Blue Obsession | How to incorporate blue make up into your day-to-day look

I don't know about you but blue is one of my favourite colours. I've been watching blue make up making it's way back on the trend list with joy and have also been seeing a lot more blue make up items in the stores. Nevertheless, a frosted blue eyeshadow look isn't particularly wearable on a day to day basis for work and uni and personally I still find it a little bit too Paris Hilton 2002. So what I like to do is to incorporate just little bits and bobs of blue.

One great way to do that is with nail polish. I've always been a major fan of blue and turquoise nail polishes but this year I'm even more obsessed. I fell absolutely in love with Essies limited edition polish in 'strike a pose-itano'. The name has been abtly chosen. It reminds me of a vespa driving down the coast of Capri.

Another beautiful shade I recently discovered is the Trend It Up soft matte polish in 015. (Don't you hate it too when product shades are numbered instead of having cute and original names?) It's a bit more muted and purpely blue and the polish fomula is matte, which is a nice change.

For 'actual' make up I recently tried to get a bit of blue on my eyes going and rediscovered this KIKO Long Lasting Eyeshadow Stick in the Shade 17 Midnight Blue in my collection. I originally purchased this for a New Years Eve make up look but it works just as well in the spring and summer time. It's a very dark blue which is perfect for someone who doesn't want an 'in your face' approach to blue eye make up. I apply it to my lower lash line and pair it with a brown/bronzy smokey eye on my lids. It makes my blue eyes really pop and I love this look to bits. While linking the stick I saw that KIKO sells loads more blue shades and I am defenietly contemplaiting buying a few brighter shades for summer.

What do you think of blue make up?

xx Laura

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5 Recent Random Favourites

I've never really talked about random favourites on my blog but I love reading them so I thought why not try it myself?


First I have to mention Chrissy Teigens cookbook 'Cravings', which I recently recieved as a present and I've been in love ever since. I don't particularly enjoy cooking but I certainly enjoy eating and that's why I managed to become a tolerable hobby cook over the last few years. Unfortunately I get bored with food very quickly and I'm always on the hunt for new recipes to try. What I love about 'Cravings' is that it contains recipes for 'food you want to eat'. It doesn't attempt to follow the healthy and clean eating route of so many others and has the most amazing meals in it (lots of butter, bacon and cheese included). Also Chrissy Teigen is hilarious and who doesn't want a portion of humour with their dinner?

I've also been loving to discover my inner child again and getting creative. When I was little I would spend hours and hours drawing and painting and I loved it so much that the memories of it still make me feel all fuzzy and warm inside. So I purchased an artist set with pencils and watercolours and had a lot of fun just creating something on a blank piece of paper. I'm not very talented but I love it and I think that's all that matters.

Another creative outlet that I discovered for myself is bullet journaling. I was contemplaiting to start bullet journaling all the way back in January but never came around to do it. But recently I found my exorbitant amount of planners and notebooks quite overwhelming and frankly annoying. So I longed for something that would have everything combined in one and where no note would go missing and so far I have been loving it. It takes some time to design the pages but I found it to be a nice sunday afternoon activity.

Youtube-Wise I have been abolutely loving Allana Davison. She has been introduced into my world by (who else could it be?) Estée when they collabed a few weeks ago and I've been hooked to her channel and her snapchat ever since. She is fricking hilarious and her snapchat stories always crack me up but she also continuously posts great beauty and lifestlye content on her channel and she seems really down to earth, which is something I really appreciate in Youtubers these days.

Last but not least I have been loving a lot of shows. First is 'the Missing' which made it's way into German TV and I am now waiting for the second episode to come by this sunday because I'm already obsessed. I  just love these 'Who did it?' shows. Secondly I am currently binge watching 'Mad Men' on Netflix and I thoroughly enjoy to travel in time with this series and swoon over all the gorgeous 60's fashion. 'Riverdale' has become a staple in my friday routine, whenever a new episode is uploaded on Netflix. I love KJ Apa, I love Cole Sprouse, I love Camilla Mendes, I love absolutely EVERYTHING about it!  Finally I have been watching (as every other human on this planet) '13 reasons why' and even though I didn't enjoy it from the very first episode because it really dragged itself and has a lot of fillers in it I really support the message behind the series and couldn't stop thinking about Hannah and Clay ever sinced I finished watching.

