Favourite Friday #2: The accent nail

Painting my nails requires some time, I'm talking of a whole episode of Revenge or The Vampire Diaries kinda time.
My favourite combination right now is a rosy nude with a rose gold sparkle accent nail. Butter LONDON Bit Faker and Chanel Rose Caché are just the perfect match! I'm a big fan of the Butter LONDON nail polish. It's like sandy gold glitter in a bottle - love. If the Chanel nail polish didn't chip so badly I would like it even more! The colour is absolutely gorgeous but the chipping, quel dommage ... Two coats of this followed by my Butter LONDON Topcoat and I can drool over some #Delena action or watch Emily kick some asses.

What do you do whilst painting your nails?

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Lots of love,
Dolce

What's on my face Wednesday #1

Hey lovelies!

Today I thought I could do one of my favourite posts: What's on my face!
I love reading other's WOMF to get inspirations for new products. 
So here's mine.

BASE
Estée Lauder Matte Perfecting Primer
Bobbi Brown Corrector in Light to Medium Peach
Chanel Perfection Lumière in Beige 50
Laura Mercier Undercover Pot in Nr.3

EYES
Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Cream Shadow in Shore
Bobbi Brown Shimmer Wash Eye Shadow in Champagne 
Bobbi Brown Metallic Eye Shadow in Velvet Plum 
Bobbi Brown Long-Wear Gel Eyeliner in Chocolate Shimmer Ink
Max Factor False Lash Effect 24h in black
Max Factor Clump Defy waterproof in black

COLOR
Laura Mercier Baked Blush Bronze in Ritual (LE)
MAC Sheertone Shimmer Blush in Ambering Rose
Bobbi Brown Lip Gloss in Kir Sugar 7

This is just a neutral everyday autumn make up with a 'bolder' lip.  
I don't use waterproof mascara everyday on my upper lashes but I like using it on my lower lashes, so my mascara doesn't smudge. 

What's your favourite mascara?

I hope you liked the look!

Lots of love,

Dolce

Favourite Friday #1 : Dior Addict Extreme Lipstick in 866 Paparazzi

Lipstick? Me? In red? -  No way.
Well, people say that you change in a relationship and one thing definitely changed: my new love for lipsticks! I always went for sheer lipglosses in nude colours but lipglosses just aren't an option if you want to kiss your boyfriend. Boy with sticky lips? No, thanks. 
So now that I've discovered my love for lipsticks I went all cray cray and adventurous and even bought one in red.

This little burgundy, plummy and all around lovely bad boy from Dior is my absolute favourite lipstick at the moment. Such a perfect autumn shade!
I mostly use this with a lip brush and then conceal around my lips to give it that polished and edgy look. Sometimes I don't have enough time in the morning, so I just put some black eyeliner on my eyelids, smudge it out, some mascara, foundation, concealer, blush and this lipstick and voilà - I'm good to go.
I like to prime my lips with some lip balm before I use such a "dark" shade, because no one wants to see flaky and chapped lips, right? So with my Burt's Bees Repleneshing Lip Balm with Pomegranate Oil this lipstick has quite a glossy finish and lasts up to 4 hours before I have to reapply it. What I like most about this lipstick is that when it fades, it leaves an even stain on your lips.

What is your favourite autumn lip product?


Lots of love,

 Dolce

Summer Haul Part II Make Up

GUERLAIN SUN SHIMMER HIGHLIGHTER Nr. 02 
SUNNY PINK 

OH my god. Like, seriously guys, the moment I saw it, I fell in love with it. The colour is absolutely gorgeous! Also, the packaging looks like it's perfect for travelling, which is cool since I'm going on vacations for 3 weeks this summer!

The texture reminds me of a liquid foundation because it isn't as thick as a cream blush. The colour is a summery pink with a gold shimmer which looks adorable on the cheeks.

And yes, this is pricey but I found it for 20% off in one of my favourite perfumeries - yay! It "only" cost me 32€. 

