we think - because what if they think we're weird? What if we ruin a friendship by telling someone that we love them more than that?

And to be honest, I use the phrases "You make me happy", "Thank you for being my friend" and "I love you" way too little.

Something else that I do is immerse myself in work, simply because when I know that there's stuff that I need to get done, I can't get rid of that guilty feeling inside of me until I finally sit down to do it, and then I work for hours on hours, until I feel burnt out and need to take a break - but not without still feeling guilty as heck, because there's always something else that I could do.

Because of that habbit, I often miss a lot of opportunities, like getting to spend time with my family and friends, having some me time or working on cool projects.

For some reason, I feel like I'm constantly under-achieving, even when I'm not, and it's taking me away from things I'd love to do and things that would help me become a better version of myself because I feel like I'm too incomplete to even begin with.

I don't even know where I'm going with this topic anymore, but I guess I just had to get this off my chest - maybe someone else is feeling this way too, and if I only made one person feel less alone and more understood, then it will have been enough.

You may know that at the beginning of this year, I promised myself to be more open, to say "yes" more, and I think, in a way, I'm starting to do that.

Because we never know when we see a beloved person again, we never know if we're turning down a once in a lifetime opportunity.

We never know when the bus is coming.

April Favorites | Beauty

This year is seriously flying by so fast, it's scary. It's May 1st already, and soon I will start my exams, and soon after that, I will be walking 'round in summer dresses and eating ice cream while on my summer holiday.

Back to present day, though. April has been a so-so month for me.
The first two weeks were really nice - obviously, I was on spring break and as care-free as one could be, but the second half of the past month has literally left me feeling stressed burnt out and just really, really tired.

I also decided to put myself on a spending ban halfway through April because I realized that in around two months, I will be off to Berlin - which seems to be incredible for shopping from what I've heard.
But you know me, I still managed to purchase a few new products, some of which I ended up using every single day without fail, along with some products that have been in my make up collection for ages.

Soap & Glory Flake Away Body Scrub (14,99€)

As I mentioned, summer is fast approaching, so the season for bare skin is almost here!

I'm a little conscious about my legs - it's not even the fact that I'm not really thin, but my really pale, dull skin annoys me- so I was incredibly happy when my Mom suprised me with this!

Using this body scrub once or twice a week has made my skin look (and also feel) so much better - it feels a lot softer and also looks way more healthy. Plus, the scent of this is absolutely heavenly.

If you want a more in depth review on this, I have one up here.

MaxFactor Creme Puff Blush in "Nude Mauve" (8,45€)

MaxFactor's Creme Puff blushes have probably been one of the most hyped drugstore products over the past few months, but it was only until pretty recently that they were released here in Germany.

"Nude Mauve", which is the shade I own, is a light pink that gives you a natural, subtle glow due to the slight shimmer it includes, which works great for pale skin like mine.

The longevity of these is insane - I have gone up to four hours until I had to touch my blush up!

LR Deluxe Longwear Lipliner in "Nude Line" (10,95€)

Lip wise, there weren't a lot of changes this month - when in doubt, I still went for a nude lip.

In fact, this product isn't new to my collection, either. To be honest, I got this last summer, and I've been using it on and off ever since.

This month, however, I actually made the effort to line my lips every single morning, and I'm really glad that I rediscovered this in the process.

This really does what it promises - this lipliner stays in place all day long, there have been days when I came home at around eight, and even though my lipstick had long gone, the lipliner had stayed in place!
Another thing I love about this that the shade "Nude Line" literally goes with every single nude lipstick I own, so it's worth the investment.

Rimmel Wake Me Up Foundation (11.27€)

If you've read the post I wrote on this (you can find it here), you will know that before I got this product, I haven't been much of a foundation-wearer. In fact, after some past experiences, I didn't wear foundation ever.

Rimmel's "Wake Me Up" foundation, however, lured me in with the fact that they actually acknowlege the fact that there are people with really fair skin, and because this foundation promises a healthy glow - something I was definitely lacking.

This has to be my favorite discovery of the past month - the shade "Light Porcelain" is a perfect match to my skin tone, the foundation feels insanely light on my skin and it makes me look like I've had either a full night's sleep or at least three cups of coffee.

EOS Lipbalm in "Vanilla Mint" (12,99€)

My lovely friend Lisa, who I stayed with when I was in America, sent me this as part of a parcel for my birthday, and I was so happy to find this little gem in there because even though we do have EOS in Germany, this particular one hasn't been released here.

I'm seriously obsessed with this.

I have pretty dry lips, so I'm always looking for a super hydrating lip balm, and this one is definitely one of them. It keeps my lips feeling super soft for around two hours, and it tastes and smells a lot like vanilla, which I love.

So, there you have the products that I've been enjoying the most all through April - and even though I'm really not proud of the fact that against my spending ban, I picked up some new stuff, I can now say that that money was definitely worth it.

What is something that you've been loving this past month?

Thank you so much for reading!