Empties # 1 ~ Let's kick off

Aloha All,

since one of my resolutions means some more using up I prepared my first Empties post for you. So here we go with the products I have used up in Dec/Jan - hope you like it!

Lavera Handcream in Organic Orange & Sea Buckthorn
Got it for Christmas and pretty fast used it up. It was nice and the smell is quite Christmassy in my opinion. But I will not repurchase as I was not too happy about the effect (think that is why I used it up that quickly).

Lavera Bath Sea Salts in Organic Wild Rose
Loved it. But I do not fuss about bathing ingredients.

Kneipp "Glückliche Auszeit"
Relaxing and nice but something I def do not fuss about. I have couple more of them in different smells so I will use them up one by one.

Nivea pure effect THERMO washing gel
Loved the sensation when it touches the skin and warms up. Feel very cean afterwards without making me breakout or feeling dry on the skin. After using up my other products I consider a repurchase.

The Body Shop Chocomania Body Butter
Smell artificial chocolaty and tastes like it (pretty difficult to wash off your hands after & so I did lick on my finger when preparing my evening meal - no need to admit it tasted pretty awful. Both. Finger and the meal afterwards). Will not repurchase as I do not like the feeling of the product "sitting" on my skin for ages.

Dontodent Brilliant white & Arctic fresh & Dontodent Sensitive Mouth wash
All nice & already repurchased.Stables.

ISANA nail polish remover
Love it. Without aceton & still works all pretty fine (ok, glitter polishes are always annoying but ut does the job very efficiently).

Rival de Loop clean & care Eye MakeUp Remover without oils
My holy grail product for eye make up.Using up another one but will then get back to my faithful friend.

BALEA Australia mild liquid soap
Loved the smell. That's it. No repurchase as this was a limited edition but I have some solid soap samples I will now use up.

ebelin cotton pads
Stables: Cheap. Nice. Efficient. Soft. Repurchased and stocked.

The Body Shop Almond Oil Hand Rescue Treatment
This one is already repurchased and in full use. I have this on my bedside table and every night I treat my hands & feet with it. Adore!

BALEA cosmetic tissues
Ok. Already repurchased.

Swiss O-Par Arganoil Hairtreatment
This was too much for my fine hair. Every time I used it they had no volume and I was quite happy when finishing this product off.

Kérastase Cristalliste Lumière Lidquid
A very nice product for my fine hair. Just used a bit to bring my hair to some nice sheen & stoping those little winter fly aways. Pretty expensive though... I have to reconsider a full size purchase.

Sample of YSL L'homme Libre
It is a scent for men of course.Nevertheless I like the strenght which is building up inside me when I wore this. I have 2 more men scents for this purpose. One full size (works pretty darn good if I have an business meeting with only men).

L'oréal Elnett de Luxe Hairspray
A classic stable. Love it and I aready have 2 new ones in my drawer (different ones as I wanted to try the one with shining reflexes and another one I can't remember right now). Love & absolutely recommend!

Olaz Total Effects 7 in One 
This is awful and it is not nearby emty but it made me break out, it smelled after 2 weeks hidous and it looks so dreadful on my skin. Luckily dumped this one.

Kiehl's Ultra Facial Oil-Free Gel Cream
I adore and have now the lotion and the ultra facial cream (classic) for night-times. Love!!!


