Holiday Haulin'

I’m back, I’m back! Bet you’ve missed me when I was on a sunbed drinking cocktails and reading countless magazines in Mallorca- I kid, I kid. But I’m back after twelve days in the sun, and it feels like I’ve never even left my quiet, little city. I’m not that happy to be home because I’ve had the most amazing time on holiday and even got a tan, but I missed my bed and the comfort of my own home so it feels kind of ‘good’ to be home.

I was planning on buying quite a lot of stuff whilst being on the beautiful Balearic island, but I ended up not buying that much which my bank balance was obviously quite happy about. I thought I’d show you anyway, since I am really happy with the bits I did buy!

Firstly, I bought an item I was lusting after for absolute ages- a Bourjois Colour Boost crayon, in the colour ‘Orange Punch’. Since most drugstore makeup brands are quite a bit cheaper in Spain then they are in Belgium I was planning on picking up lots more, but when shopping for makeup I always get so overwhelmed I never really know what to buy. I know, I’m such a great beauty blogger! I wore this almost every evening of my holiday and I love it so, so much. It’s quite sheer but the clour is really buildable and feels really moisturising on the lips, and it lasts quite a long time as well! So far it’s a winner.

I also picked up two Clarins products I’ve been eyeing up for a while, and, to be honest I was actually forced a little to buy because you got a free makeup bag containing two sample if you bought two Clarins products! So I picked up the Lotus Face Oil and the Beauty Flash Balm, two quite hyped up products. I only tried these a few times and so far I’ve been absolutely loving both; the Lotus Face Oil smells amazing and seems to do wonders for my oily skin, and the Beauty Flash Balm feels so fresh on the skin and makes every base you apply after look gorgeous.

We went to Palma for a daytrip and I just had to visit the Kiko store. I’ve never actually tried something by Kiko before but heard that their products are great value for money, especially their eyeshadows, so I bought three; two of their Longlasting Stick Eyeshadows and one Water Eyeshadow. I bought their eyeshadow sticks in the colours 06, a beautiful shimmery chocolate brown, and 07, the most gorgeous golden colour which makes an amazing inner corner highlight. I picked up the water eyeshadow in the shade 200 which is the most amazing gold shimmer with an incredible pigmentation and the most amazing glitter ever- if you’re a fan of subtle, I fear this isn’t so much for you. After picking these up I’m actually tempted to play a little with eyeshadows, which is unheard for me so I’ll keep you updated!

I also picked up their Dazzling Highlighter in 02 – Gleaming Apricot. I actually only own one single highlighter (MAC Lightscapade, I’m looking at you), so I thought it was time to expand my collection a little bit. Their Dazzling Highlighters come in a handy stick which you can roll up and sweep across your cheekbones, your browbone, decolletage or anywhere else you’d like. They come in two colours, a shimmery white one or a more subtle apricot one, which is the one I picked up. I’ve been wearing it every day since I got it since it’s so subtle but also makes your cheekbones look amazing and really defined. It’s really creamy and easy to blend in with your fingers, and also smells amaaaaazing!

So that’s all I picked up beauty-wise in Mallorca. I also bought a little leather satchel bag at a market in Son Servera and a beautiful butterfly ring in the most precious little hand-made jewellery store in Cala Bona, which is the little village we stayed in located at the west coast of Mallorca.

I’m planning on doing a holiday essentials post soon, including everything I used every single day on my holiday and some tips for travelling light RE: makeup and skincare. I also might do a little holiday diary, sop lease let me know in the comments if you would like to see that!

Pamper Nights and Packing

 So as you may or may not know, I’m leaving on holiday to Mallorca this Tuesday/Wednesday night. I’m equally excited and terrified. I can’t wait until we’re there and the relaxing can begin, but I’m so so scared of flying and airplanes I literally can’t sleep. I’m always so scard something will go wrong, and even though I know that planes are the safest way of transport etc. etc. I still can’t help but think: ‘but what if something goes wrong?’ and then start panicking. I know, I’m a little scaredy cat- it’s no fun. We leave the house Wednesday night at 3am so me and my mum (who is even more scared than me- one time she passed out in the terminal…) probably won’t get any sleep at all, but that’s okay. I really, really hope everything will be okay. I’m probably making more of a big deal out of it than a normal person would, but if you’re a really, really anxious person like I am, you’ll probably understand where I’m coming from. Typing this has made me feel a little bit better about it though! I’m also really excited about duty free!

