Mac Melba Blush [Holy Grail]

Hello dear readers ♥ Ah it's that lovely time of the year. Christmas is and will probably for ever be my favourite holiday. Not only is it so nice to spend time with one's family but it is also the perfect excuse to eat a lot and laze around a little bit. I have exams coming up right at the beginning of January so I can't do so much of the latter. Still, I am sure that I will spend some wonderful days with my family and friends.

I have planned to post some new year resolutions but I will probably do that in January.
Now onto the topic of this post.
The other day I tidied up (boring introduction I know!) and I realized that I have way too much cosmetic products. I know, I know, I guess I have said that many times before, but this time I was totally shocked and I don't think that spending too much money on cosmetics is really worth it. The thing is, that I am constantly looking for the one. With the one I am not referring to a guy :D
What I am talking about are holy grail products as they are frequently called on Youtube. The one lipstick, the one eyeliner, the one Mascara and so on. I have already found some "ones" [uh-oh can you still follow me?] but others I haven't. You might remember my Let's talk about Beauty posts but I really want to limit myself to appointing one product in each category that I love.

Some British Youtubers such as beautycrush and FleurdeForce have talked about their absolute favourite products. Even if you are not too interested in cosmetics, I recommend having a look at their videos because these two cuties are gorgeous inside and out! Fleur de Force is probably gonna make a 2013 favourites video as well. Or at least I hope so! I have to check. There are also lots and lots of German Youtubers who are doing the same thing but they don't seem to label their videos properly. All I could find where "Jahresfavoriten" (annual favourites) but the term Holy Grail/Heiliger Gral is not used so much. However, Daarum made a funny video about her 2011 favourites BUT she is referring to everything in her life like decoration and so on.

Here is my first Holy Grail Product. Care to meet Melba? ♥

(Personal) Information

- Melba weights 6g and costs 24 € at Douglas - A friend (Danielle ♥) told me that Mac Products are cheaper in the US
- Melba has 36 sisters so I think there is a shade for everyone.
- Another friend who uses the very same blush told me that she bought it two years ago and she still has a lot of product left. (It's obviously important to clean it once in a while)
- Melba lasts on your cheeks all day ♥
- Melba gets jealous at other Blushes, it's very dominant haha. I used to use a Blush by Sleek but this baby here totally replaced it! Mainly because it's matte and I prefer matte products.
- You shouldn't carry it around too much though. I once owned a Mac Powder and I let it drop. 24 € is just too much for a broken product. So handle with care ♥

I'm sorry that it is already a little bit dusty on the back. I like it so much that yupp, I did carry it around with me but I try not to as I am so scared to break it :D ♥

Additionally, yes I do know that it is in a way absurd to spend 24 quit on a blush but I regret nothing.

Do you have a Holy Grail blush? If not, Melba or one of her sisters are worth a shot.

I wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New year!

Ps: Speaking of introductions- You might also want to meet Minou. If you follow me on Instagram you know this photo. She is a cute kitten and we picked her up at the animal shelter when our other cat died. She is 6 months old and she likes to play a lot ♥

Fotoshooting

Hello mes chèrs ♥

I am feeling really good and motivated these days so I thought I should use my energy to blog again.
I don't know how you feel, but I love dolling up even when I am "just" meeting a friend for breakfast. Yuxi and I met up at Emma Tea [we wanted to go there for ages and we finally made it. This makes me realize~ Jenny and Tina we still haven't met up at this place!].

Fridays became our regular meetup-days because we are both busy studying and having breakfast or lunch usually doesn't take too much time. For some reason I still ended up being in a rush at the end- sorry again- !

Here are some photos, all of them were taken by Yuxi because she is so good at taking photos. I believe she'd be a great photographer although she studies biochemical science.

