Pages

Friday, July 26, 2013

Sunbathing like a Boss, Part 1: Sun Creams


Hi guys!

Today I wanted to tell you about one of the most important products you should use in summertime, the  sun cream.
Being a biology student with a knowledge of genetics, I get a bit paranoid when it comes to UV rays and what they can do to your DNA. The chances of your body's repair mechanism missing out on a damage that could possibly cause skin cancer in the end, aren't too high but the proper mechanisms are rather complex and you never know what could happen.

Firstly, what should you look for in a sun cream?

Protection against UV-A and UV-B rays: The UV rays are distinguished in those of type A, which has the longer wave length and causes the skin to age more quickly, and of type B that is one of the main sources of skin cancer. A good sun cream should protect you against both but make sure it is said on the packaging that it does and if it doesn't ask someone in the shop. This is important, ladies.

SPF: The sun protection factor elongates the time you can stay in the sun without burning your skin. There are different types of skin and each type has a different ability to protect itself. If you have red hair and really fair skin for example, that time is limited to about 5 - 10 min per day before you should move into the shadows. Using a sun cream with SPF 20 you could stay in the sun 10 * 20 min but that you shouldn't do really. You should actually move out of the sun after two thirds of the time to give your skin a break. You also should avoid the sun around midday as it is the most aggressive then.

Also, a lot of people are convinced the SPF in their sun protection products lose their strength after a year but that's not entirely true. When the bottle is quite empty and there is rather a lot of oxygen reacting with the products that may be the case but believe me, you would smell that. If it still smells and looks okay you can continue using it.

There are a lot more things to mind and do to protect yourself but that is something for another post.
Now on to the products!




Lancaster Sun Beauty Velvet Milk Sublime Tan:
Let's start off with my favourite! This sun cream by Lancaster has a SPF 30 and filters for UVA, UVB and infrared rays which are believed to have a great share in the ageing of our skin. The infrared filter has small particles in them that reflect the rays and it basically makes you glitter in the sunlight. It's not so bad that I felt like a vampire because it is very subtle but still it is there.
The smell of this product is another thing that should be mentioned. To me it just smells like sun cream does but I've got so many compliments on its smell while wearing this and Lancaster even has a patent on it. It seems it doesn't smell like any other sun cream after all, have a smell yourselves!
Although Lancaster is one of the most expensive brands on the sun product market, this is the sun cream I reach for most. I find it nourishes my skin whilst protecting it, it is slightly cooling and it's not sticky at all, at least to me, I'm not too sensitive on that part.
What I really hate about this is that there are no bigger sizes than 175 mL which I find stupid because I don't like repurchasing sun cream during the summer. I'd be super glad if they did a 500 mL bottle!




Nivea Sun Pflegende Sonnenmilch:
This sun milk has a SPF 50+ which is the highest you can get as far as I know and protects from UVA and UVB. It also is waterproof but this doesn't mean that it really is waterproof in the common sense but that after bathing more than 50 % of the product is still on your body.
It is not too expensive and really good for sensitive skin, that's a bonus all Nivea products have. My mother has the most sensitive skin which is why we have so many Nivea products around, just in case you're wondering looking at the next pictures.
This cream is really sticky after applying though so it might not be to everyone's liking.









Nivea Sonnenmilch für Kinder:
This is basically the same as the above one but specially designed for children. It again has a SPF 50+ and UVA/UVB protection and is waterproof. I like children's sun care products because they tend to sink into the skin faster and are less sticky because no child would want to wait for his sun cream to sink in instead of running around and throwing themselves into the sea.















Nivea Pflegendes Sun-Spray:
This is, again, a variation of the first Nivea product but it's not a cream this time but a spray. I like my cream for the first application in the morning but on the go I much prefer sun sprays because they are lighter and don't make as much mess as creams do. This again is quite sticky.
















Nivea Sun Light Feeling Transparent Spray:

Another spray I like to use is this one. It has a SPF 20 and is waterproof and non-greasy. I like using this when I already have a tan and know I won't be outside for too long. For example between two classes when we have about one hour to relax and sit outside. Due to its kind of oily looking formula and non-greasing effect it is perfect for on-the-go protection but is has a funny smell of spices which might not be to everyone's liking. I find it bearable but I prefer my Lancaster sun cream smell, haha.











What I do additionally to protecting my face is using moisturisers and foundations with an included SPF. Knowing I will be out only for an hour or so while getting to Uni for example I just can't be bothered with sun cream and I think these are a good way to give at least a minimum protection to your face. What I don't have is an eye cream with SPF but that's not because I find it unnecessary but because I haven't found one that suits me, yet. If you have any recommendations, please tell me!


