31 Aug 2012

Link Love July & August

Last month I have not posted any link love. I have not read that many blogs in July as it was a really good working month. Unfortunately, August was not so great concerning work progress but I hope that September will be great again. Hence, it looks like this post category is something that only comes up every couple of months. Now I again feel the urge to share some links with you. Don't be afraid, this time it's not that many links like last time - but there are still pretty many of them. Sorry! I hope you don't feel too overwhelmed to read them! :-)

Here are the posts and articles or just news I enjoyed reading lately:
  • Isn't this an incredibly cute little kitchen? What I like most about this kitchen is that it is small and there is no exquisite design or incredibly expensive stuff. It also is tiny and could actually be the kitchen of an everyday average person. What makes this kitchen stunning, however, is the exquisite taste of arrangement and structure and organization of the kitchen essentials. Hence, the inhabitant obviously has an extraordinary taste and I feel very much inspired to improve my own (a bit bigger) kitchen that does not look that gorgeous.  
  • As Neil Armstrong died a couple of days ago, the Apollo 11 moon landing is currently again on everyone's lips. I stumbled upon this link with a reminder about a webpage called "We choose the moon" that lets you re-live the entire mission "step to step, word by word". It definitely is worth a visit.
  • Marissa Mayer left Google in July and went to Yahoo. This is *THE* web page she should have a look at. ;-) 

29 Aug 2012

FlorAyer Day Face Cream Review

In my Pink Box June, there was a 7ml sample of the FlorAyer face cream. I finally found the time and space in my skin care agenda to test it more extensively and here is my review. It is a pretty expensive face cream (around 30 Euro for 50ml) but it is a wonderful face cream with a divine scent that smells in a very soft and sophisticated way like flowers with a slight dominance of roses. It is very nurturing, but not greasy and it feels wonderful on the skin. It is quickly absorbed and it also strengthens the skin from within in a great way. It is a day cream and in the FlorAyer series, there also is a night cream. 

Here is a picture of it:


28 Aug 2012

Lavera Haul

This month was very expensive. I have bought a lot of beauty items and as if I didn't have enough body lotions, I also bought two more of them (actually, I could really roll myself from one side to the other in my body lotions - this is how many of them I already have at home).

I have done a small Lavera haul (see also their uk web site). Lavera is a german brand selling organic beauty products. I like the company a lot and have tried different products already. I don't remember any product by Lavera that I didn't like at all. E.g. I adore the wild rose face cream (see also my review of it in my May empties where I was raving about it) and I also liked the Apricot Summer body lotion (see my review of it in my July empties - it seems to not be sold anymore; maybe the scent was disturbing others as well; however, despite the scent this body lotion was great!).

Ok, let's have a look at my new Lavera products:

twist.bag August

My twist.bag August arrived one week ago on Tuesday the 21st of August. As I have been on holidays, I was not able to show you the content earlier. According to the web site, the parcel has been shipped on the 15th of August. Hence, it took the parcel 6 days to arrive this time.

Again, the products were in a small cotton bag with the word "twist." printed on it:

27 Aug 2012

Book Review (The Corrections)

I have also read "The Corrections" by Jonathan Franzen in my holidays. It's a wonderful book. I love it. I started this book end of last year already and read more than half of it and loved it. I remember that I read parts of the text to my boyfriend because they were so great. I don't remember anymore what happened then, maybe it was the Christmas chaos, I don't know anymore. However, there was something that took me out the book and this is why it just lied on my bedside table without me reading it since end of December last year. Hence, I took it with me on my holidays this month and finished it there. When I started reading it again, it immediately captivated me again. It's such a great book and I honestly can't understand why I haven't finished it last year already.

Here is a picture of the book on the balcony of the hut where I spent my holidays:

26 Aug 2012

Traveling Organization review

My holidays were great. It was sunny most of the time and everyone was in a good mood. Here is the view out of the window of our room in the hut:
Isn't this just wonderful? :-)

Here is a collage of 6 pictures I took in my holidays:

As you can see, it was a very relaxing holiday with a great landscape and a lot of nature - but not too far away from civilization. In the black forest there unfortunately is no space anymore where you don't have quick access to anything modern. I even had access to the internet there.