Hope you enjoyed this.
Cheers,
StrangenessOfHeart

Sunday*Brunch

Aloha All,

|Watched| I have no TV - just throw it out last week! Yay!
|Listened| Change by Taylor Swift, Fast Car by Taio Cruz & On My Way by Boyce Avenue
|Read| Das Glücksprojekt by Alexandra Reinwarth - hilarious!
|Action| Vegan Brunch Action with my friends - loved it & I have to admit that it turned out to be one of the best food sessions I've had so far (without petting my shoulder myself too much), an important interview (although I failed clearly as I lacked to jump on the right topics)
|Food| Vegan Flammkuchen, Pumpkin-Coconut-Curry with rice, Mixed Italian oven dish, Peanut Butter Bars with Cranberries, Peanutbutter-Vanilla-Dessert & Vegeatable-Noodles with Avocado-Creme (all selfmade)!
|Drink| Non-alcoholic wine, water, herbal tea, black coffee
|Thought| Focus on the little light on the end of this tunnel...
|Made me smile| My beloved ones worrying about me, carrying about my interview & emphasizing overall with my little struggles. Thanks!
|Made me go hmmm| My fear for living my dreams. Letting go. My lack of jumping in on the right topics.
|Wished for| Love. And being able to let it happen. To really let go of my fears and my stubborn thought of giving up independance with stepping into love....
|Best Buy| Wine (again: It is my belioved Californian Wine - finally within reach!!!)
|Online| blogger.com, bommelme.com, youtube.com, vegan blogs...

Cheers,
StrangenessOfHeart

Book Challenge 2013

Aloha all,

This year I will again start a book reading challenge. I have 53 books as a target and I really hope I can keep the speed :-)

As I am not always keen to read after going through millions of documents at work (not the most thrilling topics I am afraid).

So I have quite some books on my list and will maybe write one or the other review/ recommendation.

So far I am on track with 6 books already read in this short time (my brain & my fantasy are screaming for food – really day & night)!

Already one of the most lovely books I've come to read in a while are the ones by Tamora Pierce (Alanna-stories I adore). So I absolutely recommend those if you have a slight interest in women adventure, magic, knights's age and a bit of love strugges on a side note. You won't be disappointed - believe me!

More later on. But when I am mentioning this I should also mention goodreads.com --> here you can exchange, study & research about good books, new authors, beloved fellows etc... I love this place as much as I love books. It helped me discover some great reading pleasures - so let's relax, enjoy and browse the site!

Cheers,
StrangenessOfHeart

Sunday*Brunch

Aloha All,

|Watched| Drama around me...
|Listened| Wolke 7  by Max Herre feat. Philipp Poisel
|Read| Alanna-books by Tamora Pierce
|Action| Wine tasting with a friend, museum visits (I was far too long not in one but there are that many interesting exhibitions ging on!!!
|Food| Soj vanilla yogurt and fresh fruits in the morning, easy tossed salads for lunch (except for one chinises take away - veggies with rice and tofu, & finally a friend discovered a vegan restaurant & I was given an voucher for that. Yay!!!
|Drink| Green tea with fresh ginger, lemon*aid drink, black coffee, white wine
|Thought| I have to contninue this road more eageryl ...
|Made me smile| Friend swho worried and supported me through this week, a spontanous trip to Rome in spring.
|Made me go hmmm| The recent happenings around me are more than scary: People waiting in front of our house and being pretty rude, throughing eggs on our door & wall, there was blood in the entry hall...and there was a fight in ine of the other apartments... I am shocked and scared. Hopefully this will be solved fast.
|Wished for| That this week never happened...or/and that this problem is quickly solved and it is ok.
|Best Buy| Wine
|Online| blogger.com, gutefrage.net, youtube.com, vegan blogs...

Cheers,
StrangenessOfHeart

Resolutions 2013 ~ Details

Aloha All,


here are some more details on some resolutions I mentioned before. But I had the feeling of clarifying them a bit further. Details make the difference, right?!

Reduce & Use Up:

I was kind of obsessed with new products. So each and every time I went to the drugstore I bought something (I guarantee: I didn’t need it!). No matter what I had to buy and of course I had to try everything that was mentioned by more than 3 of my fav beauty bloggers/ youtublings. It was a crazy time and I perfectly made up for all the years I wasn’t too impressed with beauty (just really the basics – after all I was a real tomboy and mascara and a bit of lipgloss was all I needed. Maybe some eyeliner on occasions but plainly that was it.).

You see I had to make a short recap and I did.