What have you been loving recently?

xx Laura

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Prepping my body for spring and summer

Now that the sun is shining more often than not and short skirts and tank tops aren't a distant dream anymore I like to get my body ready for the warmer weather and all the pretty summer dresses. Unfortunately I wasn't blessed with naturally tanned skin and tanning sessions in the sun often end with me rubbing aloe gel all over my burned body. Of course I use SPF but somehow a sneaky sunburn always finds it way on to my skin. In order to not blind other humans with my shiny white legs and arms in spring and summer I have to fall back on other sources of tanning. 

I have tried enough fake tanning products to confidently say that I hate the whole process of meticulously rubbing every inch of your body with a glove, smelling like fake tan for hours, ruining your bed sheets and pyjamas and being left with a streaky, orange mess after three days. And that is why I have been loving gradual tans. It is a lot more subtle, a lot less prone to tanning accidents and I find that it also looks better for a longer amount of time. 

So before I start to tan I always use a loofah and a scrub to get rid of dead skin, which is essential if your don't want to end up with dark orange patches.

I believe Zoe launched her beauty range in 2014 (?) and three year later her products finally made it into German drugstores. Praise. the. Lord. So when I discovered her products in the aisles of my nearest drugstore I immediately grabbed for the Pretty Polished Sugar Scrub from her orginal range. This stuff smells amazing and reminds me a lot of Marc Jacobs Daisy but a little bit more fresh smelling rather than floral. It gets rid of all my dead skin cells and leaves my skin feeling soft and not at all dried out. She did a good job there!

For the actual tanning I use the Dove Derma Spa Summer Revived gradual tan in the medium to dark shade. I've tried the fair skin one but I barely couldn't make out a difference, so I decided to go a little more intense. You just apply this like any other body lotion and it also hydrates the skin really nicely Of course you still have to watch out to not leave random parts of your out and to wash your hands after applying but in general it is a whole lot more forgiving to mistakes than normal fake tans. I start with my legs and work all my way up to the neck. Then I like to wash my hands and apply a little drop of product on to the back of my hands afterwards and rub them together and between my fingers so that they look naturally tanned. 

I usually go to bed after tanning and the next morning I can already see the first light wash of colour on my skin (and not on my sheets!) To lock that in and keep my skin smooth and moisturized I use the Garnier Body Tonic Lotion which is supposed to tone you up a bit. I'm not that prone to cellulite and at almost 22 I don't have any saggy skin yet but I do see a differnce when I use this. My skin just looks a little bit more smooth and toned. This only lasts for a few hours though. But it also nourishes my skin and I am obsessed with the fresh green tea scent. 

How do you like to prep your skin for spring and summer and are you fans of fake tanning or nah?

xx Laura

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Female Friendships and what I learned about them

As a special treat for easter I'd like to talk about female friendships and how I got to a point in my life where I can honestly say that I lead adult and honest friendships with all my female friends and how this wasn't a given at all times. This is gonna be a long post so you better grab some snacks and a cup of tea!

Friendship is one of the most important things to me and I honestly believe that a life without good friends is a life not fully lived. Friends make you laugh louder, dance wilder and make you live happier. My friends are reason why and how I've overcome some of my darkest hours, they are the people I celebrated my best hours with and I'm thankful for each and everyone of them. The meaning of friendhship should be quite universal: a friend is honest, loyal, supportive and kind. Right? Unfortunately not all people act in friendship under these terms. I think everyone had their own experience with frenemies and fake friends and wished they hadn't wasted so much time and effort on these people. But the one lesson I've learned is not to hold grudges and be thankful for the time you spent with a friend, even if you're not friends anymore for each one has shaped the person you've become.