25 Aug 2012

Book Review (Lady Oracle)

In my holidays, I managed to finish Margaret Atwood's Lady Oracle. Here is a picture of it in the grass besides my sun cream:




























The book was a good and entertaining read. I enjoyed reading it. It is about a woman called Joan who has just faked her death and ran away from her life in Canada to Italy where her past haunts her and she hence spends some time thinking about her life in general and what had happened to her that lead to faking her death. It starts really captivating and continues to be funny and lovely and I like the main character as she is described as being a very interesting and likeable woman but in the end the story becomes a bit weird and it also ends with some kind of a cliffhanger because it is left to the reader to sort out the end properly. More specifically, it ends at some point where I personally would have wanted to know what happens next. I felt left alone in the chaos and in the end the incidents had been overturning. However, except for the last quarter of the book and especially the end I enjoyed reading this book and Margaret Atwood has done a great job in describing the life of Joan and her personality as well as her fears and her thoughts. She comes across very coherent and likeable and thanks to the great writing style of Margaret Atwood I was able to relate to her although we are very different from each other (but we also have made different experiences in life ;-)).

22 Aug 2012

Sephora France Online Shop Review

Do you know a German beauty addict that does not dream of Sephora? It seems to be typical human to dream of things that are really hard to get or completely unavailable. Unfortunately, we Germans don't have a Sephora store here in Germany. However, Sephora is a really cool brand (I love e.g. the Sephora #45 brush I bought in May via eBay) and I've been lurking around the US online shop a lot. Ordering from the US is very expensive though. This is why I haven't bought many products from Sephora up to now. I have rather kept a wishlist which grew with time. From time to time, however, when blog posts pop up on German blogs where holiday shopping at Sephora stores is shown, I catch myself making up some holiday plans just in order to get near to a Sephora shop. Do recognize yourself in this behaviour as well?

Well, in August I stumbled upon the Sephora France online shop and found out that they ship to Germany. What a great discovery! Although I had a couple of years of french classes at school, my french is not that good anymore. I should really practice it more often as it seems to be of high value in the beauty world obviously. I had to scramble up all my little left knowledge of french but, fortunately, this was enough to place a proper order. I even found a 15% coupon for the french online shop which I was able to use.

The shipping costs are pretty high with 13.90 Euro, but Sephora France ships with UPS and the shipping was really fast. Although it is written on their page that shipping takes 5 to 7 days, my order arrived on the 4th day after submitting it (including the day on which I ordered). And with the 15% coupon I was able to shrink the shipping costs a bit. As I did not order that much I was not able to cover the shipping costs completely with the coupon. This order was a test purchase. As I don't have any experiences with the products I ordered, I ordered only few products and mainly small sizes. In case I like the products, I might repurchase them in bigger versions, however.

This is how my order looked upon arrival (the black box is the present box of Sephora which I took because it was free and I wanted to see how it looks like :-)):

20 Aug 2012

Seize every advantage



I'm a bit obsessed with women's soccer at the moment - well, actually since last year when the women's soccer world championship took place in Germany. The games were shown on german TV like men's soccer usually does and the men I know that usually watch men's soccer watched them too. I got hooked as well and in the end I had to watch every game. I especially fell in love with the american team as the members of the american team performed much better and some also looked much better than the members of the german team. ;-) (Isn't Hope Solo a really good looking woman? See her e.g. here, here, here, here and here (there she is the third person from the left))

19 Aug 2012

New in: Catrice Nail Polishes

Recently there was a Catrice Sale as the new collection came out. Here are my bargains (I got each nail polish for half of the regular price):

The four nail polishes I bought are:
  • 330 Absolutely Chinchilly (a muddy brownish taupe)
  • 630 Sing: Hey, Dirty-Lilah! (a bright lilac)
  • 610 ASHley (a grey)
  • 210 Just Married (a nude french pink with blue shimmer)

18 Aug 2012

Nonique Haul (Ihr Platz closes)

I've just been at the train main station to buy the tickets for my vacation and took the chance to go into an "Ihr Platz". This is a german drug store that you can find in nearly each main station in Germany. It is related with the "Schlecker" drug store which recently went bankrupt. While the staff at the "Ihr Platz" told me a couple of weeks ago that the "Ihr Platz" will survive, it obviously will be closed as well. Today everything was available for the half price and the shelves were nearly empty.

