What I'm reading + NOTD pt. 22

Shadow is a man with a past. But now he wants nothing more than to live a quiet life with his wife and stay out of trouble. After three years in prison, Shadow has done his time. But as the time until his release ticks away, he can feel a storm brewing. Flying home, as a violent storm rocks the plane, a strange man in the seat next to him introduces himself. The man calls himself Mr. Wednesday, and he knows more about Shadow than is possible. He warns Shadow that a far bigger storm is coming. And from that moment on, nothing will ever he the same... Original title of the book is American Gods. 

Sometimes, when you finish a book you want to talk with someone about the book, share your thoughts on it. Sometimes, you don't know what to say about the book, even if you liked it. So here are just some quotes. 

“Even nothing cannot last forever.” 

“There's never been a true war that wasn't fought between two sets of people who were certain they were in the right. The really dangerous people believe they are doing whatever they are doing solely and only because it is without question the right thing to do. And that is what makes them dangerous.” 

“People believe, thought Shadow. It's what people do. They believe, and then they do not take responsibility for their beliefs; they conjure things, and do not trust the conjuration. People populate the darkness; with ghosts, with gods, with electrons, with tales. People imagine, and people believe; and it is that rock solid belief, that makes things happen.” 

“I miss you', he admitted. 'I'm here', she said. 'That's when I miss you most. When you're here. When you aren't here, when you're just a ghost of the past or a dream from another life, it's easier then.” 

“Religions are, by definition, metaphors, after all: God is a dream, a hope, a woman, an ironist, a father, a city, a house of many rooms, a watchmaker who left his prize chronometer in the desert, someone who loves you—even, perhaps, against all evidence, a celestial being whose only interest is to make sure your football team, army, business, or marriage thrives, prospers, and triumphs over all opposition. Religions are places to stand and look and act, vantage points from which to view the world. So none of this is happening. Such things could not occur. Never a word of it is literally true.” 

“Gods die. And when they truly die they are unmourned and unremembered. Ideas are more difficult to kill than people, but they can be killed, in the end.” 

The nail polish is from Essence, a really old one, as you can see from the bottle. The application wasn't the easiest, because of the thinner brush, but it was manageable. Two coats were enough for full opacity. I couldn't capture the colour of it, in reality is more violet than blue. It's a mix between grey and pastel violet, a dusty violet? The name of the polish is Found My Love. 

Have a great day :)

Essence longlasting lipstick Velvet Matt 23 and swatches of other nudes in my collection

A couple of weeks ago I bought myself a lipstick from Essence, it was a new addition to their regular assortment. So I thought to myself why not show you the swatches of it and in the meantime compare it to other nude shades that I have in my collection.

The lipstick is from the longlasting line with the name Velvet Matt 23. It seems like Essence couldn't be bothered coming up with names anymore, because we have also a lipstick called Velvet Matt 24. If all the other lipsticks have also different names with numbers, why stop now? Number 23 is indeed matte, but if you have dry lips the lipstick will emphasise dry patches. The lipstick barely has any smell and this is good, because the smell of other longlasting essence lipstick is not plerasant, artificial smell of crayons, who likes that? On the swatches you will see that is most similar to the discontinued essence stay matt lip cream in the colour Velvet Rose.

1. Rimmel Moisture Renew Lipstick 180 Vintage Pink is the darkest of the lipsticks and even if the name suggests that is pink it has violet undertones. It's creamy and moisturising, but I'm not too fond of the smell, since it's again very artificial.

2. Essence lipliner 06 Satin Mauve is very similar to Rimmel one, but a little bit darker and matt. This was my first lipliner ever and I bought it long before the 90's trend. Then I was, oh, I got this one, I should use it more. You can clearly see the violet undertones when on my lips, but I like it (and can you actually believe that Essence didn’t discontinue this colour for this long, like 6 years or more?).

3. Catrice Ultimate Shine 190 Gentle nude is Back (but not anymore- discontinued, the whole range actually) is very creamy and it feels nice on the lips. The longevity is not the best since it's so creamy. And it’s definitely on the cooler side.

4. Bourjois Rouge Edition Velvet 07 Nude-ist with the perfect name for this post, but it stands out the most. Even on my lips it doesn’t look nude, but it is a rose colour. I like the formula, it's the most longlasting and matt and the application is easy and it feels nice on the lips. It has a slight artificial smell but once on the lips you can't smell it anymore.

5. Essence longlasting lipstick 05 Cool Nude is similar to Catrice one but is not so cool, it's on the warmer side, even if the name says differently. It is creamy, but not like Catrice one and it is a little bit darker. The smell is horrible, the artificial smell, that some compare it to crayons.