LAURA MERCIER BAKED BLUSH BRONZE LE

RITUAL

This summer they had a promotion for the limitited edition called Folklore. The lady at the counter told me to go there and get my make up done for free as I said how gorgeous the colours of this collection looked like! So I made an appointment for the next week. The weather was beautiful! Very warm and sunny and when I dressed up to go into the city I found a dress that matched the Folklore collection perfectly! 
A very nice american make up artist did my whole make up. I had only put moisturizer on my face so that he had blank canvas to work with. It took him nearly an hour to do my make up and I was in love with the result! Earthy, warm golden and bronze tones have always looked good on my slightly olive skin. Everybody else that got their make up done at this promotion made me compliments about my make up! I smiled big that day!
 I literally wanted to buy everything he had used but I would have been broke after that so I decided to take this baked blush bronzer for 38€ with me and an undercover pot.  
This is the perfect duo for me! I can use this as a bronzer because it's not too shimmery but I can also use this as a blush when I'm tanned! I love, love, love this product! 
 

L'ORÉAL NUDE MAGIQUE CC CREAM  
ANTI DULLNESS

I read a review about this and was curious to try it. It's a purple cream that turns into a foundation in your natural skin tone with a velvety and semi-matte finish. 

I think this is perfect for any hot summer days and days at the beach when you don't want to put a foundation on your face. I usually don't go for light coverage but right now my skin hasn't got too many blemishes that I couldn't cover with a concealer.

This was 12€.

MAYBELLINE COLOR TATTOO 24HR 
ON AND ON BRONZE

Everyone is raving about these color tattoos and now I know why! My god! Why haven't I tried them before?! I always thought nothing could compete with my Bobbi Brown Creme Eyeshadows. I was so wrong! 
The texture is really creamy without creasing, blends very well and once it sets it doesn't smudge. Perefect for hot summer days!
This little bad boy cost me 7€.

ASTOR SOFT SENSATION LIPCOLOR BUTTER 
HUG ME

For me this is the best high street dupe for the Clinique Chubby Sticks. It says Color + Shine + Balm on the package and I have to say YES to all of them! 
6€ for this is fine I think.

ASTOR 8H PERFECT STAY LIP GLOSS  
SWEET WOOD

THE perfect nude lipgloss for me! It is rosey and has a hint of shimmer in it. It says that it lasts up to 8 hours but to be honest I never had a lipgloss that lasted more than 3 hours. Whether it was high end or high street, I always had to reapply it. 
This cost me 8€.

ASTOR LIPLINER PENCIL Nr.032 
ROSEWOOD

Well, what am I supposed to say? We all want full lips and lipliner helps! I chose this colour because this one matched my new lipgloss and lipbutter.
For 4€ you can hardly complain.

DIOR ADDICT GLOSS Nr. 662
ROSE EN DIABLE 

Summer is the time for bright and bold lipcolours right? Well, I just don't feel comfortable with too bright colours on my lips and this is the closest I'll ever get I guess. I'm totally looking forward to wear this lipgloss because I'm a big fan of the Dior Addict Lipsticks so I think I will like the gloss too! 
I got it for 23€.


ESSIE nail polish
TURQUOISE & CAICOS 

 This colour reminds me of the caribbean sea, of summer, beach and cocktails with friends. It just liftens up my mood!
As every other ESSIE nail polish this cost me 8€.

LUSH 9 TO 5 CLEANSER

This is a very gentle cleanser that gets rid of all your makeup. It's a lotion with orchid oil and said to work for all skin types. The lady at the shop told me that it even removes waterproof make up. Well, I'm not too sure about that but I guess I'll see.
I bought the big 250ml bottle for 15€.

That was everything for my summer haul this year. Thanks for reading guys! Hope you all have a fantabulous summer with loads of fun and sunshine!

Lots of love,

Dolce xxx

Summer Haul Part I Skin and Haircare

Summer is my favourite time of the year and I did a little bit of shopping to be prepared for the sunny days and my vacations! 
I know, it's already July, but here where I live summer arrived like 4 days ago.

So let's start!

RITUALS MAGIC TOUCH WHIPPED BODY CREAM 

Ladies, this scent is sooo seducing! Aw-maze-balls. In the shop I tried it on my left arm and wow, the smell lingered on my skin for the whole day!

The pot sells for 15€ and you get 200ml of product. 

SOAP&GLORY FLAKE AWAY BODY SCRUB 

I've heard and seen so many good reviews about this product and now I finally got my hands on it! Oh girl, the scent! Really! Everybody raves about it and now I know why! It's delicious! I'm so bad at describing scents but this smells SO good! Absolutely love it!
I bought it in Douglas for 15€.