High School Friends

In High School friends are not only your little survival kit and support system but also a kind of status symbol. The more friends you got, the more popular you become. It took me a long time to realize that few but good friends are far more valuable than an huge group of half-annoynmous strangers that you have nothing in common with, yet call your friends.

In high school I changed my friends quite often and I can't count the times I came home and told my parents about some drama or cat fight that went down that day in school. This was honestly exausting if I think about it now but I guess that's just how high school and puberty works. For a long time I always expected some "friend" turning against me from one second to the other and backstabbing me since this was the common procedure at my school. At one point I didn't have any friends at school at all and I was contemplaiting spending my breaks in a bathroom stall (how chlichée).When you're a teenager every situation feels permanent and hopeless to you but rest assured that it isn't. Once everyone got older and a little bit more mature things started to change for me and I had badass group of female friends that I wouldn't be seen without at school.

Even though we failed to keep our friendships alive after graduation and I'm only still friends with one of them I feel like I owe these women so much and I can't express my gratitude for them enough. For the first time in my life I felt really empowered by friendship and with these ladies by my side I felt like nothing and no one could touch me. I've made some of my best memories with them and they are the ones who helped me through one of my darkest times in which I at one point couldn't find the strength to go on alone. They stayed honest, true and never failed to make me cry out with laughter even at the most inappropriate times.

Now, I'm not saying that high school friendships can't survive graduation and college but my experience showed that it was highly unrealistic of me to think that way but I guess I just wanted it to last forever. But the truth is everyone will go their own way, will move to different cities or even countries and your priorities will shift but there will always be something that will keep you connected and that is irreplaceable.

Fake Friends and Frenemies

Even though I went through quite a few "friendship breakups" I feel like there is only one which dissapointed me so much on a human level that there is no point of return for me. There are these friends who make you laugh, that you have fun with and do innapropriate and forbidden stuff with. (nothing sexual, you sicko!)
They are the friends your referr to when recounting a crazy night out. But if this is the only thing you regularly do with them more often than not these aren't real friends. But there are even the ones that you have been friends with for years but who only show their true colours much later on or when you're not around.

If you have a feeling that someone would't hesitate to hurt your feelings, tell your secrets, make fun about you or go behind your back once you don't benefit them anymore or become a little bit displeasing and uncomfortable to them you've succesfully detected a fake friend. There are also these friends who will swear endless friendship and loyalty to you and soon will lose interest or run the other way once you need them. Another foolproof fake friend sign (what a tongue twister).

The ones who gossip behind your back, the ones who keep secrets and tell lies to you, the ones who seem to have time for anything but you, the ones who wouldn't grant you any success, the ones who sabotage you, the ones who don't pay your money back and the ones who are insulting you on a daily basis for humors sake: those are fake friends.

Like I said before I try to not hold grudges and appreciate the good times I had with these people but I've also learned that friendship is something that shoulnd't be taken for granted. Neither giving it nor recieving it. I also learned that holding on to friendships for "good times sake" does more bad than good. And finally I've learned that you can't make people be the friend you want them to be and that's fine but you don't need to sacrifice your time for people who don't want to be in your life and don't value you as a person.

The ones who stay

Now to the ones that made it this far and are still friends with my crazy ass. I will try not to cry on my keyboard as I'm writing this but I can't make any promises.

After all this friendship drama there are the ones that are meant to be and stay in your life. They can be new friends but they can also be the ones who've always been there. I'm lucky enough to have a best friend that has been by my side for over half of my life and even though our history contains quite a few arguments and drama scenes (mostly because of my passion for drama) I wouldn't change any memory I've ever made with this woman. She knows me better than I do myself and whenever something good or bad happens to me she's the first person I will tell it to. I feel like our friendship has grown with us over the years and is stronger now than ever before. She will never hesitate to tell me the truth straight to my face even if it hurts but she will also never fail to urge to my side when I'm bawling my eyes out over something.

