First days in London

Hey y’all!

So, as it turns out, I moved to London on 2nd November and I guess I’m going to share some amazingness with you guys.

Let’s start from the beginning… After the heartfelt goodbyes at the airport, it was time to step on the plane. I had never flown with a plane before and really didn’t know what to expect. So as the plane took off I felt as if I had no control over my body, I was really nauseous as well, so I couldn’t say it was a very enjoyable experience. Same thing with landing, it’s like you’re in an elevator that’s going 50 floors in 4 seconds or something like that…

After landing I took a coach to London, everything went smoother than expected and I even had time to kill before I could meet my friend who offered me accommodation until I found my own place. Since I got of at Marble Arch, a huge Primark was just around the corner and well.. that’s where I spent most of my free time that night. Then I met my friend and took 2 buses to get to her place, the route went by Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey and I could also see the London Eye.

Next day we had a nice day out- lots of sightseeing and such.

We started by going to the Tower Bridge.

Then next up was the Tower itself.

Trafalgar Square in daylight. Of course I had to climb up next to the lion.

Couple hours fast forward..

Well, I guess you cannot see much, but use your imagination and know that that is the dome of St. Pauls Cathedral in lights.

That was pretty much it for the first day. The next day we went shopping (I didn’t buy anything) and also to the National History Museum which was awesome! I really want to go back some day when I have more time on my hands. Then came Monday, I guess… I started looking for my own place and a job, so I stayed at Starbucks for hours. Found my place but I haven’t found a job just yet.

Anyway, those were my first few days in London and I guess I’ll keep you posted.

With love,

Janne

A little something to drool over..

Well hello!

Today I’m going to show you a little recipe I discovered a little over a month ago. It’s rather healthy and VERY tasty. A little time-consuming but impressive yet simple and you need surprisingly little.

General Tso’s Chicken

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 250ml rice
• 60ml corn starch (4 tbs)
• 500g snow peas, trimmed and halved
• 500g skinless, boneless chicken cut into pieces
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 tsp. fresh ginger, peeled and grated
• medium carrot, peeled and julienned
• 3 tbsp. light brown sugar
• 2 tbsp. soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes ( I used sweet chilli sauce)
• 2 large egg whites
• salt and pepper
• vegetable oil for frying
• optional 2 egg yolks and 1 whole egg

Whatyagonnado:

1. Cook rice according to instructions, for an even healthier version, use brown rice. Meanwhile in a large bowl, stir together 1 tbsp. corn starch and 100ml cold water until smooth. Add snow peas and carrot, garlic, ginger, sugar, soy sauce, red pepper flakes(or chilli sauce), toss to combine and set aside.
2. In another bowl whisk together egg whites, remaining 3 tbsp. corn starch, 1/2 tsp. salt and some pepper. Add chicken, toss to coat.
3. In a large non-stick skillet, heat 1 tbsp. oil over medium-high heat. Cook the chicken pieces golden, you might have to do this in batches. Shake off the excess egg white mixture before adding chicken to the pan. Set the cooked chicken aside.
4. Add snow pea mix to the skillet. Cover, cook until snow peas are tender and sauce has thickened (3-5min). Return chicken, toss to coat, adjust the flavours as you like.
5. This step is optional as you can serve it with plain rice as well. I wanted to use up the egg yolks, so I added it to the rice. Whisk together the yolks, egg some extra salt, pepper and chilli and make an egg scramble. Add cooked rice to the scramble et voilà, you are done.

So while I was browsing online, I noticed the Tom Ford Metallic Beauty spring 2012 collection pictures. Gosh, the Tom Ford make up line looks so freaking good, so effortlessly classy and elegant. Not to mention super expensive…

Pictures via Google of course.

 

I don’t really adore the whole look of the models, not really a fan of the heavy cheeks and golden lip, but the eyes, they are mesmerising. All thanks to the cream eye shadows of course. My personal favourite is Platinum, just to die for really.

And well, being a sucker for nail polish, I also have to show you the 4 little cuties for this season. I’m going to go with the silver one called Silver Haze, well obviously, I will not be able to buy these due to the ridiculous budget I’m on, but a girl can and well, should dream.

Hope you enjoyed this little post.

Stay amazing, my friends.

With love,

Janne.

Estonian Independence Day manicure ideas

Anyhow, sorry for posting this this late, but I couldn’t stop browsing 9GAG. You know it, I know it, let’s face it, it’s really-really addictive.

