Friday 30 September 2011

Book Review: Ploetzlich Shakespeare by David Safier

Hey there!
Today I want to review a book I read lately. It was recommended to me by my sister, and I thought you might want to hear about it.
The book's called Ploetzlich Shakespeare, which is German and could be translated as "Suddenly Shakespeare". It's written by David Safier, a pretty popular German author, who also wrote "Mieses Karma" which some of you might now.
Now, onto the book. It's about a woman named Rosa, who is heart-broken because her big love is going to marry someone else. She's so desperate that she goes to a hypnotist. She's sent back to an earlier life of her soul, and that turns out to be Shakespeare! And she won't be able to get back to her real life before she finds out what real love is. And during that time she'll have to share the body with a man...
That's the story summed up quickly, and of course only the beginning of the book.
At first I thought this would be the typical love story, like, woman meets man, they get closer, man hurts woman or vice versa, they get back together. Luckily it's not! It's totally different than I expected :D
The whole thing is really funny, entertaining and just a bit romantic. Towards the end it gets more romantic, maybe even a bit soupy, but not too bad. It's mainly funny!
Quite a few times it offers some kind of wise saying, but they're mainly something you would really think!
You can imagine it all really nicely, it's written kinda realistic.
Now, this is a little pleasure read. It's not deep at all, more light-weight. It's fun to read, I enjoyed it a lot, but don't expect it to be THE book for intelligent people ;)
After all, if you're looking for a cute pleasure read, I'm sure you will enjoy this one :)
Did anyone read this, too?
I'll see you soon!
xoxo, Misch

Thursday 29 September 2011

NOTD September 29th: Fall Leaf Nail Art

Hey there!
Fall is now finally really coming around, and you guys know I've been looking forward to it for weeks now :D
So I decided to do a fall-themed nail design: colored leaves.
For the base color I used a franken, which is basically a brown-toned orange. And then I stamped glitter on top of it, because fall leaves aren't always just one color, and I also wanted them to sparkle. So I stamped Red Glitter and Copper Glitter by L.A.Colors Nail Art Deco on top of it, at random spots. To make my nails look like leaves now, I drew a pattern on them that looks like leaf veins. For that I used RdlY nail art pen in black.
Do you like this design?
I'll see you soon!
xoxo, Misch

Wednesday 28 September 2011

120 Palette Swatching Series: Lower Half, 4th Row

Hello dear readers,
today I want to continue with the 4th row of the lower half of the 120 Palette. This row consists of pink shades. Here are the swatches:

1 This is a baby pink with a soft sheen.
2 Another, lighter, baby pink with shimmer.
3 This light pink has a silver shimmer.
4 Here we have a light pink with a sheen, a tad darker than the previous ones.
5 This is a darker cool-toned pink, leaning lilac, with a sheen.
6 This frosty baby pink has a chunky shimmer.
7 This lilac-ish pink has again a sheen.
8 This hot pink is matte.
9 Here we have a fuchsia shade, matte again.
10 And this hot fuchsia pink has a shimmer.
Swatches:
in the shade
in the sun; I made a numbering mistake: the last swatch is number 5!
in the shade
in the sun
Here you go! Do you like this type of color? I do, but it's not my favorite to wear, pink is a little too much for me on the eyes ;) But you guys know, I rather wear neutrals.
Talk to you soon!
xoxo, Misch

Tuesday 27 September 2011

NOTD September 27th: Leopard Print Nail Art

Hey guys,
today I want to show you a new nail art piece I'm wearing. I've worn just plain colors for about one and a half months now, because I was in a color phase, and now I'm back to nail art, yay :D
For this one I used China Glaze - Sunset Sail as my base color, which is a nude peachy color with really small shimmer particles. The spots are p2 - Live The Moment, and the dark outlining is Essie - Little Brown Dress. I really like it, it's so easy but pretty :)
Do you want to see a tutorial for it?
Until then,
xoxo, Misch

Monday 26 September 2011

Review: Essence Studio Nails Better Than Gel Nails Top Sealer

Hi there!
So today I have a review for you guys about a product I've been using for a few months now. I'm talking about Essence's Studio Nails Better Than Gel Nails Top Sealer, a top coat. I heard several times that it was a really great fast drying top coat, so I decided to give it a try. Here's how I liked it:
Information:

