July favorites

Just a quick rundown of some things I'm enjoying this month.

I love my yellow lamp shades but they're rubbish for photographing colors!

1. Softlips lipbalm SPF 2o in Honeydew Melon

I soo love this! I apply it every night before I go to bed to moisturize my lips and then in the morning before I apply a lipstick. It's a great base under make-up, SPF is always a bonus and keeps moisturize locked in for a good couple of hours... maybe that's why I haven't actually observed my only MAC lipstick to be particularly drying? I've noticed a slight tingling sensation every time I put this on, which I like. The smell is to die for, and I'm lusting after the French vanilla version, I'll have to ask fiance to bring it for me from Canada...

2. Ziaja Cocoa Butter body wash and body lotion

Produced by a trusty and cheap Polish cosmetics brand Ziaja, this has been my favorite body combo lately. Their body products come in different ranges like Olive Oil, Goat Milk and Coconut. The smell of this reminds me of chocolate icecream (yum!) and the trace of it lingers nicely on the skin. The body lotion is super moisturizing and leaves a bit of a film on your skin, giving you a lovely glow. It also contains vitamin E and D-panthenol and claims to improve the texture and color of your skin.

3. Inglot Face blush in 84 (coral)

I guess this might be a scarry orange for some, but somehow it looks nice on my skin and compliments my hair and eye color. It looks a lot more summery than pinks and adds a nice warmth to the face. It has a good color pay-off for the price (at Inglot counters in Poland it retails for 3,5 pounds) and handy packaging. Supposedly it contains some special ingredient to keep your skin moisturized and glowy in spite of the fact that it's in powder form.

4. Wet'n'Wild MegaGlo Face Illuminator in 341 Blushing

It's basically a light pink highlighter in a cream form. I need a tiny dab for both cheeks and it gives me a very natural glow, which I think is thank to the color that matches perfectly my skin's undertones. At first it seems a bit sticky, but sinks in right away.

5. MAC Lustre lipstick in Jest

Lovely reddish pink with golden shimmer. I think the color really suits me and I don't think it's particularly drying. I always keep it in my on-the-go make-up bag and... mmm, the smell! It has no taste which is a huge plus for me... I've been trying to use up my old The Body Shop Satsuma shimmery lipbalm/ gloss and despite the lovely scent, the taste is terrible! Every time I have it on my lips and eat something, it ruins the taste of the dish completely! Big thumbs up for producing a non-flavored but scented lippie to MAC.

Hope you liked my mini reviews and let me know in the comments what are your favorites for this month! xxx

20 Questions Tag

Thanks to the always stunning Suka & Spice for tagging me! This has been a lot of fun, especially that... it's my 100th post! Hurray!

1. What is your favorite item of clothing?

It has to be this Benetton dress from a couple of years ago. I love the colourful silk and the cut... I remember it being quite expensive so I hesitated about getting it, but my daddy bought it for me :) I have only worn it twice since, once for a night out and then for a photo shoot, but I'm planning to sport it for the family wedding in August.

2. What are your biggest obsessions?

Right now? Berries, essential oils, cocoa butter and, of course, my wedding.

3. Who inspires you?

Kind, sensitive, strong people like my mum or my grandpa. If you asked what inspires me, I would answer beauty: both in terms of morality and aesthetics.

4. Who is your favorite designer and why?

As embarassed as I am to admit it, I don't have a favorite because I don't really follow catwalk that much. I really like Oscar de la Renta dresses though.

5. What is your favorite song ever?

Super difficult to say, but two of my favorites are Roisin Murphy's 'Let Me Know' and 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow' performed by Ella Fitzgerald.

6. What is your favorite song right now?

'Black & Gold' by Sam Sparro.

7. If you were a sweetie, what would you be?

A Sprungli (swiss chocolate) praline.

8. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet - what words would you use to descrive your rainbow?

Scarlett, copper, canary yellow, emerald, azure and ultramarine.

9. What's your favorite film?

There are so many of them! Maybe 'Pan's Labyrinth'?

10. Who's your favorite actor?

Jude Law.

11. If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would you be?

Vancouver, British Columbia.

12. What are your 3 favorite smells?

Givenchy 'Fleur d'interdit', cocoa, my fiance.