So the packing has officially begun and I’m trying not to take too much products and clothes with me. I’m not taking that much makeup with me since I only wear it at night only, but skincare and clothes are a whole ‘nother story. I’ll probably end up taking all of my skincare products with me, and I’m not one for decanting products since I’m scared I’ll run out of them whilst being in Mallorca (we’re going for 12 days!). My mum, my little brother and me went last-minute holiday shopping yesterday and we’ve now got everything we need. The only thing that’s still missing is a huge supply of magazines, since all I do on holiday is read, but we’ll probably be buying them on Tuesday. I’m also taking quite a few books with me. I’m planning on finishing The Perks of Being a Wallflower, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, and maybe even One Day. No to find a way to carry all of these books with me…

Tonight, me and my family are going out for dinner and a stroll around the neighbourhood, and then I’ll be having a full-blown pamper session in the evening- triple threat face mask and all, the works. I’m already looking forward to it since Sunday evenings are the perfect occasion for me to just relax for a little bit and treat myself to a little at-home facial and body treatment!

I’ve been absolutely loving the Chloe Rose Edition perfume lately. I got this a couple of months ago; it had lots of discounts and I sprayed it on my wrists to try it, then walked away and continued shopping since I wasn’t planning on buying a perfume that day. A couple of hours later I went back and got it anyway- it smelt that good and with that much of a discount, I just couldn’t leave it there! It’s just so so gorgeous and I find myself spraying this on about five times a day because it’s just that good. It seems to last really long too, which is always a plus!

So I haven’t really been up to a lot this week. I watched The Blair Witch Project for the first time ever today since I was that bored and it has left me scared for life. I know, I’m such a loser! I’m really not one for horror films so I don’t know what came over me when I decided to watch it, but I did anyways and now I’m just really scared, haha. I can’t stand scary things and I just don’t understand people who do only watch horror movies! I swear I used to like them, but since watching a certain movie a couple of years ago I just can’t bring myself to watch them anymore. Well, until today that was, haha.

So this week will consist out of packing a little bit more and then relaxing in Mallorca! I can’t contain my excitement anymore and I really hope the food and drinks will be good. We booked all inclusive, so I’m definitely going to take advantage of that! Have you ever been to Mallorca? Anything we should definitely go and see there?

On Quitting University

Overdramatic title much! I’ve never really been that kind of person who has their entire future lined up in front of them. Being a child, I never really knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. It was something different everyday: teacher, nurse, author, psychologist. To be honest, nothing has changed. I still don’t know what I want to do with mu future. When we had to decide what to study at university last year, I first wanted to do a teaching course. Then it changed to social work, then to midwife (yes, really). In the end I decided to go for psychology as I was (and stil lam) really interested in the subject. I was so excited for the course to start, but last December/January I decided to quit. It just didn’t feel right and I wasn’t enjoying it as much as I thought I would, and I just couldn’t picture myself doing something Psychology-related as my job. So I quit, went back home to live with my parents again and got a job.

This was a really hard time for me. I felt like such a disappointment to both myself and my parents and I hated that I didn’t know what to do with my future, contrary tos ome of my friends. I felt (and still feel a little bit) like a loser. Even though I worked, I was in a constant battle with myself and I got really, really down about not doing something productive with my life. I’m somebody who really has to evolve and move forward and I could never see myself doing a dead-end job for the rest of my life. I need goals to work for, and even though you might not be able to tell, I’m quite an ambitious person and am willing to work really hard for something I really want. But that was the problem; I still don’t really know what I want.

This was also a time when I felt very, very lonely. I felt like all my friends were moving forward and I was just in the same place, not really doing anything. In that time, I really wanted to do a journalism course, but I think that was just because I love writing and didn’t really knew anything else to do. As you may know, I’m a big feelings person, and something about that choice just didn’t feel right. I thought it were just nerves, but when I went to my old uni and read about a course I didn’t really know anything about, I immediately knew I wanted to do that course and not Journalism. I’m know registered fort hat course and just got an email that my introduction day is August 26, and I’m so so nervous for that. I’m not that good with people and making friends so it’s definitely a challenge for me.