  • available at most drugstores, in pretty much any Essence display
  • part of the Studio Nails Better Than Gel Nails line
  • contains 10ml
  • costs 2,45 Euros
  • is totally clear
  • has a thin to medium brush with medium length that fans out nicely
Positives:
  • price
  • availability
  • brush
  • dries super super fast
  • smooths little bumps and bubbles
  • when using this, you can immediately use your hands again
  • easy to apply
  • prevents chipping
  • leaves a really shiny & glossy finish
Negatives:
  • really weird scent, even worse than regular nail polish
  • the bottle's opaque: you can't see how much is left
  • it doesn't really make my polish last longer when it comes to tip wear
After all, I love this top coat! It's not actually meant to be used as a regular top coat, it's just for the Studio Nails Better Than Gel Nails line, but it works fine on a regular basis. It dries everything so fast, and it smooths it all out! I just love it, and the negative points are just little ones you can neglect easily. The wear is also not that much of a problem for me, because I change my polish every few days anyway.
I really recommend it, if you're looking for a good inexpensive top coat, get this one!
Do you use this one, too?
Until next time!
xoxo, Misch

Sunday 25 September 2011

NOTD September 25th: Essence - It's Khaki Time! + Sun Flower Nail Art

Hi everyone!
Today I want to show you a new polish in the Essence permanent line, 69 It's Khaki Time. It's a khaki -surprise, surprise ;)-, and pretty green toned. It falls into the military category, and is a creme.
Military is another fall trend this year. Last year the khaki shades were already all over the clothes stores, and I tried it on a few times, but decided it's just not my color. But since it is all over the shelves this year again, I decided to give one little polish a try, and picked this one. I do like it, but it's just not my kind of color. I like clean shades, I like dusty shades, but not this type of green. Green tends to be my least-liked color for polish sometimes, I prefer the blue-toned greens.
But still, I really like a change like I have it with this polish. It's out of my comfort zone, it's not too usual, and it works for fall. So it probably won't be my fave shade ever, but it's nice.
The formula was good, it's almost a one-coater! I did 2 thin ones, though. It applied smooth and evenly, the consistency is not too thick or too thin. A big plus!
To spice it up a little, I added sun flowers to it. Sun flowers are some of my favorite flowers! They're available end of summer, beginning of fall, and the color is so happy :) I just drew them on, variating the position.
The yellow is L.A. Colors Nail Art Deco in Tangerine, and the brown is Essie Little Brown Dress. The coppery orange glitter is L.A. Colors Nail Art Deco in Copper Glitter. I added this because I wanted a fun twist :)
Do you like khaki? And do you like sun flowers? :D
Until next time!
xoxo, Misch

Saturday 24 September 2011

10 Facts about the Life of a Beauty Blogger

Hey everyone!
Today I want to share a little tag I saw on quite a few blogs now. It's called 10 Facts about the Life of a Beauty Blogger, and I thought this was a nice idea! I personally find it so interesting to read what others think about blogging, and what quirks they have when it comes to it ;) So here are my 10 Facts about the Life of a Beauty Blogger:

  • Before I ever touch something, I have to swatch it. And if there's not enough light for that, I need to wait for the next day. That sometimes really freaks me out, because I always immediately wanna try out new stuff, but I always tell myself to first take pictures.
  • Whenever I log into Blogger, I'm always so so excited what's new. A comment, a new reader or maybe a new record of clicks...it's all so great!
  • Sometimes I'm really in a blogging mood, and then I sit down and blog until I get really tired of it. That means I sometimes preblog a full week at one night, and that can be up to 10 posts!
  • I'm always tempted to buy things because of my blog. I'm always like: But that could be interesting for my readers... But truth is, I just don't have enough money for that. So I try to get interesting products that I really like.
  • Now I'm onto Fact 5, and I'm already out of ideas. I sometimes really have to rack my brain to find something to blog about. But usually that helps, and something comes to my mind.
  • I love that as a Blogger I'm way more up-to-date than I was before I joined this community. I read a ton of blogs and am also told new things, and that makes it great when it comes to dupes, comparisons and new collections. I even know these things about brands I can't afford ;)
  • Since I've started blogging, I don't have the time to keep up with YouTube anymore. Before I started, I read like 3 blogs and watched 10 different videos a day. I am subscribed to a lot of the big beauty gurus on YouTube, but I just can't keep track with the videos. I find that videos are way more time consuming than blog posts, because with a post I can scroll and skip uninteresting parts. But with a video, I keep watching because there might be something important said, and I don't know about it ahead of time.
  • I'm the only girl who's as much into beauty stuff at my school, as far as I know (and I know a lot of people). I'm always asked about trends, colors and in general what things are. The most common thing I hear? "Misch, what the hell is a foundation??" :D I find that adorable :D I'm also one of the few ones with a blog. A good friend of mine is a photographer, and he used to blog, too, but he's the only one in my circle of friends.
  • You really often hear me say "Read my blog". Like I just said, I'm asked a lot of questions about beauty stuff, and I tell them to go read my blog quite often. For nail tutorials for example. But a lot of them don't like the fact that I blog in English, it's too hard for them to understand ;)
  • When I started blogging, I told no one, and not until I had 6 months of blogging done, I told my best friend. Now I've told a lot of people, and they all reacted way better than I thought. They all like it, and are impressed, which I'm glad they are. I honestly was a little afraid that they'd think I'm weird in a bad way, and bully me. But luckily they don't! :)
I actually had wanted this to be a rather short post, but I just kept rambling ;) Right now I could even think of more facts, but I'll save them for a new version of this after some time.
I wanna tag all of my lovely subscribers who have reached the amazing number of 65 :) I'm so so proud of this little blog, and that there are that many people reading my stuff! Thank you all so much :)
I'd be so glad if some of you did this tag, too :) Please send me your links!
I'll talk to you guys soon!
xoxo, Misch :) <3

