Essie - Bahama Mama

And another polish this week. Currently the days here are grey and rainy and this weather inspired me to go back to a classic autumn color. It's another Essie polish, named bahama mama.

It's a classic dark red, inspired by red wine. As usually, I applied two coats, although I realized afterwards that this one could need one more (but I didn't want to have it too dark).

I sticked to my nail polish routine (never change a winning team, right?).

1 coat Essie 'all in one base'
2 coats Essie 'bahama mama'
1 coat essence 'better than gel nails top sealer'

MAC Temperature Rising Limited Edition

On Wednesday, MAC's summer edition was finally released at Kicks in Oslo. So far, I didn't own any MAC products but when I saw swatches of this edition I knew that these will be my first purchases. I am not the red lipstick girl. I am team sheer lipgloss. My lips are far away from being full and sometimes it looks like I almost don't have an upper lip.

This MAC limited edition though includes three products that are perfect for my lips. And because I am studying and needed something to cheer me up, I decided to not decide between the three products but purchase them all (although it meant minus 555 NOK on my bank account).

The packaging of the products is great. I really like the bronze color (which makes it really obvious that it is a special edition). The boxes are the same bronze color on the outside and purple on the inside. A great combination, especially because I love this purple. I love it on the packaging but not on my lips which is why I was greatful for all the brownish and golden glosses and lipsticks in the collection.

MAC Temperature Rising Lipstick Caliente

Reading through several beauty blogs, this one was the first to get my attention. It is perfect, it is MY color. I fell in love with it immediately and after I swatched it on the back of my hand I knew we were meant for each other. I didn't have a chance to wear this one yet but I will do that as soon as possible.

MAC Temperature Rising Lipstick Sheer Seduction

It took me some time to realize there was another lipstick in the collection that could be made for me as well.

I wore it once so far, it lasted around 5 hours (no eating, just me in the library sipping on water bottles and biting my lips watching a hockey game). It didn't dry my lips out as much as I expected. Usually, I am regularly using lip balm but even after 5 hours with 'Sheer Seduction' my lips didn't feel dry. That's a big yay, as it is always my biggest concern with lipsticks (especially since I got one of Clinique's Chubby Sticks (first release, not one of the 'intense' collection); I love its color but it ruins my lips within minutes).

MAC Temperature Rising Lipglass Underdressed

As I am always head over heels for lipgloss products, I had to have a look at the lipglasses here. 'Underdressed' was the perfect fit to complete my early morning haul.

It was the first one to use and it felt really good on my lips. As expected, it didn't survive the lunch I had (Burito and salad) but I am okay with that. 

And here are swatches of all three products.

Caliente / Sheer Seduction / Underdressed

Caliente / Sheer Seduction / Underdressed

I am in love, really. You can easily layer them to build up the color and they feel really good on my lips. They were worth the waiting and the early morning rush into the city center.

Catrice - Karl Says Très Chic

It started raining today. After the spring days we now have some really rainy days ahead of us (at least that's what my iPhone forecast tells me). Therefore, I felt the need to step back from the bright spring colors and opted for Catrice's 'Karl Says Très Chic' from their Ultimate Nudes collection.

I applied:
1 coat Essie 'all in one base'
2 coats Catrice 'Karl Says Très Chic'
1 coat essence 'better than gel nails top sealer'

The polish was a little sticky but that could be related to his age (I have it for at least two years, probably even longer).

Essie - Tart Deco

Spring has finally arrived in Oslo. Therefore, it is definitely time for color on my nails. I started the week with Essie's 'Tart Deco', a great spring color which looks very apricot (or peachy) in the bottle and a lot more orange as soon as it's on the nail.

It is one of the few polishes I have that need more than two coats. I have applied my Essie base coat, followed by three layers of 'Tart Deco'. As usual, I used the essence top coat afterwards. 

I really love this color and even with the rain forecasted for tomorrow, these nails have helped me transform into full spring mood.

Weekly Review May 5, 2013

Another week has passed and the end of my stay in Norway (as well as exam period) is coming closer. A friend from my home university has been visiting this week, so I was doing more sightseeing than studying.

Food
Guess what? I had sushi again. Lille Asia is becoming my favorite place here in Oslo. This week, I was at their restaurant at Hegdehaugsveien. The place is amazing, I could sit there for hours. Great food, great atmosphere, just perfect. 

And because we are all studying now, we are spoiling ourselves with dinners in restaurants. So on Sunday evening, it was time for Italian food at Vapiano. We have it in Switzerland too and I sticked to my favorite dish, Linguine Granchi di Fiume.

Instagram

Sunday evening. Watching 'Tatort' on my iPad and checking the comments on Twitter. Social Media TV evening.

Studying is hard. This helps. At least a little.

Library outfit.

A perfect evening. Beer, great football and good friends.

Magazines from home.

Now I have spring on my feet.

Music
My song of the week is a really old one I have not heard in a while. A couple of years ago, I listened to it until I knew the lyrics by heart. And hooray, I still knew them. The song is "Seasons of love" from the musical "Rent". You find the final broadway performance here.

Nails
Another week of not changing my nail polish every other day... I really have to work on this, I am a little worried I get worse if I am not practicing.

Essie - Decadent Dish

Essie - Bond with whomever (Review can be found here)

Makeup of the day #1

As I already mentioned, I love makeup. So here is a look I wore this week.