13. What are your 3 favorite tastes?

Mexican mango drink, cappuccino, raspberry sorbet.

14. What is your most treasured possession?

My engagement ring (not pictured, as I always keep it on my finger), this embroidered coin purse that used to belong to my grandma, and these Carribean black pearl earrings I got last Christmas from my fiance. Simply perfect.

15. What did you always want to do/be when you grew up?

When I was maybe 2 or 3 years old I loved trying on different outfits, so first maybe a fashionista :) Then I wanted to be an actress (my father was educated as an actor) and then a journalist.

16. If you were an ice-cream, what flavor would you be?

Straciatella.

17. If someone made a short film of your life, who would play you?

I'd prefer a poem to a film, to be honest.

18. What would your perfect afternoon consist of?

Delicious dinner and a walk in some gorgeous place with my fiance.

19. If you were a flower, what would you be?

Lisianthus.

20. Tell me a random thing - a quote, a line from a song, book, movie...

"Run mad as often as you choose but do not faint." - Fanny Price in Mansfield Park

I tag Ondine (as always!), Jen aka Mizz Worthy and Michelle at Lipstick Rules. Thanks for stopping by! xxx

Wedding bands and shoes

After months and months of browsing through catalogues and fussing I finally bought our wedding bands!

If you remember my last post, it's traditional in Poland for the wedding bands to have a matching design, and, as Suka and Spice pointed out, the rings are worn on the right hand. Generally, the main difficulty was that having initially consulted some designs with my fiance, I was given free reign to choose the bands, and, with Mateusz still in Vancouver, I had to shoot what size to get him. I had a model band made by myself of aluminium foil just before I flew back to Warsaw, and that had to suffice. We'll see if it fits...

The purple 'dots' you can see inside are in fact rubies!

I chose a very simple design of matte white gold with a shiny stripe. My band is 4 mm wide, Mateusz's band is 5 mm wide as he's got way bigger fingers that mine. I bought them from a Polish jeweller Red Rubin ('rubin' is Polish for 'ruby') and their signature feature is to put a tiny ruby inside each band as a symbol of good luck and prosperity. Also, I've had our names (mine bears the name of my fiance, and fiance's ring bears my name) and the date of our wedding engraved on the inner side. All in all, I'm really happy with them!

I'm usually not a fan of this heel shape, but somehow it goes well with the shoe. I also like the white soles and how soft they feel inside...

Also, I had to get myself a pair of wedding shoes because as you know, the dress fitting is impossible without the shoes. I visited dozens of stores, establishing that a) shoes designed specificaly for the wedding are twice or 3 times more expensive than usual shoes for lower quality and cheaper materials, b) the designs were fashionable 10 years ago, c) most of the pairs I tried on were terribly uncomfortable, d) the heels are mostly too high for me to even walk in. Finally, I came round the fact that I won't be able to find my perfect wedding shoes or even if I could find them, I refuse to pay ridiculous prices for something I'll wear once in my life. I decided to get this simple design; it's not the most beautiful shoe in the world, but the color matches with my dress, the heel is right height for me, they're comfortable, and they were very reasonably priced. Actually, they look really nice on my feet as well.

Have you had similar problems finding your wedding shoes or am I just too choosy?

Project beautiful skin: favorite new skincare

With all my heart I'm joining Vicky's (Peachykeen Cheeks) 'Project beautiful skin', which main idea is to look after your skin from both outside and inside. Today's post is going to focus on new favorite skincare products that I'm hoping will help me to achieve the ultimate goal: flawless, glowing skin.

I must confess that my skin probably has every possible flaw that exists in nature; I suffer from blemishes, scarring, redness, blackheads, freckles and bluish veining in the eye area. It used to be much worse some 2 years ago and since then has been improving gradually, but it's still far from perfect!

The most important part of the project would probably be... consistency. My biggest skin sins include drying out the skin and touching my face too much and trying to pick the spots or bumps. But, starting today, this shall be no more!

