Fixing that face

First and foremost: Happy 21st birthday to my friend Kathryn and good luck on your exam today! She probably won't read this today due to the two previously mentioned events but for anyone who is interested in beauty, do check out her blog that she co-writes with a friend. There's other stuff too, like clothes and recipes. Let's do a makeup-related post today in honour of her.

I'm gonna say it right now before there is a misunderstanding and people think that I actually know what I'm talking about; I do not know anything about beauty or makeup. I just like rambling on about it and plus I discovered something interesting as a follow-up post to this one when I had just bought the Revlon Nearly Naked foundation.

First of all; These photos were taken on Saturday, by the window in my room, hence the bright face. My normal skin tone is normally closer to gray possibly due to coffee-drinking and excessive worrying about everything in this world. Although recently I have gotten a bit of colour (that is not visible in these photos) and it is not because of nice weather (ha!) but rather because I found the dreamiest product ever. It's called Jergens Natural Glow Daily Moisturizer with sun protection and it gives a gradual tan. This is definitely not anything to use if you want actual instant tan, I just bought it to make my face a little perkier and it works. I'm certainly not a bronzed goddess but at least I don't look like I'm on my deathbed anymore. I bought it on Amazon a month ago and because it was shipped from the US it only arrived last week. A nice surprise.

Secondly, now that I have a slightly more tanned face I worried that my regular Burjois foundation might be a little bit too fair for me (who am I kidding, I will never ever be too tanned for the lightest shade). And after reading this post on mixing foundations I decided to mix my far too orange Revlon Nearly Naked with my highlighter. It's from Mememe and it's very pearly and pink. Turns out that this is exactly what my face needed and I now have a decent base for the summer. Just in time for the penultimate season of being broke and not affording new makeup!

Final thoughts: I have clearly underrated this Revlon Lip Butter in Lollipop. So for me it's a little bit out there as I'm about as adventurous as a turtle, but definitely a welcome change from the Wild Watermelon shade which I have been wearing constantly the last few weeks. Also, what is going on with my hair? Why is there never a single picture of me where my hair is straightened/curled and looks nice? I just keep writing massive posts and right before I publish it I realise that in my carefully selected photos I look like I just encountered a tornado. Apologies for posting so many links as well but I just wanted to share with you that reading beauty blogs finally ended up in me saving money (or at least not regret the money I spent on that foundation) rather than spending it.

10 reasons to smile 13.0

Image from my Pinterest.

one - I went out running yesterday because I managed to find my other running shoe. (Did you miss out on the missing shoe-drama? Short story: I found one running shoe in Steve's parents' garage but not the other one. It was under the sink in our utility room. Why? No idea.) I'm following the 8 week running schedule so I'm only on week 1 and I probably could've jumped straight on to week 2 or even 3, but I like easing myself into things.*

two - My May Glossybox arrived today and it was pretty good. Two good boxes in a row? Glossybox is on fire. My favourite was a Nails Inc nail polish in a coral red colour called Portobello which I have been lusting after for quite a while. I only did my nails last night so I'm gonna have to wait a week before I try this one.

three - Ten days left until Steve gets paid. Have I mentioned we have no oil for our heating?

four - Two and a half weeks until my birthday! I'm a child when it comes to birthdays, I love them. What is up with my age though? (I'm turning 23.) Only a year left and then I'll officially be in the "mid-twenties" rather than "early twenties". Should I not be mature? Should I not be avoiding buying chocolate flavoured cereal for breakfast by now?**

five - I think I have mastered the art of fake tanning. (Me and tanning have a longstanding mutual hate of each other, a history full of streaky, orange lines and disgusting smells.) The solution: Jergens Daily Moisturizer for the face (more on this wonder product some other time) and Garnier Summerbody Lotion for the body. So absolutely nothing to do with skill on my part.

six - I have one exam left and although it's on a Saturday which has got to be against some sort of law, I can't wait to get it over with. Has anyone else noticed how great I am at blogging when I am under the pressure of exams?