FEKKAI MARINE SUMMERHAIR MARINE CLEAN DETOX SHAMPOO

I already had this shampoo last summer when I went to Italy for my summer vacations and I love it to pieces! The scent is fresh and fruity and I like how my hair still smells like the shampoo after having washed it. It leaves my hair really clean and gets rid of all the chlorine from the pool and the sand that I somehow always get into my hair when I'm at the beach.

FEKKAI MARINE SUMMERHAIR SMOOTH SAILING ANTI-FRIZZ CREAM 

Normally I can work really well with my hair structure, but when I let it hair dry in summer it ends up looking all frizzy and dry at the ends. Ugh. Not cute!
So goodbye Fritz (I call my hair Fritz when it's frizzy :D) and hello good smelling anti-frizz leave in cream! 
Both were on sale in Douglas, but still weren't the cheapest thing on earth. The shampoo cost me 10€ and the leave in cream 20€.

L'ORÉAL EVER RICHE DEEP CONDITIONING HAIR MASK  

Deep nourishing hair mask? I. Was. Sold.
I really want to grow my hair a bit more so I'm trying to cut off heat styling and start taking more care of it. I'll just say: drastically increased sun exposure, salt water and daily washing in my vacations so for me this is a must!
This was on sale in Douglas and cost me 6€ which is alright I think.

HAWAIIN TROPIC SILK HYDRATION SPF 50 BROAD SPECTRUM

Me and my fear of old looking skin reached its highest point last year. I was on vacation in Italy with my family. Two entire weeks at the beach and delicious Italian food. Yummy! After lunch I would go to the beach, lay down under a sunshade and read a book. And every time I saw this lady laying in the sun, glowing like a discoball from all the tanning oil she had put on her body. She had a great figure, and I guessed she was sixty-something. A beautiful women, with a beautiful smile and very, very nice. One afternoon I got to talk to her, and that's when I found out that she was in fact in her early fifties. Ooops.

Long story short, I was shocked how much the sun can change the appearance of our skin. And I decided that when I was 50, Ionly  wanted to look like 50 and not 1 year older. 

So YES to broad spectrum, YES to sunbathing 50 times longer than I could without sunscreen and YES to 98% protection from sun rays, which is all given with SPF 50.

I will not only use this at the beach but also on sunny days when a lot of my skin is exposed to the sun. YES to hydrating sunscreen! Oh, have I mentioned that it smells wonderful? No? It does!

HAWAIIN TROPIC AFTER SUN BODY BUTTER LIME COLADA

This year I want to try surfing! So my skin will have to deal with an inmense amount of damaging UVA und UVB rays and salt water over the day. I went for body butter because I want the most moisturization possible so that my skin can recover from the day at the beach. This body butter smells like a fruity cocktail at the beach. It's so summery!
I ordered it on Amazon for 7€. The sunscreen was 14€. 

KÉRASTASE NUTRI THERMIQUE 

.It's a heat activated leave in cream and I bought it for the days when I want to heat style my hair because sometimes I just can't do without my straightener and my curling wand! I wanted to try this for months and the moment I smelled it in the shop I knew I would purchase it, and here it is!
I bought in on Amazon for 24€ (pricey I know, but hello this is Kérastase!) which is 6€ cheaper than in Douglas! 

So that's it for my summer haul! I hope you enjoyed reading it!

Write me a comment if you want me to do a review on any of the products!

Special thanks go to my sweet little brother who helped me take these pictures in my garden.

Again, all this products were bought with my own money and weren't sponsored.

Lots of love,

Dolce

My LUSH Experience Part II

In this post I want to talk about the products that I had to give back because they either didn't keep what they promised or simply didn't do any good to my skin.
It's part of their philosophy that you can give the products back if you weren't happy with them. You can then choose another product for the same price. 
As you may have read in my other post, in summer 2011 I was all about LUSH. I even made a list of all the things I wanted. You don't even want to know how much money I was willing to spent on their products.
Before I start telling you why I didn't like these products, you should know that I really like this brand! (and I'm NOT getting paid for saying this)

Cynthia Silvia Stout & Godiva
There is something about their shampoos that doesn't work for my scalp. 
Cynthia Silvia Stout is made with Stout beer and has quite a strong herbal scent just like tea. I used it for about two months and my scalp reacted quite weirdly to it. It was irritiated and itchy. The same thing happened with their solid shampoo Godiva, the scalp mask Roots and their volume shampoo Big. Though I didn't buy the last two ones, I just tried samples that I asked for. 