Do you know the japanese legend of the 1000 origami cranes? It is said that whoever manages to fold 1000 paper origami cranes will be granted a wish. I think it's a beautiful idea and I wish I could actually do that. Someone told me this story many years ago but I looked it up and found it on the Internet if you are interested in reading it. It is most commonly told in the context of Sadako Sasaki, a victim of the nuclear bomb attacks on Hiroshima during the Second World War.

I know that this was kind of a a self-obsessed post but I'm just so happy about these pictures :)

My outfit on this day consited of ...

A blouse by Vero Moda inspired by Blair Waldorf
A skirt worn many, many times these days. It's by Zara.
Calzedonia leggings
A bracelet from a special someone & another bracelet from another special someone
Mango boots


I wish you a lovely week ♥

University Life: Everyday goodies

Hello everyone ♥ As many of you are in school, university or college I thought it might be nice to do start a series about university (or "academic") life. I mean look at it, university is where many of us spend the whole day! Or at least some part of the day.

I admit it. I have a complete obsession when it comes to stationary! (Hi Brooke, I know we feel the same way :D) So this is gonna be a picture heavy post. 

In addition to that, I kinda live by the idea that the things that I carry around with me every day have to look extra pretty. As you might know I bought a Louis Vuitton bag this year and yes I use it as an every-day bag. I don't save it for special occasions. Although I'd never go clubbing with it or take it to a football match haha. I also wear my Chanel lipstick (the only expensive lipstick that I have! No, I am not a snob!) very often. I don't care whether I will use it up one day or not. :D

Now on we go ♥

First things first. The bag. I have many different ones but if I had to pick a favourite it would be this lovely thing by Fossil. A present from my parents for my 18th birthday. It's a leather bag and I guess a guy could wear it as well so I added a pink ribbon ages ago. It came with a super heavy key as decoration which I removed. Hmm what else. I think in order to make this entry a little bit informative here is what a good uni bag should be (to my mind):

- of a decent size! Not too small, not too big. No sports bag, sorry. (I don't like the design of many of them. Maybe I haven't found a pretty one yet but I hate sports bags!)
- it should be possible to carry it cross-shoulder. I don't like backpacks so a cross-shoulder bag is a must have for me as I don't want to have issues with my back by the time I am 30 years old.
- neutral colour ♥
- it should have more than one pocket so that you can store your wallet, your phone, your water bottle etc.
- preferably leather because you want a bag that lasts you for a while.
- labels that I have made some good experience with are: Fossil, Bree, Guess. Many girls in Germany carry longchamp bags to uni but I think they really hurt your shoulder.
- a good uni bag is a nice suggestion for a christmas present ♥ 

Unfortunately this one doesn't fit folders but I don't carry folders anyway. (More about this below)

Notebooks. This sounds so obvious but check this out. I differenciate between throw-in-my-pocket notebooks and the ones I use for studying. Let's call them study- notebooks haha. In case you are wondering why I keep them: I am what people call the "visual" type when it comes to studying and revising for exams. I can't remember facts when I only hear them. I need to write everything down ;D If I ever do a study-tips section I will come back to that.

So a notebook for university should be:

- super pretty so that it kinda motivates you to write things in it :)
- not too big because you might want to carry it to the library or to your preferred place for studying
- not too expensive! Spending like 20 quit on a moleskine is ridiculous. My special tip is TKMaxx (thank you Yuxi) because they do some pretty good deals with stationary! Other than that I'd say just keep an eye out for them, especially when travelling. I found some lovely notebooks at random places such as supermarkets our sightseeing places, museums etc...♪

 

Miscellanous ♥

If you look at the photo you know what I'm talking about. Sticky notes, a nice eraser, highlighting pens, paper clips,... ♥ Everyone is different but I love using these. Most of the time I forget to do so though :D (For example I know that I have many highlighters but I use the yellow one like all the time)
You just have to find out what works for you ♥ These things are not expensive and you might laugh now but I bought many of these at our local supermarket.

