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Books You Need to Take a Look At

Hey there,

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to read more books, and even though I didn't read a ton of new books, I did learn to enjoy reading a book in the train again. So far, I'm pretty proud of myself since I managed to stick to my New Year's Resolution, which is, I must say, quite a record worth to celebrate. Don't you think? 

Anyway, it took some time, at least 10 or 20 pages, to get me really back into the whole reading spree. I guess, I haven't read in so long that my brain didn't remember what it was like to fully focus on one thing for a certain amount of time. But I did it! I got stuck reading the same pages for awhile because I couldn't actually realized what I was reading (know the feeling?) but I did it, I've finished my first book of the year 2016! Yeah!

To celebrate me sticking to at least one of my New Year's Resolution, that's not true actually, because I managed to stick to some other resolutions as well, but let's keep that for another post. I thought I'll talk to you about some books that I've read in the past and that I've loved so much they deserve a shout out. So let's get into it, shall we? 


* The Fault in our Stars - John Green 
I'm sure you all heard about this one before, and maybe already read it. This one is THE book you need to read. It's an amazing story and one of the rare books that made me cry. I didn't think it was possible to feel such emotions while reading a book, but it is! And this is the only argument I'll use to tell you that you have to read this books! I know it's more of a young adult novel but it just has real and meaningful life lessons in it such as "enjoy every little moment of your life because you'll never know what could happen". 

* This is Where I Leave You - Jonathan Tropper
You know it's a good book when they make a movie out of it. This is definitely not a young adult novel, and I'll say it is more for men, but I read it, and I enjoyed it, and it made me buy every single books written by Jonathan Tropper. I've read one of his book before I read this one, and when you read two books you absolutely love, you know you need to see the rest of the collection. This books gathers every details you want to find in a book: laugh, sadness, surprise, hanger... you name it! When I was reading this book, I felt like I was watching a movie, I could picture every single details, and I could every single emotions. It made me laugh, it made me cry, and it made me think about how family is important. 

* The Potential Hazards of Hester Day - Mercedes Helnwein 
More of a young adult novel I would say, but this one was so funny and good, I think I finished it in 3 days. I was so captured by the story and it reminds me of John Green's story. So if you're a fan of John Green's work, or you're just into funny, cute story full of ups and downs, you need to read this! 

* Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - Jonathan Safran Foer 
That's the kind of book I didn't fall in love with, not at first sights. I heard about the movie, I heard about the story behind the movie, and then I heard about the book. I really wanted to watch the movie, but as always I'd rather read the book before I've watched the movie. So I did, and I'm not going to lie, it was hard to read, just because there are so many different stories in it, so many things you need to read and know before you get into the full story. Again, this is an amazing and meaningful story, it makes you feel so much emotions, and learn so much about life. Even though it was difficult to get into it at first, just because it's complicated, I still recommended it to my best friend, he had a hard time reading it at first, but he still loved it. 

* The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins
The first thriller story I've ever read! I read it in like 2 days I think, I was just so much into it. Once you start it, you're just caught in it, you need to know the end, you need to find out everything. You can't stop reading once you start! I thought it was going to be scary, because I heard some things about it, but it's really not, it's surprising, and again, it feels like you're watching a movie when you read it because you really get into the story. 

* I Still Dream About You - Fannie Flag 
I must admit, I'm not proud of myself, because I got this book because I liked the cover... I know, I know... you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but I can't help it. I was not disappointed by this one. It's just a relatable, funny, sweet and surprising story, and I was so sad when I read the last page. Definitely worth a read! And I'm pretty sure I'm going to look at more books from Fannie Flag.