American Cream
This is their best selling hair conditioner due to the wonderful vanillary scent. It left my hair soft and glossy. My hair never looked so healthy! I thought I had found the perfect conditioner. 
In spring 2012 I flew over to Miami for some well deserved vacations. The day after I arrived I went to South Beach for some overdue tanning. I was so excited and the moment I looked into the mirror to check my bikini I saw my back and it looked gross. It looked like I had some severe acne. Which I never had! So one of the first things I did when walking down Lincoln Road in South Beach was booking an exfoliation treatment in Ulta for my back. Two days later I laid there and the beauty specialist worked his magic. While laying there he asked me if I knew why I broke out so bad. Stress? No. Hormones? -Nope! Then he asked if I had changed one of my hair products because I only broke out in the area where my hair touched my skin. In fact I had used a new product. American Cream! The ingredient CETEARYL ALCOHOL is comedogenic and CAN cause break outs. In my case it unfortunately did. It took my back over a year to recover from it! And I still have acne scars, which makes me really regret not paying attention to my body's reaction. I'm still a bit angry because I used to like my back very much, and now... lesson learned! 

Flying Fox
It's a shower gel that strongly smells like jasmine. At first I loved it because it was flowery and fresh. After using it for 3 weeks the scent made me feel sick and caused me headache. So I gave to a friend of mine, who didn't have this problem with the smell. 

Rub Rub Rub
It's a body scrub that smells like mimosa. Can you guess that I liked the scent? ;)
Well I used it about 2-3 times but I couldn't notice any difference to my skin. For me, it didn't do its job. Of course, whilst using it I could feel the scrub, but it didn't leave my skin smoother. 

My LUSH Experience Part I

For those who have never heard of the English brand LUSH: fresh, fair trade, eco friendly and hand made cosmetics. By the way, where on earth do you live that you haven't heard of them?!
I guess most of my friends know it because I can't stop talking about it and most of my Christmas presents are from LUSH. So if you know me, chances are high that you know LUSH.
It all started in summer 2011 before I started University. I had plenty of time and had started working so that suddenly I had money on my own and was able to spend it on anything I wanted. Yay!
First time I actually saw a shop was in Vienna. I walked by and it smelled so good that I wondered if they had a cream that smelled like chocolate. They didn't. They had: a massage bar that smelled like caramel, vanilla and chocolate; a face mask with chocolate; a lip balm with chocolate and a lip scrub with vanilla and chocolate. I was all about chocolate.
I got home, googled the nearest LUSH shop and found one in the city. I bought Soft Cœur and was in heaven. The story could have ended here with an happily ever after but  one of the workers gave me the LUSH times.
Oh snap. There we go.
I would spend hours reading their newspaper, longing for all the great stuff they had. It felt like I was under some kind of spell because all I could think about was how great this brand was (and still is)! I kept telling everyone about it and my family just shaked their heads because they couldn't believe that I was willing to spend so much money on beauty products. Oh little did they know then...
Now before you get bored, here are the products from LUSH that convinced me:


It's Raining Men

It is: a shower gel
Why I love it: it smells like caramel and chocolate and makes everybody else love you because the smell stays for quite a long time ;)
Repurchase: OF COURSE! I'm working on my second bottle..

Soft Cœur

It is : a massage bar  and the first product I ever bought there
Why I love it: you get a massage, it smells SO GOOD and it stays for hours and last but not least, it leaves my back (or any other massaged body part) incredibly soft
Repurchase: OH YES! I have already used up one of them!
 