seven - Lately I've been trying to make an effort to pamper myself (with the few means that I have). That means Mondays are reserved for my feet and nails. Foot bath, scrub and the thickest out of moisturisers are involved. Lovely.

eight - As I dove into Steve's parents' garage on Sunday in order to find that shoe, I also managed to unearth three, giant cardboard boxes, a linen bag full of shoes and an IKEA bag with all sorts in it. (What can I say, we take our time unpacking.) I found lots of treasures; makeup products that I've barely even used, extra pillows, blankets, christmas decorations and such. It's like shopping with a meager selection of items.

nine - I have exciting plans. It's a little bit more than a month left until most of my family visits for my graduation + less than three months until me and Steve go to Malta. Yes, this has been mentioned in every single "10 reasons to smile post" since we booked it but these two events will most likely be the highlights of my summer and make up for not visiting Sweden this summer.

ten - In order to survive this five-week month, me and Steve resorted to selling a few things that we were planning on getting rid of anyway. This is a handy tip: If you have old electronic devices just lying about (e.g. an iPod Touch that hasn't been used since you got yourself an iPhone) then sell it to Cex. If it works and doesn't look too bad you may earn a decent amount. (Also, does anyone in Northern Ireland want a telescope? We have one up on Gumtree.)

*Despite the "easing in" I forgot to stretch one muscle group and today I can't lift my legs. I'm currently shuffling about the house sideways like a crab.

**I wrote this post about a year ago about grown-up things and the first one is to be drinking coffee at a table. Guess what? I drink coffee now, daily, and I own a table. Things are looking up for me. (I also refer to my friend who was then 24 years old as a 'real' grown-up which is frightening.)

(I wish I could link to last year's "happiness post" but unfortunately I didn't make one in May. Or June.)

This week: The odds of losing a shoe

At the start of this week I felt totally uninspired to take photos for Instagram. Nothing seemed photo-worthy (although really everything that I photograph is pointless and it has never stopped me before) and then the ABM photo edit app came out and suddenly everything seemed like it should be photographed and then decorated with pink doodles. I had to restrain myself. (My lemon cake picture is edited with the ABM app here.)

It was a week of revising and therefore also lots of procrastinating and reorganising around the home. So obviously, I now have a craft-drawer. Yeah, that's right. I can feel the envy streaming through the cyberworld. As we are a little poor I've also made an effort to make goodies out of the ingredients we have home rather than going to the shop and buying stuff; lemonade, lemon cake and eh, asparagus. (Asparagus! What a treat!) I actually buckled down and did some serious studying as well once or twice. On Friday I had my first exam and it went better than expected. Yesterday me and Steve had a relaxing evening and watched the Eurovision Song Contest. I was hoping for loads of images of the town hosting it, since I used to live so close to it and I was feeling like a session of hardcore nostalgia. However I was let down. Nobody wants to see Malmo.

Today we were called out to a rugby pitch where Steves' sister's family was setting up a giant tent to help. (A test-run for this summer, they're not camping there.) I spent the majority of the time entertaining Steve's niece and nephew because apparently there is such a thing as too many tent-builders on a rugby pitch. Lately I've also felt motivated to take up running again (I suddenly remembered there is a blog post on running that I wrote on my previous blog but I've forgotten what that blog was called) and today I finally got all my running gear out and sorted. Apart from my running shoes. I can't find my shoes. CORRECTION: I can find one shoe. The last few hours I've been digging through Steve's parents' garage and the second shoe is nowhere to be found. Disappointing, to say the least. Currently eating my way through the leftovers of the lemon cake and feeling sorry for myself. (What are the odds that you lose one shoe when you for once feel like doing exercise?!) One week of revision to go!