I came up with a handful of ideas (pun totally intended).

I decided to go for the second look. Sadly, I screwed it up, I would have done a tutorial for it, but well, you know.

If you are interested in my personal life, click Read more.

Estonian Beauty Trade Show

On 7th of October I went to my first Estonian Beauty Trade Show (Ilumess), I can say that I was a bit impressed, it was more than I hoped for but then again, I had really low expectations.

Quite a vast selection of hair care products.

Those were mini hair-crimpers, so tiny!

I guess the Haribo-bear has a cellulite problem.. He may have to lay off the candy.

There was this nail stall Studio Schell, which had the most amazing nail art.

Click read more to see what I got for myself.

Guess who’s back, back again…

It’s meeee! And I have a new super-trooper camera called Fujifilm Finepix F500EXR. Loaded with 16 Mpx and a mega high quality video, I am ready to return to blogging.

So I have a LOT to catch up and there are is a lot of wonderful-thunderful-out-of-this-world-amazingness happening in my life right now so I have plenty to blog about so keep us in mind. I thought about making a blogsale or something like that a while ago, so I’m starting to arrange that as well and just be ready for it.

So the above picture is pretty much how the videos are going to look like concerning lighting and placement and stuff.

Yaaaaaay!

Yours truly,

Janne.

It’s all about the temperature

So, it’s 2.12 AM and I just took a shower.. and there was no hot water. But that’s okay, because I actually enjoy cold showers.. occasionally. I have heard that it’s good for you and everything but how exactly and why? No idea.
So.. I got curious, did some research and found some really good articles. And I thought that it would be a great idea to tell you too why cold showers are good for you.
Now.. you can read the actual article from here. I’ll just try to keep it short and tell you the basics. (in case you’re too lazy to read the article)

1. Better Circulation
   Apparently warm water makes your blood rush to your skin, and cool water makes the blood rush to your organs. This switching between hot and cold triggers better circulation in your blood by forcing the blood to move. Now.. they actually suggest to swich several times between hot and cold water. I usually just end my showers with cold water.
2. Better looking skin
   This was the thing I actually knew before. Warm water opens up pores, cold water closes them. (before and after face masks etc) And well, logically it works the same with rest of the body. (very impressive, I know-I know)
   Also really-really hot water dries out skin and can irritate it or even make it itchy, so cold water for the win!
   Wait.. there’s more! Cold water makes your blood vessels constrict which reduces swelling and the appearance of dark circles under your eyes.
3. Healthier hair
   Cold water makes your hair look healthier and shinier. (cool air too)
   What the cold water does is that it closes the cuticle which makes the hair stronger and prevents dirt from easily accumulating within your scalp. Stronger hair prevents hair from being easily pulled out.
4. Mental benefits
   In the mornings, cold water helps waking you up, energizes you, can relieve depression and makes you feel great and fresh!

As the summer in Estonia is quite hot atm (for us, ha-ha), I personally love to take at least one cold shower during the day! And you should do the same!

Sweet dreams,
Andra

Desperate times call for desperate measures

I have been really bummed for the last week or so.. I think it might be because I’m really trying to cut down on buying make up or nail polish.

Like… The first couple of days I just spent alone at my place, searching for new products to buy online, creating wish lists on the computer and in my head. Too much temptation lies behind my doorstep. Actually, I may over dramatize the whole ordeal, but I felt really depressed.

Now I’ve been working pretty much straight from those couple of blue days mentioned before and haven’t had a chance to splurge for… 7 days. Seems like eternity and I haven’t felt like myself for the whole week though it has gotten a lot better.

But I don’t really consider myself as a shopaholic. I think it may be psychological -- once you are forbade from something, you really-really crave it.

But I do have a day off on Friday and I need to buy a new face cream (if you have anything pretty cheap and for normal/comb young skin to recommend, please do. I feel like trying sth new out). So I hope I don’t go crazy since there are sales everywhere.

And this is why I really-really lack inspiration. I can’t think of anything to write for you guys.

So if you have any requests, please don’t hesitate to comment.

30 Seconds To Mars nails

No, nothing pretty or shiny on girlish coming up this time. Not today.
As I’m heading to the rock concert to see 30 Seconds To Mars in 4 days, but I have to leave home tomorrow, I decided that I have to do my nails before all that crazyness.
So I decided to draw the 30STM Triad on my nails. For those who doesn’t know what I’m talking about I have picture:

Looks simple, right? Well.. after two hours of drawing and then removing everything again I found out that I really-really need a ruler to draw straight lines.
Anyway, I still managed to finally do my nails. I can’t say I’m completely satisfied with them, but oh well. I just hope that I don’t have to do this again before the concert.

 

 

So this is it. You’re really lucky that you can’t see my right hand. Believe me, it’s worse. Ignore the fact that I have some cleaning up to do.

Here’s what I used: Manhattan Quick Dry in 11A, somekind of nail art Ados black polish, Essie good to go! top coat.

Anyone going to see 30STM on Tuesday? Well.. I’m super-excited!

Andra

My cat

Since my kitty is so special to me, I had to make a special post for him. His name is Kiisu (English translation: Kitty) and he is the most aggressive cat I have ever seen.

He was 2 years old when he found out the beauty of toilet paper.

And yes, he doesn’t have a lighter spot on his body. It’s pretty hard to find him in the dark!

And later he jumped on a bookshelf that has like a 10cm gap between the upper shelf and ceiling. But he did it. He jumped from the couch on top of the shelf.

And today we discovered that he likes the weirdest thing. After the floors have been washed, he will start running around the place because he likes to run on the slippery floor and bump into doors, furniture, walls etc. He will pick up quite a pace and then just go crazy! He got all excited when mom pulled out the mop : D.

And he bites me when he wants me to play with him. Usually we chase each other and toss a small bulldog, he will try to catch it, sadly he doesn’t know how to fetch yet : D. But he will eat all of the spiders he finds so if I see a scary spider I will show it to Kitty and problem solved.

Sometimes when we play he gets so angry that he starts to purr.

Ach, how I love him. I really dislike people, who call their pets their babies or whatever, but now I’m kind of like one of those people. I don’t call him my baby but I’m not very far from that as me and my brother baby-talk with Kitty.

-“Does Kitty want some gravy? Yes, he does, yes, he does. You do, don’t you??” this slips over my lips pretty much every morning as I am usually first to wake up (haha. not any more. Summer vacation!)

And I got really worried when Kitty started to shed hair like crazy. He is an indoor cat so their shedding never stops but it was really bad and I discovered that he had some dandruff as well. So I bought him Royal Canine Hair and Skin dry food. He has been eating it for about 3 days and I think I can already see some difference.

And merely 2 years ago I was completely against having pets as I thought they were a nuisance. ´

Once I was at a pretty lame party where I had to stay the night and I really missed him..

Hug and pet your pets for me!

Janne.

New shoes.. Yay??? Gross pictures alert

Ok. A week ago I bought myself a pair of new shoes. I was in love with them, well still am, but it’s kind of a complicated love that hurts real bad but has a lot of potential. The thing is it hurts like hell to wear them. While I was walking home with the shoes on, I felt kind of a tingling sensation at first that later developed into an excruciating pain.

About 7 min later I arrived home and discovered this.

Huh, so that’s why it hurt to walk. And being quite used to this happening with most of my shoes, I just added a plaster and was done with it. Then I had to leave home, but I forgot to take my phone with me so I came back after walking about 150m or so.

And made a second fabulous discovery.

Plasters didn’t work, go figure.. But I was not willing to give up just yet, I sprayed the backs of my shoes with macadamia nut oil (just an oily product that was in reach), hoping that it would soften the back and plastered my feet again.

Actually there were so many layers of plaster that it was uncomfortable to walk, but not painful.

So at the end of the day I felt like this about my shoes

That they were sent from hell and had barb wire, machetes and Kalashnikovs implanted in them. They also had swastika on them…

I wore them for a couple of days but then I ran out of plaster to keep my feet relatively pain free.

So this brings me to the main point of this whole article.

What to do when your new shoes make your feet hurt?

Have a nice one,

Janne.

Pixiwoo brushes

Sam Chapman from Pixiwoo has launched a brush range which is made by the same company that does Eco Tools brushes!

These babies were released today!

You can check out the prices and stuff HERE.

I would love to try these out.

Neutrogena review

 

 

I visited my granny today and took some cool photos. I released the tomboy in me and climbed trees and walked on mud with my new heels..

I saw 2 cute froggies.. The pictures below are from the same toad, I couldn’t get a decent picture from the first toad I saw.. Even though we had a staring contest.

The tulips have like snake skin on them and they are most definitely my favourite tulips my granny has..

And finally mom’s breakfast.

.

How did you treat your mother on Mother’s Day?

Posting with my brother.

Today you are truly in for a treat.

This is so amazing, I was extremely surprised, when I asked my bro whether I could do a post with him about a product he had asked me to buy for him, and he said YES!

I later realised that this was going to be a tough post to write, as he is very laconic. Try to write a review if all you hear is that “ It’s OK,”

So he asked me to buy him something for his hair. This is actually what he said and I quote "Hey, Janne, could you buy me something that would make my hair look good, because the wax I’m currently using is shit,” OK…. I don’t know anything about men’s grooming products and going to the hair stylists was not an option as he was willing to pay 6 Eur max.

I showed him pictures of the finishes he may like to get any idea of what I should look for. It was agreed upon that matte is the best, he also wanted a super strong hold. So I purchased this.

On the way home I was praying for god that this product worked.

He opened the bottle and said “Huh, smells good,”, and by that he meant that it had a nice manly smell.

The consistency was more like a cream, it’s white and cream-like.  It didn’t look like a gel at all, though as you can see,  it clearly says so on the bottle.

He swiped his hair with very little of product on his hands for a couple of times and the hair stuck just the way he wanted them to. It dried off very fast and left a clean matte finish.

He was really amazed how easy it was to apply it and that it didn’t leave his hair looking like he hadn’t showered for a week.

You really can’t see that he has used any product, yet the hair is styled a bit.

• And now his own words about the product:
• Looks natural, unless you use too much product.
• If you finger through your hair, you refresh your hairstyle.
• Doesn’t hold like a glue- hair moves in the wind.

He’d give the product 3,7p out of 5, because it doesn’t last that long, but it’s still a decent product.

Hope you liked it! Love ya!

Make Up Destinations: USA 1.2 Higher End

So on to the higher end stuff.

And before you start reading, I must inform you that I’m not feeling my best today so I’m gonna be a bit more laconic than usually and I might make some stupid grammar errors.

NARS

I love the minimalistic package which is very scrach-prone and is said to get quite nasty after some use, but I don’t care. I think everyone that has browsed US beauty blogs has read about one of the most iconic blushes. And ofcourse I am talking about  the One and Only NARS Orgasm. The blush is supposed to be super flattering on every skin tone.

 

Laura Mercier

I’ve only heard good reviews about Laura Mercier’s products. In specifics people have raved about her Tinted Moisturizers. So here are the products I would love to purchase.

Shu Uemura

Another iconic product- eyelash curler. I think every American beauty guru has purchased this..And how pretty is the 2011 Spring collection!!

Benefit

Benefit has the coolest product names I have ever heard for example Powderflage- powder concealer. I feel kind of freaky for loving a brand just for their product names, but their bronzers, tints and blushers are supposed to be great as well.

And lastly my favourite..

Urban Decay

I have been amazed by UD’s products for a while, starting from the Primer Potion to Pocket Rockets.

 

Now you can carry half-naked guys with you everywhere!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And as I’m quite fascinated with Alice In Wonderland, this is just such a tease to look at and dream about.

 

And that’s it for today, hope you’re all well!

Cuteness overload

As I was browsing Lisa Eldridge’s blog I discovered something really adorable. A lipstick that’s shaped like a cat!

Isn’t that just the cutest thing ever??

Paul&Joe has the cutest packaging ever. EVER! Just take a look down below.

Sooooo cute! Serious eye-candy! I want to die for these, think how fun it would be to be all grumpy from having to wake up and then you can use your Bamby blusher to make your day a little brighter.

Meowwww!

Bleh.

I was going to post a review for you guys, but as I found out filming at 8pm isn’t a good idea when you are relying on natural light, so I am very sorry to inform you that I don’t have a video review for you.

But so that you could get your daily fix of Janne, I decided to show you some style photos that really inspire me. I try to sew as often as possible, but sadly I am only human and there are still only 24 hours a day.

One of my most inspirational designers is Christophe Decarnin who designs for Balmain. And here are a few examples of his work.

I have also adored Marchesa gowns. They are breath-taking.

I really want to try recreate these Chan Luu bracelets. They are really cute and casual and the best part- I can wear them! I mean these don’t contain any nickel and I am allergic to that.

So that’s it from me for today.

Love you all, whoever you are and wherever you are from.

Thanks for reading!