I hope you liked this post and found it informative. I can forget myself over sun protection so I'd love to hear what your favourite products are!
And keep your eyes open for the second and third part of this post in which I will be talking about additional sun care for your face and after-sun care and other things you should be aware of in the sun!

Have the most splendid day!

xx

Friday, July 19, 2013

FOTD: Exam Time and Ice Cream with Friends


Hi guys!

I had a test the other day and my friends and I decided to head into town afterwards to enjoy the good weather and celebrate that the test was over.

When I have to write a test I usually only go for some mascara and a cream blusher but as we wanted to  do something else afterwards I felt like doing a tiny little bit more but not too much as it was a really hot day.











The prodcuts I used:

MAC Matchmaster Foundation A33 1.5

Maybelline EverFresh Concealer Light Beige
Essence Match 2 Cover! Cream Concealer 
Annayake  Translucent Powder



MAC Harmony Powder Blush
Estee Lauder Pure Color Illuminating Powder Gelée Blush 01 Tease
YSL Touche Éclat 2



alverde Transparentes Augenbrauen- und Wimperngel
Catrice Prime and Fine Eyeshadow Base
MAC Naked Lunch (on the lid)
MAC Satin Taupe (in the crease)
Maybelline Master Precise Liquid Eyeliner Black
Manhattan X-Act Eyeliner Paint It Black Waterproof
Catrice The Giant Mascara, Black

Astor Soft Sensation Lip Butter, Pink Lady

essence colour&go nail polish, Better Later than Never

_____________________________________________________

Have the most wonderful day!
xx




Tuesday, July 16, 2013

My Top 3 Crime Authors


Hi guys!

Reading is a big issue with me in the summertime. Okay, actually throughout the year but it's summer now so we'll only talk about that.
I'm a general lover of crime novels but I prefer them when it's hot outside just as I prefer fantasy in the winter. I've read so much of both that I started to get very picky and demanding when it comes to those genres so I thought why not share my three most favourite crime authors with you?

I'll just be telling you my favourite authors instead of doing a proper Top 3 because how much I like one in particular depends on my mood and that can change pretty fast.



Simon Beckett:
He is an English author and probably most famous for his books about David Hunter, a forensic anthropologist assisting the police in various cases. As he is the narrator of the stories, everything and especially the parts concerning his work are on a scientific base but not in too complicated a fashion. I really enjoyed reading his books, the first of his series being Chemistry of Death, because they are easy and fast to read and so thrilling! My personal favourite is the second one, Written in Bone.
There are non-Hunter books by Simon Beckett as well, but they are not crime books but thrillers. They're really enjoyable as well, though!

























Jussi Adler-Olsen:
This gentleman comes from Denmark and this is where his books about policeman Carl Mørck take place as well. In the first book, Mercy, Carl returns to his job after living through a terribly gone wrong investigation in which one of his friends got killed. He is signed to work up old cases that couldn't be solved earlier and this is where all the books start off.
What I like about this detective is that although he has serious private problems, he isn't too negative about his life and it's still the investigation that is the centre of the action.






Agatha Christie:
Is there much I have to tell you about the Grande Dame of crime? Her works, especially Miss Marple but Hercule Poirot as well, are a staple read in the summer time with me. Some years ago when my family and I went to Greece I had a lot of books from the library with me and most of them were coincidentally Miss Marple stories. So I spent almost all the time lying by the pool getting sucked into the England of the first half of the 20th century. A must-read for everyone who loves crime stories!





What kind of books do you like to read in the summertime? Please, please tell me, I'm always so eager for more books of every kind!
Also, please tell me if you like my book related posts as I personally would like to do them on a weekly base because my passion for the written word is just as great as my love for make up.


Have a splendid day!

xx


Friday, July 12, 2013

My June Favourites


Hi guys!

We're already well into July and it's high time you get to know my last month's favourites.
This time I have again a video for you, so enjoy!





L'Occtinane 20 % Shea Butter Hand Creme: A fabulous hand creme in a gorgeous packaging. Although it contains so much shea butter it has a very light and smooth texture and moisturises the skin so well.

Giorgio Armani Acqua di Gioia: The most wonderful scent I own, with mint (yay!) and brown sugar. I told you more about it here.

Clarins Lotus Face Treatment Oil: A 100 % organic oil for oily skin. It balances the skin and makes it a lot clearer. Also blemishes heal much faster. One of my personal holy grails.

British Continental Trading Lipsticks: Super soft lipsticks that are easy to handle and comfortable to wear. The pigmentation isn't the best but that's actually the thing I love about them because wearing very heavy lipsticks in summer is a thing I don't particularly like to do.

Microcell 2000 + Essence Better Than Gel Nails Top Coat: Super cool combination of a base and top coat that makes most nail polishes last over a week, full review here.