Spring stuff wishlist

Check it out, part three (out of three, no more wishlists for now because I'm not that greedy. Or maybe I am. In self-denial?) of my Spring wishlist series! If you have more than one of something - it's a series. I must be a terrible person for posting three wishlists and nothing on it is suitable to give me for my birthday. This is not a birthday list. It's just a random stuff list that doesn't include clothes or makeup. (Although, you can look at my clothes and makeup wishlist if you want to.) I am just a lover of lists and I am a lover of procrastinating during exams time. In my defense I've worked hard today, this list was made up ages ago and as I'm typing this it's Tuesday but as I've already posted ramblings about travelling I decided to schedule this post for Thursday instead. (I'm sincerely hoping that as this is being posted I am disconnected from this world and in the proper revision-zone.) 

Presenting the wishlist:

1 from Nespresso.
As grateful as I am for not living with Steve's parents anymore (they're the nicest but sometimes you just want your own place so you can wear pyjamas for a full day without anyone judging you) I ferociously miss their coffee machine. I actually borrowed it for Steve's birthday party and was very reluctant to giving it back the next evening. If they hadn't known about the loan already I would've hid it under my sink. Back to instant coffee for me and rightfully so for having such terrible thoughts.

2 from Magimix/John Lewis.
I am an ice cream fiend! I am also fond of making stuff that isn't difficult and then feeling proud of myself. Plus I am an avid Pinterester who pins lots of ice cream recipes. In short - this is a product made for me.

3 from B&Q.
So I never thought that I'd be lusting over stuff from a hardware store but I got a terrific pair (my only pair actually) of curtains from B&Q. As I was looking at the curtains my eyes wandered over to the next aisle and it's Steve's fault I'm not living in a cushion-filled blissfulness right now. Apparently we have "too many" cushions.

4 from Urban Outfitters.
I had dreamed about this chair for months before it showed up on the website. If that isn't fate, then what is? (It's a tragedy due to its £350 price tag. Cruel world.)

5 from Amazon.
This is probably the most random of the things on this list, but I used to paint quite a lot in my teenage years. The kind of painting where my parents would give the stuff I made to our relatives for their birthdays and they probably hated us. Anyway, I kind of miss it and I'd like to do something big and abstract for our house until we can afford nice things.

6 from Oka.
I want a couple of large, coloured glass bottles to stick branches and stuff into. May I just add that I have no intention of paying £24 for these considering that 1) I have no money anyway (recurring theme throughout these lists) and 2) I've found glass bottles at TK Maxx for £8-12 depending on the size.

The end of the Spring Wishlist Series. Technically, it's summer in less than a month so I'm sure I'll have new lists by then. I'm a terrible person. 

Also I apologise for the slightly frantic tone throughout this post. Too many cups of coffee in one day. 

Wanderlust tag

I decided to write this blog post after watching this video by youtuber/beauty blogger Essiebutton (who I admire a great deal. Like in a friendly stalker way.) She filmed a video all about travelling and I just felt like rambling a little bit about the same topic. I'm not a hugely experienced traveler but considering the small amount of money that I have... I definitely haven't let travelling suffer for my thin wallet! (Rent and bills suffer. Always. Because the thing that is the opposite of a responsible adult - I am that thing.)

Favourite place in Copenhagen, 2010.

1. Your most treasured passport stamp?
This is a slightly outdated question if you're travelling in Europe. I haven't gotten a passport stamp since I was in Saudi Arabia and that was probably eleven years ago now. So I'm just going to pretend like I've received stamps for every single trip I've taken. As boring as it is, I probably have to say the first time I went to Dublin (during the spring of 2009). I was on my own, I had just bought a one-way ticket to a city that I had never visited before and all around I was terrified. Rightfully so, my hostel was dirty and gross, I could barely afford food, the man sleeping in the bunk bed below me ended up getting thrown out because he bothered another girl and I got a creepy, e-mailing stalker who I didn't even find out about until five months later. But I was also so happy and that trip was the best trip of my life. I met so many new people because I had to, otherwise I'd get depressed from lack of human contact. Turns out that I spent more time with people than I ever did in Sweden. (It's difficult not to, sharing a room with nine strangers.) I went to some great parties, I found a favourite bookshop in Dublin with the friendliest little man (he sold me one of my favourite books ever, Juno & Juliet) and obviously I met Steve too. I made him Swedish pancakes. Best three weeks ever.