Most importantly we accept every aspect of each others characters and every quirk and we don't judge. And that's what friendship is all about: Accepting and supporting each other. A friendship where their goals become yours and vice versa. I now have a group of friends in which we want to see the other succeed, where we help in every way possible, in which we empower each other and are kind and accepting and in which there's no room for jelousy and girl on girl crime. There is so much strength and empowerment that you can gain from strong and honest female friendships.

My friends are the ones that can see my value and my beauty when I can't and never fail to remind me of them and I will do the same for them anytime. I also found that a true friend elevates and inspires you and that there is so much to learn from the people you surround yourself with. And then there's loyalty: loyalty doesn't mean that you and your friends have to agree on everything and that they have to dislike every person that you ever had an argument with. Loyalty means that you can count on someone, someone you can be sure would never go behind your back or smash you at the first chance they get, someone that will stand up for you and someone that believes in you.

If you found people like that you can count yourself truly lucky and should try to hold on to them forever. But friendship isn't a one way street and you have to invest time, effort and genuine interest into them. But if you do, you will find that friends can be far more than the people you go to brunch with but real partners in crime.

xx Laura

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Skin Care Buys for luminous skin

I recently went on a little shopping spree and bought some beauty bits that sounded quite promising. My wallet and my concious are thanking god right now that I wasn't dissapointed. In the last few weeks I have become really obsessed with healthy looking skin (more than ever before) and no matter how hard you try to fake it with make up, lit-from-within skin looks the best when it's just that: lit from WITHIN. So I reevaluated my skincare routine and started working new skincare bits into it. I don't want to brag at this point but my skin never looked better.

First off, I need to ask why I haven't heard anybody talk about this. Biotherm in general is a brand that I don't often come across on the blogosphere so I better get startin with it because this Skin Best facial oil is amazing. Liquid Glow - the name says it all. Not only does this smell gorgeous but also it really works. You can apply it under your night cream, you can put a few drops into your moisturizer and you can even use it as a mask. It's supposed to detoxify the skin and get rid of antioxidants. Well, I don't know about that but I certainly wake up with new skin when I apply this the night before. It's more plump and glowy and discolerations and blemishes just disappear overnight. Mixed in with my daily moisturizer it leaves me looking fresh and luminous all day and I can confidently say that this will wander straight into my little pile of holy grail products.

I have used the Origins GinZing moisturizer before but I failed to repurchase it when I ran out of it and recently had an epiphany about how much I used to love it. So I bought it and fell in love all over again. It smells like oranges and reminds me of freshly pressed orange juice on a sunday morning. But even more important it really gets the job of hydrating and energizing your skin done. It's a very lightweight gel texture and glides onto the skin like a dream and doesn't sit on it so that you would have to worry about your foundation gliding off. What I find most astounding though, is how plump and awake it makes my skin look the second I apply it. It's defenietly worth a check out if you're on the hunt for a new spring/summer moisturizer. 

I know I'm late to the party of the Mario Badescu Facial Spray but I have to say that my Body Shop Vitamin E Spray is the exact same thing. The only thing I like more about this is that it's a finer mist but nevertheless I really like it and thought I give it a mention as it recently has replaced my Body Shop spray. I like to set my make up with it and also apply it whenever I feel my skin needs a little refresh. 

This doesn't really count as skin care per se but I needed to mention it because it's new and I love it. I've used the Mac Cream Colour Base in the shade Pearl before but it had been replaced by my L'Oreal and Urban Decay Highlighters but I rekindled my love with it in the shade Hush as it looked really pretty for spring. This has been my go to for a subtle and natural highlight and by subtle I mean you really can't detect it on your skin and it gives you the most beautiful highlight. 

What are your skin care reccomendations for glowy skin?

xx Laura

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My All Time Favourite Books

I love books and I love talking about them. Nothing fills me with more joy and excitement as when one of my friends asks me for a book reccomendation and even though I find it hard to choose between my babies there are a few standout works that I would call my favourites. I'm not saying that I have any qualification to reccomend books (apart from majoring in literature), I just find it really interesting to hear about peoples favourite books and I thought why not share mine?