But now I have far more than I will every be able to use up (especially when you look at powders, blushes and eyeshadows – I could easily make up half of the female population worldwide (at least I feel like it).

Will.Stop.This.Now!

I already made a sound start in 2012 with quitting beauty boxes and stuff. So I will continue this journey. Wish me luck!

à For an easy check I will start with “UsedUp” – a new series where I recap what I used up and will throw away. This way you get a review AND an overview about my endless supplies on beauty related products.

Shop My Stash!

It comes with the one above easily: I will work with what I have. Because it is a lot. End of period.

I will get more creative in the way I use things and will rock some looks I didn’t do as I felt to shy to do them. Examples as follows:

- Wearing a bold red lip – hej sassiness, I am coming!

- Wearing colourful eyes – thanks nude/natural shades, I still love you but you must admit that your brighter brothers and sisters should have a chance to shine as well!

- Breaking the Make up rut. I am one to go for a look I liked over again and again (although I am bored easily)

- I think of a weekly bag of things I will throw in for the week just for fun… I have to see how this works out (maybe monthly is better as I can really test & try what is best to do with the products).

Lifestyle & Health

Drink more water & tea throughout the day

Start to find a routine for my daily dose of working out (would love to install a 10 minutes program but have to find one I stick with)

No more smoking (I don’t do this on a regular base but sometimes)

Use SPF 15 at least – better be off with SPF 30!

Care about my starting wrinkles (my face is pure cinema as my friends say. It is always in movement and you can read my face like a book. All emotions are shown and this is causing some wrinkles I should worry at this age ... but they make me who I am right?)

Think this is clarifying quite something ;)

Cheers,

StrangenessOfHeart

Resolutions 2013 ~ Fashion & Lifestye

Aloha All,

Welcome to the 2nd part of my resolutions for a happy and exiting 2013. Enjoy and let me know if you have some resolutions yourself. And they might be identical with the ones I have?!

Fashion

Stay true to my style & shop my stash more often

Combine the things & also kick myself for wearing some more adventurous outfits if I like them (sometimes I think others won’t approve – wth?!)

Only buy key pieces and/or things that compliment my wardrobe (and forget about a lot of it-pieces who won’t make it on my body a second time)

Lifestyle

Follow the vegan path (love it!)

Eat even more fresh & organic and most important of all: Overcome the last rest of my bad eating habits

Be more active & don’t let myself down to easy (I did so the last 2 years and it didn’t do me any good. I need to remind myself what I already achieved)

Cheers,

StrangenessOfHeart 

Resolutions 2013 ~ Beauty

Aloha All,

I’ve read quite a lot of these resolutions and I found them brilliantly useful. For me as just someone who you after all fell fairly recently into a beauty routine (and yes, let’s call it a slight obsession) this is THE perfect way to start a new year.

I have found so many inspirations around and now I am eager to try this for myself.

I will split them into short posts  :)

So here we go with my beauty resolutions for a happy 2013!

Skincare

Always clean my face properly and get rid of my make up. (Think I am already pretty good on this part BUT I often found my eyes – especially my mascara – not quite perfectly washed of)

Pay closer attention to my skincare & here go deeper into the special needs. I am only a mid-twenty-lass but I have a string problem with T-Zone and the first wrinkles (because of dryness) around my eyes.

MakeUp

Don’t buy more stuff! Shop my stash (more details on another post)

Use the things on hand & repurchase what has been faithful to me over the past months & years (there are products who worth to be stables)

Come out of my comfort zone with some things (gel eyeliner, felt tip liner – it looks good, I just have to practice)!

Stay true to my style nevertheless

Hair

Let it grow and wear if more often down (I used to have it up 360 days a year)

Give it careful treatments

Try new styles (Curling iron is my newest tool on hand – so I need some more practice with it)

Don’t penetrate it with bleaching, colouring, highlighting & heat all the same (I try to go back to my original colour & embrace it for what it is – because it compliments by type so why change it?)

Cheers,

StrangenessOfHeart