* The Last Lecture - Randy Pausch 
I know I talked about this one before, so I'm not going to get into much details. That's the kind of books that changes your life. I know it sounds cheesy, but it makes you think about how you're living your life, and how you should be living your life. It's full of lessons, and the fact that it's not a novel and that it's an actual book kind of a biography makes it even more concrete. It feels like Randy Pausch is actually talking to you and sharing his advices and life lessons with you. I cried when I was done reading it because Randy Pausch had such a wonderful life, and the fact that he wanted to share it in a lecture and in a book, is just amazing. 

That's it for the books I think you need to read! Have you read any before? Let me know what you think. 

Until next time, you can follow me on Blog Lovin so you'll know exactly when my next posts are coming!

See you soon.

Love,

Elsa. 

PS: Again no relation between the pictures and the post, but the picture still relates to art, and books are art!

Heaven in a pretty box // Charlotte Tilbury Vintage Vamp Review

Hello there,

I guess it's the season of reviews because today I'm coming back with yet another review. My boyfriend got me the Vintage Vamp eye palette from Charlotte Tilbury for Christmas, and I must say, I adore it. I've been using it a lot lately, and I thought I'll show you what it's like and how amazing it is. If you read my Christmas Wish List, you'll know that I asked for either the Vintage Vamp or the Dolce Vita, I really liked both and I couldn't decide which one would be better for my eyes. I thought that the colors in the Vintage Vamp were similar to the shadows in the Naked3 Palette, and that the Dolce Vita was pretty original but I didn't know if I could pull them off. 

Anyway, I'm really happy he got me the Vintage Vamp because boy was I wrong! It's nothing like the Naked3, the colors are so pretty, and there's something high-end about his small palette. I mean, duh... it's Charlotte Tilbury! Plus, I feel like the purple and pink tone of this palette really match my brown eyes. I think they're even easier to wear than the Dolce Vita, because the colors of the Dolce Vita are more in the red and dark brownish colors. Maybe I'm wrong, so let's wait until next Christmas, shall we!

How does it look? 
The packaging is just so amazingly pretty, it feels like you're touching something so precious when you have it in your hands. I must say I was pretty disappointed by the size of it 'cause I was expecting something bigger. When you open it, you have a mirror on one side and the shadows on the other side. The shadows are quite small but they are so pigmented, the pigment makes up for it. The whole inside is in a rose gold or gold color, really pretty, while the outside are like a deep burgundy color with some gold details. It's so pretty! 

What does it do? 
There're 4 shadows: a light sparkling white/pink color, a deep fuchsia, a gold one, which is really just sparkles when you apply it on the eye, and a deeper fuchsia almost purple color. The palette is made to help you come up with the perfect look, it's the perfect kit of a pink/purple smoky eye. Each shadows have a specific number and a specific function for the makeup. 

The lightest color is to "prime", you apply it all over the eye lid and under the arch of the brows. It's very much like an highlighter. To open up the eyes you can apply it on the inner corner of the eyes as well. 



The second color, which is the first deep pink color, is to enhance. You apply it on the crease. I really like this color, it's really classy, and I used it with different looks and colors. The third color is the "Pop", it's the gold one. As I said, it just adds sparkles rather than a gold tone. I usually apply this shadow once I'm done with the other shadows. 


The fourth shadow, the deep deep deep pink almost burgundy color is the Smoke color. That's the one you really want to use for a more night-out look, or for more definition. I usually apply this one on the outer corner of my eyes in a V shape, and I bring it down to the lower corner of my eyes. 


It's a very "versatile" palette, if you can say that. What I mean is that you can do different looks with the same colors, it depends on how you apply the shadows, what lipstick you choose to wear with it, eyeliner etc. I used it for New Year's Eve and even though we weren't doing much, I really emphasized on the shadows for a more smoky and celebration look. However for day time, I like to keep it more "simple" or sophisticated, and I really believe this palette is perfect for this type of look. I love to wear it with a winged eyeliner, and a light pink lipstick, or as I did in the pictures, with just mascara with a deep red lipstick. I also like to mix the shadows with other shadows, it really depends on my mood. 