I still don’t know if this course is what I want to do with my life and I’m absolutely scared to death that the same thing will happen and it just isn’t for me. But then again, I need to let go. I’m now starting to realise that this might not have been such a bad school year at all. Okay, I might have quit university and I lost quite a few really important people in my life, including my lovely aunt, who died of cancer on the 3rd of October last year. I’m still feeling really bad about that and I do have my weak moments sometimes, but I’ve learnt how to deal with it and am slowly starting to feel a little bit more positive. After all, I got my license this year (which wouldn’t have happened if I had continued with university) and as per next week, I’ll (hopefully) be a qualified beautician. I’ve earned money this year, more than I have ever earned, and have been able to treat myself a lot whilst still saving quite a lot of money. And I’m thankful. Thankful that the tuition fees aren’t that high in Belgium or Holland (where I studied and plan on studying in September) and me or my family doesn’t have any debts.

This was such a rambly post and it feels really chaotic, but my mind can be quite disorganised sometimes.  I was hesitating whether I would post this or not since I know quite a few people who read this blog, but after all this is my own little space on the internet. Writing just makes me feel so much better about things and also helps to put things in perspective. A lot.

In retrospect, this year hasn’t been that bad at all. I might have felt like a total disappointment, but my confidence grew and I learned to be thankful for so much things in my life. I’ve grown as a person.

Since I don’t have any pictures to accompany this post and I don’t like having posts that don’t have a picture, I just put in some Instagram snaps of this week. Nothing much ahs happened, except that I went out for dinner three (!) times. Once with my grandma and twice with my parents and little brother. I went shopping (which had been long overdue!), worked and passed the first part of my beauty therapy course (including the much-dreaded theory part!), and I’m so proud of myself for doing so! I also picked up Marc Jacobs’ new Honey perfume last week and I’ve been wearing it ever since. I do know own almost every Marc Jacobs perfume and I’m not even sorry.

Sorry for such a rambly and long post! What have you been up to this week?

Currently Reading, A Lack of Motivation and Love, Love, Love

Books are my one love. As I’ve said numerous times before, reading is my biggest hobby and my dream is to own a huge library in my house when I grow up (this makes me sound like a child). I don’t really have much time to read anymore however, but when I do, I cherish those moments and try to make the most out of the few hours I have to read. This frequently results in me finishing a book in less than 24 hours.

The book I’m currently reading is one that I’ve seen on many beauty bloggers desks. I had never really heard that much about it, but since I discovered Grace through watching ‘the September Issue’ I fell a little bit in love with her personality, so I figured I would really love this book. I’m not even halfway through, but so far I’m really loving it; reading about her childhood, haute couture in the 60’s-70’s and I absolutely love reading about the Vogue offices and what happens behind the scenes. There’s also a chapter about Anna Wintour, which I can’t wait to read, and the book also contains lots of photos of Grace when she was younger. All the illustrations in the book are drawn by Grace, and I really love them since they’re so quirky and funny. In the end, there’s also a few pages with pictures of editorials she shot which is absolutely amazing to look at. I do enjoy reading it, but I do however find that it can sometimes get a little bit dull and- dare I say it- boring. This isn’t really a book that you should complete in a day; reading tiny chunks is enough and definitely helps to keep it interesting.

On to general ‘life’ stuff: I have my beauty therapy exam on Wednesday, and I’m stressing out. There’s just so much to study and a lot of things we need to know are quite irrelevant to it all, like how the respiratory system and digestive tract work. But it’s nice to possess that knowledge and I guess that it can come in handy later on. I’m more nervous about the practical part of the exam, though. We need to do one half of it this Wednesday and then the other half on the next Wednesday, and I really hate it when people are paying close attention when I’m doing something like painting someone else’s nails (which I’m not good at to begin with) so I’m really, really nervous about that. I’m better with ‘theoretical stuff’, if you know what I mean. I started this course purely out of interest and just because I love everything beauty and especially skincare related, but I just don’t know if I want it tob e my job- yet. I’m starting university in September and then we’ll see what comes next, I guess. I do, however, lack the motivation to study and especially to practice doing my facials and manicures, so I need to find my spark back and go hard the next couple of days. I’ve only got tomorrow and Tuesday left, eek!

On another note; I’ve been loving loads of blogs and YouTube channels/videos lately, and I thought I’d share the love. The first blog I’ve fallen head over heels in love with and which is actually quite a new discovery to me, is The Dauphine. The photography is beautiful, just as Chelsey herself. She just has such a chic parisian look to her and always looks effortlessly gorgeous. Next up are From Roses and Vintage Machine, which are two blogs which I’ve been loving for a few months now. Not only is their photograpy absolutely beautiful, but their choices in beauty products are absolutely perfect!