Here are the steps I'll religiously follow and products I summoned from drugstores' shelves to help me:

1. Cleansing and toning: Vichy Calming Cleansing Solution and Vichy Thermal Water
The Cleansing Solution gently removes make-up while soothing the skin. It contains a rose extract called Phytophenol, but the best thing is that it has a very delicate rose scent to it! I use it after washing my face with J&J baby wash. After removing every last speck of dirt I spray my face with some thermal water to refresh it. It contains 15 mineral salts and trace elements and claims to reinforce the skin's protective functions. You can also use it during the day to calm the skin.

2. Moisturizing and healing: Barwa 'Sulphur Power' (yes yes!) Antibacterial Mattifying Cream and Benzoyl Peroxide cream as topical treatment


The 'Sulphur Power' range produced by a Polish cosmetics brand Barwa is an absolute HG on 'Polish Make-up Alley', http://www.wizaz.pl/. Tempted by the recommendations and really low price (about 3 pounds), I got it last week and so far I really like it. In case of my super oily skin, it mattifies for about 3 hours, which is already a success, but is also jam-packed with natural active ingredients, including sulphur, zinc oxyde, multifruit extract, olive oil derivates, alantoin and shea butter. It helps to get rid of acne without dehydrating the skin.

3. Exfoliating: St.Ives Anti-Acne Apricot Scrub and The Body Shop muslin clothes
I guess this is pretty much self-explanatory :) I'll be alternating between the scrub and muslin clothes, as the scrub itself is a bit too abrasive to use it more than twice a week, and I feel my skin needs some exfoliation at least 3 times a week.

4. Masks: Pink clay mask and honey mask
I've been using some random brand clay mask for more than a year now and I think it helps to improve oily skin's condition. Sometimes I also put it on the spots overnight to stimulate healing. As for honey mask, just check out Bubblegarm's post here for the details, she explained everything beautifully!

I'll soon blog about some 'inside' treatments I'll incorporate into my diet to help clear the skin, and then update you in a couple of weeks on how it worked. Fingers crossed!

I'm on Twitter!

I'm probably the last to jump on the bandwagon, the reason being not that I didn't like some tweeting, but that my fiance said it's the most ridiculous idea on the web... And now he has a Twitter account of his own - men...!

Follow me here!

Outfit of the Day

I just couldn't help myself and when I saw this skirt at H&M I knew I had to have it!

I love everything about it: a midnight blue fabric with tiny silver sparkles, the high-waisted cut and the flowiness, the bow at the front and my favorite 60's feel! It's the only skirt I have which you have to wear with a top tucked in, and ironically, I really like that, even though I hated this when I was a little girl :)

As you can see, I paired it with a burnt orange top from Orsay I've had for ages, new black and white disc earrings, my favorite shell cuff and strappy sandals I bought some two weeks ago from C&A for only 55 zlotys or 11 pounds, if you like (these two former elements were added later). This outift proved perfect for the weather outside, as it's scorching hot at the moment!

What's your favorite summer outfit?

What's in my bag?

I was tagged by the stunning Tali over at The Gloss Goss to do this tag; thank you, sweetie, and good luck to your new YT channel (check her out, girlies!).

It took me a while to post this due to technical problems with my camera, but here it goes :) This is my bag at the moment. It's dark cherry red faux leather with brown lining inside, I got it for last Christmas and I believe it's from Spring. It can hoard lots of stuff inside, and most of my bags are at least as big as this one, because as a student and a teacher, I need to fit an A4 paper format inside.

The things I carry with me are not overly exciting...

Moving clockwise, we have a red folder with handouts for my students, a deep red leather wallet from my mum, a silly coffee-lover agenda and some pens. Then there's a little umbrella, as we're experiencing very violent and unexpected rainstorms amost every day now, and a silver make-up bag I blogged about a couple of weeks ago. Next we have an iPod cosily carried in an armband, some cheapo sunglasses, travel size of Eucerin body lotion I use for my hands, contact lenses thingy, a small pot of lipgloss with a retractable lip brush, and lastly, a pendrive, because no lady can exist without her USB device ;)

I know the contents are quite practical, but there's no place for superfluous stuff in a bag that accompanies me for up to 12 hours when I'm out... Ok, so I carry a little glass fish n my wallet, completely useless, but it's my lucky token :)

I tag:

Loveaudrey

Daisy

Aisling

And everyone else who fancies doing it! Thanks for stopping by, lovelies xxx