Pinks For Spring | Beauty

Now that April's almost over, we're very well onto spring - all the trees are blooming and cherry blossoms are flying through the air, the days are getting longer and it sometimes gets so warm that you even dare to crack out a skirt again.

During spring, I always like to re-introduce some color into my make up routine as it's usually rather neutral during winter. Pink shades are ideal for that, but because they can be quite scary and some pink products work better than others, I thought I'd introduce you to some of my favorites.

Lips:

When I wear pink shades, they're usually featured on my lips - pink lippies are the perfect middle between a nude, which I love but sometimes get tired of, and reds, which are reserved for special ocassions. Because of that, I own quite a lot of them, but these are my go-tos!

MAC is the address if you're looking for a very specific shade of pink as they offer such a wide range of shades - two of my favorites, "Kinda Sexy" and "Brave" (both 20€), are actually very different. While "Kinda Sexy" is a lighter, brown-toned nude pink, "Brave" is a deeper berry shade - but both work amazingly well for spring!

KIKO caters for all you lipstick lovers as well - I love the quality of their products, and they're not expensive at all! Their Velvet Mat Satin Lipstick in "602" (6,90€) is the perfect inbetween shade if I don't feel either of my MAC lippies, and it's also the softest formula of a matte lipsitck I've ever tried.
And then the most out-there, and especially out of my comfort zone shade - Rimmel's Kate Moss Lipstick in "16" (7,25€) - it was part of their spring collection last year. I never thought it'd look such a bright shade of pink when I ordered it so I was intimidated by it at first, but it's great for days when I'm feeling brave and want to add a little something to my make up look.

Eyes:

I've stayed off rosey eyeshadows for the longest time because in my eyes, they often make my eyelids look like I have a hot infection going on there, but I've found a few that work for me, so if you too have always been put off by these shades of eyeshadows, you should keep an eye out for these!

If you're more of a palette kind of gal, I highly recommend Urban Decay's Naked 3 Palette (53 €) to you - I know that everyone must be tired of seeing these palettes, but they're seriously my favorite eyeshadows of all time. The quality of these is amazing and you can create so many different looks with them!
If you're looking for single shadows however, KIKO's where it's at. Their Infinity Eyeshadows are super cheap and still work insanely well, and there's so many different shades to chose from - my favorite pinks are "220", a very light, bordering on white pink that also works well as an eyeshadow base, and "224", a darker rosey shade that has flecks of golden glitter running through it.
I also picked up Catrice's Eye'Matic Eyepowder Pen in "020" (3,99€) the other day, which is a shade that could very well be either a glittery pink or purple, but I decided to include it nonetheless - it's really not pricey and the shade is absolutely gorgeous and very well long-lasting!

Face:

Now, I've been struggling to find base products I could include in this post, but there's two awesome blushers and my favorite highlighter that I want to introduce y'all to.

Those blushers include MaxFactor's Pastel Compact Blush in "Nude Mauve" (8,49€), which I've already told you is worth the hype surrounding it - it's a darker mauve shade that can sometimes look a little dark on my fair skin, but that's nothing a little blending can fix.
The other side of the coin are Avon's Blush Pearls (9€). I got these a while back and then completely forgot about them, but I recently fell in love with them again. You just swirl your brush around in the tub to create the perfect shade, then apply the blush to your face. What I love about these is that it's not just a blush that you're applying, there's a little shimmer to the shade as well so it's light a highlighter and a blush in one!
Speaking of highlighter, Essence's Soo Glow! one in "10 Look On The Bright Side" (3,95€) is my go-to. It's a very light champange shade that you apply to your face with your fingers, then blend in. It's very buildable and easy to work with, and pretty long-lasting as well - and you don't have to splurge on this at all!

Nails:

Not too long ago I realised that while I'm the proud owner of a drawer full of nail polishes, there were no pink or rose shades to be found in there - besides a few that had gone off, oops.
Ever since then, I've been keeping an eye out for ones that I could try out, and these are the ones that sticked with me.

P2's Volume Gloss Nail Polish in "530 White Liar" (1,99€) and Essence's The Gel Polish in "35 Engaged" (1,59€) are both light pinks, which I adore for this time of the year. But while they're similar in color and price, I feel like P2 definitely shines regarding quality here - their polish takes ages until it starts chipping!
Manhattan's Last & Shine Polish in "260 Lo-Lo-Love It" (3,49€) is the most gorgeous shade of mauve, and I adore the glossy, shiny finish of the polish, but sadly it isn't quite as long lasting as I'd like it to be. I'll still use it as the color is to die for, but that's a little minus point there.


Do you switch up your make up routine throughout the year? Let me know in the comments!