These are my favourites! As always, I'd be super super super happy if you headed over to youTube and gave me a thumps up and/or leave me a comment there. If you even subscribed, I'd love you to the moon and back!

If you want to here more about a certain product, feel free to tell me!
What have you been loving last month?

Have a splendid day!
xx

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Books and books and more books - My Summer Reading List


Hi guys!

There are only four weeks left until my semester is done and I'm finally free to lounge away my leisure time in the sun that is finally back again.
As I'm a massive reader and lover of books, I thought I'd share my to-do reading list with you.

Here we go!

Note: There are some books I can't read straightly because I'd be talking in sonnets then and this is why I'm reading little pieces and snippets at different times, they are marked with a *. 



* William Shakespeare - The Complete Works: Unfortunately Master Shakespeare was no big topic for us while I was in school and we only read snippets of one play so I decided to take a turn on him myself as I'm a huge lover of poetry and there basically is no poet as great as Shakespeare.

* Grimms Märchen: Do I have to say anything about the stories of Brothers Grimm? My neighbour who I viewed as my vice grandma (my grandma lived in another country back then) always read them to me and they are a classic.

* Douglas Adams - The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: The Adventures of Englishman Arthur Dent while travelling through space with his alien friends told in Douglas Adam's hilarious fashion. It is so funny and sometimes so obviously illogical I wanted to throw the book into a corner and forget about it but well, I've been hooked for a long time.

* Edgar Allan Poe - The Complete Works: This goes the same way as Shakespeare and I absolutely love Poe's dark and gloomy way of telling stories.




 J. R. R. Tolkien - The Lord of the Rings: My favourites book ever and ever and ever. This is a re-read and I kind of lost track of how often I have read this. I think the story is known, do I have to tell you more?

* J.R. R. Tolkien - The Complete History of Middle Earth I - III: I treated myself to the anthology of all the stories and history of Middle Earth last winter when I turned 21 and I hadn't had a chance since then to get my nose into those books. I'm so excited!




Peter V. Brett - The Daylight War: This is the third instalment of the Demon Cycle series which takes place in a world where demons prowl the night killing everyone who ventures outside the protecting wards. However, there is a mysterious figure called the Painted Man who is said to be able to kill demons with his bare hands. I'm reading competitively at the moment and my friend had a good head start because I had to finish another book first, let's see if I can overtake her!

Suzanne Collins -  The Hunger Games: Okay, well, this is no re-read. I've wanted to read this series for so so long, long before it became famous and I'm a bit angry at myself for not having been able to read it four years ago. Well, I'm starting now, anyway!

Joe Abercrombie - Best Served Cold: A story about a mercenary who is thirsting for revenge on the one who did her wrong while a bloody war is taking place in her own country. At least that's what I understand it to be, we'll see. I loved every book by this author so far, if you're interested I did a review on one of his books here.

George R. R. Martin - Clash of Kings / Storm of Swords: Same thing here as with The Hunger Games. I've read A Games of Thrones already and I loved it so much! Before you ask, no, I haven't seen the series yet but I will, I just want to read the books first.





Those are some nostalgic books I read and was read as a child, I don't know whether they are available in other languages than German. They look so battered by the way because they are actually my dad's (sorry for nicking them!).

James Krüss - Der Leuchtturm auf den  Hummerklippen: This is a story about a man living in a light house in the middle of the sea and all of his friends that visit him. Everyone tells a story when they are there so this book is basically a collection of small super sweet stories and poems.

Ottfried Preußler - Der Räuber Hotzenplotz: Oh, such a classic and beloved book! A robber is stealing Grandma's coffee mill and her grandson and his friend head out to get it back, getting into loads of trouble.

Ottfried Preußler - Die kleine Hexe: A little witch striving to be good and friendly whereas this is no behaviour for a proper witch and she has to decide between being accepted or doing what her heart tells her.



These are all (of my) books I want to read in the upcoming weeks and months. It seems quite a lot but not considering those I won't read in a straight way I know I could actually do it.
Could.
If my mother didn't have this most amazing bookshelf with so many books I wanted to read for years and years on end. I'll probably grab a few of hers so I won't be able to finish all of mine and I''m sure I'm going to buy new ones as well. I wonder if I'll ever be able to finish of my stack of unread books...


If you have recommendations for me or want to know something about the books I showed you or a review, feel free to tell me! I love talking about books as much as I love talking about beauty so please tell me if you'd like to see more literature-related posts.

Have nice day!
xx


Friday, July 5, 2013

Review: Microcell 2000 + essence Better than Gel Nails Topsealer

Hey guys!

Many of you asked me to tell you how I managed to keep my nail polish unchipped as long as I do and the secret really lies in the products I use additionally.