As said before, I don't use big folders. Instead, I use paper folders but I believe they are not very well known outside Germany. The way it works is that you collect everything relevant to your course in a paper folder and once you're done with a specific topic or once it gets too heavy, you put all the paper into a larger folder :D The good thing about these paper folders:

Let's say you study English. On Monday, you have linguistics (blue folder) and cultural studies (orange folder). On Tuesday, you have linguistics but you don't have cultural studies so what would be the point in carrying the orange folder with you ;) My university bag gets really heavy as I also carry a bottle of water around with me. Paper folders help me to "save a little bit weight". Hopefully you get what I mean.

Index Cards - my greatest love ever since I had to learn definitions by heard. They come in all sizes ♥ You can usually choose between graph paper which is good for science, ruled paper and plain paper. My favourite is plain because it doesn't distract my eyes. Haha, I'm so weird.

Index Cards really help you when you start preparing for exams. You can carry them anywhere, they rarely break (their material is thicker than paper) and you can kindly ask people to help you rivising with them. :D

My desk ♥ Haha I don't know why I added this photo. This is it in it's idealized state. It looks quite tidy, doesn't it? I personally can't concentrate when I have thousands of things laying on my desk so I tidy it up every one or two days. For some reason I tend to put everything on it: My wallet, my phone, my laptop...(Even when I don't need it for studying). Bad habit! A tidy desk helps me to focus on whatever I have to do most importantly. :D Is this just me being strange? Or does anyone feel the same?

If you are wondering what the little airplane is doing on my desk ~ my friends gave it to me five years ago before I went to England for half a year. It reminds me of them and it kinda symbolizes that you really have to work hard for what you want in life. (At this time I wanted to be a pilot :D) I think Barney from how I met your mother has an airplane poster in his office too, hasn't he? :D

Wohouu that was it ♥ What do you think? Do you also like stationary? What are your "everyday" goodies when it comes to uni life?

Many kisses

Chī Fàn ♥

Bonjour :)

I successfuly neglected my blog again. However, this weekend I had some very charming blogger girls tell me that I have to write a post ♥ And so I did.
I met up with Tina & Jenny in Hannover to go shopping and to eat Sushi at Ichiban.

 

Ichiban used to be called "Kabuki" under different ownership ~
It is an all you can eat Sushi restaurant. The catch is that you don't have to go to a boring buffet. Instead, you get one Ipad per Table and each one of you can order up to five dishes per round which are then served at the table. So no annoying running-to-the-buffet ♥ I love that principle. I hate how you can never have a propper conversation when you go to a Buffet-place with many people. I'm usually the one who stands up to get more food like ten times haha

Jenny, two of her friends, Tina and me met up there around lunchtime. This is what we ordered:
[in the first round]




My favourite are the inari-pieces. Jenny told me that they are called like that ♪ It's Tofu filled with rice and the whole thing tastes kinda sweet yet savoury. You should try it them ♥





After having stuffed ourselves we went to town :) I'm not gonna show you what I bought because I've bought quite a lot these days and I'm just gonna show it to you when I do an outfit post. One thing though~ Did it ever come to your mind that Primark seems to have a "Disney" print licence? I mean so many of their shirts etc. have Disney characters printed on them; it's crazy!
Even though I feel too old to wear Disney shirts I bought a Bambi pyjama ♥♥ BIG LOVE! Isn't it just so cute? And guess what: Tina and Jenny bought the same one. Now we are Bambi sisters.
We had so much fun! Let's do it again some time. Hopefully with Julia coming along!



Outfit from that day ~
Please ignore how messy my room is. It got a lot better recently! And since I finally own leatherpants I wear them pretty much all the time.