Friday 23 September 2011

NOTD September 23rd: OPI - I'm Suzi & I'm A Chocoholic

Hey everyone,
today I'm wearing my typical fall color, I'm Suzi & I'm A Chocoholic from OPI's last year fall collection, called Swiss. Here *click* already showed it to you last year, and here you have better pictures now.
So I absolutely still adore it this color, it's so so perfect for fall! A brownish red creme, so so stunning. In the pictures I'm wearing 3 thin coats, 2 would have been enough.
This was actually so hard to photograph, it's so so shiny!
What more can I say? I love it, I don't think I'll ever get tired of it ;)
Do you guys have a go-to fall color?
Until next time,
xoxo, Misch

Thursday 22 September 2011

Polish Finish Series: Matte

Hi dear readers!
So for this episode I want to show you a finish that has been very popular during the past few years: the Matte.
Matte polishes are like Cremes (what that is? *Click*), without any shimmer or anything else, but they don't dry glossy, but matte. When it's a true matte, it also doesn't have a slight sheen or something. There are a few other finishes that have a few things in common with the Matte, and I'll be showing these to you in the future. But here I just want to talk about the true matte.
Mattes dry extremely fast, and therefore you need to be quick with you application. They tend to be a bit streaky, but that is nothing you can't handle. Most of the time they need about 2 coats.
One thing to keep in mind when you are wearing a matte: Hand lotion is not the best thing, because it can make a matte more satin-y, and not fully matte. So be careful about that!
Matte polishes also tend to be a little less good in terms of wear as their shiny cousins. So tip wear can be appearing pretty soon, and also more chips are common.
Mattes can of course be turned into a glossy polish, just by adding a top coat. That will also help with the wear, but the finish will be gone.
Most brands recommend not to use a base coat and a top coat. Using a top coat is of course not good, because it'll destroy the matte finish. But a base coat can definitely be used, that doesn't create any problems at all.
For the polishes I want to show I have these:
First, Catrice's Sea Of Green from their Oceana Collection. It's a dark blue-toned green, and dries fully matte. Needs 2 coats.
The other polish is not actual matte polish, but a top coat. This one is actually a base coat by RdLY, but as a top coat it works perfectly to mattify your polish. It's called 03 Base Coat

There are top coats that mattify your polish, most brands have one by now. That's a convenient thing, because you can make any color you like matte!
Do you like matte polishes?
Hope this was helpful!
Talk to you guys later,
xoxo, Misch