2. Can you recite your passport # from memory if asked?
Absolutely not. I can't even remember my home phone number.

3. Preferred method of travel; planes, trains or automobiles?
In general I have a certain love for trains, but when living on Northern Ireland a train won't get you very far. Because of the obstacle of water. So I have to say planes. I also get a special travelling-feeling whenever I'm at an airport. I love the excited sense of being on my way to an adventure, even if I'm going back to Sweden which is decidedly very un-adventurous.

4. Top 3 travel items?
A map (oh yes, I'm the person who has no qualms about pulling out a map and looking as foolish as only a tourist can when I'm a little lost), comfortable shoes (because I do a lot of walking), and the Tripadvisor app (so that you can quickly confirm which ice cream place that's the best).

5. Hostel or hotel?
I have a love for hostels which is why I'm so much cooler than Steve who cannot imagine anything worse. I don't mind being slightly uncomfortable if it saves me money that I can spend on other things. And also hotel rooms make me feel slightly depressed.

6. Are you a repeat visitor or do you explore new places?
There is so many places that I want to see that I haven't really gotten the chance to become a repeat visitor ever. Other than Sweden or Denmark, I guess. There is a list of places that I want to go to and although I really want to go back to Barcelona soon, there are so many other places that I need to save up for first. I just can't justify doing a 'repeat visit' yet.

7. Do you read up on your destination (culture,history,safety) or do you wing it?
I am the biggest offender of reading up on my destination. In fact, I'm a little nuts because I don't just read up on history and so on. For any city break trips that I've taken I've read up on all the city areas, made a list of things to see and then planned in exactly what to look at. I've even been known to check google maps for walking distances so I can take walking into account. I do the same with hotels/hostels and restaurants because I'm so worried of realising later that I've missed something I really wanted to experience.

8. Favorite travel website?
Tripadvisor, without a doubt! I am obsessed with any site that can give me pricing estimates and reviews at once, sorted by area. It's heaven for crazy people like me. Although I would like to add that it's mainly for hotels and restaurants that I use this, sites to see seems to be very subjective.

9. Where would you recommend a friend to visit? Name city & why.
Ooooh, so difficult. Mainly it's difficult because I can't think of anywhere I'd been where I wouldn't recommend anyone to go to. Decisive person, that's me. I'd like to suggest Trogir in Croatia, which I haven't been to for a few years now but it is one of my favourite places in Croatia. I'm recommending it possibly because I'm sure everyone can think of lots of reasons to go to big cities in Europe, but Trogir is to me a little gem. It's a small town by the coast with an old city centre. There's an annoying amount of tourists too - but I can forgive them. I'd like to stroll through the busy markets, have a coffee by the Cathedral, ice cream in one of the tiny alleyways and a pizza around a crowded table late at night. I can't wait to bring Steve there at some point. (Also, if you're going to go to Croatia anyway, stop by Zagreb. I love Zagreb.)

10, You're leaving tomorrow, money is no option, where are you going?
If money was no option I would love to travel around in the US. There is a lot of other places I would like to go to as well, but right now I am a little bit obsessed with USA. It's probably because of Steve because he's always had an obsession with all things US, and possibly also because two of my friends are going to New York soon. Me and my brother used to plan to go for a roadtrip around USA. Disregard the fact that I am still pretty terrified of driving, that neither of us have the money for it and that Steve would be raging with jealousy - it seems like it would be plausible one day! (For the record, I would drive from California up the west coast, through the north and then down the east coast.)

For anyone reading this, do the Wanderlust tag! I'd love reading about everyone's travel thoughts. 

A weekend without internet or phones

All images from my Instagram. 