 

Now moving on to my second "date" this week. I met Yuxi and Fiona after university and they took me to this amazing Chinese restaurant. It was more of an Imbiss actually but sitting there was super nice. I think it's run by a family and everyone spoke Chinese. YES in case you are wondering why I'm pointing it out: Many so-called "Chinese" restaurants in Hannover are either run by Vietnamese people or they do not sell authentical dishes at all. For example, the usual sort-of greasy fried noodles are not typically chinese! Their food is quite healthy and it's not 'fast-food' at all. The owner gave us a Chinese menue and talked to us a little bit ♥ I couldn't understand him very well though haha ~ I only understand girls for some reason! Here are some pictures ♥

First of all ~ the food. Pictures taken by Yuxi with her amazing iphone 4 camera. Seriously, I feel like her pictures always turn out so much better than mine [HTC Desire S]



 
 

This one here was my favourite. It's some sort of Tofu and Soy stuff and it has got shrimps in it. :3


 

With Fiona :)



With Yuxi ♥




Next week, Yuxi. Fiona and me plan to meet up again ♥ We all study at the same university

xxx

Keki

Update ♥

Hellooo ~
I keep writing updates because I somehow don't manage to write posts with actual content. Sorry about that! :(
I am also way behind with reading blogs. :/
The last couple of days I went to a few parties and I was also working a lot. I totally miss having time for myself. Yesterday I was like 'nah, not gonna do anything' but then Yuxi texted me and we met up! We wanted to go to a café but we obviously also went shopping. Ahhh this needs to stop haha :D We bought the same jumper for winter. It's so soft and cosy ♥

At least we didn't buy more than that. Instead, we tried on many things.

Before we went home, we had Pumpkin Spiced Latte at Starbucks ♥ I liked it, but I am so addicted to all this matcha stuff that I can't get used to anything else.

Here are a few pictures from yesterday. 

 





 





I also met up with Freya a lot these days :) It's always soo much fun. She's also studying to become a teacher! :) But we know each other since super early childhood. And since we are neighbours, we can always call each other and be like 'hey, would you like to meet up?' 'when?' 'in 5 minutes?' haha.
We look like kids in this photo!


 

And check this out ~ food at a party! OMG one of the best buffets. I went there with Stefania and we ate a lot :D

 

I am having a good time at the moment (don't get me wrong) but I am so happy that university starts again tomorrow! It's so strange not to do anything academic for such a long time and I hope this statement doesn't make me a nerd haha. I miss having a daily routine and I am looking forward to, well, actually learn something new again! At least my Mandarin course already started hehe.

This summer [if it even was one!] flew by. Tomorrow we get some instructions for the semester ♥ [If you're studying abroad you probably already started in Septemer. Germany is always really late!]
Sorting out my timetable was so much trouble though haha. And as always I'm worried about stupid things like 'will there be nice people in my seminars/tutorials?'

You'll hear from me soon!
X
Ke

Update & Birthday

Hello :) Hehe it's me with slightly darker hair from now on.

I know, I know. Tell me about it, I rarely blog these days. At least I have some personal reasons for that- (I don't feel very well at the moment) But I am going to Spain tomorrow and when I am back I will probably be recharged with positive energy ♥ University doesn't start until October; very late in October actually so I don't do much besides working a hell of a lot and meeting friends.

I managed to save a lot of money so far because I'd like to go to Japan next year ♥ And I feel like it's really gonna happen because lovely Emilia from Ningyo Haru Haru said that she'd join me. We also have a friend who studies there- all three of us met at university in Scotland.

Did you know that idealising the past is a common phenomenon? I wasn't always happy back in Scotland but now I'm like ''ohhh we had such a good time'' haha. Well that's still kinda true, it just seems as if I am starting to forget the unpleasant things. The only thing that I know for sure is that I met so many lovely people there ♥

Anyway, let's move on to another topic :) On September 14th it was my birthday, wohou! My best friend Charlotte from England came all the way to Germany to spend the weekend here ♥ Let's talk about my best birthday present haha :)

Whenever we talk or meet, topics from ''back then'' which means England 2009/10 come up. We had such a great time at school :D Not to mention all our activities after school ~ we went cheerleading, bollywood dancing and volunterring together. We had the best sleepovers and we didn't forget about all our inside jokes. I swear I had such a sore throat from all the laughing and talking on my birthday weekend!