Non-Fiction

Bloom by Estée Lalonde

Before I go on about the hilarious genius that is Estée can we just talk about the aesthetic of this book for a brief moment? I have never owned a more beautiful book in my entire life and I make sure it's on display at all times because it makes me so happy just looking at it. If you're subscribed to Estée on YouTube you will know that the beauty of this book did not come as a suprise as Estée and her boyfriend Aslan are aesthetic geniuses with the most amazing taste in all things interior, fashion and art. Which did come as a suprise though was the content. Estée is one of those people I could listen to for hours and hours even if she's talking about the most mundane things and I thouroghly enjoy all her content online. When she announced that she would share things in Bloom that she never talked about before I was sold because I was honestly intrigued about the human behind cheery and hilarious YouTube Estée and her views and thoughts on more serious issues. And she didn't dissapoint. In the book she talks about mental health, moving across the world, growing up, body image, family, bullying but also fashion, beauty and travel with a lot of wit but also with a really insightful and clever narrative. It's just the perfect combination of a light read coffeetable book and a thought-provoking memoir. I know I'm fangirling over this book and Estée way too much but just read it and tell me it isn't an amazing book! Well done, Estée!

Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert

Elizabeth Gilbert is the author of Eat, Pray, Love if you didn't know and I don't even care how basic you think the following statement is but Eat, Pray, Love is one of my favourite films. So I was intrigued by her newest piece of work and I also find myself drawn to pretty books (look at that cover!) The book is about living your life in an unapolegetically creative way and making the most of your dreams and talents while stop doubting yourself. I wouldn't neccesarily call it a self-help book but I have to say that I highlighted the crap out of this book. I thought numerous times: 'Oh my god that is so me!' while reading it and when that happens I know a book is a gooden. But this not only makes you wonder since when Elizabeth Gilbert is living in your brain but also explains the reasons for certain thought proccesses and solutions for them. If you desire to make a living off of being creative you should defenietly read this book. It's brilliant. 

Bossy Pants by Tina Fey

Well, I've already talked about this one on my blog but here we go again: Tina Fey is without doubt the funniest woman on this planet and everything she is involved in makes me cry with laughter. No suprise then that her book would be one of my favourites. I screamed at this. Well, a weird combination of screaming and laughing and a book that makes me actually physically laugh, not only think 'how funny' in my head is not only rare but also deserving of a special appreciation. But what's even more important is that I felt empowered after reading it and it's just a really clever feminist work covered in hilariousness. 

Don't worry, it gets worse by Alida Nugent

Everyone who is in their 20's will appreciate this book and so did I. It's a quick read but I loved it nonetheless. It's not a deep and brainy analysis on life and it doesn't deliver anwers to millenials in their quarter-life-crisis but it makes you feel less alone with it. It's more a diary than anything else and that's whats so charming about it because it's blunt and honest and funny. Alida describes her post-college struggles with becoming an adult and doing all the adult things that are not that fun after all when you're broke, unemployed and have no clue how to pay taxes. It's this cluelessness that makes me identify with this book so much and even though I'm still not done with university I am 100% sure I will soon come back to this book and will think: ' Ha! Good times when I thought this would't happen to me.' And that is very reassuring to know. 

It's all absolutely fine by Ruby Elliot

Even though there's also text in this book it's mostly illustrations and you will have come across Ruby and her work at least once on Instagram, I promise. This just hits home for me. Her drawings are just hitting my sense of humour and I mean who wouldn't be rolling on the floor with laughter (Yes, ROFL) at the sight of a jazzy lizzard coming out of a human shell? But what's even more astounding is that her drawings deal with a lot more serious issues than being a cracker eating lizard. She mostly talks and draws about mental health issues ranging from depression and anxiety to body dismorphia and body image and for anyone who dealt with any of those themselves this is a wonderful and hilarious take on the matter. Whenever I'm struggling with my mental health I pick this up and it never fails to make me laugh. 