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Feel Good Movies | Lifestyle

Everyone has those days when you just want to crawl into your bed, hide under a lot of blankets and just forget about all of your responsibilities and your endless to-do list.

I don't know about you, but whenever I had a horrible day and start crying at little things like spilling my drink or burning my food, watching some "feel-good" movies always makes me feel a lot better.

I'm sure there's quite a few movies that'll come to your mind when you feel like you need a little pick-me-up, and because I always love finding new movies to watch and anyway, sharing is caring, I'm going to share my favorite feel-good movies with you guys today!

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1. Finding Nemo

This one came out when I was four years old, and I've been loving it ever since. In case you've never watched it (where have you been?), 'Finding Nemo' tells the story of a clownfish called Marvin who travels the entire Pacific Ocean after his son Nemo disappeared.

It's such a sweet story about family, devotion and downright love that always makes me a bit teary, but thanks to Dori, Martin's companion during his travels, there's so many absolute hilarious lines in this that it makes you laugh a lot as well.
Just because it's a Disney movie, it's not just for kids but rather fit for everyone in my eyes - my parents still like to watch this with me, even if we've already seen it ten times.

2. Pitch Perfect

This one includes music, which always has me sold anyways, but then the music and the story are good as well - what more could you want?
'Pitch Perfect' is about an a cappela group consisting of more or less outcasts at their college that is completely thrown into disarray when Beca, their newest member, falls in love with a member of their rival team.

I love this one especially because it shows that everyone can strive for success, no matter their appearance, popularity or social background - and that by being yourself you always shine brighter.
Also, how can incredible a cappella music not warm your heart?

3. The Intouchables

This is one of my favorite movies of all time.
It's about the friendship between two men who couldn't be any more different: Philippe, a wealthy quadriplegic and Driss, an unemployed man from a very poor family. The two of them meet when Driss applies to be Philippe's caregiver, not really wanting the job but rather just to get a signature so he can prove that he's making an effort to find a job and can keep living off welfare.

What follows is a heartwarming path to a deep, genuine friendship that truly warmed my heart and made me happy-cry a tiny bit, not going to lie.
It's a movie about leaving social boarders behind, living with disability without losing your wit, and obviously, friendship - if you're looking for a movie that'll make you laugh equally as much as it'll make you think about life a little, this one's the one.

4. Mr. Popper's Penguins

I would've never even watched this if it wasn't for my little brother dragging my twelve year-old me into the cinema, but I'm glad I went with him back then.

Basically, it's a comedy movie about a man called Thomas Popper whose father travelled the world and died while exploring Antarctica - what he leaves behind for his son are six penguins. Now imagine a real estate entrepreneur struggling to take care of his two children visiting him for a weekend as well as the chaos six penguins produce? It's both hilarious and adorable.

5. Mean Girls

The obvious. I feel like everyone and their mother has seen this movie and if you haven't, I highly suggest you should because you don't want to miss out on the best teen comedy movie out there. Or at least number one in my heart.

In this one, Cady, a sixteen year-old girl who grew up in Africa enrolls at a public school for the first time after her family returns to the United States. Even though she was warned to not mingle with them, Cady eventually becomes part of the school's most popular clique - the "Plastics", three pretty shallow girls, one meaner than the other.
Being a high school student, this made me laugh out loud a couple of times - at times, it's actually an acurate portrayl of the everyday hell that is a student's life.
There's a lot of great lines, a lot of drama and a bit of romance, completed with a lesson for all of us.

6. The Last Song

Oh man, this movie. It was my ideal summer back when I was eleven.
"The Last Song" ought to be a coming-of-age romantic drama, and it completely forgot about its dramatic aspect while watching every teenage girl's dream of a summer play out on screen, until the whole thing got real sad.

But it's a good kind of sad, a cleansing one, like having a good cry (which you will definitely have while watching this) makes you feel a lot better afterwards, so will this.
After you've wiped away your tears and snot, you'll smile to yourself, because this is the kind of stories that life writes, and they're wonderful.

7. Bend It Like Beckham

Yet another movie I never would've picked up myself, but my English teacher made us watch it last year, and I ended up liking it a lot.
"Bend It Like Beckham" follows the stories of Jules and Jess, two London girls who both love football over everything - but while Jules is thoroughly supported by her parents, Jass' Indian family has forbidden her to play football because she's a girl and should focus on her education.

But Jass stays true to herself and goes behind her parents' backs to join a women's football team, which ends up making it to the top of the league.
This is such an empowering movie that shows you that your gender, or any other factor, for that matter, should hold you back from achieving your dreams - because if you work hard enough, nothing else matters.

8. Ratatouille

Yet another Disney favorite. Don't pass it up just because the main character is a rat because he's literally the cutest thing you'll ever see. And so is the story - this movie even won an Oscar. It's that good.