At "Ihr Platz" the brand Nonique is available. Nonique is a southern-german brand offering organic skin care products. As the half prices were very tempting and I like Nonique a lot, I just had to buy a couple of Nonique products. Up to now I haven't been able to find Nonique anywhere else in Germany than at "Schlecker" and at "Ihr Platz". According to their webpage they indeed seem to not have any other trading partners in Germany. Hence, it really is a pitty that both drug store companies have disappeared or will disappear soon. Fortunately, Nonique has opened an online shop for their products, recently, and therefore, ordering their products online is now an option. I really hope that this company will survive although they soon won't have any trading partners in Germany anymore. However, they apparently still have a trading partner in Austria and I really hope that they will soon find other retailers in Germany as well. It would be a pitty if the Nonique products would disappear from the market. 

Book Review (30 Minuten für effizientes Lesen)

Dear readers, the book review below is written in German again. Many apologies if this causes any inconvenience. (It just does not make any sense to provide an English review for a book that has been written and published only in German up to now.) 


Im August habe ich ein weiteres Buch zu Produktivitätssteigerung gelesen. Da euch meine letzte Rezension gefallen hat, möchte ich euch meine Meinung zu diesem Buch nicht vorenthalten. Obwohl "Golden Rules" sowas wie ein umfassendes Produktivitätssteigerungs-Manual ist (siehe auch meine Rezension zu "Golden Rules" von Martin Krengel), steht darin kaum etwas zum Thema "Effizienter Lesen". Zum Glück hat der Autor dazu aber ein eigenes Buch geschrieben. ;-)

Das Thema "Schneller Lesen" interessiert mich schon seit längerem und daher habe ich mir schon vor ein oder zwei Jahren einen anderen Ratgeber dazu gekauft, den ich allerdings noch nicht gelesen habe. Da mich "Golden Rules" so überzeugt hat, habe ich mich spontan dazu entschlossen, lieber das Buch "30 Minuten für effizientes Lesen" von Martin Krengel zu bestellen. Hier zunächst das Bild des Buch-Covers und ein Link zu Amazon:
Bild des Covers zu "30 Minuten für effizientes Lesen" und Link zu Amazon.de
Das Buch ist sehr dünn (nur 79 Seiten im A6-Format) und - wie bereits "Golden Rules" - kurzweilig geschrieben. Daher lässt es sich sehr schnell lesen und der Inhalt ist so überschaubar, dass man die Ratschläge des Autors dann auch recht schnell ausprobieren und in die alltägliche Leseroutine aufnehmen kann. Ich glaube, ich habe das Buch in 2 oder 3 Tagen durchgelesen (und ich bin nicht der schnellste Leser, da ich meine Freizeit-Lektüre, zu der ich dieses Buch auch zähle, zur Zeit grundsätzlich nur in meinen Wartezeiten zwischendurch in öffentlichen Verkehrsmitteln/Wartezimmern/etc. lese)

17 Aug 2012

On using up makeup

I try to focus on using up makeup products because in my whole life I have managed to empty only one single (and tiny) cream blush. It was my first blush and it was by Maxfactor and very, very tiny and still, I needed many years to empty it. I've read on different beauty blogs that others sometimes only need up to 6 months for a powder blush or an eye shadow. This is very cool and I am a bit jealous. I keep buying this stuff and it never gets empty ...