So here they are:























The product I use as a base coat is the Microcell 2000 nail repair. It isn't actually a base coat but a cure for weak nails.
A few months ago my nails were so broken I couldn't go out without any nail polish. They started to break on the middle of my nail bed. It even went so far that they started separating in their different layers and broke when I only hit my nail on the table.
No need to say, I was fairly desperate and a friend of mine recommended this to me. Even though it costs 12 € I was so desperate that I spent the money and bought it plus the corresponding nail polish remover.
What shall I say? It really helped me. The packaging says to put on one coat a day for two days then remove it and so on for three weeks. When I removed it my nails were shiny and nourished and felt stronger. Afterwards it should be used as a base coat which gave me the idea of using it differently on a permanent scale because I actually had another base coat at the time.
The small down part of this is that is made my cuticles a bit awkward, I couldn't quite work with them as I am used to but this was only while using it as a strengthener, now the effect is barely noticeable.

The other product is the Studio Nails Better than Gel Nails Top Sealer by essence.
In contrast to the Microcell nail polish it is really cheap, one bottle costs about 3 €. There is a fast drying one and the normal one which I use but I still find it very fast drying. It takes only a few minutes to be hard enough to do something else.
It's finish is really shiny and gives the colour you chose a super glossy look.
I've heard some bloggers say that they changed the formula since I bought mine and some dislike the new one. Mine's still pretty full so I have no idea about this but at this price I think you can check it out and it's not the big drama if it's not the best anymore. It would be a shame though, if this now isn't as good as it used to be.

Giving you proof I'm not making things up I kept the same nail polish, which is Essie's Cute As A Button, on for one week and took pictures of the first day and the last.


Day 1

Day 7

Day 7: Little chips on the tips of the fingernails


There is a little bit of wear on the tips but that's okay for me because I've been doing quite a lot with my hands, the least of it being digging through the earth on the hunt for insects. That was a part of my Uni class, I'm not weird so don't worry guys, haha.
But overall I don't think there is a lot of difference between Day 1 and Day 7. It did chip that day but like I said, that was okay for me.
I find it really hard not remove it earlier anyways because I get annoyed by one colour pretty fast.

If those nail polishes cross your way I think you should give them a try. Although one of them is really expensive the effects you get are amazing and are worth the price.

What do you think? Are you going to try these or have you already? Tell me below!

xx

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

June Empties


Hi guys!


Here is my new Empty video for you. I hope you'll enjoy it!


 


The products:

Perlier Body Honey Miel Hand Creme: A fairly good hand lotion with organic honey and a smell of lilies of the valley. The moisturising effect is good to medium and it is easy to apply as it has a very light texture. It did get empty pretty fast, though.

Biotherm Multi Recharge Daily Moisturiser: My spring/summer staple moisturiser. Although it is very expensive, it has the most gorgeous cooling, soothing and moisturising effect on the skin and smells amazing. I'd recommend this so much!

The Body Shop Mango Shower Gel: Smells gorgeously of mangos and is as good as any shower gel by TBS I've had had so far. The big sizes are available in sale and are fairly cheep then, if you came across one, have a look.

Neutrogena Cleansing Wipes: I spontaneously decided I wanted cleansing wipes and picked those up randomly. It turned out to be a good choice, they remove most of my skin makeup and a bit of the eye makeup which is okay because I only use these to get most of my makeup off when I come home before cleansing properly in the evening. They also are good for sensitive skin.

Hydrofugal Sensitive Roll On: I hated this deodorant so much, it has an unpleasant smell and it regularly failed me during the day so I started carrying a different one with me. This is in no way acceptable to me!

Paul Mitchell Lavender Mint Moisturising Conditioner: This lavender-heavy conditioner is supposed to moisturise and strengthen your hair and it did its job. I liked it but not so much I'd purchase another or bigger bottle. It's okay, but not amazing.

Labello Pure&Natural Mint&Minerals: Mediocre lip balm but oh my, the scent. This smells so gorgeously of mint it was a pleasure applying it. You can never have enough lip balms and I'm definitely going to repurchase this.

L'Oreal Ever Rich Shampoo: I loved this, my hair felt light and smooth and silky after washing it with this and as soon as I spot the full size product in a store I'm going to purchase this.

L'Oreal Age Perfect Moisturiser: I wasn't too impressed with this anti-aging product. You can't expect to see an effect with only a small sample and the formula was too rich for my skin.

Estee Lauder Daily Moisturiser: Same as with the L'Oreal one, it wasn't as rich though, but still too much. It had quite a refreshing effect as well.


If you want to make me very happy, check out my YouTube channel and leave me a comment there!

Tell me below if you have done an Empties blogpost, I always enjoy reading those. Do you know any of the products I mentioned or want to try any?

xx