My favourite tunes from the month of February. Something for everybody from slow indie songs to upbeat top 10 hits. And it's a long one, so grab yourself some hot tea and a new nailpolish and listen on!
Lots of Love
Julie
February 25, 2015
February 23, 2015
The Wishlist: February 2015
Although I'm currently trying to streamline my makeup and skincare collection I still have a massive beauty wishlist. But you can still wish, can't you?
Essie Nailpolish in 'Bond with Whomever' // KIKO Liquid Skin Second Skin Foundation // TheBodyShop Smoky in 2-in-1 Gel Liner // KIKO Golden Game Sculpting Bronzer // Zoeva Rose Gold Face Brush Set // Origins Drink Up Intensive Overnight Mask // KIKO Mosaic Blush
Lots of Love
Julie
February 16, 2015
The Current Favourite #7
My eczema prone skin has been really well all autumn and winter long and has just started to get a bit dry over the last couple of weeks. As you might have read at the beginning of autumn I've found the perfect products to combat those dry patches (read: The Beauty Quenching Skin's Thirst). But with more than 20 weeks into cold weather and a couple of stressing weeks behind my back those products need a bit of help.
I already showed you a Rituals Soothing Shower Oil in my last favourites (read here!). But this time around it is the Shanti Shower scent. And oh my it smells divine! Me and my boyfriend have been indulging ourselves in hot baths at night since the beginning of the year and have never used anything else than this shower oil to produce bubbles, smooth our skin and fill the room with a soothing smell.
After getting out of the bath I've been applying the Eucerin Aquaphor Repair Balm (which you can currently win on my blog here along with some other beauty products) to my ellbows, armpits, feet and hands. These areas get especially dry during winter, so I like to pay extra attention to them. And when I wake up in the morning they feel extremely soft and repaired!
And to remove dry and dead patches from my face I love the The Body Shop Aloe Gentle Exfoliator For Sensitive Skin. This has already been feature in my favourites from August (read here) and I still enjoy the small and gentle beads that thoroughly exfoliate my skin.
To combat my dry and really tired eye area I've been uisng the KIKO Natural Concealer in '02' which covers my dark circles perfectly, whilst hydrating and nevertheless not creasing.
What have been your favourites lately and do you also suffer from dry skin during the colder months? Leave a comment down below and don't forget to enter my current giveaway!
Lots of Love
Julie
February 11, 2015
The Life: 5 Things I Love
Planning my holidays and booking flights. Instead of interning all summer long (as originally planned...) I will be visiting my boyfriend in Japan for about two weeks and afterwards I'll be travelling beautiful Sweden with a friend of mine. And I'm so into the planning process! I just adore looking up places to visit, cafes to lunch at and gear to pack. So if you've got any good recommendations for either Osaka, Japan or Sweden then you're very welcome to leave them in the comments or send me an e-mail.
Listening to audio books. As I've been quite busy the last few weeks I haven't had to much time to read a physical book. But my boyfriend and I have been listening to 'Känguru Chroniken' by Marc-Uwe Kling and the two sequels every night before sleep. I'm so in love with the entertaining characters and Marc-Uwe's amazing voice!
My filofax. I've always been a stationary junky. There's just something about writing into a new beautiful notebook with a beautiful pen. When I opened my boyfriend's present at christmas I was beyond happy about it being a filofax. I'm now the proud owner of the Filofax Metropol Personal Organizer in red and have been using it ever since. The system that allows you to organize dates, deadlines and every day life just the way it suits you best is amazing. And the ways you can decorate your pages have made me happy as well and even more pleased to plan the day ahead.
Memory keeping. I've dedicated the whole past week to sorting through photos, arranging them by year and putting the best ones into photo albums. My parents have kept photo albums from 1993 to the end of 1995, so the first few years have been covered and I've made it my task to choose photos from then on and arrange them as beautifully as they did. And with every photograph I've looked at I'm even more grateful for the wonderful family, friends and memories I have.
It's not what we have in life, but who we have in our life that matters.
Lots of Love
Julie
February 9, 2015
The Beauty: Makeup from abroad
When I hear Brits complaining that the newest launch from the US hasn't hit their counters yet (just about a month after the original launch) I always get a bit frustrated. Here in Germany we'll be waiting over a year for the 'new' launches to arrive and then they'll already be a bit out of fashion. Of course this has advantages as well. The whole blogging world will already have tested all the bits and raved about them in their latest favourites. And when the products finally hit up our counters I will just browse my favourite blogs and know whether a product will be worth the splurge.
But still there will be brands that I'm not able to get here in Germany, so I like to browse farmacies and drugstore whilst on holiday or even get friends to bring me some items from abroad. Whilst in France and Spain I've picked up quite some products from Bourjois. In the UK I've splurged on Revlon. A good friend brought me some Tarte from the US. And I've ordered products from Real Techniques and Dainty Doll online.