6. Essence stay matt lip cream 01 Velvet Rose (discontinued) is on pinker side, like the name says it's matt, but the lip creams that are now in circulations have better formulas, which means that are more matte and really longlasting, and this one is not longlasting. But then again I think everyone was sad when Essence decided to discontinue this range. They could add more colours to the range, but no, let's discontinue them. The smell is really good. It smells like candy.

7. Essence lipliner 01 Soft Rose (discontinued) is a true nude in my opinion; it's a little lighter than my lips, so it shows on the lips. These Essence lipliner are very soft and a lot of people like them, but be careful, all my lipliners have grey caps, but the new one have coloured caps and some say that the formula has also changed, not just the caps. Actually I have one coloured cap and I think that is really a bit harder than the grey cap ones.

8. Essence longlasting lipstick velvet matt 23

9. Essence longlasting lipliner 05 Lovely Frappuccino is the true 90's colour on me. It is brown, very brown. And if I recommend just one formula of all of these I would say get yourself one f these ones. The formula is great, it applies nicely because is soft enough, but on the lips is matte and even if I had a little bit dry lips it didn't show one bit. Just perfect. I would like to have more colours of the longlasting lipliner shade.

The swatches on the lips together:

So this is my nudes’ collection. I hope there was some useful information for you. I’m still not good at describing colours and all, but at least you can see swatches ;)

Have a great day :)

What I'm reading + NOTD pt. 21

I can't say that history was my favourite subject in school, but I liked it. Sometimes more, sometimes a little less, depending on the theme. When picking up books to read I never intentionally go to the department with history novels, but when I read one that also includes some history themes I usually enjoy it. I'm even happier when I find out something that I didn't know before and it intrigues me so when I finish the book I make some additional researches about the theme in the book, This happened with the book The Buddha in the Attic.

Between the first and second world wars a group of young, non-English-speaking Japanese women travelled by boat to America. They were picture brides, clutching photos of husbands-to-be whom they had yet to meet. Julie Otsuka tells their extraordinary, heartbreaking story in this spellbinding and poetic account of strangers lost and alone in a new and deeply foreign land.

The book is written in the personal plural form which is interesting, but also as a reader you lose a little bit of emotional investment in the story, since you can't get so emotionally attached to a single character. But I understand the decision to write in plural, because like this you have multiple stories in one, and not just the story of one single person. 

There is one thing I found about in history when at university. That history is written by the victors and what you learn in school is just one part of history, but there is never just one side of history. And there are stories that we never hear of. Women and lower class are almost never mentioned in high school history textbooks and that's why I liked my studies at university, because I did research and learn also the other, somehow forgotten parts of our history (didn't study history though). And this is why I love the books like The Buddha in the Attic, because I never stop learning.

On my nails there is green. I'm celebrating that spring has arrived :) What I like of winter is snow, but there was none, so welcome spring, I missed you. The polish is from (discontinued) Essence with the name Beijos de Brazil. Two easily applied coats, nothing to complain about.

Have a great day ;)

What I'm reading + NOTD pt. 20

The Solitude of Prime Numbers (original title La solitudine dei numeri primi) is a story of Alice and a story od Mattia. A prime number is inherently a solitary thing: it can only be divided by itself, or by one; it never truly fits with another. Alice and Mattia also move on their own axes, alone with their personal tragedies. As a child Alice's overbearing father drove her first to a terrible skiing accident, and then to anorexia. When she meets Mattia she recognises a kindred spirit, and Mattia reveals to Alice his terrible secret: that as a boy he abandoned his mentally-disabled twin sister in a park to go to a party, and when he returned, she was nowhere to be found. These two irreversible episodes mark Alice and Mattia's lives forever, and as they grow into adulthood their destinies seem irrevocably intertwined.

Reading the stories of Alice and Mattia you really hope that they will find happiness and peace in this world. But will they?

The nail polish is an oldie one. Essence colour & go in old bottles. The name is Meet me now! It's getting a little thick, but it's still manageable. Two coats, a base coat and top coat, as usual. 

Have a great day :)

What I'm reading + NOTD pt.19

The book Every Seventh Wave (original title Alle sieben Wellen) was on my reading list because I read the book Love Virtually (original title Gut Gegen Nordwind) and when working in a bookstore I saw that the book Every Seventh Wave is its sequel.