Wednesday 21 September 2011

Review: Essence I Love Glam Powder Eyeliner and Eyeshadow

Hey you guys!
Here's the next review about a new product by Essence, the I Love Glam Powder Eyeliner and Eyeshadow.
Information:
  • is called I Love Glam Powder Eyeliner and Eyeshadow
  • is new in the Essence permanent line and should by now be available at most drugstores
  • contains 0.7 g and costs 2,75 Euros
  • it's a powder with a little spongy applicator
  • the color is a black with just a few blue glitter particles
Positives:
  • price
  • availability
  • great pigmentation
  • easy to use
  • great for smokey effects
  • can be blended out nicely
Negatives:
  • huge amounts of fall-out that can't be wiped away without messing everything up
  • nothing if you want a really defined, crisp line
  • the applicator isn't that sturdy and might push off to the side
After all, this eyeliner and eyeshadow is a nice thing. I especially like to use it as a more soft, smoked out line on the upper lash line. The amount of fall-out, however, is a big problem because it can mess it all up. If you get used to it and are patient, you could work it out, but it's nothing for you if you want to be able to do it all quickly and not have to worry about fall-out.
Will you be getting it?
See you soon!
xoxo, Misch

Tuesday 20 September 2011

NOTD September 20th: Lilac Franken

Hi there!
So today I want to show you another franken of mine, a lilac polish! Here *click* I already showed you my first franken.
So, to tell you the idea behind this: I wanted to create my version of Purple Rain. The color I think of when I hear that name, I mean. So I started mixing blues, purples and grays together, and after a while this one came out. Now this is totally not the color I think of as Purple Rain, but I loved it nonetheless, and stopped mixing there. Maybe some day I'll be able to make my version of Purple Rain ;)
Now this color, which doesn't have a name (any ideas?!) is a blue-toned purple with a bit of gray in it. In real life it's a bit more gray, on the pictures it looks too purple. It has a secret shimmer, but it's not too apparent, so in most lights it'll look like a creme.
The main colors in this polish are clear (Essence Color&Go in Absolute Pure), a pale violet (OPI - Do You Lilac It? *click*), a very blue purple (Catrice - Up In The Air *click*) and a gray (Essence 50's Girls Reloaded LE - You're A Heartbreaker *click*). I mainly used the gray for the shimmer. I also added a few drops of other colors, but I can't really remember them, sorry.
Do you like this polish?
I'll see you guys soon!
xoxo, Misch

Monday 19 September 2011

Comparison: Essence I Love Stage Eyeshadow Base and Rival de Loop Young Eyeshadow Base

Hey dear readers,
since I got asked to do it, I want to compare the two eyeshadow bases I own, Essence's I Love Stage Eyeshadow Base and Rival de Loop's Eyeshadow Base. I'll be comparing them in any kind of point that comes to my mind ;)

Availability: The Essence base is available at most drugstores for a few weeks now, and is permanent. The RdLY one is only available at Rossmann, and, as far as I know, only in Germany, whereas Essence is available in a lot of countries. The RdLY one is also permanent.
Content/Price: The Essence eyeshadow base contains 4ml and costs 2,45 Euros, the RdLY base contains 5ml and costs 2,49 Euros.
Packaging: The Essence one comes in a flacon with a sponge-tip applicator. The RdLY base comes in a little pot for which you have to use a brush or your finger.
Formula: The formula on the Essence base is creamy but light, and it blends easily. You have to pay attention that you don't use too much product. The RdLY base is also creamy, but a little more sticky. Here it's not as easy to overdo it. The newer version also contains a tiny bit of shimmer, but I don't own that version.
They're both supposed to be used up within 6 months. I, however, have owned my RdLY base now fro almost 3 years, and it hasn't gone to waste. It'll go a very long time!


Application: As I said before, the Essence base has a sponge-tip applicator. You just dab a bit on your lid and then blend it out. You need to let it set for about a minute. The RdLY base has to be used out of the pot with your finger or brush. I prefer my fingers here, and that way it's also easier to blend it out.
Effect: Both eyeshadow bases intensify the colors a little, the RdLY one a bit more in my opinion. They both prevent creasing and make everything stay all day long. Although it happened to me with the RdLY base that the colors faded a bit in terms of intensity during the day. Since the new version of the RdLY base also contains a bit of shimmer, it can be disturbing when you use matte colors.


Bottom Line: So after all I can say that both eyeshadow bases do a great job. They're not really expensive, and will last a long time. You need to decide which one is more appealing to you, to most probably the Essence one because it's available at a lot more places. I like both the same, but when I have to rebuy one, I'll probably choose the Essence one, because it doesn't contain shimmer.

What I quickly want to add is this: about the Essence eyeshadow base people are arguing, some hate it, some love it. But with the RdLY one, I've barely read a negative review. Just so you know ;) I don't promise it'll work for you!

I really hope this comparison was helpful for you! Do you own any of these bases, maybe even both?
I'll see you later!
xoxo, Misch