Turkish Delight

 
It is: a shower smoothie
Why I love it: I had to get used to it's consistency. Now I love how it feels like when I apply it onto my skin. It does a great job at  cleaning your body
Repurchase: Definitely, but not in the near future since it takes me ages to use up a single pot

Ro's Argan

 
It is: a body conditioner
Why I love it: I apply it in the shower after having used my Turkish Delight shower smoothie and it moisturizes my skin so deeply I don't have to use body cream afterwards
Repurchase: Yes, though not in the near future because it's quite pricey and I want to use up my other body creams

Charity Pot

 
It is: a rich body cream
Why I love it: It has Cocoa Butter in it, that's why it smells like chocolate cookies. It does a perfect job at moisturizing my skin. I mostly use it as an after sun treatment.
Repurchase: Someday when I'm finally out of all my body creams

Rose Jam Bubbleroon
It is: a mix of a bubble bar and a bath melt
Why I love it: Its smell is so relaxing, you think you're in a spa.
Repurchase: OH YES!

Yuzu and Cocoa Bubbleroon
It is: a mix of a bubble bar and a bath melt
Why I love it: It's like I'm bathing in a melting chocolate caramel muffin.
Repurchase: OF COURSE! It's part of my spa evenings!

Smiling at people in public means of transport

Have you ever smiled at a stranger for no flirty reason? Have you ever smiled at a mother with a crying baby and said, that her baby is cute, just so that she doesn’t feel uncomfortable anymore? Have you ever smiled at  a person in a wheelchair because they looked a bit lost and you wanted them to feel better? I have.

I’ve used the public means of transport nearly every day for almost two years now. I see a lot of people rushing by in a hurry, talking on their mobile phones and avoiding eye contact with anyone. I’ve seen tourists stand around just looking. Crowds of people in the subway standing so close to each other, you could start counting their freckles, if you were so bold to look them in the eyes. In a big city everybody minds their own business. Smartphones now even give us an excuse for not looking up and having any social contact at all in public. People read a book or the news, write text messages, listen to music, check their social media pages and pretend to be all alone on this train. All of a sudden, without noticing it, I became one of them. Sometimes on my way home I wouldn’t even greet my neighbour on the train, simply because I was too busy trying to look busy with my smartphone.

I didn’t want to be like this.

So I made up a challenge. I wanted to know how many people would smile back at me when I smiled at them. To be honest, it wasn’t easy in the first weeks. It was hard for me to smile at complete strangers. What if this girl actually bullies a person in her class? Why should I smile at her? Then I asked myself another question: what if she was bullied by someone in her class? What if the man in the suit wasn’t on his way to work, but actually on his way back home after being rejected at a job interview? What if the woman with hundreds of shopping bags actually felt lonely and had no one to talk to? What if I made someone smile? That’s when I stopped asking myself.

As Amy Cuddy proved, our body can change our mind. We all know the term body language and we all know that it influences how other people see us. Unfortunately we tend to forget that language is a communication system and that in those systems there is always 2. In this case WE are the other one. Our body language has also an impact on OUR feelings. So what happens when we smile? We look happy, that’s why we used to smile on photos. I say used, because the percentage of people duckfacing for the camera is rising I believe. ;)

Imagine you smile at that boy/girl in front of you who’s looking outside the window and listening to music. He/she looks at you and sees that you’re giving him/her a cheeky smile for no obvious reason. Imagine that you were the only person who smiled at him/her that day. Imagine that your smile seemed so honest and pure to him/her that he/she smiled back. Imagine that smiling to you made him/her feel good! That’s the part when you start to feel really good.

Now I’m challenging you! Tell me how many people you made to smile back at you!

Lots of love,

Dolce

PS: Also tell me if some of the smiles turned into a date invitation! ;)

About this blog

I guess most of you have already heard the term la dolce vita and know that it means the sweet life.

In this blog I want to show you, that having a sweet life isn’t all about having loads of money, the perfect body or the best curriculum and living in a Palace. It’s about having the right attitude, a pretty and honest smile and greeting yourself with a ‘hey sexy!’ every day when you look in the mirror.

I want to inspire other people to think about their life style. Maybe you change it, or maybe you just realise that you’re actually already where you always wanted to be.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m going to get all girly and talk about make up, skincare, hair products, nail polish and all the other beauty stuff that I love to talk about. I believe that doing what fills you with joy, makes you smile brighter, feel happier and be confident about yourself. Also, who doesn’t want to look in the mirror and be proud of themselves?

I think the best thing that could happen to me is that someday I read a comment that says that I helped someone. 

So let’s get dolce and enjoy our lives!