I love the thrill every morning to use products from abroad and they make makeup application even more fun. Although I've started cutting down my usage of the Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush, because I'm getting scared I might hit pan soon.
Do you know any online shops that sell products you can't get here in Germany?
Julie
February 6, 2015
The Thank You Giveaway
Today I want to thank all of my lovely readers for sticking with me, commenting on my posts, suggesting different products, sending me e-mails and chatting along with me on Instagram and Twitter.
Over the last year I've really got into a routine of brainstorming post-ideas, taking photos and writing up blogposts. And it makes me so happy, when readers get back to me and tell me that a certain cream or product has helped them a lot and they want to thank me for my recommendation. So today I'm thanking all of you with a giveaway!
About three weeks ago Eucerin send me a couple of tubes of their new 'Eucerin Aquaphor Repair-Cream' to combat dry and irritated skin. After testing it myself for a bit over two week's now - and totally loving it (review coming soon!) - I want to send a couple of creams out to you guys. Thank you again Eucerin for sending them to me!
But those won't be the only things that I'll be giving away. I will send out one bigger box of beautygoodies and two smaller bags. As I've told you quite some times now I'm in love with KIKO's Eyes Clics System. So I went to my local KIKO store and purchased a quad and four of my favourite eyeshadow colours to click into it.
Another favourite brand of mine is TheBodyShop, so I'll be giving away a couple of divine soaps and a body butter collection tin to house all of the goodies I'm sending out.
Big Bauty Box
TheBodyShop Body Butter Collection Tin (no body butters inside!)
TheBodyShop Cranberry Joy Heart Soap
2x Eucerin Aquaphor Repair Cream
KIKO Eyes Clics 4 palette
KIKO Infinity Eyeshadow '240 Mat Dark Taupe' (the perfect mat brown for into your crease)
KIKO Infinity Eyeshadow '234 Pearly Wine' (a beautiful shimmery dark red)
KIKO Infinity Eyeshadow '214 Mat Desert Sand' (your perfect all-over-the-lid base colour)
KIKO Infinity Eyeshadow '257 Metallic Light Copper' (the most beautiful coppery gold)
2x Small Beauty Bags
2x Eucerin Aquaphor Repair Cream
TheBodyShop Chocomania Heart Soap
There will be three winners (1 Big Beauty Box winner and 2 Small Beauty Bags winners). You can enter through the Rafflecopter giveaway below. The giveaway will only be open throughout Europe and will end on the 20. February 2015 at 12am. Winners will be anounced on 21. February 2015 on twitter and instagram and will be contacted via e-mail.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thank you all so much for your love and support! I really enjoy running juliesdreams and will continue to do so with the help of my lovely readership.
Lots of Love
Julie
February 4, 2015
The Interior: Wall Art
Wall art is a great way to fill your walls with pictures, cards and prints you love. I like to frame self printed pieces or just tape them to the wall with washi. Choosing different sized frames and a slight variety of colours, but still staying in one kind of style looks lovely and organized, but not to narrow-minded. I love to add new framed pieces to my wall and keep it growing.
To gather inspiration I tape pieces from magazines or printouts onto the wall as a kind of moodboard and change them up every couple of weeks. You can also type up your favourite quote or song in a lovely font and simply print it yourself. Nobody will guess, you haven't got your artwork from Etsy!
What do your walls look like? And do you lay out your wall art setup before you hang them or just take a go?
Lots of Love
Julie
February 2, 2015
The Favourite: With A Little Help From My Friends
Besides the beautiful products I like to slap on my face from day to day - which I talk about on here a lot - there are those beauty tools I just can't live without. They might not appear on your face, but they are the little workes behind the scenes that need a mention as well.
Face Clothes
To take off my cleansers and to gently exfoliate my face I love to use a face cloth. My favourite ones are from IKEA and come in a pack of 10. They're really cheap, but also very soft and efficient.
Cotton Pads
I use oval cotton pads as I like to get the most out of one pad. To take off my mascara quicker I like to use slightly structured pads.
Brushes
Real Techniques and KIKO currently are my favourite brush brands. Both are affordable, but still great quality. I love the Real Techniques Stippling Brush and their Buffing Brush. The 201 from KIKO fits perfectly into my eye socket.
Tweezers
I've owned these tweezers by Pylones for about 5 years now and they're still amazing. With their really sharp tips they get out every small hair. And their theme is just too cute!
Eyelashcurlers
My favourite ones are from KIKO. They really grip your lashes and curl them in a beautiful way.
Hair Supplies
Invisibobbles have been my favourite thing recently. They really grip onto your hair with pulling and don't leave a dent even after wairing a high ponytail for the whole day. I've also relied on small and big hairclips for clipping back strands of hair or a quick and easy updo. And to tame my mane I'm in love with my TangleTeezers.
Julie