A couple of days ago, however, I managed to empty 2 makeup products at once. See them here:


16 Aug 2012

Presents and new stuff

Last weekend I've been visiting my parents and my mom gave me two beauty items as a present. One is an eye cream by Louis Widmer which she likes and the other one is a body lotion by Olivenöl which she does not like. I am curious whether I will like them and I am looking very much forward to trying them! :-)

15 Aug 2012

Travel organization revisited

I'm going on vacation. Yay! My boyfriend had to force me because I am a bit obsessed with my sports routine and my thesis at the moment. Believe it or not, we even had a bit of a fight when I told him that I didn't have time to take holidays. Well, he convinced me and now I am really glad that he was so persistent and forced happiness upon me. 

We'll spend 6 days in a hut in the black forest together with friends. Hence, we will have a lot of fun and a great time hiking, barbecuing, lying in the sun and relaxing. Have a look at what expects me (notice that I've found the picture on the web; this is not our precise destination - but in the black forest it looks like that just about everywhere :-)):
found @fewo-silvia
Currently, I am trying to improve my organization in general and this holds also for the organization of my traveling: this means that I am optimizing packing routines and joining similar things together in small bags in order to find them more quickly in the luggage - this holds also for my everyday small distance traveling to University and back. E.g. I pack my electronic stuff together in a small bag, my beauty stuff in another small bag, etc. In this way, I always just have to grab a few small bags and don't have to remember each item itself. I might show you some of my organizational improvements soon.

12 Aug 2012

Egg in a pepper

Have a look at what I had as a post-workout dinner recently:

I also had some whole-grained bread and a tomato salad with the eggs as shown above. It was very delicious and the pepper enhances the taste. What a nice idea to enhance fried eggs. :-)

10 Aug 2012

July recap of fitness activities

Unfortunately, I have had an inflammation in the beginning of July and as it was pretty bad, I even needed to take Antibiotics. Hence, I wanted to support my body to heal and I have been very careful with sports. Even when the inflammation was gone, I tried to listen to my body and not to exaggerate with any kind of sports endeavour. This is why I have not done that much sports in July.

Another thing that changed in July is that my horseback riding course ended and at first I considered to start a new course but in the end I decided to rather try some Yoga. The horseback riding classes and the Yoga classes are at the same time and since horseback riding takes also much more time (at least 3 hours with driving to the riding stables, grooming the horse, cleaning hooves, and especially feeding, pampering, cuddling and spoiling the horse :-)), I decided heavy hearted to skip horseback riding this summer altogether. I'm a bit sad and already started to miss horses (I even have visited the horses at my former riding stable in the weekend to cuddle and spoil them without any conditions), but my thesis goes first and I also have to prioritize my spare time and my sports activities. As soon as I have more time, I'll do horseback riding again. For sure.

My aqua running course ended as well and in summer, no courses are offered. Hence, I started to try Pilates and am in love with my Pilates course. I am also in love my Pilates instructor who is incredibly fit and looks up to 20 years younger than he is - he is nearly 60 and looks like 40! - this is something I admire and I definitely think that it is because of him doing Pilates that often. My Pilates course indeed is very demanding and exhausting and I have sore muscles all the time but the results are really great.

The Yoga course is nice as well but I like the Pilates course much more. Below is my sports recap of July.

7 Aug 2012

Drugstore haul August

Recently, I was Drugstore shopping again. It was only a small haul, however. Look at the products I bought:

6 Aug 2012

Pressure Makes Us


I like this ad! :-)

Of course it depends on our individual state of mind and state of evolution how much pressure we can take. The amount of pressure should neither be too high nor too low. As usual, balance is the key.  

But being a member of one of the world's best women's soccer team, I guess that you have to embrace the huge amount of pressure that is put on you. After all they wanted to win the world championship - and the american team indeed also scored the 2nd place.

5 Aug 2012

Beauty Favourites July

Posts about monthly beauty favourites are quite common with beauty blogs. I haven't posted one myself yet because I don't see my blog that much as beauty blog although it somehow is because I blog a lot about beauty. It's a beloved hobby and I want to share my experiences with experimenting with beauty products. It's a lot of fun for me to experiment and I also want to share my fun with you. Hence, I thought about posting such a beauty favourites post as well.