On my actual birthday we had a lovely brunch/ breakfast with some neighbours and then relatives called and so on ♪ In the evening, Cornelius arrived and Charlotte, he and me made a Chinese meal. At 7 pm my other guests came to the little party and we enjoyed the evening with food and drinks ♥ I have to admitt that I hate being a host though ~ I feel like it's kinda stressful. Is that just me...?

Here are some pictures from my birthday and other random things ♥

Some of the gifts :) And gets haha because I....yeah, I gave something to myself. :D

A movie and books!! From bottom to top: Pitch Perfect came with a voucher for a cosy dvd evening from a friend, "Bob der Streuner", Death Note 1 [yupp, I used to be a Manga addict but this is my first one in years], "Ein ganzes halbes Jahr" and at the very top is a book which includes stories and poems written by a dear friend ♥ Thanks again :)

  

A parcel from Emilia arrived in the mail ♥ It includes many cute things like ribbons, chocolate and fake eyelashes.

 

So many lovely items ♥ Sue and her boyfriend gave me a nailpolish I wanted for a long time and a chocolate foundue set ♪



Yuxí got me some supercute notebooks because I started Mandarin lessons again ♥ The one with the giraffe says: If you become far taller than me could yo still talk to me?

 


Here is what I bought for myself. Hey, if you knew that sort of drama I was going through since the beginning of September, you'd need a Chanel lipstick as well :D It is my very first one and I was very picky. More about that in another post ♥ The jewelry set is angel-wings inspired. Big love!

 

And here is lovely Char :) We burst out laughing when we were in Primark and she was looking for a hot water bottle. The ones they have at the moment are kinda cute as they have little animal attached to them with strings ♥ However, on one of the bottles a string was broken and a cute little hedgehog fell on the ground. When I asked Charlotte why she still wants to buy that one, I could tell from the look on her face what she was thinking! :D "Look, this little hedgehog's string is broken...I'm the only one who's gonna take care of him and buy that bottle! He needs a loving home" Haha so yupp we bought the bottle ♥ 






 We went to a wonderful café/teashop [Tina, if you are reading this--> We still have to go! :D It's the little teashop I was speaking of] and enjoyed Matcha latte, tea and matcha scones.

And now two low-quality shots from the evening ♥

 

 

 My mum and I are going to fly to Mallorca tomorrow ♥  And if you are wondering what my parent's gift is~ haha it's my new wardrobe.

See you soon ♥

Layout Change

I am really in the mood to change, well everything, these days. But I don't have much energy because I cought a cold. Pretty ironic considering it's summer! :D

I really don't know in what direction I should go with my blog. I sort of want to make it look less childish but I can't help it, I just have an obsession for white and pink ♥

So I finally took the time to seach for a pretty layout. This one is by Leonie and I like it so much. What do you think?

IG Post

 

Beautiful Bad Ems from our Cycling Tour ♥

Hey, what a quick update, right? At least for me :D

As I promised this to Tina from l0vepirate and since I wanted to do it anway- here is an IG post. I started to really like IG and it's very convenient to just check it on the bus/tram/train. I had huge trouble when uploading these pictures (I alsways have with IG pictures -.-)...But anywhoo ♪

Leg-picture haha, I wear nothing but these flats in summer.

 

Cutie Freya and me ♥ Good friends since Kindergarden

 

Outfit ♥ And I just went to an insurance company...

 

 

Party Outfit ♥ Bought the jacket when Julia came to Hannover

 

That's it so far. I can't wait to go to Spain with my mum in a couple of weeks and I am looking forward to my birthday (14th September), too :) This time I'm actually celebrating it with a few  people. The last couple of years it was either during the week or I was abroad haha ;D

Bisous :)
Ke

Make- up Storage [Room ♥]

Hello!