I used the Maybelline Color Tattoo in 'Immortal Charcoal' as a base for the Catrice eyeshadow. On the inside, I applied the Make Up Store pigment 'perfect'. As it was an easy going day in the library, I didn't apply an eyeliner.

Here is an overview of the products I used for this makeup.

bareMinerals Prime Time Foundation Primer
Make Up Store Eye Primer - clear
bareMinerals Matte SPF 15 Foundation - fairly light N10
bareMinerals Original SPF 25 Mineral Vail
bareMinerals Blush - beauty
Maybelline Color Tattoo 24hr - Immortal Charcoal
Catrice Limited Edition Siberian Call - Mountain Baked Eyeshadow
Make Up Store Eyedust - perfect
Estée Lauder Lash Primer Plus
Clinique High Definition Lashes
Maybelline The Rocket Volum' Express - Black Waterproof
Catrice Lip Appeal - Flirty Fuchsia

Essie - Bond with whomever (Madison Ave-Hue Limited Edition)

Instead of working on our group assignment (some CAPM and Fama French calculations), I got some new color on my nails after wearing Essie's 'Decadent Dish' for around 5 days.

For doing my nails, I ususally apply four coats. First is Essie's 'all in one base', followed by two coats of the color and to finish up I use essence's 'better than gel nails' top sealer.

Now let's talk about 'Bond with whomever'. It is part of this spring's limited edition called 'Madison Ave-hue'. 'Bond with whomever' is a lilac polish, in my eyes the perfect mix between warm and cold aspects of the color. It applies really smoothly and needs two coats for full coverage.

I really love this color for spring. It works really well with most part of my wardrobe (which is dominated by grey, black and navy blue) and works great with my current skin tone. Application is smoothly and longevity is 3 to 4 days (although I usually change the colors more often).

Weekly Review April 28, 2013

I had my last lecture (during which Mario Götze's transfer to Bayern Munich was announced; I am still not sure whether this was a good move) of this semester and therefore, I am now officially in study mode. When I am not studying, I am at the gym to make me feel that I did at least one useful thing a day. Oh and we had our first rooftop party. You know, it's kind of spring here. The sun is shining and it's around 10°C. So why not spending the evening outside on a rooftop, right? I must say, it was worth the goose bumps and the dangling, as we can see the Oslo fjord from our rooftop.

Beauty
New in this week: John Frieda Luxurious Volume Shampoo
It does make my hair kind of fluffy but I am not sure whether it also dries out my hair. So far, I cannot say if it's a 'yay' or a 'nay' product but I will keep on testing.

Books
As I have finally switched to study mode, I am reading all day long. In the evening, I am happy if I can just watch TV and switch off my brain. On Saturday evening, I managed to read some pages of Nate Silver's book (review will be on the blog as soon as I am finished).

Celebrities
I love celebrity gossip. In this week's news, Reese Whiterspoon and her husband got arrested. Best thing about this is her mugshot which looks like a blurry image of a beauty blogger presenting her eye makeup.
Kim Kardashian finally got divorced, which is great for her, as I really don't want to imagine Kanye living with the fact, that his child legally is Kris Humphries' child. What is not great is Kim's maternity wardrobe. Okay, it's not maternity fashion, she just squeezes into normal dresses, as usual. She should get some lessons by the duchess of Cambridge, who looked radiant this week in a mint Mulberry coat, a baby blue 50s dress, a navy blue floral dress and a polka dot topshop dress which of course was sold out within an hour. 

Food
On Tuesday I went out for a pre-Champions-League sushi dinner with a good friend. As we planned to watch the game at a pub in Grünerløkka, we went for dinner right next to the pub at a place called lille asia. And here is my delicious maki plate, all shrimps.

Oh these iPhone colors... That wasabi's green color was a lot less intense in reality

Instagram

I kicked off strawberry season this week (and already had 1kg in the first two days). This was my study snack on Monday afternoon.

Working on a group assignment. 3 hours of Excel and Stata and we're still not done.

After the 3 hours, I forced myself to step by at the gym. I did some abs and my favorite sling workout. That's all I can do after an afternoon with Excel files.

I was wearing my favorite ring this week, a Cartier beauty that once belonged to my late father.

My gym here in Oslo (Nydalen Athletica) got a remodelling this week and they've added some motiviational quotes like this one.

Listened to this record all week long.

Oslo at 10 pm (rooftop view).

Music
This week, I spoiled myself with a new CD, the deluxe edition of Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' 'The Heist'. What a brilliant record.

Nails
I didn't even have the time to change my nail color more than once this week. Long days at the library and gym afterwards (plus football and party in the evening) made it hard to find time for a mani change.

Essie - Forever Yummy

Essie - Madison Ave-hue

In light of spring, my toe nails are currently wearing a bright yellow by alessandro. I cannot show a picture here though because my toes are not the prettiest part of my body.

TV
It's Champions League time! We enjoyed the first game (Bayern - Barcelona) at an Irish pub with around 500 screens (okay, according to their webpage they have 40 but it feels like more). And what a game that first semifinal was. May this finally be the end of that incredibly boring tiki-taka. I am so bored by this and I am happy that several teams now have proven that this is not the ultimate way of playing anymore. The second semifinal, Dortmund vs. Real Madrid, I've watched at home. Another great game that already makes me look forward to the final.