Fiction

My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante

In recent years I haven't been loving that many fiction books and feel more entertained by essay collections, memoirs etc. so when a piece of fiction makes it into my favourites list you better believe it made me think or laugh or cry or all of the above (can you say that when the words aren't actually above?) My brilliant friend is the first part of a series by Elena Ferrante and is set in 1940's Naples. Not only did this book made me feel like I was sitting in a narrow, cobbled street in Naples, eating Pizza but it made me also think a lot about the realtionship with my best friend. I'm not much into love stories these days as I find them to be a bit overtold but a story where the friendship between two young women is the main focus is extremely refreshing and different. But it doesn't stop there. It's an HONEST depiction of friendship: jelousy and rivalry included. And anything that's honest I find frankly, brilliant. (See what I did there?)

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

I have a confession to make: I have never read a book where there wasn't a female narrative (Harry Potter excluded). I don't know if this is a very feminist thing of me or a very ignorant one but I promised to improve and so I decided to read a little life on reccomendation from Estée (there she goes again). First of all: this is one long ass book. Second of all: If you're looking for a book that will lift you up this is not the one but even though this book is devestating to read it is also utterly touching and a masterpiece of writing. I don't want o give too much away but the plot evolves around four men, who live in New York and go about their life. The main focus though lays on the character Jude who is battling with major physical and mental illness and an unspeakable of childhood that he tries to conceal from everyone around him. Throughout the book the reader learns not only about Judes childhood that is haunting his life but also learns a few lessons on love, friendship, mental health and kindness. It is also a good representation of how you never know what people have gone through, even if they're close to you and your heart and how we should look out for our friends and family more. This book made me cry more than once and I couldn't stop thinking about it even after I started a new one. A beautiful book but not for the faint hearted. 

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

I recently found out that this is being made into a movie and I am still excited about this news. I've read my fair share of YA novels in my time but now I feel like I've grown out of the teenage narrative. From time to time though, there are some special hidden treasures and Wonder is one of them. I don't even know why it's listed as a YA novel because it's told from different perspectives, most of which is the one of August a 10 year old boy. I think everyone should read this book, no matter what age. It taught me a valuable lesson about kindness and the facettes of love and I sobbed my eyes out at it. I love a book where I feel like I will never see things the same way after reading it and Wonder did that for me and I honestly believe that the world would be a better place if this was required reading in all schools. (Maybe that's why it's YA). It's a beautiful and heart-wrenching story and I couldn't reccomend it enough.

What are your all time favourite books and what's next on your reading list?

xx Laura

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20 things to do in spring

With warm temepartures rolling in this week it's safe to say that spring is officially here. I really missed the sun this year. I love a rainy day like the other girl but this time I really felt that a portion of vitamin D was overdue. With the sun my motivation to leave the house comes back and the possibilities of what to do on a weekend multiply. So here are a few ideas of what to do on a beautiful spring day:


1. Have a picknick

2. Go on a easter egg hunt with friends

3. Read a book in the park/garden/balcony

4. Have a champagne breakfast with your best friends

5. Have a bath with Lush's easter products

6. Decorate your house/appartment with everything spring and easter

7. Buy a bouquet of flowers and arrange them as a center piece

8. Or even better: pick them yourself

9. paint your own easter eggs

10. Take you camera and capture all the beauty of nature awakening

11. Bake some easter themed cupcakes or treats

12. Visit the street market on a saturday morning and taste all the food and smell all the flowers

13. Search for new recipie ideas on Pinterest. In spring vegetables and fruits start to taste even better.

14. Do some gardening. Plant a flower or your own little herb garden

15. Go on the hunt for fresh and glowy looking spring make up

16. Declutter your wardrobe and make a list of which trends you want to invest in this season

17. Treat yourself to a new pair of sunglasses

18. Throw a spring dinner party for your friends

19. Do a roadtrip to a place you've never been to before. Preferably with a convertible.

20. Host a cocktail night in your garden for your friends

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