I like it a lot when bloggers or people from YouTube reveal a little bit about their personal life, f. ex when they show their wardrobe, their room etc. Not too much though! I am still waiting for my new wardrobe to arrive but that's not gonna happen before October. This is why I decided to tidy up and do a make-up storage post. It's not all make-up in the little cupboard but you will see. When I tidied up I found so much useless stuff, it's incredible. I feel like things from maybe...4 years ago have piled up and I don't even use them anymore. On the other hand, I also realized how much (decent) make-up I have, so these days I try to use it up before buying new things.

This is my make-up and accessory cupboard [Ikea] next to a full-lenght mirror [Nanu-Nana]. As you can see the walls in my room are not straight which is by biggest problem ~
At least everything fits in so far. There is also a pin-board but I just use it for private stuff. The university and work- related board is elsewhere.


 

I keep ''long'' make-up items in a little starbucks cup which a friend gave me. Brushes, mostly drugstore ones, are in the little glass on the left. Next to it is my Kiko Eyelash-curler. It's not the best I guess but I am quite satisfied. I'm not gonna open that pink and white box with the ribbon- it includes boxes and loads of random items. I decided to keep most of my perfume inside one of the drawers because wasps keep coming in in summer. :( The earring and necklace holder is from Nanu-Nana as well and it is incredibly helpful ♥ The boxes - heartshaped, blue etc.- include my most important/expensive and meaningful jewelry. Do you see that cute little owl? There is lipbalm with caramel taste in it ♥ Bought it with Katha in Hamburg last year.  It's not very visible on the photo but the little doll on the right carries even more necklaces. For some reason I have ''only'' two watches so I usually wear either of them and keep the other one in that place. The box on the bottom right is filled with my daily make-up because I usually don't have much time in the morning. ;D

Welcome to the first drawer [left side]: Many, many blushes among which you can see my favourite label- Sleek. There is also a range of dark eyeshadows. To be honest, I don't think they suit me very well but maybe I just need practice. In the brown box with the gold label are more eyeshadows. Yepp, I am obsessed but more about that below this post :D On the left you can also see a cute japanese pencil case which includes eyebrow-pencils and a manicure set. There are also 3 palettes: Urban Decay Naked, Sleek iDivine and a cheap drugstore one. I also own the ''famous'' Boujours bronzer but I don't really understand the hype. It smells like chocolate though ♥ In the back you can see a platic case in which I keep more earrings. I also own a Thomas Sabo bracelet but since I wear gold quite a lot it doesn't match my other accessory. (It's silver) And then a messy part ~ my hairbows/hairties/hairribbons. :D Many of them are by Primark and New Look ♪

Do you like this Matrioshka- box? In it I keep my skincare items ♥

The right side: I changed a shoebox into a lipstick box. I have way too many products for my lips but I always forget to use them :/ I guess I like lipgloss best and I think real lipsticks make my lips look dry.

 











And here is a plastic box full of earrings :) Many of them are too long or too big so I don't wear them very often. I wanted a similar (overpriced) box from Muji but my boyfriend suggested this one here ♥ It was really really cheap and works just as fine! Thanks again!

Ready for the second drawer? It contains: Perfume (lots of it...),Bodylotion, deodorant and more boxes haha. Yupp I have a thing for boxes! The one in the front has many items in it but it would take to long to describe them. I think you can see some nailstickers, a badge, a cupcake and a mobile case from here ;D

And yay make-up cases ♥ I made a post about some of them.

The last photo shows my favourite part these days. With this thingy I keep my necklaces and favourite earrings away from getting tangled etc. It's also from Nanu- Nana :)

What do you think? How do you store your make-up and accessory? And hey, I don't have that much. The last drawer of the cupboard contains clothes ;D ♪

xoxo Keki