Much like "Bend It Like Beckham", this is one I'll reach for when I need something empowering, something that will make me feel like I can go out and conquer the world.
Because really, if one little rat can chase his dream of being a chef and turn an entire restaurant upside down, then you can seize all those chances as well.

9. ... and pretty much every other Disney movie.

Disney movies never fail to make me feel all warm and fuzzy - they're the perfect thing to watch in all of life's situations.
There's so many of them that you'll have to find one that appeals to you eventually, and in my eyes they never get boring - you can rewatch them a hundred times and still be in love with them.
They also remind me so much of my childhood - I was a total Disney child, not going to lie - and it's nice to reminisce about times when life was still easier sometimes.


Do you have any movies that you always reach for when you're feeling down?

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Recent Reads #8 | The Martian

I always read a book before I watch its movie adaption. For some reason it's so much easier for me to enjoy a movie even though I already know the story, but reading a book when I already know everything that is going to happen just bugs me. It feels so wrong.

That is exactly why I haven't seen 'The Martian' yet, even though everyone keeps praising it - I wanted to read the book first, but as I hardly had any spare time since the beginning of the year, it just sat on my shelf and judged me.
But I finally managed to pick it up, and man, it really was a ride!

'The Martian' by Andy Weir tells the story of Mark Watney, an astronaut who strands on Mars after he is pierced by an antenna in a crazy sand storm, leading his crewmates to believe that he is dead - so they just abandon him. On a planet where Mark should be doomed.

But Mark Watney isn't just an astronaut, he's an engineer and also has a degree in botany, so after he miraculously survives his accident, he's as inventive as one can be to find a way out of what seems like a lethal situation.
He uses some of his supplies - potatoes, to be precise - and works out a crazy way to actually grow them in his base.
The storm destroyed his base's means of communication, so he cannot contact NASA to let them know that he is in fact not dead, so he takes a tiny Mars rover that is supposed to be used for short distance drives only and drives for twenty days just to find an outdated communication system that he tries to fix up - and manages to do so.

Meanwhile, Mark notes his experiences down in a log - at first, just so someone could find it long after he had died, but as the story progresses, it becomes so much more than that.

As all of this unfolds, the entire world is watching.
NASA works day and night to work out means to get supplies to their stranded astronaut and eventually, how to save him - but the pressure of time prompts them to make some horrendous mistakes.

And then there's Mark's crewmates on the Ares 3, lightyears away from their friend as well as Earth.
At first, they're kept in the dark about Mark being alive, but how will they cope when they have to face that they just left him there? What insane ideas will it make them have?

'The Martian' is honestly one of the best books I've read in a long, long time.

Mark obviously is the driving force of this story - and he's the realest damn person to ever be a character in a book.
He's funny, dorky and relateable, and even when he is faced with situations that might possbily kill him - which there are a lot of on Mars - he keeps his wit. But then he also writes an e-mail to his best friend, telling him how to explain their sons death to his parents. There are many faces to Mark Watney, the geeky botanist, the clever engineer, the reckless survivor - but also the somewhat broken human. And it's wonderful.

I'm not going to lie, there's quite a lot of science involved, because we are technically talking space travel here.
But even though I was a little overwhelmed when Mark described the way he worked on all sorts of things or people working for NASA spat out some crazy terms, it's actually all explained fairly easily once you've settled in and gotten used to it, even for people like me who don't know the first thing about science.

What I also really loved about this book was the way its plot was structured.
There are so many twists and turning points that it always stays fresh and gripping - you don't get tired of this story at all. There's always something going on that keeps you turning the pages, muttering "just one more chapter" at three am.

All in all, I'd wholeheartedly recommend this book to everyone.
'The Martian' is a book about space travel, but then it's also so much more than that. It's a story about how much one person can endure, a story about the lenghts humans will go to to help someone else, a story about insane devotion and friendship.
It made me laugh, it made me sniffle, and most importantly, it also made me think.

If you're interested in reading this book yourself, it's available on Amazon for 7,58€.

Have you read any good books lately? Feel free to recommend them to me!

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The Best Concealer For Blemishes | Beauty

I feel like I'm forever on the hunt for the perfect concealer. I either find one that works great on dark circles but is no use when you're trying to cover spots - like my beloved Erase Paste - or one that creases in my under-eye area likes there's no tomorrow.

And when they're the full package, they never come in a shade that is light enough to match my insanely pale skin. I can never win.

So I was very intrigued when one of my friends told me how much she loved her NYX HD Concealer - she praised it high and low for how well it works for covering blemishes, and because I still am to find one of those that works for me, I decided to test it out!