If there was such a thing as an award for having a calm week, this week would've smashed all other weeks. After last week's birthday bash and all-around craziness, I spent this week gently (oh so very gently) getting into revision and catching up on sleep. The only time I left the house was for a bank errand or two, plus lunch with a friend on Wednesday. (What can I say - I am obsessed with food. As evident by my second picture, honey mustard pork chops for dinner one day.) I also got my hair cut on Friday because my hairdresser had a special offer for highlights and a cut (and I had survived without either for fourteen weeks. My hair was practically suicidal.)

Me and Steve packed a few bags and headed to his parents' caravan on Friday evening. There is no internet at the caravan and very little reception anyway, but just to be certain that we wouldn't have any contact with the outside world we managed to forget both our phone chargers. There is something so surreal about having to go to sleep without checking Twitter, right? I'm surely not the only one who needs to check all social media to be able to go to sleep...? Fifteen years ago people like me would've been labelled crazy. Without modern technology we spent the weekend eating ice cream, playing games (the old school "guess who I am in twenty questions" kind) and watching the four working channels on TV. It was so nice. And this morning we had breakfast and then we sprinted to the car because we were starved for human contact. (We love each other etc etc and all, but there's only so many sessions of Twenty Questions you can play before you want to kill each other.)

Reading IQ84 and The Host

Some of you may remember that I've posted a few reviews on books before. It's partly because I love talking about books that I've read but I realise that nobody else wants to hear my opinion on them. So naturally I write blog posts instead. If you don't want to read this, that's okay! It's also because I have this secret desire to turn back time to when I was in school and book reviews were actual homework?! If anyone who's in secondary school reads this - you are so lucky. Book reviews are the best.

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

I only just finished the third book last week even though I started the first book about 18 months ago. Snail-warning. The main reason is because I'm annoying like that - I'll pick up a book, read half of it and then forget about it for six months. It's also because reading Haruki Murakami's books is a work-out. Maybe I'm a bit slow, but I feel mentally exhausted by it. It's still a worthwhile book to read, maybe even more so because it's a bit challenging. 1Q84 follows Tengo, a ghostwriter and a math teacher, and Aomame, a gym instructor, two lonely individuals who suddenly realise that they are no longer living in the same world as before. I welcome having a strong female character because Murakami has an annoying habit of writing books entirely from a male's point of view (with lots of crazy and unexplainable behaviour from women around them - with 'hey, they're women' type of explanations). Murakami still wrote the novel in his typical style where very little happens and you're mainly following these people's thoughts which may or may not be relevant to the story. It's still a pleasure to read and in particular because the story surrounds a fictional piece of work that Tengo was a ghostwriter for, called Air Chrysalis, which is so different from anything else that I've heard of. There is little more to say about the story without spoiling anything but I do recommend this novel if you feel like reading something slow-paced but beautiful.

The Host by Stephenie Meyer
I found this novel in my bookshelf and started reading it the day after I finished 1Q84. I finished the book within two days. Maybe it's because this book is the absolute opposite of anything that Murakami would write (and I really needed a break from feeling pretentious), but I enjoyed it. It's obviously not a literary masterpiece and unfortunately it suffers from Twilight-esque predictability regarding both characters and plots but let's be open-minded here. In The Host, Earth has been taken over by aliens (Souls) who use human bodies as hosts since humans are just primitive animals who kill each other and the environment anyway. Makes sense. The story follows Wanderer, an experienced Soul who has just been put into the body of a girl named Melanie. Rather than being surpressed like all other humans when they're taken over, Melanie stays conscious  and shares her memories of loved ones with Wanderer, leading to the Soul getting a strange urge to seek these humans out that she now loves too. I am such a sucker for sci-fi. Melanie also has a little brother and maybe I'm just a little over-emotional and sensitive with two younger brothers of my own (who are in their late teens, but whatever, they might as well be babies to me) but I cried floods of tears as soon as there was any sort of emotional sibling-related drama. Anyway, I found this story more interesting than Twilight and if you're not entirely opposed to aliens but do like a (slightly) soppy romantic story once in a while I'd recommend this.