Final Thoughts
I just love it so much, I think it's the most precious makeup product I've ever owned. It just so pretty and amazing. As I say you can wear it in so many different ways, with so many different things. So it's small but it can do a lot. It's expensive, I'm not gonna lie, and you can find cheaper options to get the same look. But, the colors are so pretty, so pigmented, the packaging really reflects the quality and it just screams "high end". It's so complete, I mean if you go away on a little weekend getaway, you can just take this palette with mascara, foundation, concealer, blush, and lipstick, and whatever other products you use, and you're good to go for the weekend. It really offers options from day to night. You just need to be a little creative.


I love this palette so much I'm saving for getting maybe another one, and out of the 9 others palette from the Iconic look collection, I've got some choices. I hope you liked this post, let me know what you think of the palette. I may do different posts about this palette to show you different looks, let me know what you think. 

I'll see you soon, until then, you can follow me on Blog Lovin so you'll know exactly when my next posts are coming! 

Love,

Elsa. 

What Makeup I'm wearing:
Foundation: ColorStay from Revlon
Concealer: Accord Parfait from l'Oreal
Powder: Stay Matte from Rimmel
Brows: Brows Pencil from Maybelline
Blush: Hot Mama from the Balm
Bronzer: Maxi Delight Bronzer from Bourgeois
Highlighter: Mac Mineralize Powder 
Mascara: Audacious from Nars
Lipstick: Vera from Nars




Bambi Audacious Eyes Envy // Nars Audacious Mascara Review

Hey there,

As you may or may not know from my previous posts, I've been obsessed with the Better Than Sex Mascara from Too Faced. I've been using it every single day for over 6 months now. But, lately I felt like I needed some changes, and I needed to try some new things. I've been searching for a new foundation, new liquid liner, new mascara, new everything... mainly because my products are almost empty. So during a trip to Sephora I came across the Audacious Mascara from Nars. 

I'm not the kind of girl who goes out shopping for makeup and buy the first things she finds at the store. So I was pretty reticent to the idea of buying this mascara I've never heard of before. While being in the store, I looked at the Sephora app, looked at the reviews, and I decided to give it a go. On the next day I bought this, I didn't feel like putting any makeup on, but this mascara was just calling me, so I just tried it out, and since I've been using it for a week now, I thought I'll do a little review for you guys!


How does it look? 
First of all, the packaging is just very pretty. I'll admit it's not as pretty as the Better than Sex, but it's much more minimalist and I guess that's why I love it so much. I've been really into minimalistic stuff lately. Basically It's just plain black with a little touch of red. The brush is a medium/thin size, less big than the Better than Sex, which seems fuller.

What does it do? 
The Audacious mascara is supposed to give you fuller, voluminous and longer lashes, and it supposedly does not give you any bushes and stays on all day. That's what I read online and that's what it said on the little description at Sephora. Now, what I think is that it does give you voluminous and really long lashes, and I feel like it gives quite a "lashes extension" or "fake lashes" look, which I adore. It is waterproof, which is perfect for me since I tend to have watery eyes because of my contacts, and it stays on perfectly. It is easy to take off as well, which is always good because I don't like to spend 10 minutes trying to take my mascara off my lashes.

However... yes unfortunately no one is perfect and there's a tiny little negative point to this cutie... I feel like the brush is maybe too thin, and hurts a little when you use it in the beginning. The good point is that the brush picks up every single lashes, which helps give volume and a fuller look. But it's so thin it's quite painful at first. Plus, I also think that it's so thin, it doesn't pick up that much product, you have to go back adding more and more mascara to your lashes. But after all, it's really precise, so you really control how you want your lashes to look.

It does keep its promises of no bushes, because my lashes are just flawless with this!





Last Thoughts 
I like it, even though it's not my favorites mascara ever, it's a really good mascara, and it's quite affordable for a Nars product, considering that their blushes are at €31... just saying... But this mascara was €26, which is still expensive for a mascara, but it's Nars and it's a good quality, so it does worth the price. Even though, the brush is a little bit painful, I feel like it goes better the more and more you use it, and it really gives you the Lashes on Fleek look. I got some compliments on my eyes since I've been using it, and as Mark Twain once said, I can live on a good compliment for 2 months. 

However, to be honest, if you're ready to go high-end for mascara, and you're up to spend €25 for a mascara, I highly recommend to go for the Better than Sex from Too Faced, or the Perversion from Urban Decay. 

I hope you found this post useful, let me know if you ever tried this mascara before and what you think about it!

I'll see you soon, until then, you can still follow me on Blog Lovin so you'll know exactly when my next posts are coming!

Love,

Elsa.






When Anxiety Strikes ...

Hello there,

I've been wanting to talk about anxiety for awhile now but it's quite hard to know exactly what you want to say and how to say it. I'm not an expert in this field, I'm just experiencing anxiety. The reason I wanted to talk about it is that I've always been quite an anxious person, but I feel like my anxiety has came to a whole other point now that I'm more grown up. It's at a point now where it just affects my daily life in so many different ways. When I write blog posts, I'm really hard on myself and I'm scared about people's reaction or thoughts. It took all my efforts to put up my first posts because I was so scared and stressed.

I thought that maybe writing it down could help me, I feel like putting it down this way reflects exactly what I'm feeling inside, and it's a way for me to get it out and maybe feel better. 

Anxiety for me is like the feeling you get when you can't get out of somewhere, like in a dream, you're stuck in a room, there's no way out, and you just panic because you're stuck and you have no idea how you're gonna make it. It's like an endless bridge, you can see the end, but you can't reach it. When I have some anxiety crises, that's how I call them, I just feel so bad. Sometimes it happens quite quickly and out of nowhere, and it seems like it lasts so long because you can't do anything but wait for it to disappear, so you just panic even more because you're scared of the state you're at, and you don't know how long it's gonna take for you to feel okay again.

As I said, I've always been an anxious person, from as long as I can remember, I've always been a very introvert, shy and nervous person. However, moving away from home, even for a year, and living on my own has made me realize the "gravity" of stuff I didn't think was that bad. For example, it's not that I don't like going out at night and socialise with people, it's that I'm actually scared of that. The idea of going out, talking to people that I don't really know, drinking with people and becoming a version of myself that I don't necessarily like, having to come home late at night, walking alone etc. just stresses me out. I know it might sounds silly but it's true, it just panics me, badly. Just like conflicts make me really nervous, getting negative or constructive comments, meeting new people or talking in front of people, some conversations give me anxiety as well ... and so many other things...

It's very hard to deal with anxiety especially when people around you don't understand how you feel and don't seem to accept it. There're a lot of people who understand my anxiety but at the same time, don't understand how I really feel inside, and how hard simple things for them can be stressful for me. I know, stress is normal, and in some case, it can be good. But it's not when you feel a certain amount of stress, which makes you have a huge ball stuck in your stomach that makes you breathe heavily, shake, and want to cry, feel your heart beating loudly and quickly in your whole entire body. It's even worse when you feel all those things in situations when you shouldn't be stressed, like at night when you're laying in your bed and you should be sleeping, but instead you're reminiscing about everything that could go wrong in your whole life, and things that actually went wrong already.

In my anxiety healing process, I've understood that, evidently, it takes a lot of time to feel better, and that the whole process comes from yourself, and it's a combination of many different things. I've realized that I don't necessarily need to change who I am, I just need to change how I treat myself. I have to be kind to myself, and to believe in myself.

I've come across a funny note the other day, where it says "You've believed in Santa Claus for at least 7 years, you can believe in yourself for more than 5 minutes". I've also found some relaxation methods for when I do feel stressed. I know some people picture something comforting and relaxing for them in their mind, I don't really feel like it has worked for me. I've been taking Magnesium for awhile now, and it works, to some extents though... There are still some days where I feel like I'm a complete nervous mess and I cannot succeed at anything. I like to do the 478 breathing method, and to breath with my stomach, which may sound weird, but I'll explain.  

With the 478, you inhale for 4 seconds, hold your breath for 7 seconds and exhale for 8 seconds, it helps a lot with the shaking, and it helps me go to sleep at night. When you breathe with your stomach you just have to put a small object, like a pen or something, on your stomach and make it go up when you inhale and go down when you exhale. It helps for the very bad butterflies in the stomach. 

I'm just starting to be kind to myself, by congratulating myself when I succeed at getting out of my confort zone, and telling myself that it's okay to make mistakes because I can overcome them etc. I'm learning to enjoy the little things and not let myself get affected by silly things. It's hard and it's a long and very personal process but I'm getting there. 

I don't really know how to end this post, so I'll just say that I'll see you soon for a more cheerful post. I feel like this post was a way to get to know me a little better, because I'm not perfect, and I have some up and downs like everyone else, so I hope you still enjoyed reading it.

Don't forget to follow me on Blog Lovin so you'll know exactly when my next posts are coming!

Love,

Elsa.

PS: I didn't feel like adding any pictures to this post because I didn't know what could possibly fit in this kind of post. I found this pictures in a file on my computer, I took this pictures 4 or 5 years ago during a trip to New York City and it just reminds me of how relaxed I was back then and there. I thought it adds a little something to the post. Hope you don't mind. 

2016 and some magical Place... // Photo Diary

Hey there,

Happy New Year! I hope you had a great New Years' Eve and I hope 2016 will be an amazing year for everyone, full of love, happiness, health and joy. I didn't do much for New Years' Eve, I stayed home with my boyfriend and some family members and we had a calm evening. My boyfriend and I didn't want to do much since we were celebrating our first year together on the 1st of January. So for this special occasion we decided to go to Disneyland Paris and have a magical day. 
I think Disneyland is probably my favorite place on earth. There's something about this place, that makes it truly magical, and makes it so special. You feel so out of time when you're there, like nothing can affect you and you're so far from everything. My friends and I used to joke about how Disneyland feels like being in a bubble, and how the weather there is actually different than some other place around. Funny, uh? 


Anyway, so we woke up quite early on the very first day of January and after a 45 minutes drive jamming Taylor Swift and Adele, we arrived at Disneyland with thousands of other people. Too bad the weather wasn't all there, but it was still nice to spend not only our first anniversary together on the most magical place on earth, but also the very first day of 2016. What better way to celebrate the New Year than to spend it at Disneyland, really? 

I mean that's really just an excuse because I'll use any kind to go to Disneyland and enjoy myself. I just love Disneyland so much... 


And for the first time ever I actually took my camera... I underestimated how much time it would take to take pictures there. There's so much things to see and everything is so beautiful you want to take pictures of everything! Unfortunately, unless you're spending the entire weekend there, there's no time to take pictures of everything AND actually enjoy the amusement park. We literally took 40 minutes in front of the castle to take pictures of every single angle you can find! Before we knew it, it was already 11:00 so kind of late to start our day at Disneyland, but we did, and we had so much fun. 


It was the 4th or 5th time I'd gone to Disneyland Paris around Christmas, and thus Winter Time, and it's probably one of my favorite time of the year to go, with Summer. Everything is much more wonderful around Christmas Time, because they have fake snow flying around the air on the Main Street, they have Christmas' lights and decoration, and they have special shows just for this time of the year. 





So it wasn't the first time I'd visit Disneyland during the Winter time, but it was the first time I took the time to explore and look around, literally like a true tourist. For the first time ever, I think... I even went to the Christmas Parade. I usually never stop at the Parades because I used to feel like it was much more for the kids and when there's a parade, the rides are way less crowded! But due to funny hazardous circumstances, we ended up at the right place at the right moment to enjoy the Christmas Parade. 