This concealer comes in nine different shades to suit all kinds of different skin tones, ranging from very light porcelain to even a pretty dark brown, which is basically unheard of for a high-street brand. They also do this concealer in a lavender, yellow and green tone if you're looking for shades to correct different pigmentations

I got Fair, the second lightest shade, mainly because the lightest one was sold out. It's a tad too dark for me as of right now (my face is a little more tan than my hands), but it'll be the perfect match as soon as I've tanned a little more. Sun, where are you? Come out of hiding please.

I've got to say that my friends was right on this one - it is the best concealer I've ever tried when it comes to covering up any form of blemishes. NYX claims it to be medium coverage, but it acts almost as if it was full coverage, no lie - once I've applied this, there is no redness to be seen anywhere!
It also doesn't get patchy or disappear from my face at all; even if I wear it out all day long it only wears off a tiny bit - and we're talking ten-hour days here!

If you're looking for a concealer to cover your dark circles, however, this might not be the one for you.
I've tried to use it on my under-eye area, but it hardly stayed there at all - it started creasing less than an hour after application and slid off my face completely not long after that.
I have no idea why it acted out this much when it worked so well on any other part of my face, but oh well. I already have an incredible concealer to cover those dark beasts, so I'm all good.


So if you're looking for something to cover any redness or blemishes that you might be struggling with, you should definitely give this one a go! The quality you get for the low price of 6.99€ is incredible - I've payed over three times that for concealers that didn't work as well.
For anything other than that, it sadly won't work out as well - but there's quite a few amazing under-eye concealers to be had, like Maybelline's Eraser Eye or Benefit's Erase Paste!


What is your holy grail concealer? Please let me know in the comments so I can check it out!

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Travel Bucket List #2 | Lifestyle

Now that the warmer seasons are more or less onto us - less in case you live some place where the weather is equally shitty as it is in Germany - it's time for me to start dreaming about visiting far-away places again.

I'm in love with travelling, I probably enjoy visiting foreign countries and learning about their culture and history more than anything else. I'm not at all well-travelled, however, because I've always depended on my parents getting time off work, which basically never happend. So we always stuck with family holidays at places not too far away from home, and now I'm left feeling like I haven't seen any of the world yet.

But as I'm lucky enough to be able to visit three different destinations this year, including Rome, which I've dreamt of seeing ever since I was a little girl, I decided it was time for me to share a new edition of my travel bucket list! (I also did one last year, which you can check out here.)

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Tokyo:

How absolutely insane is Tokyo? It's everything you could want from a city - a lot of beautiful nature and gorgeous parks, skyscrapers, breathtaking shrines, so much amazing food.

And then there's the general overwhelming cuteness that is everywhere. I don't know about you, but shopping passages and centers just look so much more appealing in Tokyo than they do over here.
I've also always wanted to visit Tokyo Disney, so if I ever go there that is a must-see for me as well!

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Amsterdam:

If I see any place that is on this list, it'll definitely be Amsterdam. For one, it is only a couple hundred kilometers away from where I live, and secondly it would love to invite my Mom there for a few days.

To me, Amsterdam is the perfect mix between relaxation and culture. You could ride a bike around the city, enjoy a walk in a park or take a canal cruise - but there's also so many museums and other historical sites to explore, like the famous Anne Frank house. This would be perfect for a three or four day trip when you just need some days away from home to clear your mind.

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Sydney:

Australia has always fascinated me, and ever since a couple of people who graduated from my school last year spent a year in Sydney, I was sold. I knew I had to see it for myself some day.

This would be a lovely place to visit in either fall or winter as it'd give me an opportunity to escape the cold and rain, which I hate, to lots of sunshine and heat, which I like a lot better.
It'd also make for a lot of culture and sightseeing combined with enjoying the sun at some beautiful beaches - a perfect mix!
I wouldn't even mid getting lost downtown here as there would be so many different things to awe me.

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Los Angeles

Ah, Los Angeles. How many things I've heard about you.
Seriously, I probably see this city on TV every single day, but I've never experienced it for myself - and I so desperately want to! It's second only to New York on the list of American cities I want to visit.

I'd love to take a few snaps in front of the Hollywood sign - don't call me basic, I know you'd do it as well - and go on some tours through the city's movie and television studios, see the Walk of Fame, relax at Santa Monica Pier and also go shopping at an actual American mall again. Oh how I miss them - somehow they were so much better in the US than they are here.

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Rio de Janiero:

Much like visiting Tokyo, travelling to Rio de Janiero would mean discovering all-new terrain for me because I have actually never ventured outside the continents of Europe and North America!

Obviously, it'd be a dream to visit the city during carnival season to experience the festivities with all their music, dancing and street celebrations, but Rio has a lot of other amazing sights to offer all year round, including some seriously beautiful beaches, gorgeous landscape with all its mountains and a lot of culture - so again, it's the best of both worlds!


What places are on your 'to visit' list?

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