I’ve also been obsessing over the Saccone-Jolys and I’ve been watching their holiday videos religiously for the past week or so. I love, love, love, love having a sneak peek into their life, and now they’re on holiday I’m vicarously living through their videos! I can’t wait untill I’m off to Mallorca next month, but until then, this has to do. Also, that’s some true dedication and passion there if they’re even blogging on their holiday!

I’ve also been loving Anna’s guide to holiday packing- I’ve printed out the PDF files she made and definitely scribbled down some notes for future reference!

I’m not really feeling my blog at the moment- I feel like I say this all the time, but I’m just really a perfectionist and way too hard for myself. I’m planning on taking better photo’s and improve my photo editing skills, and I also really want to improve the quality of my writing. I know my English spelling and especially grammar isn’t the best and I’m learning everyday, but it just is quite hard for me to write and describe things in English whilst everyone around you is talking Dutch and you’re simultaneously talking to a friend- or maybe I just need to stop multitasking and start focusing more on what I’m doing. To make things short, I just want my blog to keep evolving. I love blogging so much and it’s definitely become something I look forward to, and even though I don’t really blog that much, the moment I sit down and start writing is always such a moment of relief and creative freedom. Even though I’m not really creative, but whatever.

I want this blog to be more personal and I want it to be my creative outlet, a place where I can truly be myself and develop my personality, style, writing skills, photography etcetera.

I’m really sorry for this monster of a blog post. For those of you who have stuck until the end, I love you, I really do. I really hope you like these more kind of lifestylish posts, and if you want to, please leave a comment saying what you would like to see more of on this blog. I hope everyone who reads this has a lovely week!

An Update #4

001. I’m currently sitting in the sofa with a facemask on, finishing my cup of tea and smelling my freshly washed hair- Toni & Guy is where it’s at, review coming soon! This week has been really really busy, and I’ve finally 
made an attempt to sort my life out, starting with the cabonets in my bedroom. I threw away so many of my clothes and sorted out one of my closets which hadn’t been touched in years- really! Opening my closet and realising there are only clothes in there that I really like and actually wear is such a good feeling, even though it kind of hurts throwing out old clothes that have so many memories to them. But oh well, it really had to be done and my mind feels so much clearer because of it. I also bought some new, fresh bedding from Ikea and sorted out my books/school stuff cabinet, which now looks so much more organised and pleasurable to open. I do love me a bit of organising.

002. I had a bit of a revelation this week in terms of school and my future. If you have been reading this blog for a while, you may or may not know that I was studying Psychology but decided to drop out in January. Since then, I always thought that Journalism was where it’s at, but the past couple of months it just didn’t feel right. Whenever I thought of going to study Journalism coming September, I got this strange feeling that I can’t really explain, but I thought that were just nerves and it was normal to feel that way. On Friday, however, one of my best friends took me and another friend of her to my old uni for some presentations, and I suddenly missed it so much. My old uni was in Holland, and the schools there are just so much nicer than in Belgium. The people are friendlier and more spontaneous, and it’s a really international school with lots of different people, making it really interesting. The lecturers are so nice and the atmosphere there is just SO much nicer than in Belgian unis. When I got home, I was browsing their website for an overview of all the courses they had there, and I suddenly saw a course called ‘Health Sciences’ which seemed right up my street and I immediately knew this was what I wanted. I’m not quite sure if this is what I’m going to do coming September, but it sure feels more right than Journalism, which just doesn’t seem right for me one way or another. And if I really want to become a journalist, I can always follow an adult education course in it! I’m so happy I finally came across something that will probably suit me, and I’m also really grateful for having kind of a gap year. I have reflected so much about my past and especially my future, and it has helped me so much. I really hope I’m going to be making the right decision. I have always told my mom that my biggest goal in life was having a job I actually thoroughly enjoy and be passionate about, and I really hope I will achieve this goal in the next couple of weeks!

003. I don’t really have anything else to tell you right now. I haven’t been blogging that much in the past week because I just didn’t feel like it and I’ve been so busy, so I really hope normal blogging can resume this week! (Even though I’m not that much of a regular blogger, but sssht). I've been reading a lot these past two weeks, and I've finished The Fault In Our Stars in under 24 hours because it was just so amazing! I'm currently reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower (finally!) and have composed a reading list full of books I've yet to read. Any recommendations, throw them my way! 

004. Oh yeah, as you probably may know already, Google reader is disappearing tomorrow, so feel free to follow my blog on Bloglovin’!