It's so great to see how truly amazing the Parades are. I mean, you can tell how much energy it took to create this kind of show and make it magical for kids and grown ups. I have no words to describe it. I'm just speechless when I think about how much time, efforts and work it must have taken to create something like this, where the people, part of the show, seem like to come out of a Disney movie. And it's so cute kids and people's reaction in general, even though it's like a slap on the face when you recognized a character you grown up knowing, and that kids of the new generation don't know... Just saying... I feel old... 



I did take a lot of pictures but I'll spare you from every single one of them, because that's just a lot! I chose to show you guys my favorites and my favorites things to see around the park. 

We also took some time to shoot some OOTD pictures, really just a few, because I was really intimidated about how much people was there and even though I kept thinking "Don't care about what others think, I don't know them, I'd never see them again", I was just paralyzed, so I guess I'll work on that later. 

As I said, the weather wasn't quite there, so it was quite chilly, cloudy and humid. I was glad to be wearing my new favorite faux fur coat from Zara! I also threw on my favorite American Apparel beanie, a black and white color block jumper from Zara, which has a small turtleneck and is open on the sides, but is to confortable. I was also wearing my black Joni kind of leather pants from Topshop, and boots from Dunnes, which I also seem to wear when I go to Disneyland... and my purse is from Marc by Marc Jacobs. 


One of my favorite thing to do at Disneyland Paris is to walk around the Alice in Wonderland Maze. Well by now, I know my way around so it's not so fun anymore but it's still cool to walk around it and see the cute little character from Wonderland. Plus, on the top of the small Alice's castle you have an amazing view of the whole Fantasyland and the Disney's castle. 

It's so funny to see all the kids running around trying to find the exit and trying to figure out their way around. 




Alice in Wonderland is one of my favorite Disney movie, with Peter Pan... Guess you can see a theme with the whole Wonderland and Netherland thing. Yes, I was quite a dreamy child, and I still am a dreamy young woman. I just loved the idea of a magical place with mermaids, or funny weird and cute creatures. 
But anyway, I don't think I could ever leave Disney without stopping at the maze because it's just so cute, especially in Summer, same with Peter Pan, I usually always go to the Peter Pan ride, because I really do believe this one isn't just for kids, there's something very magical about this ride, something that just really transports to Netherland. Unfortunately, this time we couldn't go to the Peter Pan because apparently I'm not the only one who thinks that... 









I really believe that it's at night that the Disney magic truly happens. It's all light up, and still colorful even though it's dark, and there's something warm in the atmosphere, something that makes you forget it's cold and chilly and you're freezing. It's something comforting actually, a feeling of being home. Being able to watch the sunset is even more awesome, but unfortunately we didn't get to the sunset because there was no sun...




Even though, it's a more photo diary/OOTD post, I thought I'll still show you my makeup, if you can see. For Christmas my boyfriend got me the Charlotte Tilbury Vintage Vamp eye makeup palette, and my sister got the Semi Sweet Chocolate palette from Too Faced, so I used both palettes. I put the shade Nougat all over my lid from the Too Faced palette, then I put the shade 2 from the Vintage Vamp and I applied it on my creases and then I took the shade 3, the darker one and I put it on the outer corner of my eyes and a little bit on my creases as well for more definition.

I won't get too much into the makeup I'm wearing and the palettes because I plan to do several posts about those two goodies.

For lipstick I was wearing the shade Russian Red from Mac because Mac lipsticks last quite long, I wanted something that could last almost all day. 



That's it for today's post, I hope you liked it. I know it's a little bit different than other "travel posts" I've written before. The  pictures are all from me (and my boyfriend when I'm on the picture, of course).

Don't forget to follow me on Blog Lovin so you'll know exactly when my next posts are coming!

See you soon,

Love,

Elsa.