I remember that I've read Love Virtually in one afternoon on hot summer day. As I remember it was a nice, light and quick read, so I thought why not read the sequel. What are my thoughts on the sequel? I will compare these two books with Dawson's Creek (remember this show or are you too young to remember Dawson, Joey and my favourite, Pacey?). The first book was like watching Dawson's Creek at the age 13 or 14. You love the show, love the characters, think how smart, funny and beautiful they are. You want to be them or you want Dawson or Pacey to be your boyfriend :) You think how interesting and full of adventures their life is. The second book Every Seventh Wave is like watching Dawson's Creek when you are 25 or something like that. You accidentally find that on TV there is a rerun of your favourite show when you were young. And you decide to watch it again. And you just sit there and watch Dawson and Joey have million conversations about their relationship and problems and you listen them contemplating about their life. And then you find yourself scream at the TV, "you have just 15 years and your relationship is not that complicated, you are making it complicated with your constant whining Dawson!" This is how I found the second book. I find the conversation (or better emails) between the two characters to be unnecessary complicated and juvenile. While reading the book I often asked myself why are they complicating their lives and why they don’t end the conversation altogether. Sure it must not be good to be in front of the computer whole day waiting for the email and forget your life in the meantime. Maybe I just wasn't in the right mood for this book. Oh yes, I didn't tell you what the book is about.

Leo returns from Boston and gradually resumes his e-mail contact with Emmi. But he has plans to settle down with Pamela, the woman he met in America. In an attempt to draw a line under their relationship, Emmi and Leo at last agree to meet in person.

The nail polish is from Catrice with the lovely name Hip Queens Wear Blue Jeans! Look how lovely it is in the bottle. Deep blue, with small blue glitter. Unfortunately the glitter is almost invisible on the nails. On the nails it looks like a regular creme nail polish. I still like the colour though. The application wasn't the easiest, the polish was a little goopy and you can see the result of that on my nails.

Have a great day :)

What's in my make up bag that's in my bag?

My sister suggested few themes for new blog posts and one was the classic one, what is in my make up bag that I carry with me. 

After going through my make up bag I saw that there are not many make up bits in there. It's more like utility bag. The things I carry with me are:

1. Plasters - very useful, for small cuts or blisters, always with me

2. Hand sanitizer - specially in handy when travelling

3. Make-up remover wipes - if I find myself in situations when I don't have my usuall make up removers 

4. Small mirror - for touch-ups

5. pills- in the winter time I carry with me pills for sore throat, here you can see Tantum Verde, in the pictures you can also see some other pills that are there because I was too lazy to put them out. The brown ones are Persen Forte and are for calming yourself in stressful situations and I bought them when I was travelling. I don't like flying and I thought that the pills will help me. Not sure about that. And the one little pill is Lekadol which is like aspirin, you take it when you get cold. I didn't feel well on my last trip so my friend gave the pills and this one was left.

6. Lip balm - this is a necessity, I get dry lips quite a lot, at the moment I'm using lip balm from Carmex

7. Lipgloss - never use it, but didn't know where to put it (Essence glossy lipbalm)

8. Lip smoother from Catrice in the colour 030 Cake Pop - rarely use it, but it's nice to have something that is not lip balm and leaves some colour on the lips

9. Some kind of chubby stick from Catrice that was LE - this is not suppose to be here, I forgot to take it out when I was last wearing it. I always put the lipstick that I'm wearing at that moment in my bag, for touch ups, obviously

What should be also in my bag: hand cream (forgot to buy a new one when used up last one), hair tie (always useful) and maybe bobby pins (never know when might use them).

What are you carrying with you in your make up bag? What is missing in my bag that you always carry around?

Have a great day! ;)

What I'm reading + NOTD pt.18

First of all I want to apologise, because I'm posting the fifth NOTD and a book in a row, but I'm totally without ideas and motivation when it comes to beauty posts. I haven't bought beauty stuff worth reviewing in a while, but I read a lot so these posts seem logical. To tell you the truth I didn't even managed to apply my nail polish so I could show it together with the books I was reading.

But here is the book I did manage to photograph together with the nail polish and it is Gone Girl. Just how well can you ever know the person you love? This is the question that Nick Dunne must ask himself on the morning of his fifth wedding anniversary when his wife Amy suddenly disappears. The police immediately suspect Nick. Amy's friends reveal that she was afraid of him, that she kept secrets from him. He swears it isn't true. A police examination of his computer shows strange searches. He says they aren't his. And then there are the persistent calls on his mobile phone. So what really did happen to Nick's beautiful wife?

In my previous post I said that I will see if The Dinner is really "European Gone Girl". After reading both of them I can see no similarities. Ok, one thing that they have in common is the ending, *some kind of spoiler* meaning that the end is morally disputable. What is right does not prevail, if you wish *end of spoiler*. Other that this, nothing. Gone girl is a classic crime genre and The Dinner is not. So why compare them? 

I liked Gone Girl, but I can't say that is the best book in the crime genre. Just as I liked this one I also liked Rosamund Lupton novels.

The nail polish is China Glaze with the name Harvest Moon. Easy application, two coats are enough for full coverage and the finish is almost like a foil one. The colour is golden bronze. 

Have a great day :)