However, I sometimes get into the "Using up mode" which drives me to use up stuff I dislike. I try to get rid of stuff when I see that I don't like it. And often throwing stuff away is only the very last option, hence, I turn this "Using up mode" on and just use up. Do you know this "Using up mode", too? Because of this mode, I often don't have that many beauty favourites in a month. And if I have, they don't change that fast. Nevertheless, I would like to share with you what I liked most using in July. Maybe, I'll do this regularly. Let's see. ;-)

Last month I didn't have that many great products for the body. The Dove Blütenzauber body lotion was great, however. But I just didn't use it that often because it wasn't so warm in July and in the end I've been every day at University and there I work in a room with air conditioning. Believe me or not, but because I am working so often on my thesis in this room with air conditioning, I haven't worn sandals at all yet this year. In this room it's just too cold for sandals and the Dove Blütenzauber body lotion. From the products I used up in July, I especially enjoyed the Weleda Sanddorn body lotion sample and the Alverde Lemon Love body lotion. Also the soap by Alverde was great. This was actually it with body products.

For my hair, the only noteworthy product is the hair oil by Fructis. I really enjoyed using it in July. Otherwise, I did not use any noteworthy products that might have any potential for becoming favourites.

In the following I show you my face product favourites of July:

4 Aug 2012

Pink Box August

It's Pink Box time again. My Pink Box August just arrived (well, it arrived yesterday but I haven't been at home and had to get it from the post office today). This is how it looked upon arrival:
The parcel contained a magazine, a coupon (for the Lashmi shop which is really, really great because I love Lakshmi and will definitely use this coupon!) and the pink box.

Here is a picture of the Pink Box after opening it:

3 Aug 2012

Hair Oil

A new product I recently discovered is hair oil. I would never have used any hair oil if it wasn't for the Pink Box. In my Pink Box July, a hair oil from Garnier Fructis has been included and although I don't like this company and also would have never used any hair oil before, I decided to give it a try. And what can I say? Surprisingly, I love it. The scent is great and it is very light. It might be my fault but I cannot apply it without making my hair look greasy. But that's no problem, I use it in the evening and wash it out in the morning and my hair is looking wonderful and I don't need a conditioner either. 

After having been surprised in such a nice way by the Garnier Fructis hair oil, I also bought the hair oil by Alverde and gave it a try as well. But the hair oil by Garnier Fructis is much better. The scent is better and it feels much better in the hair and is less greasy and after washing it out in the morning, my hair looks more fluffy and shiny and just much more beautiful. 

In case you have rather dry hair or have to wash it on a daily basis like I have to, I recommend the Garnier Fructis "Wunder-Öl" hair oil. It is a really great product and my hair loves it. I use it once or twice a week, depending on how dry my hair is and on how often I use conditioner. 

Here is a picture of the two hair oils (Alverde & Garnier Fructis) I tried up to now (I might try some more soon ;-)):  

How do you like hair oil? Do you use it regularly?

2 Aug 2012

New in: Caudalie Samples and Avène Face Water

Recently I've been pharmacy shopping again and bought the samples shown below. Actually, it's not that recently but even a couple of weeks ago. I simply forgot to show you the pictures. I also already tried two of the products and will tell you my first impressions below.

The following products have been bought by me:
  • Avène Eau Thermale face water that can be sprayed on the face
  • A set of samples of Caudalie products


1 Aug 2012

Beauty Empties in July

Last month, I emptied or got rid of 26 24 products. Again, 7 5 of them are makeup products that haven't been emptied completely but makeup products are not that easy to empty and the wearability can be an issue that shouldn't be neglected. With most of the make up products the problem has indeed been the wearability. Either I did not like the colours on me or they did not fit to my kind of lifestyle. The lip gloss by H&M was just not comfortable to wear and hence, I did not want to torture myself with it. Hence, I used stuff up and also did some kind of decluttering.

Usually, I enjoy writing the beauty empties post more than writing any other kind of post in this blog because I experience using up and decluttering as very relieving. Throwing the empty bottles away after having taken photos is the best of all. :-))

Here is a picture of all products I emptied/got rid of in July:

A short summary and my thoughts about the products, I emptied in July: